Getting Started with B2B PodcastingEight quick tips for first-time podcasters

1 Wiretapping Potential Listeners

2Hunting for Content

3 The Lay of the Land

4Size and Punctuality Matter

5 Thinking Like Radio

6Drawing Blueprints

7 When It’s Okay to Use Megaphones

8Look and Listen

Coming up

Left to right: Fiona Campbell-Howes (Managaing Director, Radix), David McGuire (Associate Writer), Emily King

(Research and Marketing Executive) recording an episode of the Radix Copycast.

I’m Emily King and I began podcasting in 2008 and currently produce two podcasts, including the Radix Copycast. I’m involved at all stages of production, from outlines to

recording, editing to uploading.

About

1Wiretapping Potential Listeners

Who’s the target audience and what do

they want to hear?

It’s time to create some listener personas (profiles of typical listeners) to help give direction in picking potential subject matter for the podcast.

And look at discussions on social media and blogs to discover what the podcast’s

intended audience are potentially interested in.

Persona 1: Account Manager, Marketing Agency.

Wants to know how cats affect

copywriting.

Hypothetical Radix listener personas

Use LinkedIn job ads to create personas.

Persona 3:Freelance

Copywriter. Would like to know if

memes have a place in B2B copy.

Persona 2:Marketing Executive,

Cloud Software Company. Interested in the perils of using cat

jargon.

No spamThe

most listened-to podcasts are ones that share knowledge

and enthusiasm for a given topic. No one wants to listen

to a sales pitch, so tread with care when promoting

products and services.

2Hunting for Content

Where to look for ideas

Launching your podcast based on what your target audience is interested in is fine, but you need to stay up-to-date on what they’re discussing within your subject area.

That means social media will be your main resource for episode ideas.

Social posts to keep an eye out for:

Questions people are asking that are related to your business or area of expertise

The hot topics of debate that you can offer insight on

Discussions with you about the podcast

Repurpose contentWritten

a blog post or ebook that’s generated

a lot of interest? Revisit the themes and ideas discussed

in it, but this time bring a guest on board to offer a different perspective. You could even

bring in people you used quotes from.

3The Lay of the Land

Researching existing shows

Listen to comparable podcasts. Check out how long they are and how often they release, plus how long they dedicate to topics – do they manage to maintain your interest?

Don’t try to be the same as these podcasts. Many of them have well established

audience bases, but do think about how you could improve on their formats and do

things differently.

Places to search for existing podcasts:

iTunesStitcher

Libsyn

As well as searching for podcasts via search

engines, consider looking for shows via these podcast directories.

Five B2B marketing podcasts that inspire us at Radix

Expert Interviews with Greg

Elwell

Content Marketing Podcast

The Social Media Show

Marketing Smarts from Marketing

Profs

Internet Marketing Podcast

4Size and Punctuality Matter

There are no set rules for length and frequency

Length and frequency are affected by:

The amount of content in each episode

How often you’re planning on releasing episodesThe time you have

available to plan, record, edit and promote each episode

These three things will affect the length of your episodes and how often you release them.

Locating the “sweet spot”

Generally, there are no set rules for frequency vs. length in podcasting, but the sweet spot is somewhere

between:

15-90 minutes

Regardless of frequency.And it’s perfectly fine to experiment with length.

Avoid burning through ideas You

don’t want to exhaust your ideas

in the beginning and struggle to find new ones for each

episode.

5Think Like Radio

Choosing a format is important. (That’s episode

format, not audio file format.)

Whether the podcast is pre-recorded or broadcast live, it’s best to stick to a set format for the show.

Covering news only really works if your podcast is going to be released more than

once a month – otherwise it will sound stale.

Possible formatsInterview with a thought leader in your industry.

Discussion of industry issues, and a best practice section – with input from a

guest.

Discussion of current industry news and an

advice section.

Keep it dynamicTry

including a range of

views. Differing opinions make for interesting

listening.

6Draw Blueprints

Plan your content, because good podcasts

need direction

Get an editorial calendar together and use it to plan and track any content that isn’t based on news.

EPISODE # MONTH TOPICS GUEST

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Email subject lines

B2B marketing videos

Storytelling

Marketing event coverage

Content length

Jargon

Case studies

Comics

-

John Hancock

Jane Doe

-

-

-

John Smith

-

Don’t be tempted to script the entire episode. Reading from a script will make it sound very unnatural.

Instead, write a broad outline for the episode, and only script the introductions

and outros.

Things to include in your outline

OUTLINE EPISODE 1

Segment length

What needs to be covered

Points to kick-start discussion

Script for intros and outros

Even footingInclude

copies of or links to resources

that will help podcast participants

to research the topic.

7When it’s Okay to Use Megaphones

Tips for promoting your podcast

Once you have a few episodes uploaded, make a trailer for your podcast. Editing trailers from existing episodes helps people to quickly decide whether your podcast is right for them.

Here’s the trailer we did for the Radix Copycast (obviously yours doesn’t have to

be as dramatic).

Recipe for a podcast trailer

Sound bites from podcastepisodes

Theme music

Ingredients

MethodEdit to three minutes or under

Upload to your website

Promote

1

23

A narrator

The power of the network

If any influencers

come up in discussion during your podcast,

mention them in your social media posts – they may be

intrigued enough to listen and share. Guests and interviewees

will also often be keen to share episodes they

appear in.

8Look and Listen

Stats and social media feedback let you know

where you need to improve

Keep an eye on episode download numbers and stats for your RSS feed. Compare episodes – if one is listened to more than another, try to understand what made it popular.

Check out what’s being said about your podcast on social media. You’ll see if it’s reaching your intended audience, and if people are happy with the quality of the

podcast.

Don’t use registration forms with podcasts

SUBMIT

Forms can get in the way of podcasts from being syndicated, which means you can’t make it available on services like iTunes.

While lead generation is always a priority, podcasts are primarily a way of reaching out to your community and relaying your

authority.

Missing the mark?There’s

a good chance that your B2B

podcast will have a niche audience, so don’t expect thousands of listeners. But

if your target audience isn’t engaging with

it, try something different.

About Radix

Radix is a copywriting agency for the content marketing era. We work with marketers to develop programmes of content that guide customers through every stage of the buying process.

We specialise in the B2B technology sector, with expertise in enterprise hardware and software, networking and electronics.

We’ve written for innovative tech companies large and small, including Fujitsu, GFI, Oracle, Rackspace, Salesforce and Spirent.

Our monthly podcast explores trends and issues in B2B technology copywriting. You can listen to it here.