Podcasting: Is It Any Good for B2B?
Podcasts have taken the world by storm—there are currently more than three million being published on a vast range of topics. In the B2B world, where content is a critical driver of lead generation and business growth, many marketers are wondering: Should we get on board? Is B2B podcasting a thing?
In this article, we’ll help you figure it out. We’ll dive into the B2B podcasting landscape and where it stands in 2024, the value it’s bringing to businesses who succeed with this tactic, and tips for getting your podcast strategy off the ground to reach new audiences and grow your B2B brand.
Quick Takeaways:
- As a medium, podcasts have experienced 5+ years of double-digit growth.
- B2B podcasting is growing in popularity, with most professional podcast listeners consuming at least one B2B podcast per week.
- Benefits of B2B podcasting include: establishing thought leadership, humanizing your brands, finding new collaboration opportunities, and reaching audiences when they’re on the go.
- Every B2B business can succeed at podcasting with the right targeting and topic strategy.
B2B Podcasting: The Current Landscape
Podcasts are primarily audio (but also sometimes video) recordings that are published for download or streaming on popular platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube. They’re now a ubiquitous part of content consumption culture. People listen to podcasts about everything from sports to wellness to true crime to religion to daily news (and more).
Future projections for podcast revenue markets show that demand for podcast content is only going to grow for the foreseeable future. Between this year and next, podcast revenue will grow by 37%—its fifth consecutive year of double-digit revenue growth.
But what about business? Are successful podcasts mainly those created for personal entertainment, or Is B2B podcasting seeing the same level of success as other types?
Research shows that the answer is a resounding yes—B2B podcasts are an extremely popular genre. A recent survey of B2B professional podcast listeners found that more than 97% are listening to at least one B2B-related podcast every week, and 47% are listening to three or more.
It’s clear: Podcasts are becoming one of the most-preferred ways B2B professionals learn about trends, best practices, and news in their industries. It presents a significant opportunity, then, for B2B businesses to establish themselves as thought leaders and experts on topics important to their target audiences.
6 Powerful Ways B2B Podcasting Drives Engagement
If you’re thinking about adding B2B podcasting to your larger marketing strategy, it’s important to know the unique ways they drive engagement and business growth. These are the most impactful benefits B2B companies are experiencing from creating and publishing podcast content:
Establish Thought Leadership
The topical nature of podcasts make them a great way to establish a reputation for thought leadership for your brand. By providing original commentary on important industry topics, you let your audiences know you’re an expert on the things that matter to them.
Humanize Your Brand
Podcasts feature real humans having real conversations—something that’s missing from most other types of B2B content, like blogs or emails. When you feature your company’s internal experts, audiences get to know the real people behind the solutions you provide. It builds connection and trust.
Offer Collaboration Opportunities
Podcasts lend themselves well to interviews, conversations, and hosting special guests. They’re an ideal platform for collaborating with industry partners who can add unique perspectives on certain topics, as well as featuring customers who can share their experiences and success stories with your brand.
Can Be Easily Repurposed
Podcasts can be easily repurposed into other content types for wider reach and higher engagement. It’s easy to turn podcast highlights into a blog post, summarize it in an email, or even create a downloadable lead magnet—like an ebook—based on expert insights from a podcast episode.
Easily Shareable Across Platforms
Because podcasts can be easily uploaded and streamed on a variety of platforms—from the ones already mentioned above to various social media platforms, and even company websites—they’re easy to share and promote across your digital marketing channels. This means your engagement ROI goes up with each podcast episode you share.
Can Be Consumed On-the-Go
Unlike text content or even videos that require visual engagement, podcasts are easy to consume while people are on-the-go. In fact, the most popular times and places people report listening to B2B podcasts are while driving/commuting, while at home doing something else, and while working out.
This means B2B podcasting opens up new avenues for you to reach your target business audiences even when they aren’t at work or even focusing primarily on work.
So—Is Podcasting Right for Your B2B Business?
While there’s no denying that B2B podcasting is on the rise as an effective content marketing tactic, you might be wondering: Is it right for my business?
If you’ve never done podcasting before, it might feel daunting to imagine how you’d begin to develop a strategy around it, let alone create podcast content and share it effectively. The good news? Much like with blogging a decade or so ago, there’s a learning curve that everyone is currently experiencing as B2B podcasting becomes more prevalent. The key is simply to start.
There’s no niche, industry, or type of business that can’t succeed with podcasting. Like any other type of content, podcasts succeed when they’re accurately targeted to the right audiences, cover topics that are relevant and timely, and do so in an engaging way that delivers value.
Here are some quick tips to help you get started:
- Refine your ideal audiences: Know who you’re targeting with your podcast content.
- Get inspiration from other content: Look through blog topics and other parts of your content library to find topic ideas.
- Leverage internal expertise: Start by featuring people within your organization who have insights to share.
- Don’t get too fancy: You might want to invest in production equipment down the road, but to get started, you only need a computer or smartphone and a decent microphone.
- Make a plan: Create outlines for your topical podcasts and a calendar for when you’ll record and deliver them.
- Listen to other podcasts: Use already-popular B2B podcasts as a guide for podcast formats and other best practices.
- Ask for feedback: Soft launch your podcast to audiences you trust, and use their feedback to keep improving as you publish more episodes.
Take the Next Steps
You’ll get the most out of your B2B podcast content when you integrate it with a smart digital marketing strategy that includes inbound and outbound efforts. To that end, RevBoss can help you succeed.
Our outbound marketing and lead generation services include incorporating high-value content that will engage and convert high potential prospects. Schedule a quick call with us to get started.