How to brand and structure your business podcast How to make maximum use of the content you create Examples Inside Business Podcasting How to create content that attracts customers and positions you as the #1 trusted & approachable industry expert. GUIDEBOOK SERIES
Introduction BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: This guide is designed to give you the essentials of setting up a successful business podcast. It’s partly based on experiences appearing in and running several business focussed podcasts, and also on 20 years of marketing experience. And that’s important because this is - at the end of the day - a marketing exercise. A good podcast works on two levels. Above the surface is the content. It’s what people initially come for, so we will be making sure that we are not only creating content that people want, but also designing the brand so it looks like a coherent and reputable source. This is the logical side. Below the surface is the positioning. We want people to develop a liking for your brand. To feel like they know you, that they trust you. That you are the people they want to work with. The emotional side. Because regardless of whether it’s a B2B or B2C situation, business is still about people buying into and from other people.
BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Contents Part 1: Planning In this section, we’ll look at who your podcast is aimed at, and how to set it up so that it naturally and quickly attracts an audience and a following. Part 2: Execution In this section, we’ll look at how to map out and structure your episodes, record them, and also get people to take action. Part 3: Publishing In this section, we’ll look at how we distribute the content that we have created, for maximum reach and impact. Appendix A: Examples We have a couple of example here that give you an idea of what this can look like, when put together as described herein. Appendix B: Customer Profile A blueprint for understanding a customer’s interests and drivers, in order to create content that will attract and engage them. ...................................... 4 ................................... 10 ................................... 19 .......................... 23 ............... 26
Part 1: Planning In this section, we’ll look at who your podcast is aimed at, and how to set it up so that it naturally and quickly attracts an audience and a following.
Aims & Objectives BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Business podcasts (as in podcasts created by a particular business or group) usually have one or more of the following aims in mind. Discovery Podcasts are a good way for customers or clients to find you. This can be via organic searching, but it can also be via guests that you have on your podcast. When they share the episode via their own channels, it can give your visibility and credibility a big boost. Education Podcasts are a longer form of content, and if done well, people will listen or watch hours of it over time. This makes it a good platform for educating or explaining concepts, techniques or technologies, especially if they happen to form part of your USP. Positioning One of the key benefits of the podcast is that people will start to get to know you, and like you, and trust you - providing you’ve done the job well. This means that you are positioned as a friendly expert: The person or company that they will go to first, and that they will recommend first.
Defining Your Audience BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: If you’re a business, we’ll assume you have customers. We need to dial the podcast in to who those customers are, and make sure that this whole thing is expressly designed for them. That will help them notice it, try it, and engage with it for long periods of time. When we come to the next section, we’ll be looking to create content based on what your customers are interested in, the pain points and challenges that they face. When we do podcasts, we create a customer avatar sheet that lists out everything the customer is, feels, wants and faces. (We’ve included a copy of the avatar sheet in Appendix B of this guide. Shout if you need help with it.) We also make sure that the name and strapline of the podcast refers to those people. That way it helps to trigger the customer’s reticular activation system, which is the internal filter that people use to sift through the noise of life to find what’s relevant and useful to them. Once we have our customer profiled, we can move to the next step.
Defining Your Content BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Your podcast content, like all marketing communications, needs to be designed from the customer’s point of view. Just in the same way that a good ad will focus on the benefits and meaning of a product, refering to features only where useful, we need to ensure that we are structuring the content around things that the customers cares about - which is largely about avoiding pain and threats, and increasing pleasure and opportunity. The approach we use is to draw out a mindmap of content topics. Mindmapping is a great tool for this, and if you include a few folks from your company in that process, you’ll get 80% of the coverage you need. Three useful resources for this process are your customer profile from the previous section, a quick look at Google Adwords to see search volumes for phrases and keywords, and of course, ChatGPT. Select topics for your first season of episodes (10-20 of them.) Asking for comments, questions and feedback will then help you generate new ideas once the podcast is up and running.
