The Definitive Guide to B2B Podcasting in 2023
If you’re thinking about launching a B2B podcast but aren’t sure how, the first thing you need to do is come up with a plan.
This guide begins with the basics, like the definition of a B2B podcast and why you should consider making one. Then, we delve into more advanced topics like guest outreach, promotion, and more.
If you have a goal to start a B2B podcast in 2022, here’s everything you need to know, things you should avoid, and how to get your podcast out there. All of this is coming from my expertise at Content Allies where we produce podcasts for clients like Meta, Siemens Energy, Alibaba.com, and more.
What Is B2B Podcasting?
Let’s start with the very basics: the B2B podcasting definition.
A B2B podcast is produced by a B2B company that wants to build industry authority and market its content through account-based marketing. It’s also a way to reach potential customers.
Different types of B2B podcasts focus on different subjects and use different formats. Don’t be discouraged—there may be over two million podcasts out there, but there is always room for more. Statistics show that about 40% of all Americans listen to podcasts and this number is on the rise.
You can do your shows solo, with a panel, or with guests. There are so many different directions that you could go with a B2B podcast, which is why you shouldn’t be afraid to break into a somewhat saturated landscape. B2B marketers already know how important B2B podcasting is in the B2B buyer journey.
B2B podcasting is a form of marketing that can’t be overlooked.
Why Should Companies Consider B2B Podcasting?
There are several reasons why you should consider B2B podcasting. The most obvious is that it's just one more way to get your name, business, and product or service out there. B2B podcasting can also connect you with other leaders in your industry and open new doors.
Additionally, when you create value-packed episodes, you can repurpose your podcast content. This can help streamline your creative process. When your processes are simplified, you get more time to focus on the more creative aspects—in other words, the fun stuff. It also gives you more time to focus on your podcast marketing strategy.
B2B podcasts will attract new visitors, new customers, and new buyers. It’s a great addition to your sales process and it can help take your sales team to new levels.
Account-Based Marketing (Networking via Content)
Account-based marketing, or content-based marketing, is how you reach potential customers via your B2B podcast. Account-based marketing is centered around relationships: with investors, ideal customers, and whoever you want to discover your business.
If you want your ideal customer to discover your show (and get hooked on it), focus on account-based marketing. Do so by:
Identifying your perfect customer. Then, invite someone similar to be a guest on your show.
Center the episode around that guest. Ask them to share their expertise and focus on their story instead of your own.
Craft quality interview questions that get them talking.
Create even more shareable content from your conversation with them to show how much you loved having them on the show.
Keep in touch well after your initial contact. When you nurture the relationship by engaging with social media posts and maintaining regular contact, you never know what that connection could lead to.
When you show your podcast guests how much they mean to you, they are more apt to remember you, and your product or service. Because they are your ideal customer, that could lead to sales. It’s a great lead-magnet strategy.
Content Marketing
Content marketing revolves around creating and distributing quality digital content that doesn’t promote a brand or business outright but rather is intended to drum up interest around its product or service. This includes blogs, videos, social media posts, and (of course) podcasts.
The best part about creating a B2B podcast is that you can create those other forms of content by repurposing your podcast content:
Record yourself with a camera so that you can make a video to upload to YouTube or other social channels.
Craft a blog article around the same subject and be sure to mention and link back to your podcast. Make the article SEO optimized.
Turn audio clips into audiograms that you can share on social media.
Make quote blocks or other graphics with valuable quotes from the episode.
Create a series of episodes that discuss the same subject and invite different guests to give their unique opinion on the topic.
Content marketing builds trust and customer loyalty. It will lead to more conversations with your perfect customer—and that’s something we can all benefit from.
Thought Leadership
B2B podcasting isn’t necessarily about becoming a thought leader in your industry. It’s more about becoming a place where industry thought leaders can go to chat with you. It’s about becoming a resource for your listeners.
If you specialize in a product or service that is helpful to accountants, invite thought leaders in the accounting or finance world onto your show. It all goes back to inviting your ideal customer as a guest. Your listeners will be curious to know what other subject matter experts in their field are talking about.
You can (and should) talk about your own product or service, but you should mostly focus on producing helpful content for your audience. By being a place where thought leaders can come to talk about their expertise, your ideal customer will naturally want to tune in. You want to be the channel for your guests to impart their wisdom.
Rapidly Growing Medium
Podcasts are one of the most rapidly growing mediums of online content. The US leads the trend with close to 118 million monthly listeners across the country, which is roughly 40% of all internet users. This number is set to increase across the next few years. Other English-speaking countries like Australia and Canada seem to be following the same path.
