Podcast Blueprint

Step-by-step process:

1. Define purpose + outcomes

Before jumping into the campaign, define the purpose of the podcast play+ and the expected outcome(s) of the campaign. Ask the stakeholders these questions:

• What is the main purpose of the podcast play? (For example, are you looking to create awareness about a PoV/educate the audience/change the mindset/help explain complicated processes in detail, etc?)
• What is the expected outcome of the campaign? (Do you want higher reach, do you want MQLs, brand awareness). Ultimately, the goal is higher revenue, but it is important to know how you want to get there (by getting new leads, engaging frozen accounts/lost deals/upselling)

2. Define ICP 

Most campaigns start with determining who the campaign is for. 

• Who do you want to attract?
• Who is the target audience?
• Who benefits from this information/knowledge?
• Who can you sell to?

To do this, first, you:

Apply firmographic criteria like industry, company size, location, revenue, etc. The criteria do not have to be too rigid (unless mentioned otherwise), so a margin of 5% when it comes to numbers is acceptable, especially if the industry is niche.

Then,  

You apply other qualification criteria. For example, for a software development agency, it could be the fact that a prospect does not have a specialized team in-house, has received funding in the last 12-24 months, is hiring for SDE roles, etc. 

Next, you apply disqualification criteria. For the same example above, it can be factors like lack of funding, budget below $x, has an in-house specialized team, uses low-code/no-code app builders, has already signed a deal or is in the process of signing a deal with a competitor etc. 

To recap, here is what the ICP finalization process looks like:

1. Apply firmographic criteria
2. Apply other qualification criteria 
3. Apply disqualification criteria 

And that’s how you define ICP.

 

3. Prepare a prospect list

After you’ve determined the ICP, the next step is to research and finalize accounts that fit the ICP. Here’s how you do that:

First, you list about 35-40 companies that fit your ICP. You will call them ‘accounts’. You can do this through sales navigator or any other scraping tool. You can also do this manually by looking up companies and matching them against your determined ICP with criteria like size, revenue, location, etc. Remember to match them against your disqualifying criteria too.

For each ‘account’, you need to find 3-4 people, i.e ‘contacts’ that are part of the buying committee. You can do this through LinkedIn. For each company, you note down the company name, company website, contact name, contact LinkedIn profile, etc.

For each contact, search for traces of information online and add them in the relevant columns. You’re looking for any and all information that can help us either serve them better, know them better, or customize the offer/offering better. 

You can find this relevant information through:

• articles, blogs on publishing platforms (LinkedIn, Medium, Reddit etc.) 
• case studies on target companies from competitors’ sites.
• podcasts – for interviews with target contacts
• all social media channels (especially LinkedIn)

Details can look like this:

Then, you create the following columns next to these account names:

• Engaged (liked/commented/no interaction)
• Connection request sent (yes/no)
• Connection request accepted (yes/no)
• Message 1 sent (yes/no)
• Date of message sent
• Follow up sent (yes/no)
• Interested? (registered/not registered)

The resultant spreadsheet should look like this:

In case you have access to an existing prospect list, you need to narrow it down to fit the campaign’s ICP and goals and follow the same process as above.

Lastly, get approval from all stakeholders and upper management and finalize the list.

 

4. Outreach

You’ve sharpened your saw, now it’s time to strike. Here’s how you do it:

1. The first step is to engage with them through all social media channels, i.e LinkedIn, Reddit, Slack, wherever they are active. Like/comment with something relevant.

2. Wait 2 days

3. Send them a LinkedIn connection request. You can also ask for a referral to be introduced to the person in question if a common connection is available. 

Linkedin connection request note script:

Hi NAME, I bumped into your thoughts on TOPIC on PLATFORM/post on LinkedIn/podcast on TOPIC. I wanted to invite you to our very own PODCAST, so I’d like to connect with you to discuss this further🙂

4. Follow-up through InMail if the LinkedIn connection request is not accepted:

Li InMail script:

Hello NAME,

I recently stumbled across your thoughts on TOPIC on PLATFORM/post on LinkedIn/podcast on TOPIC. It’s great how you managed to address PROBELM1/I especially liked the part where you *mention a moment from the podcast/thought from the article or post*- well done 🙂

I’m reaching out because we’re doing a podcast on *topic of podcast* to discuss ADDITIONAL VALUE 1/ topic related to the thought you liked in their article/podcast/post.

I’d love to invite you to the podcast as a guest speaker. 

Is this something you’d be interested in? Let me know.