Defining Your Podcast Brand BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Here’s a brand style we created for a podcast we run for a client: As you can see, it features a photo of the main host, as he is well known to the potential audience, which is therapists, coaches and NLP practitioners. We took some time with the name, which has a nice double meaning. The images looks fairly high quality, with a decent mic, so people will assume it’s nice to listen to and watch. We’ve also got some Netflix style content bullets, and we’re letting people know it goes out weekly. (We record in bulk - more on that later.) The upshot is that if you are the target audience, this should interest you as a brand.
Your Podcast Brand Assets BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Here are some assets it will be useful to have: Logo: Contains the name of the show, and a strapline. If URL is available, grab it. Visual identity: This is the show’s thumbnail image. Should contain photos of at least one anchor host. Consider having them mid-conversation as that is more eye-catching than just them staring at the camera. Intro/Outro: For videos, you ideally want some sort of animated intro that goes after the opening hook (More on that in the episode structure section.) For audio, you want a jingle or musical sting that becomes your signature tune. Keep it short - 10 seconds max.) Email Address: Have an inbox for questions, comments, suggestions and feeback. You’ll reference it during the show. Landing Pages: You can have a page where people can find the episodes. You might also want a page for people to subscribe or signup for your call to action. (Again, keep reading.)
Part 2: Execution In this section, we’ll look at how to map out and structure your episodes, record them, and also get people to take action.
How Long, How Often. BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: The answer to this question depends on whether you are producing an actual podcast, or podcast-like content. If you are looking for it to be an ongoing podcast, then aiming for somewhere between 25-35 minutes, published once a week, is a good starting point. It’s achievable, especially if you record in bulk and then trickle feed them out, and it’s what the platform algorithms like.We often block out a day, then record 8-10 episodes in one sitting. It works. Publish at the same day and time each week, and then people start to expect and look forward to it. If you are looking to create something that looks like a podcast, but is done on an adhoc basis, then the timings are up to you. There is nothing wrong with the second approach - as podcast style content, especially when done as part of a lively and fun interchange between people who know their stuff is eminently watchable, and also sliceable into social media friendly snippets.
People: Anchors & Guests. BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Dialogue beats monologue. For that reason you want, wherever possible, to have at least two people on an episode, and ideally people who bounce off each other well, as that makes the content more likeable and engaging over time. (Think breakfast TV, Radio 1 shows etc) Anchors are the people who are pretty much always there. They provide continuity. They don’t both need to be experts in the field, but one of them needs to be good at holding it all together, like a panel show host. Guests bring two advantages. The first is their particular knowledge and insight, and the second is their own network. People will share episodes they appear in with the people who follow them, and so it’s a good way of growing your reach organically. It’s best if the guest is in the same place as the hosts, but you can bring people onto a show via Zoom. It’s a lot more acceptable these days, and you can screen-record their zoom session and use it as another camera.
What’s the Call To Action? BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: When structuring your episode, think about what you’d like people to do, so that you can work out the calls to action you want to seed into the podcast. Suggestions include: Ask people to like and subscribe: standard procedure for most channel based content, this works best if you give them a why, especially if you have the next eposide planned out. Download a companion document: If appropriate, you can create a companion document/guide that is relevant to or visually explains what you are talking about. (Especially useful for audio listeners.) It’s a great way to grow email lists and sales piplines. Offers & promotions: You can also give people offers, discounts and other incentives. “As a thank your to our subscribers, we’d like to offer you ...” Ask for comments and feedback: comments and conversation tend to boost the visbility of an episode, especially on social media. They can also be a useful source of leads and topic inspiration.
Session Format BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: We tend to look at having 3-4 mini topics per 25 minute episode. Here’s an example show format: Intro/Hook: Tell people what you’re going to cover, how it will benefit them, and open a loop with a question they need to listen to get an answer to. Opening Credits Topic sections: Go through each topic, highlighting start and end points. You can interstice calls to action between segments, just make sure you have a “coming up next” to retain your audience whilst your CTA plays out. One topic can be “Your Questions Answered”, which encourages submissions and interaction. Summary: Go over what you have covered and get final thoughts from guests, if any. Preframe next episode: Tell people what’s coming up in the next episode, get them to subscribe, ask for comments questions and feedback. End Credits
Tips On Running The Session BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Podcasts are not livestreams. This has two advantages. People can correct themselves if they need to, and also you can let people say what they want, and edit it down afterwards. We don’t script podcasts. Aside from the fact that it would sound unnatural, the point of a podcast discussion is that it allows exploration - most experts would find it hard to say what they know in advance, but conversation will bring it out of them. Make sure people know what is being covered in advance so they can prepare, and then it’s the anchor host’s job to guide the conversation. Another key point is to have fun with it. If you can make each other laugh, or tell (short) anecdotes, it will increase engagment, and also make you more real and trusted to the audience, which is one of our primary objectives. It will take a bit of practice, but with the right people, and a bit of forethought, you’ll make it work. We did.
