It is the question that a lot of B2B companies are asking – how can we find more leads and close more deals without events and tradeshows? How can we find more leads period? How can we close more deals in this environment?

At Podcast609 we focus on interview style podcasts. We think the best strategy is to have your prospects, customers and industry influencers tell your story for you. Sprinkling in some internal experts and thought leaders from your own company will not hurt either. But we believe that your prospects would rather hear from your customers about how you solved their problem for them.

5 reasons creating a podcast can help drive sales

  1. Create demand – it is new, innovative and repeatable. The number of people listening to podcasts is exploding and their attention span for listening is much greater than reading. Your specific call to actions should be strategically included and will help drive new leads into the organization.
  1. Push prospects through the funnel – have a prospect that needs a specific problem solved? Have a podcast that has your customer explaining exactly how you solved that exact problem for them? Sounds like a match made in heaven.
  1. Open doors – you might struggle to get a prospect on the phone to talk about your product or service but what if you were able to offer their CEO time on your podcast? I’m sure your prospect has an industry thought leader that would be a great guest – what a way to open the door.
  1. Create thought leadership – the beauty of a podcast is the sheer amount of content that can be created from one recording. You can create articles, blog posts, audiograms, newsletter content, etc. All of this content can help solidify you as the thought leader in your industry.
  1. Obtain attention – did you know that 40% of readers admit to skimming blog posts and the average time reading an article on your website is 37 seconds? But podcast listeners are listening to 6 hour and 37 minutes a week. I’d put my money where the ears are.

Podcasting is not expensive and isn’t necessarily hard to execute. Your marketing team can learn how to create a podcast series on their own or you can rely on companies that specialize in helping B2B companies create their own branded podcasts.

Another positive aspect of podcasting is that it can all be done remotely. You don’t have to have a guest in a studio. They can be at home (like most of us are).

It is time B2B companies get on the podcasting bandwagon. B2B marketing juggernauts SAP, Dell, 3M, Salesforce, Hubspot and Cisco all have their own podcasts. It is the most authentic way to tell your story.