How to Turn a Podcast into a Lead Generation Machine

f you build it the right way, a podcast can build your brand, new relationships, and continually display your industry expertise. We have found it to be one of the most consistent of our foundational strategies.

Why Launch a B2B Interview Podcast?

Building relationships is essential to conducting successful business, but it takes time to gain someone’s trust. With an interview podcast, however, that time doesn’t need to be more than thirty minutes.

People love sharing their stories, which is why a good interview builds rapport so quickly — you dive straight into who a person is or what a company represents. An interview podcast capitalizes on this and easily integrates into a lead funnel that yields referrals, partnerships, or even direct sales. In fact, this strategy works particularly well for procuring relational sales in the five-figure range, although even larger sales also draw benefit from it.

This playbook will review the three types of B2B interview podcast and their benefits, discuss the ideal guests for your goals and chosen podcast type, and guide you through the process of setting up and running such a podcast. If you’re still unsure whether an interview podcast is a viable B2B marketing strategy, a few simple calculations will clear away the doubt.

Is a podcast right for my organization?

This guide will help you answer that question by reviewing the types of B2B interview podcasts and the benefits of each. If you discover that a podcast is worth the investment (both time and money), you’ll learn what type of guests to solicit for interviews on your show, based on your goals and chosen podcast type.

Once you learn the ins and outs of podcast interviews that align with your goals, we’ll dive into the nitty gritty how-tos behind making a podcast. Where to start, resources you’ll need, and how to make your podcast go further for your business.

What Kind of B2B Podcast is Right for Your Goals?

The types of podcasts we discuss in this guide are all interview based. Call For Content recommends interview shows to our clients for a few simple reasons.

There are three fundamental interview show styles that we see working well for B2B businesses:

As you read through each style, keep in mind your goals for the podcast. They set your frame for every decision to come. If you don’t have your goals laid out yet, walk through the Authority Marketing Playbook first to set the stage for your content marketing.

Let’s walk through who should use each type of podcast and the results you can expect from each one.

AUTHORITY BUILDER SHOWS

For a new or unknown B2B company, establishing yourself as an expert in your niche is key to growing your brand quickly.

If your company has high-value sales ($10,000+) and you’re looking for a way to generate steady lead flow or build a deep network in a targeted market, Authority Builder podcasts can be an extremely effective tool to meet both of those goals.

Authority Builder podcasts feature two main types of guests: 1) well-known experts directly related to your niche, and 2) your ideal prospects, either for networking or to approach directly about purchasing your products and services.

When your guest is a niche expert, you benefit from the halo of their expertise. Their presence is meant to not only provide compelling content for discussion, but also to accelerate your authority generation and credibility in the marketplace.

You’re automatically gaining credibility by showing potential customers that other people at the top of your niche think highly enough of your business to spend their valuable time appearing on your show.

Hey {fname},

Finding awesome guests like you is hard, which why I ask my past guests for help! Do you know any {target guest persona} who might want to come on the show?

{Signature}

On the other hand, when your guest is a prospect (and the interviews are done well), your own expertise is on display in real time. When you interview these guests, it’s an opportunity to showcase your know-how by asking them intelligent, insightful questions about topics that matter to your audience.

With both expert and prospect guests, you’re building authority and expanding your relationships while building a deep network in a targeted market.

Authority Builder shows require a fair amount of planning. Getting the right people onto your show is key, so put some time and energy into finding and booking great guests You’ll need to dig into your target market to find out who your prospects are and the experts they follow. Use our personas workbook to map what that looks like.

Then, you’ll need to coordinate the logistics and scheduling of getting those guests onto your show. When you’re doing this, be sure to coordinate promotion of the episode through both your channels and those of your guests. Your expert guests will most likely have a much bigger following than you at this point, and the extra effort of having industry experts promoting your show and your company name are well worth it.

Once you’ve mastered finding and interviewing the right guests, preparing and producing an Authority Builder podcast is relatively easy. We recommend watching out for unnecessary filler words, such as “ah” and “um,” and edit out any long tangents that don’t add value. For this level of production, you can either hire an editor or learn to edit the shows yourself. And, for the sake of credibility—which are important for attracting high-quality guests—make sure to use a consistent intro and outro for all of your shows.

