For this talk about your own business podcast, this article is directed toward the sales, marketing, advertising, and branding professionals in a particular business.
When you’ve decided to add a business podcast to your marketing mix, one of the first things you have to consider is,
- How am I going to sell that to management? and
- How am I going to get them to recognize that this is a good idea for our company?
As you approach these questions, you must recognize you bond with people on the problem, not your solution. In other words, if you go in there and say, “Yeah, a great podcast will bring us closer to our customers and differentiate ourselves and the competitive herd, and it’ll better personalize our efforts in the eyes of our market”, that’s all true.
But that won’t motivate management.
Instead, you want to sell on the problems you want to solve with your podcast.
When we talk to people about business podcasts, (and in our experience, we talk to folks who are typically at the director/VP level or above), here’s what’s troubling these folks.
The First Problem
How do you extend the awareness of your brand, your service, or your products beyond any direct customer contact?
In other words, if I work with your company, I know what you do. But the minute that handshake is over and you leave the office, or the minute I’m done using your product, your job is to make sure I am somehow emotionally connected to your organization. So I use you again. So I refer other folks to you. And so I push back on any competitive advancements. Oh, and by the way, for companies that are service-based or who have a large service component, this issue is extremely difficult to deal with.
The Second Problem
How do you break through the clutter of the four hundred to three thousand marketing messages we receive every day?
Product listing ads, display ads, demand-side platform ads, affiliate ads, native ads, banner ads, social media ads, and video ads. Billboards (stationary and mobile). Email ads (and spam). Telemarketers. Spam text. Direct mail. TV commercial. Radio commercial. Print ads (newspaper and magazines). The list goes on and on. And the truth is this; because people see so much advertising, they in turn recognize so little. In other words, they just start blocking it out.
If Johnny jumped off the bridge, would you?
So what do most folks do to address these two issues? They continue to use the same sales and marketing techniques as everybody else in their field.
In other words, restaurants, do restaurant marketing, casinos do casino-type marketing, and telecoms do telecom marketing. But if you do the same thing as everybody else, you look like everybody else? The marketing term for that is called “functional equivalency”. And that almost always leads to brand invisibility.
Let me give you an example. When was the last time you saw a restaurant release a white paper? Never. But if you’re in a high-tech business, have you ever published a white paper? You have, and the reason is that everybody else is doing it as well. Making you functional equivalent to your competitors.
Fortunately, this is a problem we solve.
These two problems can be solved by a well-planned, well-produced, well-published, and well-promoted business podcast.
How?
Work with a consultant that has a methodology based upon real-world testing. If you’re gonna produce a podcast, it needs to be the best. If the quality is poor (both from a content and production perspective) people are gonna know. With all the great content out there, you’re going to be measured against the other content. If you put out bad work, your audience will know it. . .which will hurt your reputation.
The Power of a Great Business Podcast
It’s important to remember that a great business podcast provides you with ubiquitous access to the three areas a person can be. Your podcast can be consumed in somebody’s car, at work, and at home. In other words, anywhere a customer or prospect goes your brand follows.
If you’ve started down the path of launching your own podcast, but are in need of some help, call us. Ask us the tough questions, and see if we can answer.
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