Wanna do a podcast? Rockstar’s only need apply

We’re almost at the time of year when you get all those ‘The Three Things You Must Do in Marcomms Next Year’ pieces. I’m going to guess ‘Start A Client Podcast’ is right up there… and I’m going to say That’s a lot, lot easier said than done.

Don’t get me wrong. Love me some radio. Very keen on some Stephen Fry type podcasts; there are some very funny and insightful Liverpool FC podcasts I get value from, like The Anfield Wrap. Give me a Michael Parkinson-level interviewer able to charm the best out of his guests and let us find out something new and amazing—I’m in.

But can you get that in Business to Business? I couldn’t see it. So, I skipped recommending this format to my clients. ?And while I am not saying I am a total convert; I need to eat my words somewhat—as I have been fortunate enough to see some genuinely cool and effective B2B podcasting up close.

But I also had my instincts confirmed that you have to be lucky and work hard to do this right, as it is blooming difficult, very, very time consuming, expensive, takes a lot of planning and managing--and that just the know-how of how to put it together and manage it and publish it, etc., is far from a trivial task.

Plus, on top of all of that, to command any attention for your podcast you genuinely need to be a bit of a rock star in your subject area before step 1. AND that rock star has to have an engaging, inclusive and encouraging personality for it to work for visitors to feel relaxed and comfortable—that Michael Parkinson bit of fairy dust.

But with Sarum’s great client, headless ecommerce leader Spryker we got all that as a very unexpected free gift. Specifically, the company has a charismatic, genuine, subject matter expert as Co-CEO, Alexander Graf of The Ecommerce Book fame (hailed as the best German-language text book in the whole field).

It turns out that Alex is also very well-known in his market via his very popular ‘Commerce Talks’ podcast (and associated Kassenzone series). ‘Commerce Talks’ is a business interview show that regularly features Alex debating with CEOs and CIOs from very large retailers, manufacturers, big brands. And he gets these A-List people on because he's hugely respected as an ecommerce expert, entrepreneur, commentator, and author.

So: we set about not just doing his and Spryker’s PR, but PR for the podcast too? That’s worked out great, I am glad to say: in parallel with the usual; journalist outreach, we now pitch for guests for the podcast, educating them on what it will do for their brand and what the benefits are.

The three ingredients

And as I’ve learned a few things along the way about what it really takes to run a successful podcast now, let me share some insights:

1. Very senior people won’t just appear on your podcast for the ego. Without exception, they and/or their teams do their due diligence: Are they in the company of equivalent level businesspeople who've also participated in his podcast? What are Alex’s credentials??
2. Some (not all, but so far, most) focus on stats. They do need to know impact and if not Joe Rogan level numbers, that this isn’t just Alex and his Mum listening: How many listeners does it have? How specific are they? Are they just in one country, or are they ecommerce people from across the world
3. Is this just Spryker advertising? As I said above, this is the Achilles Heel of most B2B podcasts, but we’re lucky here as Alex has always decoupled it from his day job; he doesn’t hide the fact he is at Spryker (which also adds to his cred)—all this came before and is standalone.

So, for Alex and Spryker we’re on solid ground- we have good stats and 5-star reviews to show there’s an audience—we’re on all the right hubs, so Apple and SoundCloud, Google Podcasts and Spotify and a proven 25,000 listener base; and this is genuinely not a thinly veiled, promotional piece for Spryker, it’s its own organic thing.

Impress the triage team

And I can tell you from the flip side, if you can’t tick all these boxes—that this is a real show by a real expert genuinely looking to find the stuff out ecomm people need to know—you’re really going to struggle getting convincing guests. I know this as we also represent global HR analyst Josh Bersin, and I can tell you he's invited on to podcasts all the time… and I'd have to say not many presents in the way Commerce Talks does. ?We're his triage team here as so many ‘opportunities’ just fail one or more of these podcast gating factors.

I have come through to the other side, then, of my feelings about B2B podcasts. I'm happy to say now that a podcast done really, really well by a sector rock star who knows what they’re doing as host of the podcast, has raised my appreciation of the value of podcasts.