How to create a killer B2B games podcast

Is this thing on? Testing, testing, one-two…

Thanks for tuning in. We believe that everybody has something to say. We also believe that that’s especially true in business, no matter your background.

That’s part of the reason We love making podcasts as much as we enjoy listening to them. A high-quality podcast is a fantastic investment for any company looking to increase its B2B share of voice in the games industry.

No subject is off-limits or too niche. Don’t believe us? Here’s a podcast about mobile home park investing that’s 100-episodes strong and still going.

The idea of doing a business podcast gets a lot of antennas twitching (stop giggling at the back).

But where to start?

We’ve seen so many people try and start their own podcast and stop after their second or third try.

They either don’t know how to do it properly or get so disappointed that only a handful of people have listened to their first efforts that they pull the plug.

If that sounds like you, then don’t give up – we’ve created this guide to help you overcome your fears and become a brilliant business broadcaster.

Why do a B2B games podcast?

You don’t have to be a top-flight talented broadcasting pro to do a business podcast.

The best business broadcasts are all about the discussions you have, the tips you share and the quality of your advice as much as the recording itself.

That’s why podcasting is becoming such a popular way for brands to reach out to people.

The nature of how businesses deliver information and advice to clients is changing.

Especially in the B2B arena. You’ll have experienced it yourself – people are so time-poor these days, and are looking for easier ways to digest high-value content.

A well-crafted and informative B2B games podcast is one of the best ways to deliver that advice when compared against blogs and other static forms of content.

A consistent, creative business podcast brings other benefits, too. It can increase brand authority, brand discoverability gives personality to the company, and can boost sales.

You can also use a podcast to engage with your prospects and invite them on as guests. 

After all, what better way to flatter someone than to ask them onto your podcast as an authority on a subject? 

Involve your business development/sales team in the guest selection process to have a mix of existing clients as well as hot prospects. 

When a podcast is done well, it’s poetry in motion. You’re quite literally entering somebody’s consciousness through the click of a button and talking directly to them.

Our favourite thing about a well-done business podcast though, is that each and every one has the potential to give listeners a healthy dose of earworm. (It’s not as bad as it sounds.)

Rather, it’s that magical thing that money can’t buy; a hook that will eat away at listeners, encouraging them to explore more episodes and, ultimately, your brand.

If you want to understand more about the role of creating engaging content as a core part of your games B2B PR strategy then be sure to check out our FREE guide How to Create a Modern B2B PR Strategy That Sings.

The most common B2B games podcast questions

We’ve produced a fair few podcasts over the years, and there are a lot of common questions that crop up when we’re getting started.

Here are the three most common questions we hear:

•         How do you plan a business podcast?
•         How do you produce it?
•         How do you promote it?

We’ve outlined those three, particularly, because there’s a lot of meat in the answers, and getting these three right is the best route to producing a successful B2B games podcast.  

We’ve written this guide to answer those questions, broadly, as well as dig deeper in, giving you as much information as possible to help you start your very own B2B podcast.

At the end of this guide, too, we’ve included a downloadable checklist for you to keep so that you’ll always have the most important podcasting points at hand.

POD TIP: A business podcast is not a sales pitch. You shouldn’t think of a B2B games podcast as an opportunity to trap your listener and talk to them for an hour about how great your company is.

DOWNLOAD OUR CHECKLIST NOW AND CREATE YOUR OWN BUSINESS PODCAST[2] 

The common approach to B2B games podcasting

We’re keen to stress there isn’t an exact science on how to approach a business podcast.

Rather, the most successful podcasts have a lot of things in common. When we’re discussing B2B podcasting with a client, for instance, we’ll always consider:

•         Topics, guests and the format.
•         Recording setup, coordination and organisation.
•         Post-production and assets (such as images and transcripts).

That already may seem like a lot of steps and – to you – a lot of technical wizardries to consider.

Again though, don’t be put off or scared. Producing a podcast is actually quite simple and, if you implement these steps properly, they quickly become second nature.  