An Authority Builder show done right has potential for extremely strong ROI. In addition to the authority you’re building, you’re creating a pipeline of potential prospects. After you’ve spent 30 minutes (or more) talking with a prospect via a podcast interview, that person will be far more inclined to accept an invitation from you to sit down and discuss how your services can help solve their problems. Plus, hearing directly from your prospects about their challenges gives you detailed information about what types of services would best fit their needs, so you can continue to discuss and update your offerings accordingly.

An example of an Authority Builder show done well is the Consulting Pipeline Podcast. It has a clearly defined focus — the journey from generalist to specialist — and its host organizes all of the show’s content around that central idea. Additional examples include High Velocity Radio, which celebrates top performers, and Talk With the Top: St. Louis, which shares positive stories about the local business and entrepreneur community in St. Louis, MO.

As your Authority Builder show (and business) grows, it’s well-positioned to evolve into a Top of the Market show.

TOP OF THE MARKET SHOWS

If you’re an established brand looking to position yourself as a market leader, or if you have a good sized (2k+) existing audience, this type of B2B podcast may be the best option for you.

Top of the Market shows cover the state of your industry. They focus on macro trends and only feature well-known guests, sometimes in a roundtable format, discussing cutting-edge or popular topics. These podcasts are meant to showcase your business’s expertise and to establish you as the go-to source for your market’s latest ideas, trends, and hot-topic discussions.

Top of the Market shows are best used as part of a multi-channel content strategy. You can use your podcast to tie into or expand on topics that you’re already talking about elsewhere. Podcasting in this way is a powerful medium to get your message across to your target audience. It gives you an opportunity to speak directly to them about the topics they care about.

Since the goal of this type of podcast is to position you as a market leader, Top of the Market shows are best created with professional producers and post-production audio engineers. You’ll want to achieve top quality in both format and content, and that will require more planning than the other types of shows discussed in this guide. To attract and maintain high-quality guests, you’ll want to get your entire content team on board with advertising and using the show. A strong launch goal for a Top of the Market show could be reaching 50+ reviews on iTunes or reaching over 1,000 downloads per episode. This level of performance will make your show extremely enticing to high-level guests in your industry.

A few examples of Top of the Market shows done well include Hubspot’s The Growth Show, Unbounce’s Call to Action, and Copyblogger FM’s Digital Marketing and Sales Network. Each of these shows (and network) features a rotating lineup of experts talking about general topics important to listeners, such as tips for writing better blog comments and ways to use data analytics to inspire creativity. They also don’t shy away from tackling more complex topics like the future of marketing or more general business strategy.

Top-of-the-market shows establish you as the go-to source for your market’s latest ideas and trends.

CULTURE SHOWS

Culture shows, unsurprisingly, work best for larger companies that have a strong emphasis on putting culture and people first. If your company has a very clearly defined workplace culture and wants to highlight it, this type of podcast is a great way to do just that.

Unlike the authority-builder and top-of-the-market varieties, a culture podcast is focused internally, rather than externally. Guests will be people who are experts on your company’s culture — that is, your employees and partners. Instead of focusing on topics of relevance to your prospects, the content will be geared toward discussing what’s most important to your internal team members.

The main goal of a culture podcast is to serve as a binding force to emphasize your company’s culture and reward exemplary colleagues with a feature on the show. It’s a good way to showcase employees’ and partners’ accomplishments.

For example, if a team from your accounting department took the initiative to band together and solve a difficult problem, have them on the show. Let them talk about how they incorporated teamwork and your company’s other values into their approach, and how that led to success.

A culture podcast can work well in companies that are large enough that everyone doesn’t necessarily interact with each other on a daily basis; it gives all employees an opportunity to learn about each other’s jobs. The knowledge that leadership recognizes and rewards dedication is also effective at keeping up employee morale and motivation.

Depending on the direction you choose to go with production, culture shows can make effective employee recruiting tools. If one of your selling points is your company’s strong culture, your podcast can be a good way to demonstrate that action and content. It shows potential recruits that you’re serious about honoring your culture and employees. In some cases, you can build fans out of potential employees before they even apply.

