Account-Based Podcasting 101

“A podcast is a great way to develop relationships with hard-to-reach people.” – Tim Paige

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has been a pivotal strategy in getting revenue teams aligned together to create personalized experiences for target accounts for a while. But in the constantly evolving marketing landscape, the old school methods for ABM just don’t cut it, you need to take your ABM efforts up a notch.

Wondering how?

The name is Podcasting. Account-Based Podcasting!

Podcasts are all the rage in our digital world. According to a report^[i], there are over 48 million episodes as of April 2021! And adding the podcast twist to your ABM strategy offers a unique and effective way to engage your audio-activated audience.

And the best part is that podcasting fits perfectly into your ABM strategy.

Let’s learn all about account-based podcasting (ABP) and how you can use it to jazz up your ABM strategy with a superior personalized experience.

What is Account-Based Podcasting and Why is it Worth it?

Similar to ABM, ABP is all about targeting high-value accounts and creating a personalized experience with your brand podcast. With ABP, you can deliver highly engaging content to your ideal audience in a way that leaves them in awe of you.

Do you know, around 74%^[ii] of podcast listeners tune in because they wish to learn something new? And 67% of podcast listeners^[iii] are between 18 and 44 years. In fact, 45% of podcast listeners^[iv] have an annual household income higher than $250,000. Additionally, 41% of listeners make $75K^[v] or more a year.

These stats highlight that most listeners are financially sound and tend to hold key positions within the businesses they work for. Sure this won’t apply to every listener of your podcast but for those that it does apply to are more likely to have influence within their workplace and be able to recommend your product.

How to Fit Account-Based Podcasting in Your Marketing Strategy?

Now that you know how podcasts can fuel your outreach, let’s understand how you can tailor your podcast to your audience so that your ABP efforts add value to their specific journey.

1. Define Your Audience

Before anything else, you have to define your target podcast audience based on your ideal customer profile (ICP). It helps your sales and marketing teams to identify the key decision-makers or senior influencers and how you can woo them to conversion. You can even dig into your CRM reports to figure out your deal sizes, high-value accounts, the ones with a longer sales cycle, etc, to understand which similar accounts you can target with your podcast.

If you haven’t documented your ICP yet, you can look into:

• Which industry do they work in and what is their role?
• What are their values, interests, and attitudes?
• What are their current challenges and pain points?
• How would your products/services address their challenges?

Based on these and your CRM data, you’ll know all about your ideal customer. And for ABP, you can think along the lines of:

• Where is your audience most likely to listen to your content?
• Can you focus on those channels?
• What could you talk about in your podcast that they would be interested in?

You should know it has to be someone who would benefit from your products and services, has the resources to pay for it, and has challenges that you can address with your podcast episodes.

2. Unite Your ABP With Your Content Strategy

“Your podcast content should not be about you, but about solving your prospects’ problems.” – Steve Lubetkin

Your content strategy can make or break your podcast and that’s why you should craft it carefully. For ABP, get your sales team to brainstorm ideas for your podcast content. They can highlight what customers need and what challenges keep them from achieving their goals. This will help you identify topics that map back to the prospects’ key problems.

While spinning your podcast content, always keep your target audience in mind. For instance, analyze different buyer personas, company sizes, deal sizes, or stages of the sales cycle. Get granular and tweak a generic topic into an industry-specific content piece.

3. Craft Personalized Playlists

Before Spotify got us hooked, we all loved the simpler things, like creating a mixtape. So, why not create a mixtape for your prospects with your podcasts? Compiling audio content that talks about what your prospects want to know or learn about can be a powerful and unique way to bundle up helpful information. If you already have some podcast episodes, you can cherry-pick them according to your target audience and pack it all up to arm them with relevant information that will move the needle. You can even create a series of podcasts targeting your area of expertise, for instance, our community podcast talks series covers the whole nine yards of the community space.

4. Measure the Results

Your podcast episodes won’t get the ROI you desire if you don’t understand what works for you and what doesn’t. That’s why it is crucial for you to evaluate your efforts against your goal. For instance, if you plan to use ABP to effectively reach a new audience and convert them, you should look into:

• What’s the number of subscribers from your target industry/segment?
• Do listeners stay with you throughout the podcast? If not, what’s losing their interest?
• Does your podcast need to be shorter? Do you need another content topic or theme?
• How many podcast participants agreed to a meeting with your company?

With account-based podcasting in your corner, you can make your audience trust you, feel connected with your company, and motivate them to be your customers and brand advocates. All you’ve got to do is give it a chance, won’t you?

Want to know more about the superpowers of ABP? Talk to us!

References

^[i] 2021 Podcast Stats & Facts
^{[ii] [ii] [iv] [v]} The Art of Podcasting