Studies show that in 2022, close to 425 million people worldwide will listen to podcasts. That’s a huge market—don’t let it slip away.
Podcasting Is the New Blogging
Before podcasting made it onto the online content scene, blogs were the best way to reach potential customers. While blogs still have their place (you can’t deny the power of SEO), podcasts are the new blogs.
If you don’t break into B2B podcasting now, you may (read: will) come to regret it.
How to Start a B2B Podcast
B2B podcasting can seem overwhelming if you’ve never done it before. It does take commitment, planning, and an all-star team to back you up. Like any creative project, it all starts with an idea. Then, tackle the other moving pieces that go into producing a high-quality B2B podcast:
Build your team
Consider hiring a podcast production company
Plan your podcast
Prepare to launch
Let’s take a closer look at each step.
Build Your Team
There are so many different aspects that go into creating a podcast. You could try to go at it alone but you’re likely to become burnt out before you even get started. You can prevent possible burnout by building a team to back you up.
If you’ve never worked in audio production before, you may not realize all of the work that goes into producing a podcast. Generally, you need close to 10 people, each with a very specialized skill set, behind you. You also need to know how to manage them.
You can build an internal team, but understand that comes with a lot of responsibility. If you don’t want to take that on (we can’t blame you), then you should look into hiring a podcast production company.
Will you assemble an internal team or will you outsource your podcast production? Before you decide, consider the roles needed.
Producer
You need a producer to produce a podcast—it’s as simple as that. Your podcast producer is perhaps the most important member of your team. They form your strategy, coordinate everything that goes into the production process, and manage the rest of the team.
It’s a full-time job filled with a ton of responsibility—something to think about if you're considering taking on this role yourself, in addition to hosting.
Scheduler
A guest scheduler is the point of contact between you, the host, and your guests. They are in charge of finding new people to have on the show as well as outreach. A guest scheduler will also coordinate with your guests to find a schedule that works for everyone.
Your scheduler invites guests and lets them know the show’s expectations. They are also responsible for creating a network of potential guests so that you always have something new in the works.
Audio Editor
You can’t expect to have a successful B2B podcast if your audio isn’t up to par. You can do so by entrusting an audio editor to clean up your recordings. One of the best things about podcasts is that they aren’t live. This gives your team the chance to edit and polish your interviews so that only the most interesting content gets released. It also ensures high-quality content.
A good audio editor is also a sound expert. They can help you pick out music for your podcast and in some cases can help you create it. Your editor should be an expert in podcast recording software as well as audio editing software like Adobe Audition, Audacity, Reaper, and the like.
Your audio quality is of utmost importance—don’t forget it.
Graphic Designer
While a podcast is mostly an auditory experience, there are some visuals involved, especially in promotion. There are plenty of free graphic design tools out there like Canva and Adobe Express, but you should hire a graphic designer. Their level of expertise will get you better-quality graphics which can help attract better quality listeners.
You need a graphic designer to create an eye-catching logo, graphics for social media, thumbnails for each episode, and cover art for your show. They can also create graphics to add to videos.
Writer
A content writer writes your show notes, episode titles, text for social posts, SEO optimized blog articles, and more. Anytime you need some sort of written content, you’ll need a writer to produce it. Although your main responsibility as a host is to come up with interview questions, your writer can help if you get stuck, too.
As you’ll be repurposing your podcast for other forms of content, your content writer is responsible for creating one or multiple blog posts around each episode. Quality written content can go a long way to increasing brand awareness.
Video Editor
In the spirit of repurposing your podcast, you need a video editor who will create video content from your interviews. Video performs the best on social media and, if you provide them with it, your guests are likely to share with their audience.
Just like your audio editor, your video editor plays an important role. The quality of your repurposed content correlates directly to the quality of your podcast.
Publishing Team
All of this talk about recording and editing your podcast is essential, but you can’t forget about actually publishing and sharing your work with the world. A publishing team is responsible for the operations side of your podcast. They make sure that your episodes are properly uploaded to each platform, on your own site, and to your social channels.
A publishing team is also in charge of podcast syndication. They distribute your show to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Anchor, and others. They also double-check that your show gets submitted to the correct categories, as this is helpful for organic search.
Promotion Team
Once your podcast gets published, the work doesn’t stop there. In fact, it’s just the beginning for your promotion team. Your promotion team takes care of:
Promotional posts on social media.
Paid promotion (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Spotify Ads, etc.).
Studying analytics and keeping track of episode downloads.
Ensuring that your guests receive promotional material so that they can share, too.