Another benefit of culture podcasts is that they give listeners outside the company a peek into its operations and inner workings. This can be effective if you want your customers to know more about your brand beyond the products and services you offer. Your show can give them a more personal look at your organization than what they would normally get through public relations or sales.

Because most or all of the guests on culture shows are internal, you won’t need to do much in the way of advanced planning or booking guests. You can book employees to appear on the show when it’s convenient for both them and the show’s host, and you can also book company partners and leadership to discuss topics of relevance with greater ease than unrelated guests.

Production value for a culture podcast doesn’t need to be at a professional level. Keep it light. If you have the budget to hire an editor, great! But it’s certainly not necessary.

A culture show isn’t focused on bottom-line ROI. It’s not about directly generating revenue or customers. The purpose of the culture podcast is:

A few examples of well-known culture shows include Leadpages’ ConversionCast, Shopify’s Employees Only Podcast and the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital show. Each of these has a slightly different focus, but each one is effective. Shopify’s show is truly aimed at just its employees, with the goal of getting people in a growing business to understand what other team members are doing. The Leadpages and Johns Hopkins shows focus a little more on giving outsiders a glimpse into their organizations.

Doing the Math: Is a B2B Podcast Worth it?

You might still wonder if something like this is even worth it for your business in the first place. As with most marketing, the initial answer is, “It depends,” but we want to give you a quick method of getting a more specific answer. This does, of course, involve the previously mentioned calculations.

Note that if you’re looking to create a lead-generating show, this tool will help you get an estimate. If you’re creating a top-of-the-market or culture show, however, go ahead and skip this section; this tool won’t be effective for you.

First, you need to have a few numbers on hand. If you don’t track your sales funnel, we’ll provide conservative estimates to use instead. You’ll need the following parameters:

The Formula

A twice-per-month show generally costs about $700 – $900 monthly to produce if you outsource production and host it yourself. If you’ve got your target market well-identified, then you should be able to have ~50% of them qualify as prospects when they appear on your show. If you’ve got a 25% close rate, then you’ll be looking at 3 new clients this year. If you accept clients starting at a minimum $5,000, and your average is $15,000/client, that’s $30,000 in new revenue. With an annual cost of $10,000 and 30 hours/year to run a top of the line twice weekly show, you’ll need profit margins above 50% to make these back of the napkin calculations work. That type of margin isn’t uncommon in consulting and other B2B services, but it’s not easy either. If you have a higher minimum or a better close rate, then a twice-per-month show is probably worth looking into.

If you go for a weekly show, the numbers start to look a even better. A weekly show costs ~$1,500/month to hire a production team. That’s $18,000/year. That’s a lot of money, so is it worthwhile?

That’s 6 new clients at a $10,000 average from doing 48 episodes/year. Since most of your content marketing efforts are accounted for in those hours of recording, and you can expect 6 new clients that’ll more than cover the costs of the show, the numbers work out in your favor.

Doing The Math For Your Business

Below, you will find a handy calculator that I’ve created to help you use this formula for your own business. Inputting your information, you can decide: is podcasting for direct sales worth it for my business ventures?

Again, this tool is useful for Authority Building Shows.

While you’re at it, consider other ways you could use podcasting. Perhaps you could use a podcast to build referral partnerships or other lead-generating sources from new relationships. While they may not be quite as direct as the lead generation route discussed in this guide, they can still provide you with ample leads, and many times are even more effective than the direct approach.

That wasn’t so bad, was it? You’ve got the math done and you know this will be beneficial for your company Now, let’s make some moves on guests. Specifically, what kind of people should you be interviewing?

Finding the Perfect Guests for your Podcast

You know what kind of show you’d like to run — and if that’s an authority-builder, you’ve also got the math done and know a podcast will pay off for you.

Next, you’ll want to know what kind of people you should be interviewing. Just as your goals dictate the kind of show you should host, they also frame your ideal guests. We’ll keep that in mind as we dive into strategy.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

In terms of choosing guests, your goals will frame who you seek out as prospects. If you’re creating an authority-builder show, your guests should improve your authority and/or be a potential customer lead.

For example, Michael Greenberg utilized his aforementioned podcast, Talk with the Top: St. Louis, to achieve his professional goals. In moving back to St. Louis, he wanted to meet entrepreneurs in the city, so that’s what he made Talk with the Top about. He used the podcast as a forum to interview entrepreneurs and executives at larger companies. He got to meet them, grow his relationships with them, and learn from them. He used the show primarily to grow his network, but also to feel out an occasional lead at the same time.