Recording The Session BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: This guide assumes that you’re doing video and audio to make the most of the content you create. We’re also assuming that you want to look and sound good. Here are our tips on recording: Use multiple cameras: We usually have one camera as a wide angle that can see everyone, and then cameras from different angles as close ups, so we can switch between them afterwards in the edit. It just makes the whole thing more watchable and professional. It also helps when editing for socials. Use a darkish environment and light it: We tend to have a low light environment, and then use lights to make people stand out. Having incidental lights and colour washes will make even a boring environment pop. And having an attractive looking video will again keep people watching, and make you look professional. Use good microphones: Sound is something you have to get right, even when doing video. We use individual mics plugged into a mixing desk.
Behind the Scenes BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: In Appendix A, you can see some examples of podcast videos. Here are some images of what the setup looked like. Some of the main components are visible here. We have the mixer deck and mics, multiple cameras, lighting for the subjects, and you can just make out the colour wash lights (which stand out much better in the final video, as you will see.)
A similar setup for another client. As long as there is a little room to manouver, then almost any environment can be made to look presentable on camera, using the right lights and camera angles. BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: There is one downside to this environment - wooden floors. Carpet is much better for ensuring less noise bounce. We fix it in the mix afterwards in this case.
Part 3: Publishing In this section, we’ll look at how we distribute the content that we have created, for maximum reach and impact.
Editing The Podcast. BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: We’ve seen that a podcast is a dynamic beast, which is the beauty of it. Most podcasts will need editing, but you’ll often find that there are some great snippets which might not make it into the actual programme that make great social media material. Our edit process is: First Cut: Go through and look to see what you’re going to keep on the actual episode. Normalise the audio: People talk at different volumes (which is why we use separate mics for each one and adjust the levels.) You can then also level it out afterwards. Multicam edit & color grade: We go through and cut between cams, alternating wides and close ups on speakers. You then color grade it for beauty. Add intros and outros: We then add in the brand assets to give it that show quality. Trailers, thumbnails and metadata: From the video, we then generate Youtube descriptions aned hashtags, trailers, vertical/square snippets etc.
PODCAST PLATFORMS YOUTUBE PLAYLIST SOCIAL MEDIA (YT Shorts/FB/IG/TK ETC) FULL AUDIO (MP3) FULL VIDEO (16x9) VIDEO SNIPPETS (9:16, 1:1) BLOG POSTS GUIDES & REPORTS TRANSCRIPTION Maximising Your Content. BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Once your content has been created, there is a wealth of things you can do with it. The diagram above shows our typical distribution map. The audio goes to Google Play, ITunes, Spotify and so on, usually via a syndicator such as Acast or Spotify for Podcasters (formerly Anchor.fm). The video goes on Youtube in long format, and is then also sliced and diced to provide lots of social clips. Transcribing the episode also provide content for blog posts and guides, as well as the descriptions of the episodes themselves. EPISODE CONTENT TRIMS
Final Thoughts. BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Podcasting is a very popular way of engaging people. 21 million people listen to audio podcasts in the UK, according to Statistica, and that is aside from the droves of people consuming video content on Youtube and social media. With one fell swoop, you can create a wide range of content across lots of channels that positions you as a trusted expert. It’s a fast way of creating content - with a little prep, your experts can shine and enlighten others, and also have fun doing it. Behind the scenes, there’s a little more effort, of course. It takes a bit of kit and expertise to do it right, and it also takes a while in the edit suite to make the most of what has been captured. (Which is where production companies like us come in. We’ve invested over £10,000 in the equipment - good microphones alone cost over £400 each!) We hope this guide has given you a good insight on how business podcasts work. For help making yours work, feel free to WhatsApp us with any questions or requests on 07875 505949. Talk soon!