Cheers,

YOU

5. Wait 3 days

6. Follow-up through email:

Email follow-up #1 script:

SUBJECT: *additional value 1/thought from podcast/blog/post* discussion

Hi NAME,

I sent you a Linkedin message the other day – I know the Linkedin inbox gets messy sometimes, so you may have missed it 🙂

I’m reaching out to you because I recently stumbled across your thoughts on TOPIC on PLATFORM/post on LinkedIn/podcast on TOPIC. It’s great how you managed to address PROBELM1/I especially liked the part where you *mention a moment from the podcast/thought from the article or post*- well done!

I’m reaching out because we’re hosting a podcast on *topic of podcast* to discuss ADDITIONAL VALUE 1/ topic related to the thought you liked in their article/podcast/post.

I’d love to invite you to the podcast as a guest speaker. 

Is this something you’d be interested in? Let me know.

Cheers,

YOU

7. After they accept the connection request (but haven’t replied to your note, InMail, or email)

Message to be sent after LinkedIn connection accepted script: 

Hey NAME,

Thank you so much for connecting!

Like I mentioned above, I’d love to feature you on our PODCAST

<give a short intro about the podcast>

We could talk about <list top 3 topics>, but I usually do a short 10-min pre-podcast call to align on the topic and get to know each other better.

I’d love to get your feedback on this, let me know if you’re up for it.

Thanks

YOU

 

5. Pre-interview call

After they agree to a pre-interview call, it is now time to set up a questionnaire. 

There are two parts to the questionnaire:

1. Value-add questions: These are questions that you need to ask the prospects in order to produce a fair, well-researched, interesting podcast on the topic finalized. 
2. Qualifying questions: These are questions you ask the prospect to qualify them. These are 5-7 questions that lead through a discovery process about how the prospect is currently dealing with the challenge you help solve. 

The ultimate goal of this pre-podcast call should be to gather enough insights to produce a valuable podcast and to get a good idea whether/how to go on with a sales play. So, you must understand the prospect’s business and challenges.

On top of this, because it is a podcast, some of the questions also need to be light-hearted and talk about the guest’s personality. You can use these ice-breaker questions:

• What’s the most recent book you read? Did you like it? Why/why not?
• What are you passionate about outside of work? What are your hobbies?
• Who are your favourite authors?

Example of a questionnaire for a pre-podcast call:

For an eKYC company operating in Asia, a pre-interview call can look like this:

1. 2-3 ice-breaker questions
2. What are your top 3 priorities?
3. How do you currently handle EKYC? 
4. How do you measure the accuracy of your current KYC solution? //KPIs?
5. What is the tendency of the churn rate in your onboarding process?
6. What departments are involved in operations that regard customer onboarding?
7. Do you consider onboarding as a technical question or as a key component of your growth?
8. What are your plans for next year with regards to onboarding? 
9. What’s your biggest challenge in KYC/onboarding?
10. What are a few things you’d like to talk about on the podcast? Would you be comfortable with x, y and z topic?

 

6. Prepare for podcast + host podcast

If the pre-podcast call determines that the prospect is a good fit ICP or even if it makes for an interesting conversation, it is now time to bring them on to the real podcast.

In order to film the actual podcast, they need to have crisp audio and video. In order to do that, send them a set-up tutorial. You can also use our guide to help them set up their equipment. 

Then,

1. Prepare questions for the podcast. They have to be closely related to the pre-determined topic
2. Send the questions to the prospect for them to approve of it beforehand. 
3. Let them add suggestions and more topics/questions too as they see fit.

Remember, the point of the podcast is a mutual discussion. Do not speak over your guests, let them be the star of the show. 

Here is an example of a guest podcast. 

 

7. Say thank you + move podcast to post-production:

Write a thank you note to your prospect for appearing on the podcast. Keep engaging with them over social media and remind them that you will send them the final podcast once it is released.

The podcast needs to be moved to post-production in order to be released. 

1. The transcript needs to be added and corrected (You can use Descript to do that)
2. In order to edit the video, change fonts, add logo, add title, etc, use Adobe Premiere Pro
3. Once the final video is ready, chop it up to create 2-minute video snippets of the episode. Here are a few examples of snippets (of the podcast episode linked above). 
4. Send the guest the final recording of the podcast along with the snippets.

Email follow-up script:

Hey NAME,

Thank you so much for starring as a guest on our podcast!

It was great having you on, the discussions & insights were truly top-tier. 

The podcast is now out on Spotify/SoundCloud/YouTube, you can use this link to share it with friends, colleagues and peers: <link>.

We’re also sending you a few 2-minute snippets from the podcast that you can circulate on your social media to promote the show. <link to google folder with all these snippets>

Thanks

YOU

 

8. Promote the podcast

Promote the podcast on your LinkedIn by using the snippets. Also, remember to tag the prospect in the post. 

Here is an example.  

 

9. Give them a recommendation on LinkedIn

After the podcast is published, add a recommendation on their LinkedIn talking about their strengths. Highlight the thoughts and insights they brought to the table and paint them as a thought leader.