Here are a couple more ideas:

Interview these people and people who have been where they were. Create content to benefit them. Keep them constantly in mind as you plan and produce. Not only will you create a podcast for the industry in which you’re aiming to network, you’ll get to know the needs of your market even further. This will set you up perfectly to fill those gaps and sell your services.

On the other hand, if you’re creating a top-of-the-market podcast, your goal for guests is to find people who bring expertise to the conversation. What does your audience want to hear? From whom do they want to hear? From whom do they already learn? Those are the experts you want to bring onto your show.

With culture shows, your guests are, in a sense, built in. Your goal is to showcase the people within your organization, so you know exactly where to look to find prospective guests.

WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS NICHE?

Your niche should be a specific area:

The best niches are a hybrid of these three categories. Spend a bit of time nailing down possible niches for your podcast. For more help on learning how to choose your niche, view our Authority Marketing Playbook.

After looking at your options, make a choice and run with it. Remember: if you start in one area and it feels like it’s failing or not as successful as you’d hope, you can change directions to a different area at no cost.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO OFFER YOUR GUESTS?

It seems like the most common fear in podcasting is a fear of reaching out to prospective guests and extending the invite. Don’t be afraid. Guests want to be on your show — even if it doesn’t exist yet.

The odds are good they’re not getting enough media exposure and you could help them with that. Beyond even that, there is a wealth of benefits for them that can come from being a guest:

A simple, practical start to get your feet wet in podcasting hosting is using a safety net: allied guests. These are guests with whom you’re already familiar, so they allow you to ease into your first episodes — you already have an existing relationship with them, so the pressure is off.

These guests may include current clients, or even friends, who are willing to spend thirty minutes helping you. And again, they reap the mutual benefits of being a guest. Have a few of these low-pressure guests on, find your feet, and post your first few episodes. Then, as you reach out to new guests, refer back to the allied guest episodes for examples.

Guests want to be on your show — even if it doesn’t exist yet.

GUESTS TO FIT YOUR GOALS

With your goals and the mutual benefits of your guests in mind, let’s find some invitees to suit your purposes. We’ll start with your existing clientele as a reference.

Your Guest Personas

A common method of finding guests is building composite personas based off of data and demographics. People will take general information about their target market to create a concept of a person.

There is better way to approach personas, however: Use real people to build your personas. Identify your best customers (see the Authority Marketing Playbook for how to do so) and choose five, our magic number. By choosing five, you have enough information to generalize, but you’re still being selective and choosing top customers.

Find the exact list of questions Call for Content uses to build our personas in the Authority Marketing Playbook.

Here’s a shorter version for reference:

Search on LinkedIn and try to find 20 more people like those first five. If you can find 20, chances are you can find one hundred more.

Building Personas

In the art world, a blending stick is a rolled up piece of paper that is used to create softness in charcoal drawings by buffing out the sharp detail. Similarly, you want to convert specific individuals into general personas, so you’ll take one of your ideal customers and blend away some of their details.

For example, maybe they read Forbes. Instead of leaving it there, blend that down to general business magazines. They’re the VP of sales for their organization? Blend that to general sales leadership. With your metaphorical blending stick, you’re going to find overlaps and create a general persona, which will allow you to search for a less limited, but still beneficial, target.

The Actual How-To

You know a B2B podcast is a smart move, you have your concept and your guests, and now it’s time for the actual how-to’s. Podcast implementation has three main considerations, which we’ll cover in this section:

INVITING GUESTS TO PODCASTS

Once you have your personas created and have a list of prospective guests for your podcast it’s time to move from the research stage to invitation. Making the ask can sometimes be intimidating. However, your company has a game-changing offer for your prospective podcast guests: Media exposure.

In short: it’s worth it for both parties. So let’s jump into how you’re going to do it.

Making Contact: An Outreach Plan

An outreach plan consists of the actions and emails to reach and acquire guests for your show. In putting that together, you are going to want to plan on a decent amount of follow up – anywhere from four to seven emails. If they’re pretty active on LinkedIn, use that to connect.

