Blog - Stacey Meadwell

Video: How to be a great B2B podcast guest

So you’ve been asked to be a guest on a B2B podcast; how do you make sure your audio interview goes well?

Business podcasts boomed during the lockdown, so the chances of being invited to talk on one as a guest are increasing. You may even be pitching to podcasts to be a guest as part of a communications and content strategy.

Audio interviews are similar to any other interview in that you need to prepare, but there are a few other things you need to do to make sure you are a great podcast guest.

In this video, I give a few tips I’ve picked up from my years doing interviews as a journalist – including podcast interviews. More recently, I’ve been helping clients with their podcasts and hosting interviews.

I’m also in the process of setting up my own business podcast, but more on that another time.

Hope you find the video useful, let me know your thoughts, or if you’ve already been a guest on a podcast, did you enjoy the experience?

More stuff on podcasts and press interviews:

Should I start a podcast as part of a B2B content strategy?

Press interview tip: Understanding the journalist’s agenda

The reason some people get quoted more in the press

Content marketing, Content strategy

Should I start a podcast as part of a B2B content strategy?

Podcasting offers a different content medium to blogs, articles and videos but is starting a podcast right for your B2B business? What are the pros and cons of podcasting for business?

Centre of image is sturdy looking microphone used for podcasting. In the background is an open lap top and on the screen you can see the sound waves of what is being recorded. In the foreground you can see the arms of two people who are in conversation. — Photo by CoWomen on Unsplash

I recently chatted to fellow communications experts Ayo Abbas of Abbas Marketing and Emma Drake of Henbe Communications on a LinkedIn Live about podcasting as a form of B2B content.

Both Ayo and Emma launched their own podcasts just over a year ago and have a lot to say about why you should – and shouldn’t – use audio content.

I’m in the process of starting my own business podcast but I also help clients with their podcasts.

Here’s some of the key points from the discussion and if you want to watch the full chat which includes additional podcast-related questions from the audience, you can find the video here.

I’ll also put links to Ayo and Emma’s podcasts at the end so you can check them out.

Why shouldn’t you start a podcast?

Emma: In Apple podcasts, the number of live podcasts, compared to the number of podcasts registered is dropping which means that lots of people started [a podcast] and then trailed off.

I think it’s when they realised it’s a lot of work. It’s like any marketing channel, technique or approach, you’ve got to be really committed if you want to start a podcast.

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Content engagement, Content marketing, Content strategy

60-seconds on…How to encourage B2B content engagement

Some ideas for encouraging B2B content engagement

Engagement on your B2B content – likes, comments, shares – means the algorithms will give it more visibility.

Why? Because B2B content engagement is an indicator, it’s of interest or value (or entertaining) and therefore worth showing to some more people.

And that goes for social media posts and stuff on your website.

So how can you encourage engagement?

Here is 60-seconds worth of ideas covering ease of engagement, responding to engagement and CTAs (call to action).

How do you encourage engagement on your B2B content?

Want more B2B content tips? Check out my recent posts:

Or sign up for my monthly digest of B2B content tips. The first edition of the B2B Content Clinic newsletter is coming soon.

B2B media, Interview tips, what journalists want

Press interview tip: Understanding the journalist’s agenda

I was doing a B2B media training session recently, and the topic of journalists’ ‘having an agenda’ when doing press interviews came up.

The assumption being that a B2B journalist will already have an angle to a story or feature and be more interested in questions and conversation that supports that.

A woman sit with a pen writing in a note pad at an event. You can see others sat near her with notebooks. — Photo by The Climate Reality Project on Unsplash

And as a result, using a press interview as a means of getting your voice or opinion heard, the odds are stacked against you.

Do journalists have an agenda when they sit down to interview someone?

Having been a journalist for 20 years, I can confidently say: ‘Yes.

But it isn’t quite what you think.

A B2B journalist’s agenda will first and foremost be to find an interesting story or useful information for their readers and subscribers.

That’s their job.

If you understand who their audience is, you’ll have a better idea of what the journalist is going to be interested in talking about.

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Press releases, what journalists want

How to make your B2B press release repel journalists

Want to make sure that journalists hit delete on your B2B press release?

Here’s a handy guide to what you can do to ensure the story on your press release doesn’t make it onto your target B2B news website or into the pages of a trade magazine or newspaper.

Close up shot of the delete key on a MacBook with the caption: It is easy to get your press release deleted. — Press releases are easily deleted. Photo by Ujesh Krishnan on Unsplash

Just put “Press Release” in your email subject line rather than a headline.
Write a boring subject line.
Don’t paste your press release into the email just write: Our press release is attached.
Send your press release as a PDF.
Make your press release really long.
Write your press release in huge blocks of text that are difficult to scan on screen.
Use marketing speak.
Use unsubstantiated claims (unique, leading etc)
Include a bland corporate quote that adds no value or context to the story.
Say your are delighted in your quote.
Waffle rather than getting straight to the point of the story
Bury the story some where near the bottom of the press release.

Why is all this effective for repelling journalists?

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