We discuss podcast promotion in a lot more depth below.
What About Individual Contractors?
If you’re not ready to build out a full podcast production team, you may consider hiring individual contracts. At the very minimum, you’ll need an audio editor, video editor, and show notes writer. These roles require a specific skill set that you likely don’t have as a host.
You can find individual contractors in a myriad of places, but we recommend that you start with Upwork. We’ve had great luck with this platform. If you’re just getting started—and budget is an issue—you don’t need to hire expensive experts. But do try to find contractors with a bit of experience to ensure a certain level of expertise.
Why Hire a Podcast Production Company
A podcast production company can take a lot of the heavy lifting out of B2B podcasting. When you hire one, you won’t have to hunt around for the best team members or independent contractors as the company will have its own contacts and resources. You’ll have a fully assembled team at your disposal. That includes the ever-important podcast producer.
When you hire a production company you can cut your time commitment in half, if not more. That gives you more time to focus on hosting and everything that goes along with it. The less time you need to put in, the less likely you are to become burnt out.
You May Benefit From a Podcast Production Company if…
You don’t know how to edit audio or video yourself.
You don’t have time to build a team.
You don’t have the right resources in-house.
You don’t want to spend an exorbitant amount of hours per month on your podcast.
You want to focus on hosting.
How to Hire a Podcast Production Company for Your B2B Podcast
First, determine your needs. Do you want to outsource all of the production or do you plan to keep a few roles in-house? Are you a small business or a large enterprise? What’s your budget?
Once you know what you’re looking for, start your research and reach out to a handful of companies so that you can compare their offers. Don’t be afraid to shop around—your goals must align with whatever company you go with. Many production companies are willing to create custom packages that fit your specific needs.
You may also want to go with a service that has experience in the B2B industry, like Content Allies (that’s us). If you decide to go for it and want to do a bit more research, here’s a list of the top podcast production companies.
How to Plan Your B2B Podcast
Now that you know everything that goes into producing a podcast, it’s time to come up with your subject matter, name, and format.
Subject
When deciding the subject matter, you should choose something that will be of interest to your ideal customer, influencers in your industry, and other thought leaders who would make for great partnerships. Focus on that ideal customer instead of your peers, as they likely won’t become your customers—they are not only your peers but your competition.
Show Name
Your podcast name is the first thing potential listeners learn before they listen. There’s no one-size-fits-all formula to coming up with a name, but there are a few tried and true approaches:
Straight forward: The subject is in the name. For example, our podcast is called Leaders of B2B because we interview leading B2B executives.
Creative: A creative show name can pique the interest of potential listeners. For example, we produce a show called Working Without Pants. It’s centered around interviews with creative agency owners who have successfully leveled up in business. The title is a play on the fact that many of the owners work remotely.
Cool factor: You may have an easier time attracting podcast guests with a show name that gives them a little ego boost. We produce another show called AdTech Heroes, which features leaders in advertising technology. Calling your guests heroes can attract interest in your field.
Format and Length
Choose your format (including show length) next. You can choose between a solo show, panel, or interview-based. We recommend that you opt for an interview-based show for your B2B podcast. It’s the best way to attract well-known guests and it will boost your credibility within your niche. Focus on listeners within your niche, and you’ll attract your ideal customer.
B2B podcast lengths vary, so choose whatever you’re comfortable with. It can be anywhere between 20 minutes and 60 minutes or even 90 minutes. The length doesn’t matter—the value that you get does.
Get Ready to Launch
You’ve decided on your subject and format, assembled your team, or opted for a production service, and you’ve settled on your podcast length. Once you’ve worked with a graphic designer to determine your podcast’s artwork, you’re almost ready to launch.
Equipment You Need
There is some essential equipment you need to invest in before you can start recording:
Podcast microphone (a USB microphone is ideal. Blue Yeti is a great brand).
A filter to enhance sound quality (don’t underestimate the power of pop filters).
A stand for your microphone.
Headphones to prevent echoing.
These are the basics. You won’t need anything else if you have an expert audio editor on your team, or if you’ve partnered with a production service.
Recording Your Episodes
Instead of producing a single episode, aim to launch with at least three episodes. It’s a great tactic to use to hook listeners from the get-go. Many podcast enthusiasts like to binge-listen, just like you like to binge-watch your favorite TV shows.
Plan to come up with a “trailer” episode, too. Here, you’ll introduce yourself and your podcast’s concept. Don’t include a guest interview as you need to familiarize your audience with the subject matter, what they can learn, and who they can expect to hear from on your show.
