{ How to Use Podcasting to Grow Your B2B Brand: The Dos and Don’ts of B2B Podcasting, Simplified }

{ How to Use Podcasting to Grow Your B2B Brand: The Dos and Don’ts of B2B Podcasting, Simplified }

  • Sarah Smith
    Author
  • Sarah Smith
Grow your B2B brand

Does your B2B organization lack that next step to push you towards your goals? It might be time to consider starting a podcast! Our expert podcasting team at The Houston Pod works with several B2B clients on creating, distributing, and marketing their podcasts, and we’ve learned a thing or two along the way!

It might feel like everyone these days has a podcast, but research shows more and more that companies that choose to elevate their brand through this emerging audio format cut through the noise of everyday advertising and develop strong relationships with their client base. 

But how can you make sure you’re creating the right podcast for your business?

The Houston Pod has gathered a list of do’s and don’ts to help you on your podcasting journey to elevate your B2B organization to the next level. 

DO: OPTIMIZE FOR SEO

Simple but true, search engine optimization cannot be beaten when it comes to effective marketing in the digital age. Podcasts are no different from any other form of online advertising: they need to live online in an effective way. 

Your audience needs to have multiple ways to get to your podcast, from your company’s website to popular audio streaming platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and you need to convey that information to them in more than one place. 

A simple way to do this is to make sure that there’s some sort of podcast landing page. This could easily be incorporated into your organization’s website and should include all the need-to-know information as well as calls-to-action to listen and contact your company. 

At the Houston Pod, we help our clients with their SEO rankings by providing them with transcriptions, digital marketing, branding services, and SEO-optimized show notes, and we’d be more than happy to help you with any of these necessary elements to elevate your SEO, too! 

DON’T: FORGET TO PLUG YOUR CONTENT

Hand-in-hand with SEO optimization is including the calls to action in your actual podcast itself. If you’re producing minutes and hours worth of audio content for your podcast’s audience, don’t forget to take the next step and actually promote who you are and what you do.

Regardless of what the official mission of your podcast is and which subjects you’re actually covering, your B2B organization needs the web traffic and the expanded clientele that can come from being well-promoted on a podcast. 

When in doubt, at least get your website out there. Find the time in your intro or your outro to make it clear that this podcast isn’t all you do, you also have an entire business behind you that can greatly benefit from the word getting out there. 

DO: ENGAGE WITH SPONSORS

Just like you need to plug your own content, there’s a chance that you might have to plug someone else’s content, too! Podcast sponsorship is the real deal when it comes to making a little extra cash just from spending a few extra seconds plugging another business.

Engage with sponsors

The best thing to do when considering podcast sponsorship is to engage with brands that fit similar niches to your business and your podcast. Join forces with companies that would be beneficial for you to promote and will encourage your audience to continue to spend their money in your industry. 

Sponsorships are quick cash, with companies paying you to speak for just a few seconds in their favor. You can plug these sponsorships at a few different places in your podcast, such as the intro, outro, or in-between segments as a short “break”. 

What if you need help with a podcast intro and outro? The Houston Pod offers that specific service to all of our podcasting clients, alongside any other audio editing needs you may have to make sure that your voice comes through crystal clear in every episode! 

DON’T: COPY THE COMPETITION

Remember when we said that it feels like everyone has a podcast? That’s because a lot of people do! It’s effective, easy, and exciting to start a podcast, so there’s a chance that someone similar in your industry has begun a podcast of their own. 

Don’t fret! Just because someone else’s podcast exists, doesn’t mean that there isn’t an audience looking for your content, Instead, focus on differentiating your brand from the rest. Cover niche topics, invite surprising guests, find a new voice to give to your industry, and remember to remain authentic to what it is that you do.

Marketing can often seem like a popularity contest, but copying your competition just to try to gain a few listeners won’t help you in the long run. Study what your competition is doing, determine what you can learn from the things that aren’t working for them, and keep an open mind to ways that you can innovate and find your own unique voice on the mic

DO: INVITE INDUSTRY GUESTS

The staple of most podcasts are interviews. From prominent industry professionals to hidden gem employees, the pool of talent that you can tap into for your B2B podcast is definitely even deeper than you think. 

Interviews allow you to keep things interesting with a new voice for your listeners to enjoy, with information that might have never been heard before. It also includes an opportunity to expand your audience, bringing new listeners out of the woodwork with the advertising of someone they know better. 

Inviting guests can seem nerve-wracking, especially when you have to reach out to an unfamiliar face, but the simplest thing to keep in mind is to highlight why you want them to come on your podcast and what they have to gain from working with you. 

Don’t be afraid to lay some bargaining chips out the table, to reach out for some expert advice on podcast networking, and to keep things interesting by working with guests that genuinely excite you and match your audience. If you do well enough in this process, you might even have the added benefit of having guests come to you instead of you having to reach out first! 

DON’T: GET MICROPHONE SHY

microphone shy

Keeping guests on the brain, let’s talk about the potential you have to invite yourself onto someone else’s podcast. Don’t just let people come talk to you about what they do, go out and talk to people about what you and your organization does, too!

Being a guest on someone’s podcast is a creative collaboration with mutual benefits, just like having someone on your podcast. You get to expand your audience by involving yourself in a different show and a different group of listeners, while the podcast you’re speaking on gets to have the crossover benefit of your listeners tuning in to see what you have to say.

When done correctly, you can increase your customer base and brand awareness tenfold with a solid interview on a prominent podcast. If you’re looking for help on how to become a guest on someone’s podcast, don’t be afraid to get some consultation and scheduling assistance from The Houston Pod.

DO: KEEP IT CONSISTENT

We’ve all heard the phrase “trust the process”, and that saying more than rings true for podcasting. Consistency is the key to both mastering your podcasting skills and achieving success with your business’ podcast. 

Consider the schedule that you want your podcast to have. Is it weekly? Bi-weekly? Monthly? Once you and your team have devoted yourselves to a schedule, stick to that schedule. This will make things easy for both yourself and your audience. If they know what day of the week to expect a new episode, they’re more likely to remember to tune in.

Just like with a consistent schedule, your content should be consistent as well. This doesn’t mean that you can never stray from your topic or try something new, but try to remain in the realm of your niche so that your audience doesn’t feel disengaged. 

Managing and scheduling everything can seem like a series of daunting tasks, especially when you’re still trying to run your business and keep up with your growth. This is why we recommend working with The Houston Pod’s podcast management team to help ensure that deliverables and content are produced and distributed at the right time for your audience. 

DON’T: GIVE UP

encouragement

In the same way that you have to keep things consistent, the best advice for any podcasting team is to not give up on what you’re creating. When you’re feeling overwhelmed or like you don’t know where to go next, it’s time to look back on what you’ve done so far and to innovate to push your content further.

Especially lately, the outcomes of any business venture are uncertain and unpredictable, but there’s proven value in podcasting for a B2B business, with a high return rate on listeners and a large audience looking to find out more. 

Giving up when the road takes unexpected turns prevents you from encountering the success that comes from consistently growing and evolving your podcast for your audience. With the drive to create something new and creative collaboration between your team, there’s a chance that a podcast is what you needed all along to find your audience where they’ve always been looking for you. 

When in doubt, get advice! The Houston Pod is here for you, whether you’re wondering how to start a podcast or you’re seeking help to make your podcast successful. With podcast consulting, audio editing, distribution, and social media marketing in our wheelhouse, expert podcasting advice is just a phone call away.

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