They’re the general steps you need to have in mind when B2B podcasting, all of which I’m going to cover in-depth below.

Planning your B2B games podcast

We’re fans of the saying ‘Fail to plan, plan to fail’. That’s no different for B2B podcasting.

The best way to approach your business podcast from the beginning is with a templated approach.

With everything planned and laid out before you in the form of a reference document, you simply can’t go wrong.

For instance, this is how we approach B2B podcasting:

Always plan ahead with a briefing template

First, we send them a briefing document. This has a template within it, and it’s given to everybody invited to the panel for that episode.

That document will cover points such as theme focus, topic prompts, how to get the best out of guests, sound recording tips and more.

Choosing your format for B2B games podcasting

Second, plan the format of the B2B podcast itself. That will include hiring the host and planning the themes the episode will focus on.

It’s important to mention that the overall topic of each episode should be general, evergreen and not too niche.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t focus on the niche topics that apply to your company and the games industry. Your expertise in that niche is why people are tuning in, after all.

Sounding off about something too niche, though, can be a turn-off and alienate current and potential listeners.

After all, as impressed as we are with the progress of the mobile home investing podcast, it’s just not something we’d personally listen to – it’s a bit beyond us as we don’t really function in that vertical. 

Try and cover areas that apply to a broad range of people in the games industry. Cover common problems and issues; address them and offer your thoughts on them.

POD TIP: It’s a good idea to have one person alone taking in-house responsibility for your podcast, so too many cooks aren’t spoiling the broth.

Lock down your guests and topics

Third, the guests – and this can be the first real stumbling block people have to navigate when doing a regular podcast.

A typical business podcast should ideally have three participants; any more than that and the podcast can become difficult to manage. 

Those three contributors should be your host, a representative of your company (depending on the topic), and a third-party impartial guest.

Why’s that difficult, though? When starting out, it can be hard to build a black book of potential guests and marrying your recording schedule with theirs.

We’ll go into that in greater detail further down. Be aware though that guests are a super-important ingredient in going from a good podcast to a great one.

POD TIP: It’s worth inviting your guests on to it the day before recording to test their internet speed, show them how the software works, and do a general quality check.

Lastly comes post-production.

This is where the podcast is finalised, bells and whistles are added, and you prepare it for its first day at school.

Post-production includes audio clean-up, processing, refinement, assets created and more to build that perfect podcast.

The benefits of hiring a professional host for your B2B games podcast

Hiring a host for your B2B games podcast is essential.

The benefits of having a host are enormous – particularly a podcast host with experience and knowledge of your industry.

The host will give your B2B podcast that all-important neutrality. A good host will also keep the conversation moving and flowing.

Bring in some guests for your B2B games podcast

We’re a real stickler for planning, which is why we put such emphasis on the format when B2B podcasting.

We generally think the panel format is pretty unbeatable.

Though broadcasting technology has evolved so much over the last century, the panel format is time-tested and still the most effective way to engage with an audience.

That’s why we use guests in a lot of our podcasts. Think of you and your guests as a group of friends, looking to bring the listener into your gang.

Producing a business podcast with a ‘panel’ format helps a podcast feel like a real, natural conversation. It gives your brand a sense of personality.

Who goes on your panel, though? It’s always good to have a member of the company on the panel who represents you and your business values.

Having guests on your B2B games podcast though also brings neutrality to the content.

POD TIP: A good business podcast provides genuinely insightful conversations to help your listeners and solve their problems. You’re answering their questions and giving them genuine advice and insight.

Guests help make a business podcast non-partisan. They also add authority, make it feel natural and bring different perspectives to the topic you’ve chosen.

Remember the golden rule: No self promotion!

There is almost no better way to lose your listener than to drone on about your company/solution and how great you are and that you’re ‘The leading XXX’.

This generally applies to all B2B PR, including press releases (yes, we know who you are, the ones that start their press releases with the phrase above. We’ve got your number)

That’s an unbreakable rule as far as we’re concerned. It’s masochistic otherwise; after all, who listens to podcasts to be pitched products and services for an hour?