Interact with them a bit online before making the ask. This could include actions like engaging with their content or retweeting their tweets. Comment on a post or share something from them on Twitter. This provides a point of entry that puts you on their map while engaging with them in their field of authority.

Then, increase engagement with them — send a comment via email or LinkedIn about a recent post, and explain that you think they have solid knowledge in their field. Use that as a platform to invite them on as a guest. Be very up front with the fact that you want to invite them onto your podcast. Subtlety is not necessary here. An invite is flattering. Do your research on them, including reasons that explain why you think they’re a good fit for your show.

In waiting for response, be persistent but not annoying. Continue to engage until you receive a yes or no.

Email Template for Guest Outreach

Hi {first name},

Your article about {article topic} was a really interesting read. My listeners would love to hear what you have to say on {topic}.

{Name of your podcast} is focused on {theme}. {The format of the show is 20 minutes of discussion on our chosen topic, and then a 10-minute Q&s;A session.} You can listen to our episodes here: {website}.

Would you be interested in coming on as a guest?

Sincerely,

Your signature}

You can even automate this follow-up process with a tool like Reply. Schedule a data-driven follow-up campaign that will run automatically and improve your chances of getting a response to your invite.

Their Response and How to React to It

When you get a yes, congratulations! Thank them for their willingness and be sure to keep them updated: inform them about when you’re releasing the episode, where you’re posting it, and how you’re promoting it. Good communication is one of the greatest gifts you can give your guests to help them make this podcast useful to them too.

If you get a no, that’s okay! Don’t let it get you down and try again, but file the person away. If it was a no because the show’s not big enough for them just yet, put them in a folder for when you do reach the necessary popularity. If you get a no because they’re just not interested, let them go; there are plenty more fish in the sea.

Any time it seems appropriate, ask why they said no: ten out of ten times, it will be helpful for you to find out. They might not know what a podcast is or what being a guest entails, or they may think it takes a lot of time (it doesn’t — thirty minutes to an hour at most). Their answer will guide you either in clearing away their confusion or in understanding how to alter your approach when targeting others in the future.

SHOW FORMAT

Consistency is key to a successful podcast. That’s why you’ll need a regular show format for your recordings. Keep the outline for each episode generally the same. This makes life easier for you while building a brand for your podcast by establishing what listeners can expect.

Here are some show format examples to get you started:

Another question asked a lot is how your podcast should be scheduled: should you do seasons, or should you air year-round? Well, what works best for your company’s capacity? Whatever you decide, the most important thing is to be consistent.

For example, releasing six episodes in six weeks every year is manageable for a small company, while releasing one episode per week, every week of the year, is a more ambitious goal that requires a significantly larger budget — not to mention commitment. Making this decision is tough for anyone with a busy schedule, but planning ahead will save you a lot of time and effort.

MATERIALS AND PROCESS

With your first guests lined up and your podcast’s format determined, you can finally focus on the practical aspect of the show. Materials naturally refer to the equipment and software you’ll need to produce the podcast itself, whereas processes simply refer to the technical organisation of your show.

Technology

Podcasts keep things cheap. If you have a laptop and wired headphones with a mic, you’ve got the baselines to record. For a more professional sound, you can get a decent quality USB microphone for a few hundred dollars. We like the Blue Yeti. Make sure you get one with a pop filter (the round screen-like thing).

Podcasts usually try to keep things cheap. If you have a laptop and wired headphones with a microphone, you’ve got the baselines to record. For a more professional sound, you can get a decent-quality USB microphone for a few hundred dollars — we recommend the Blue Yeti. But whichever microphone you end up choosing, make sure to get one with a pop filter (the round screen-like thing covering it).

You’ll also want a reliable internet connection, of course. A good measure of decent connection is whether you can hold online audio calls without encountering lag or static.

As for software, there are a few good options:

For higher-end podcasts like top-of-the-market shows, you may want to consider buying some more expensive production equipment. A soundboard and XLR-input microphone will give you more options for audio control and even better sound quality.

You can also move up to Ringr’s premium plan, which offers studio-level sound quality. Ringr works well for in-person interviews when you have a separate mic and soundboard, but it also makes it even easier to interview remotely when they’re combined.