You can record your podcast interview through Zoom. The video platform works well for interviewing guests who can’t meet you in person, and it also enables you to record both the audio and video. You can send both to your editors so that they can work their magic. You can use other video platforms like Skype if you’re in a crunch, but we always suggest Zoom first.
Use the recording service Riverside.fm with Zoom. It ensures that the audio and video quality is clean and polished, even if your Zoom meeting experiences lags. It also serves as a backup if you have any Zoom recording issues.
Creating Your Intro and Outro
Next, you’ll need to determine whether you want to have a custom intro and outro for each episode or a “canned” version. Custom versions are great in theory but also involve a lot of work. You need to take the time to record the intro and outro for each episode.
Most B2B podcast hosts opt for the canned version to save time and energy. Create an intro and outro script and record it once then reuse it. If you’re worried about sounding repetitive, you can work around this with your audio editor. Have them pull one of the most interesting 10–15 second segments from the interview and start your show with that, then play the canned intro.
Your intro and outro should be no longer than 60 seconds.
Scheduling Guests
A guest scheduler (or production service) helps you schedule your guests. Before they can do that, you need to come up with your ideal guest avatar. Here are some things to consider:
Their job title
Their company size and type
Their industry
Their interests
Their expertise
Once you’ve nailed down your ideal guest, you can provide your scheduler or production company with it. If you want to contact your guests directly first—a great idea to form a deeper connection—try these tactics via email or LinkedIn:
Ask if they would like to be interviewed first, it’s common courtesy.
Show your social proof by sharing your audience size and a list of guests who have already been on your show. If you’re just getting started, share why you think your podcast is set for success.
Create a landing page on your podcast website (more on that below) with details about your show, a list of FAQs, and a way of contacting you for more information. Include a link to this page.
It’s always helpful if you have a personal “in” with your prospective guest. Put out your feelers within your own network and ask if anyone you know has a personal connection to the person you’re about to email.
Create Your Podcast Website
A dedicated podcast website sets you apart. Opt for a simple design that includes a homepage, About section, a list of your episodes, places where listeners can tune in, and your contact information. You can do this via a one-page website, or you can create multiple pages.
The more places your podcast appears online, the easier it will be to promote it!
How to Promote a B2B Podcast
Once you’ve recorded a few episodes of your podcast and are feeling confident in your subject matter and guest appearances, it’s time to promote your B2B podcast. There are several different promotion avenues to take:
Promote via your company’s existing channels
Podcast syndication
Create social content
Give your guests digital assets they can share
Publish SEO optimized articles
Lockdown media partnerships
Invest in paid media
Let’s take a closer look at each method.
Existing Company Distribution Channels
You created your B2B podcast to drive traffic back to your company or business, so don’t be afraid to use your existing company distribution channels.
Social Media
Your company is likely already on social media, so you have access to an excellent pool of potential listeners. The top social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. When you release a new episode, share it across all of them. You can also share repurposed content such as videos, audiograms, and quote blocks.
Feel free to continue to reshare as time goes on. It’s a great way to keep your pages active and attract a larger audience.
If for whatever reason your business doesn’t already have social pages, it’s time to create them.
Newsletters
Many businesses send out email newsletters. That means you already have a list of emails that you can send content to. Because your B2B podcast is directly related to your product or service, your existing customers usually won’t mind receiving news about it.
YouTube
Along the same lines, you can upload videos of your podcast to YouTube. This is yet another reason why it pays to record both the audio and video of your interviews. Again, the more places your podcast shows up online, the better!
Some people prefer to watch people talk, rather than just listen. By putting your podcast on YouTube, you can attract these types of listeners. Not to mention, close to 5 billion YouTube videos are watched daily. That’s an enormous market to tap into.
Podcast Syndication
Podcast syndication is the method in which you distribute your podcast to different listening platforms, such as Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Google Podcasts, Spotify, and the like. Your podcast needs to live in places where potential listeners (and customers) can find you.
Apple Podcasts is by far the most used platform, with hundreds of thousands of podcasts to choose from. Apple boasts billions of podcast downloads per month. That’s not to say that the other platforms aren’t important. There are plenty of Android users out there that use Google Play instead of Apple.
Use podcast syndication services like Anchor, which distributes your show to nine different platforms, including Apple, Google, and Spotify.
Social Content
Social content includes anything that you can share via social media platforms:
Videos
Audiograms
Quote blocks
Written posts with visuals
Repurposing your podcast to create more content is one of the biggest reasons to start one. You can share clips of your interview or you could even consult with your graphic designer and have them create a fun animation.