Guests can add authority and credibility to your business podcast, too, especially if they’re from an industry body or high-profile company.

There’s another benefit, too. Those guests can advertise their appearance to their followers on social media, organically promoting the podcast to a wider audience.

Keep rotation in mind, too. While the host should be established and the company representative regular, different guests will help keep things fresh. You may also want to bring in different people from your company. 

Finding guests for your B2B games podcast

As we’ve said, some can find building a black book tough, whether it’s because they feel intimidated or just don’t know where to look.

When contacting guests and for your wider podcast in general, don’t be shy!

We know it’s easier said than done, but a confident approach in what you want to podcast about and using that in your approach to guests can be the difference between a ‘maybe’ and a ‘yes’.

You’ll very often find that most people like to contribute to content such as podcasts when asked.

Why? 

Because guests will want to increase their own personal brand and mention their own company or service.

Within reason, of course. Again, any plugs or mentions – if any – have to be done ethically and without sounding like a big sales pitch.

We feel we’ve got a great balance with this through our own Heroes of B2B PR video webinar series.

It’s effectively a business podcast in a video format. In it, we talk to people in B2B PR that we really admire and who will bring value and insight to listeners.

We find these guests by talking to our teammates and asking who they look up to and who they feel are valuable sources of industry information.

POD TIP: Select strong quotes and opinions from guests in each episode to use in your inbound social and content marketing campaigns to attract interest.

That could be anyone from industry analysts, journalists, existing customers, prospects and others.

People who are knowledgeable are able to talk about specific subjects. Interesting people, basically! If you find them interesting then others will, too.

It’s important to find people who aren’t looking to sell; who are looking to challenge ideas and who will freshen up your panel.

There are even some services that help you connect with guests such as Podcast Guests.

Creating topics for your B2B games podcast

High-value content that discusses people’s problems within the industry and addresses common pain-points will always do well.

Even if your first couple of casts don’t catch fire in their first few episodes, don’t give up!

Persistence is key – maybe it’s not the content that’s the problem. Maybe the problem lies in discoverability, which I’ll come onto later.

Like any piece of inbound content, when creating a podcast, you should focus on topics that solve a problem or answer a question your audience has.

Give people something to chew on. In a topic sense, these will often look like a ‘how to’ or ‘top tips’ podcast, where you’ll outline general industry topics and discuss them.

Topics could also focus on trends. What future trends do you expect to be important in your industry? What problems can you foresee with them?

POD TIP: A podcast is also a fantastic way to show you, your team and your general brand as thought-leaders in your industry.

If you’re struggling to think of topics, then have a look around the industry and at current trends.

At the time of writing this, some of the hot topics in the games industry are crunch, mental health, inclusivity and environmental sustainability.

Have a look through industry press and niche journals, too, to create topics. Is there a problem affecting your industry at the moment? Why not discuss how to navigate it?

Also, every industry has common problems and themes that affect it. Brexit has been a common cross-industry problem in the UK, for example. (Though people may be sick of hearing about it by now!)

Within the games industry, inclusiveness, crunch, mental health and the environmental impact of game design and production have been recent hot-button issues.

Read into those issues, learn about them, form a helpful opinion on them, and discuss them with your guests.

The best way to record your business podcast

Quality should always be a watchword when you’re recording your B2B games podcast.

Your podcast setup should have a lot of thought put into it to make sure recordings are clear – not just to get your message across effectively, but to encourage listeners to tune in again.

There are some really great and inexpensive solutions out. Some of them are also adding video now which means that you can output your podcasts as audio-only as well as video-enabled on YouTube.  

The other great thing about these podcasting solutions is that they include some kind of sound post-production as well as other touches.

For example, most of these podcasting solutions will record each person’s audio track to their local drive and upload it afterwards. 

Why? 

Because we’ve all experienced the dreaded bandwidth issues that plague the average Zoom call.