Appendix A: Examples We have a couple of examples here that give you an idea of what this can look like, when put together as outlined in this guide.
The Results Show BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: This is an example episode of The Results Show, a video podcast that we’ve been running for a client for a while now. (We’re now well into Season 2.) We travel to the client and set the kit up on the premises. We’ve agreed the content in advance, and once the kit is set up, we’ll record 8-10 episodes at a time, sometimes with guests Zooming in. This works well for the client, and we handle all of the subsequent editing and publishing for them. We also designed all of the branding, intros and so on.
Founder’s Fortune Framework BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: This is an example of something that was filmed “podcast style”, but which is in fact part of a video series for subscribers to a training programme. The client teaches company owners how to exit their companies for maximum payout, and rather than just talk to camera, he decided he wanted something more discussion based so that would engage his students in a better way. This was again filmed on site at the client’s premises, with the final version swapping between camera views and the client’s laptop screen.
Appendix B: Customer Profile A blueprint for understanding a customer’s interests and drivers, in order to create content that will attract and engage them.
Customer Profile BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: The more we can get inside the head of our customer, and find out what they are worried about and hoping for, what they love doing and what they find difficult, then the easier it will be to come up with topics that people actively want to listen to. It also means that the content we create will be discoverable in searches, especially when we snip it up later on. This customer profile or avatar is incredibly useful, and not just for podcasts. We actually developed it for creating adverts and promos for clients - and we have found that it’s ideal for podcast prep too. An example of this is seeding in content to your episodes that pre-handles buying objections. If you know what the main blockers to purchase are, you can cover them in a conversational way that doesn’t look like selling. Take the time to create an avatar or profile for your main customer types - it’s an investment that will pay huge dividends across all areas of your business.
Section 1: Demographics BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: Name: Age: Gender: Marital status: Age and # of children: Location: Field of occupation: Job title: Annual income: Education level: Section 2: Challenges & Pain Points What are this customer’s top 3 challenges? What is stopping them from getting what they want? What are this customer’s top 3 pain points? What do they not like about their current situation? What is your customer not good at? What is your customer uncertain about? What does your customer no longer want to experience? What does your customer no longer want to feel? What does your customer have bad dreams about?
Section 3: Goals, Desires and Values BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: What are this customer’s top 3 goals? What are this customer’s top values? What are they committed to? What do they believe in? What they want to get better at? What do they want to experience? What do they want to feel? What does your customer have pleasant / daydreams about? Section 4: Sources of Information What books does your customer read? (Which other people would be unlikely to) What magazines does your customer subscribe to? (Which other people would be unlikely to) What blogs and websites does your customer visit? (Which other people would be unlikely to) Which conferences and events as your customer attend? (Which other people would be unlikely to) What experts does your customer follow? (Which other people would be unlikely to) What other interests or activities as your customer have or do? (Which other people would be unlikely to)
Section 5: Buying Behaviour BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: What objections would your customer be likely to have? What role does the customer have in the purchase process? Who else would be likely to influence the customer in terms of buying? Who else do they have to persuade, that we might need to give them the material for? How comfortable is the customer likely to be at buying online versus face-to-face or over the phone? Section 6: Outcomes & Alternatives What transformation is the customer looking for (from and to what): How would they visualise that transformation? (Where would they be and what would they be doing?) What alternatives do they have to our solution, and why don’t they give the same result?
Section 7: Context of Problem or Need BUSINESS PODCASTING GUIDEBOOK SERIES: How or when do they discover they have a need? Who do they first discuss solving this problem with? Where do they usually do their research to solve this problem? Where do they look to find companies to solve this problem?
Business Podcasting How to create content that attracts customers and positions you as the #1 trusted & approachable industry expert. GUIDEBOOK SERIES Copyright 2025 Otterspool Studios Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Written and published by Pete Burnett.
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