Processes

You’ll need an intro and outro to sound professional. Don’t skip it! It’ll cost about $100 to have one created for you. You can have it done cheaper using a marketplace like Freeeup or by recording one yourself.

As far as timing, we try to plan three months ahead. Have a extra few episodes pre-recorded to build a backlog before launch. Reach out to guests 4-6 weeks in advance of recording. This gives a low-pressure timeline for response, follow-up, and working out details. Always have a few episodes in your backlog in case something goes wrong. That way you’ve got some slack and won’t miss publishing due to an emergency or vacation.

Once you’ve started publishing, promote your podcast and start going beyond the guest!

Show Format

You’ll need a regular show format for your recordings. Keep the outline for each episode generally the same. This makes life easier for you while building a brand for your podcast by establishing what listeners can expect.

Here are some show format examples to get you started:

Another question we get a lot is about scheduling the shows. Should you do seasons? Do you want to go year-round? What works best for your company’s capacity? Whatever you decide, the most important thing is to be consistent. For instance, release six episodes in six weeks every year. Or, one episode per week, every week, year-round. This is one of the toughest parts for anyone with a busy schedule, but planning ahead will save you sweat and stress.

Marketing Your Podcast

MARKETING FOR SUCCESS

While not absolutely essential, marketing can be the difference between mediocrity and great success for your show. Marketing is inherently less important for Culture shows because of the internal audience, but marketing Authority Builder and Top of the Market shows helps you attract even higher-calibur guests.

For Authority Builder and Top of the Market shows, your target listener will overlap with your ideal guest, so you can use your guest personas to drive your marketing strategy. You’ll already know where they spend time online, their biggest pain points, the types of media they consume, and much more thanks to your previous research.

Since your show has a niche, you can gain a lot of traction by reaching out to related online communities—Facebook groups, Quora, LinkedIn groups. Building relationships and having a presence within these groups by answering questions and sharing your content provides great exposure to your show and your brand.

Culture shows have a built-in audience since they’re often focused internally, so marketing should be pretty straightforward. Depending on the size of your organization and what existing internal communication strategies are in place, you could share it in the newsletter, post on group chats, share in your project management tool, and more.

You don’t necessarily need to market a podcast to really get results from it. If you are mostly doing the show to meet, interview, and build relationships with people, then focus on that. Just send out an email newsletter about your show and have it on iTunes.

But if you are looking to build an audience online, then you need to put time and energy into marketing.

Regardless of your marketing efforts, or lack thereof, we recommend choosing a regular rhythm and sticking to it, the same as you want to be doing for releasing podcasts.

Marketing can be the difference between mediocrity and great success.

WHAT IF THINGS AREN’T GOING WELL?

If you’re trying out a show and things aren’t going well, don’t fret. Always remember that you are able to change anything and everything at any time. You can rename the show, create a new show, or choose a different market or logo. Nothing is concrete; change just needs to be communicated to your audience thoroughly.

Repurposing Your Podcast

Podcasts are an excellent resource for your content marketing efforts because you can use them in other channels. As you record shows, your archives will become a wealth of quotes, facts, and information that you’ll be able to turn into evergreen content. This will save you time, money, and energy and it will ensure that your marketing efforts and messages are coordinated across all channels.

Infographics are a simple example of content that you can create using your podcast transcripts. Whenever you or a guest are discussing numbers or percentages, you can turn that information into an infographic to post on social media, your website, brochures, handouts, or other collateral. Go a step beyond and include your favorite tips along with visual examples to create an informative infographic summary of the interview.

Social media is another great outlet for repurposing your podcast content. Simply highlight or note the best sound bites from your podcasts and post or tweet them out to your audience. A double bonus of doing this is that it automatically promotes your podcast to your followers.

When repurposing you’ll want to keep in mind the needs of your audience. Think about what will be easiest for them to take in, not what’s easiest for you to make.

Have Call for Content Create Your Podcast

You’ve read this far, which means you probably agree that a podcast would be beneficial for your business. And even though we walked through how to create and manage it on your own, there could be a handful of reasons why doing it in house just may not make sense:

At Call for Content, we offer end-to-end podcasting services starting at $1,000/month.

If you’re interested in starting a B2B podcast and want a partner along the way, contact us via the chat in the lower right.