 Local recording mitigates the problem that any bandwidth fluctuations cause to each person so even if they go all wonky donkey on the call, the actual podcast won’t sound like that at all. 

Neat eh? 

Here are some of the best podcasting solutions: 

Squadcast – https://squadcast.fm/

Riverside.fm https://riverside.fm/

Zencastr – https://zencastr.com/ 

Podcastle – https://podcastle.ai/

Best of all, these solutions are very affordable at around $20 a month. 

We use Riverside.fm because it also has a video capability which means that we can now publish all the content as a podcast and a vodcast on YouTube.

The importance of a quality microphone for your B2B games podcast

The ultimate quality of the podcast, from a technical perspective, rests with the quality of your microphone. 

Due to the increase in homeworking, a lot of us are using headsets with integrated microphones which are OK ….but not great. 

Why? 

We heartily recommend that you and your guests use a condenser microphone. 

They offer superior sound quality and are generally better for ‘studio’ recording. As they’re built to work with voices. 

They’re also a better option for B2B podcasting than the previously mentioned headset, which can bring popping and clicking to the audio when recording.

If you’re starting out in podcasting then there is no need to go crazy on equipment. The Blue Snowball is the perfect fusion of affordability and quality. 

If you’re feeling a bit more ambitious, then the Yeti is the next step up.  

And if you really want to bring your A-game to up the audio quality ante then an inexpensive clip on pop filter will help guard against those popping noises that often happen due to air rushing at the microphone.  

You can then couple this with a portable sound recording booth made of special foam to help deaden any excess sound. 

But honestly, if you’re sipping your toes in the podcasting waters then the Snowball will likely answer most of your needs for the time being. 

We appreciate that this investment in good quality equipment can all collapse with your guests. 

Securing good quality sound from your guests is more challenging because you simply can’t insist they all invest in condenser microphones. 

However, we have found that our advice to use a condenser microphone has resulted in many guests upgrading to a better microphone so they can use it for everyday calls as well as their podcast guesting. 

And if you’re feeling really generous then you may even want to consider offering your guests an Amazon voucher towards a new microphone. 

If you can afford to do this then it’s a relatively low-cost way to gently persuade them to upgrade and safeguard the quality of your precious production!

POD TIP: Consider your surroundings before recording. Don’t record in a room that has the tendency to echo sound, such as a room with hard flooring.

How to host your B2B games podcast and get it noticed

Most of your listeners will be searching for and subscribing to podcasts through major music services such as Spotify OR a dedicated podcasting app such as Pocket Casts which is our app of choice.

For your podcast to be discoverable then you need somewhere to host it as well as the ability to syndicate it out to all the different platforms.  

This is one of those tech bits that can be confusing, though – there are so many podcasting platforms out there.

To make life easy we recommend BuzzSprout which does it all for you and it even has a free tier. 

The other great thing about BuzzSprout is that it provides podcast analytics so you can see your download numbers as where your listeners are coming from. BuzzSprout is a great all-in-one syndication platform, too.

Using it allows our business podcasts to be syndicated on iTunes and other platforms. What more could you want?

The importance of post-production in a B2B games podcast

It’s easy to forget the visual parts of an audio project like a podcast.

Think of your favourite album. It has artwork on the cover, doesn’t it? It also has information inside, such as track listings, info about the band, and more.

Your podcast needs to do the same thing. People will see it before they download and listen to it, so it needs to look as good as it sounds.

There are a number of things to consider during the post-production phase of each episode of your business podcast.

Some of those post-production tasks are constant and need to be done every episode. Other considerations are one-offs.

For instance, as a one-off, your B2B games podcast needs a name.

On a consistent basis, though, each episode of your business podcast needs a snappy title to capture an audience’s interest.

POD TIP: Tools that we’ve mentioned like BuzzSprout have character limits. Make sure each episode title sticks to it when uploading your podcast for syndication. In fact, you should check out this really good article from Pacific Content which gives an in-depth and scientific view on podcast naming. 

A snappy blurb explaining the topic, themes of the episode and the people involved will also have to be written to attract an audience.

