If you are thinking of starting a podcast for your B2B company, learn shortcuts to get started quickly from a fellow B2B marketer who is also a podcast host about podcasts.
I first discovered Alban Brooke, head of marketing for Buzzsprout, through a targeted search. At the time I was planning to start a podcast and did not know....anything. I found his serial podcast with the perfect name, How to Start a Podcast, and was instantly hooked. By the end of series, I not only learned everything I needed to launch this Content, Marketing Engineered podcast, but I felt like I "got to know" Alban almost as if we were in the same social network. This was also how I first be came aware of Buzzsprout.
That's the funny thing about podcasts, which Alban explains during the episode. In comparison to blogs and YouTube video, the volume of content consumers is lower but the engagement is sky high. Podcasts should be thought of more as an activity used to nurture qualified leads rather than an awareness building channel. One of the supporting datapoints he shared was average time spend with the content. For YouTube, viewing time tends to be short, in the 1-2 minute range. Same for blog posts. With podcasts it is not uncommon to have listeners stay in for full 20 minute episodes. That is quite a long time to capture the attention of a propsect! I found other interesting industry datapoints about the adoption and growth of podcasts in this recent presentation by a Buzzsprout analyst.
Alban and I both talk about how uncomfortable it can feel as a host getting started, and the importance of pushing through and getting experience along the way. Everyone has a rough start and gets better, and because it does take time to grow an audience, you'll be more polished as you gain traction with your podcast. We also shared shortcuts for how to produce, publish and repurpose podcast content.