Account-based marketing has taken the sales and marketing industries by storm. Modern B2B sales and marketing teams are turning to ABM to provide a more personalized buying experience for specific sets of high-value accounts.
Those teams work together to drive revenue by weaving in messaging tailored to each stage of the account's buying journey. That approach works. But, to better engage prospects and create a unique buying experience, it needs to level-up as buyer expectations evolve.
So, I present to you an add-on to your ABM strategy: account-based podcasting. Or, as I like to call it, ABP.
What Is Account-Based Podcasting?
ABP, like ABM, creates a personalized experience specifically for your target accounts. ABP enriches your ABM strategy by putting your brand's podcast at the center of your account-based marketing efforts. ABP offers a unique opportunity to leave a lasting impression by delivering a new level of ultra-personalized, highly engaging content to your ideal audience.
Instead of relying on generic buyer personas from your ideal customer profile, you can use your podcast content to fuel outreach and allow you to get in front of the actual people you want to build a relationship with.
Your podcast is already tailored to a specific audience, so your ABP content will speak to the real pain points and goals of those buyers. As a result, they'll feel like you're speaking to them on a personal level, which will further drive a connection with your brand.
Now that you have a better understanding of what account-based podcasting is, let's dive into different ways you can successfully execute an ABP strategy and use it to your advantage.
Earning Trust
Your podcast offers a wealth of personalized expertise, from the topics discussed to the guests you host on each episode.
A common misconception about podcasting is that guests will share the same ideas in every interview. However, just because a guest makes the rounds on several industry podcasts doesn't mean the conversation with you will be exactly the same. The guest shares new insights and perspectives with each company interaction.
It's the host's job to guide the conversation in a way that is meaningful to your listeners. Offer a uniquely intimate experience to your audience by featuring personalized playlists, targeted clips, and content for your key prospects—which are things nobody else can provide.
Encouraging Collaboration
Salespeople have a knack for getting to know people. They learn what makes people tick, what fires them up, and what struggles keep them up at night.
Use those talented employees to help guide your podcast's process. Invite them to brainstorming sessions for episode and guest ideas and amplification strategies. They'll have helpful insights on what problems prospects bring up in sales calls; you can then tailor podcast episode topics to speak to those pain points and show that you understand your listeners' needs.
Such a perspective can help marketers identify supplementary value in every episode by identifying content that can serve various areas of the business. It is also an easy way to help your sales team better understand the value of your podcast so they can create meaningful content from it for their desired prospects.
Getting Started in Account-Based Podcasting
Every podcast episode you create is a gold mine just waiting to be discovered.
Some marketers believe that having a podcast with a steady cadence is enough to produce desired results, such as drawing in a larger audience and promoting leads. That may be true for a short period, but a podcast shouldn't be an island unto itself. Your brand podcast should be at the center of your engagement efforts, and every episode should be squeezed until all possible pieces of content have been extracted from it.
Then it should be revisited and squeezed again, just for good measure.
For example, you can pull insights and share clips from an episode with the target audience that will benefit from the information. Similar to finding a song that speaks to what you're going through, your targeted clips and content should truly resonate with what your audience is experiencing.
Another option is to provide a personalized playlist to your audience that is filled with relevant content. You can demonstrate your value in consumable bits by compiling audio clips aimed to resonate with your prospects' pain points.
Designing such an intimate experience with your brand is something no one else can recreate. If you can establish a system where your sales and marketing teams work together to provide deeply personalized content and valuable information, you'll succeed in winning your prospects over.
ABP for the Win
The goal of account-based podcasting efforts is to make the audience feel so connected with your company that they become lifelong customers and brand advocates. ABP enables marketing and sales teams to create genuine, lasting impressions, because audiences connect with real people who they feel can empathize with them through similar experiences.
By delivering ultra-personalized, highly engaging content, you're more likely to engage prospects and create a unique buying experience, even as their expectations evolve.