Again, that can be added to the episode on BuzzSprout, which will then be included in each episode on when syndicated.

It’s also worth getting the final product overseen by an experienced sound engineer. This doesn’t have to cost the earth – you can find some over at PeoplePerHour.

Fiverr is also a great place to find affordable freelancers with experience in podcast post-production.

A good sound engineer will level the audio, splice in intros and outros, and make sure the audio is as clear as possible for your listeners.

POD TIP: Always be aware of things that could go wrong such as popping and crackling from a poor-quality microphone, internet connections dropping, reasons to stop recording…

Don’t forget to create visual assets when creating your B2B games podcast

This is the album cover bit. Don’t forget, post-production includes presentation, too.

Your B2B podcast will need a logo. You could design that yourself but if you’re not sure, or not really a great designer then you can easily commission an experienced designer on a service like Fiverr for very little money.

Then it’s time to turn your attention to the ‘sonic branding’.

Fiverr is also home to a large number of freelancers who can create voiceovers, jingles, intros and outros for podcasts – the perfect way to insert calls to action at the end of the episode to boost subscriptions.

You can either source a piece of music you like to give to a voiceover artist to mash it together with their intro or some voiceover artists will find music for you and produce it all

If you’re looking for music then be careful because you need to be sure that you’re paying for the correct usage of the track. 

A great place to find low-cost music is Audio Jungle. Which has tracks with a generous commercial allowance. 

If you want to spend a bit more then a site such as Music Radio Creative could be a good bet to source the music and the voiceover artist AND they will guide you on scripting and things such as music royalty rights. It’s an all-in-one solution. 

If you’re embedding your podcast onto a webpage as part of an inbound campaign, a transcript can also be included for an SEO boost. 

We use GoTranscript for this but those good old favourites Fiverr and PeoplePerHour are home to many talented, affordable transcription experts. Send them the finished podcast and they’ll be happy to oblige.

In summary, the component parts for your podcast that need to be ‘designed’ as a one-off piece of expenditure will be all the branding – both visual and sonic such as: 

• The logo/icon
• The Intro – typically a piece of music with a voiceover at the beginning of your podcast that says what it is 
• Outro – the bit  at the end that us usually a piece of music and perhaps a call to action such as who produced the podcast or even a URL to visit 

The ongoing investment will be: 

• Post production – mixing the voice tracks with the intro and outro segments as well as overall balancing of the sound levels and quality optimisation 
• Costs for the services you use such as podcast platform and Buzzsprout for syndication 

WARNING: BORING LEGAL BIT

Before you send your newborn podcast off into the big wide world, it’s a good idea to get your guests to sign what is known as a ‘guest release form’

Why?

Because you want them to be happy with what you’ve created and make sure that you won’t be sued for some obscure reasons down the line. Just get them to sign it and you’ll be fine.

Where to get one? Good question.

There is a really good article here by Buzzsprout on the legal side of things and it even has a link to where you can get a free form. Or you can just Google ‘free podcast guest release form’.

Whatever works for you really.

Promoting your B2B games podcast to the right people in the games industry

Now that you have a shiny new episode of your B2B games podcast, it’s time to advertise it.

Be proud of it. What you’ve recorded can’t be copied. It’s a work of art and needs to take pride of place in your content museum (until you record episode two).

Advertising your podcast should be no different from the way you promote the rest of your inbound content.

As we’ve mentioned, a platform like BuzzSprout will instantly syndicate your B2B podcast on the leading podcast platforms.

But there are also things you could be doing to alert your audience that your podcast exists, that they should subscribe to it, and that you deserve their time.

Like everything inbound, social media will play a big part in encouraging a target audience to discover your podcast.

POD TIP: Make sure, at the end of your business podcast, your host kindly asks listeners to rate your podcast. More ratings and reviews equal greater discoverability.

That includes making your social media profiles – personal and professional – look the part.

We love Pablo and Canva. They’re two free graphic design tools that can help here.

It’s easy to create simple graphics set to specific social media dimensions to advertise your podcast.