Audiograms are one of the latest podcast promotion trends. Use websites like Headliner or Wavve to create yours, or ask your designer to do it for you. Choose a few memorable quotes from your latest episode to create quote blocks, too.
You can also share simple visuals like your logo, an episode thumbnail, or a photo of your next guest.
Create Assets for Your Guests to Share
Enlist your graphic designer or production team to create digital assets for your show guests to share after the episode is released. Assets can include quote blocks, episode thumbnails, audiograms, videos, and more.
You can cut down on designer fees by asking one to make you templates that you can go in and edit yourself. If you have the basics, you can use Canva to edit text, add pictures, and more.
When you include high-quality assets in your post-episode guest communication, they are more likely to share to their own channels!
Publish Articles on Your Guests’ Websites
If your podcast guests are thought leaders in their industry, they likely already have a website. Offer to write an article highlighting the topics that you already discussed with them during the interview. Be sure to include plenty of keywords so that the article is SEO optimized. Don’t forget a link to your podcast’s website.
You’ll help your guest bring more traffic to their site through the use of keywords. You’ll be able to harness the power of that traffic to then lead people to your podcast. It’s a win-win because you do all of the hard work of writing the article and your guest benefits from more site visitors.
This is also a task that you can pass off to your content writer if you have one.
Content Syndication / Media Partnerships
Content syndication means giving your content to a third-party site so that they can republish it for you in various places. It’s another way to make sure that your B2B podcast circulates amongst a larger pool of potential listeners.
All you need to do is provide your RSS feed to the syndication service and they take care of the rest.
Collaborate With a Media Outlet in Your Niche
Do some research to find a media outlet in your field and ask if they’re willing to co-present a podcast with you. This will give them access to your audience and you access to theirs. The HubSpot Podcast Network is an excellent example of how this can work. HubSpot doesn’t produce any of the shows in its network but the podcasters get access to a massive audience thanks to HubSpot’s fame.
Paid Media / Podcast Advertising
Paid advertising will help you reach even more people with your podcast. You can reach specific demographics, meaning your ads reach people who have the potential of turning into customers. Make sure you hone in on who your ideal listener/client is. You won’t be able to target them if you don’t know who they are.
There are different types of podcast advertising channels out there, including Spotify Ads, podcast sponsorships, and Facebook Ads.
Spotify Ads
Spotify Ads are played in between songs and podcast episodes and run for a maximum length of 30 seconds. As the ad plays, a branded image pops up in the space where you normally see an album cover when you listen to music.
Spotify also offers video advertising opportunities. The platform calls these “Sponsored Sessions” and features videos that users can watch in exchange for 30 minutes of ad-free listening.
“Video Takeovers” is another type of ad you can pay for on Spotify. It’s similar to the standard 30-second audio ad but it also includes a video that takes over the Spotify interface as users listen to the ad.
Podcast Sponsorships
You can choose to have your podcast sponsored by another company that wants to get noticed. Here’s the concept: a business pays you to either play their ad at the beginning, end, or middle of your podcast or to mention them in your show.
You can play around with how you want to include the ad. Your listeners won’t like it if your show is peppered with advertisements, so it’s important to keep things subtle. A lot of podcasters do this by mentioning the business in their own words. It helps if you actually like the business, product, or service that sponsors you.
Facebook Ads
Facebook represents a massive market of potential listeners. Its advertising system is somewhat complex. When you’re hunting around for a podcast production or promotion service, opt for ones that know their way around Facebook Ads—it’s well worth it.
There are close to three billion Facebook users worldwide. It’s the biggest online social network out there. Use it to your advantage.
Need Help with Your B2B Podcast?
If you’re thinking about creating a B2B podcast, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed. You can take the time to read articles like this one. You can do even more research by asking other podcasters for advice. But, that doesn’t change the fact that podcasts are a lot of work.
That’s where B2B podcast agencies and production services come in! A good agency will help you from start to finish, especially with the really involved tasks like editing, submission to directories, guest coordination, and promotion.
When the most complicated parts of making a podcast are taken care of, you get to focus on the creative side. Let a podcast agency take care of the most time-consuming tasks so that you can have fun with your guests.
Reach Out to Content Allies
We’ve worked with dozens of B2B podcasters to help build revenue-generating podcasts. We can help you plan, produce, publish, and promote your B2B podcast—it’s what we’re most passionate about. All that’s left for you to do is sit back, relax, and watch as we do the hard parts for you.
All you need is a great idea, some guests in mind, and a little bit of time to devote to your podcast each month. Contact us so that we can come up with a personalized plan for your B2B podcast. The first consultation is always free.