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

B2B Podcast Playbook, Call for Content 

Having a B2B interview podcast that attracts listeners to your website is an excellent investment for your business. Your interviews, combined with downloadable content, have the potential to rapidly generate leads.

In some cases, you might even be able to generate leads before your interview has been published.

How podcasts generate leads

How can you attract an audience to your content? Do podcasts really generate leads? Let’s find out!

Interview your ideal client

Hosting an interview with your ideal client can be a rewarding way to generate leads for your business, and share market knowledge with your target market at the same time. 

But how exactly does this work?

Start by identifying and approaching a guest that also qualifies as your ideal client. This guest will need to spend about 30+ minutes talking with you, the host. Frame your show discussion around your guest, if possible. This will enable you to discover the pain points your ideal client is facing, as well as the potential solutions they currently have. You can also share solutions of your own to showcase what you have to offer.

By following this approach, your guest will feel as though they are getting support from a friend, rather than an impersonal sale or ad. When you interact with your guests for an extended period like this, they will naturally feel more willing to hear about the services you have to offer.

A similar effect will take place with listeners tune in and are listening to your podcast. While they might not share the same personal experience as your guest, they will be able to relate to the pain points your guest faces. They will become part of your conversation and feel connected to you. This relation will motivate them to try your services when they feel that pain themselves.

Allied guests

Having allied guests in your podcast may not produce an return on investment (ROI) directly, but they are useful in converting listeners to leads. These guests are the people supporting your services, either by being a past or present client.

Allied guests hold you in high regard and will showcase their gratitude and satisfaction during the interview. You can frame their interview as a case study, comment on the challenges they faced, and how your services helped them overcome these challenges. 

Your audience will relate to these challenges, putting themselves in the position of your allied guest. Sending one of these conversations to a prospect is like starting your sales call before even getting on the phone.

The ROI of a B2B podcast

In order to get a better idea of the potential value of a guest post, we have developed a simple formula to calculate ROI generated from interviewing guests who could be potential clients. To do the calculation, you will need the following three numbers from your business: 

• The close rate for your leads (a benchmark is 25%);
• Your minimum customer value; and 
• The average customer value.

This ROI calculation works best for businesses with high-value sales. The average of the last two numbers should be giving you more than $10K in value. 

After gathering these numbers, you will need to decide how many podcasts you will produce per week and for how many weeks. Once you have done this, you can calculate the cost for production. If you produce weekly, for a simple interview, it will cost around $550 per month. If you want premium quality, expect around $1,500 a month or $300-$400 per episode.

The last aspect is to determine how many of your guests will qualify as leads. If you have identified your target audience well, you can expect roughly 50% of your guests to qualify.  Now, that we have all the numbers we need, we can sub them into this formula:

For example, let’s assume your business has a close rate of 25%, a minimum client value of $5,000, and an average client value of $15,000. If you decide to have two premium quality episodes per month, you can expect to pay between $600 and $800 per month, costing about $8,400 a year for a premium show. You will produce 24 episodes yearly.

Doing the math, we get:

24×50%×25%×($5,000+$15,000)/2 -$8,400= $21,600

This is an ROI of $21,600 per year, including 24 podcasts as content building your authority.

If you decide to produce weekly, this number will grow significantly. Suppose you produce a total of 48 episodes over a year, costing around $18,000. Putting in all the new numbers you will have:

48×50%×25%×($5,000+$15,000)/2 -$18,000= $42,000

If you double up your content, you will be looking at an ROI of $42,000 (233%) a year – not to mention the value of content that has the potential to continue marketing your business. You will need to create unique, memorable interview podcasts to achieve these earnings. Now that we have the interviews covered, we should find ways to convert listeners to leads. 

Attract listeners to your website

One of the best ways to convert listeners to leads is to provide free, downloadable content. This content will act as a hook. It will grab your listeners and have them experience your services, while also building an email list for your business. With that in mind, you need to make sure that what you offer them has an impact. The downloadable content needs to leave an impression and be jam-packed with value. After reading it, the reader should be left with a shift in their approach to solving their problem.

It could be:

• An eBook
• A Checklist
• An Audit
• A Consultation
• A Scorecard
• A Template 
• A Workbook

An eBook can go in-depth, and usually contains some of the other recommended formats as well, making them even more value-packed.

Conclusion about how podcasts generate leads

A B2B podcasts generate leads, plain and simple. Along with great content, a podcast is a foolproof way of generating leads from guests and listeners. To help you produce top-quality interview podcasts, download the Call for Content B2B podcast playbook and read the 4 tips for launching a successful B2B marketing podcast. These two guides will have your podcasts productively teeming with listeners and leads.

This guest blog article was written by Michael Greenberg, the founder of Gentleman Of Technology, a B2B venture creation and growth consulting firm, and Call For Content, a full-service podcasting agency that helps grow businesses through authority marketing, podcast monetization, and audience growth.