It’s also good to go all-out promoting your new podcast. Use graphics to really bring it to life. 

Of course, promotion isn’t limited to LinkedIn either – you can create promotional graphics for Twitter, Facebook Pages and other mainstream social sites to broaden the reach of your podcasts.

There’s even no harm in creating social media profiles specifically for your B2B games podcast.

Make sure to include relevant hashtags and hashtag keywords on social media, too, to help get the podcast in front of your targeted audience.

POD TIP: If you’ve had a guest on an episode with a substantial social following, tagging them in an episode and asking them to share it will organically extend your podcast’s reach.

We like to research keyword hashtags, for instance, for LinkedIn and include them whenever we share a new episode of a podcast.

A quick Google search for ‘LinkedIn hashtag guide’ will bring up results for guides with the latest and most relevant keywords for you to use when you post.

They’re constantly being revised, updated and refreshed. Could a member of your social media team help, and keep a spreadsheet of popular LinkedIn hashtags?

B2B podcasting for inbound marketing

There are two common ways people listen to podcasts.

First, they can listen through a podcast player on their mobile. Some of the most popular podcasting apps include iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify and (my favourite) Pocket Casts.

The other way they’ll listen is through the podcast page on your website. We often get asked about podcasting for lead generation – more on that later.

BuzzSprout, again, is really useful here as it will give you an embeddable file for your podcast.

The latter method is one we use when B2B podcasting with our client, GameRefinery.

Having a podcast section on their website allows them to organise and curate their podcasts, and helps listeners discover individual episodes and explore their library in an easy way.

Embedding the podcast on a dedicated page also goes a long way to repurposing the audio from the episode.

A dedicated page also gives readers discovering it prompts to subscribe to the podcast and the platforms it can be downloaded from to listen to on the go.

We also find that, sometimes, it can be hard to recall something interesting from a podcast we’ve listened to. It can be hard to find the episode and the exact moment it’s been discussed.

That’s why we’d recommend getting a transcript written for every podcast you make. It can help people like find what they’re looking for quicker, along with links to tools and sites you’ve mentioned.

The page could include the transcript from that episode, along with keywords and links for things that have been mentioned as part of the topic, helping give you an SEO boost.

Is a business podcast effective for lead generation?

We’ll be straight. It can be difficult to capture leads with a B2B podcast.

Why? Simply because of the format. It’s an audio file that people listen to; there’s nothing really for a listener to sign up to or a way for them to leave their data with you.

That’s not to say it’s a hopeless endeavour, though. The hardest things are the most rewarding, and there are indeed ways to generate leads with a podcast.

Embedding your business podcast onto a dedicated page on your site can solve some of those problems. It also means that you have somewhere to link to from social media to create inbound traffic to your site. 

It gives the listener options. Combined with lead generation software like OptinMonster, pop-ups can appear on the page to encourage listeners to subscribe or sign up for your newsletter.

So, while you may not be able to capture leads directly for a specific product on a podcast, it can be a great way to capture leads as part of a wider inbound marketing campaign.

BuzzSprout also doubles as a highly effective podcast tracker and podcast analytics tool.

Podcast analytics will be especially useful in helping your podcast grow.

A podcast tracker like BuzzSprout will show you how people have listened to your podcast, the average time the podcast has been listened to, the platform, and other key podcast analytics.

Including a podcast tracker alongside your automation software on your podcast page also provides important marketing metrics crucial to growth.

Attributing your podcast tracker to a campaign for instance can give you podcast analytics such as the number of sign-ups, and how effective it is to your inbound marketing efforts.

And it will be effective because podcasts by their nature are extremely effective when done right.

The summary bit (that all our teachers used to make us do)

So there you have it, all the ingredients you’ll hopefully need to create the ultimate B2B games podcast.

Once you’ve laid the groundwork then it should work to a monthly template like a well-oiled machine.

We like to think we’ve captured most things but if we’ve left anything off then please do let us know as we appreciate any feedback.

Good luck!