Podcasts have become a powerful tool for companies looking to connect with their target audience, generate value and position themselves in the market. Bancolombia's podcast, "Innovación Bancolombia", is an exceptional example of how providing knowledge can lead to success.
If you are reading this blog post you probably fit two types of profiles. The firstare colleagues who also work in a podcast production company and are investigating the world of business podcasts.
The second, they may be part of a large company and are researching about doing podcast in your company. They may be looking for alternatives to see if this makes sense for the company they work for..
In either case, this article is intended to shed light on the superpowers that podcasts have. And even more so when they are made by large companies. And for this we are going to use the Bancolombia podcast as an example, distilling the best learnings we have had there.
First of all we need to give you some context about this podcast.
It turns out that at the genesis of this project the mission we had as a podcast producer was to position the bank as a thought leader on innovation issues. WARNING, we did not want to use the podcast to sell more credit or financial products.. We wanted Banclombia to lead the conversation on innovation issues at the Latin American level.
With this mission in mind, we said: "WE ARE GOING TO MAKE THE BEST INNOVATION PODCAST POSSIBLE". A business podcast that helps the audience understand how innovation works. and how they can put these tips into practice in their professional and personal contexts.
And we started production with a single goal in mind: to facilitate or enable innovation knowledge to as many people as possible.
WHY WAS THIS PODCAST SUCH A SUCCESS?
To answer this question, here are the 4 elements that we believe have made Bancolombia Innovation an unprecedented success:
1. The objective is to add value
One of the things that has become a mantra within Naranja Media is "How we add value to the client's audience." Well, we quickly understood that if the content we created was focused on the clients' products and all we did was promotion, promotion and promotion, nobody, absolutely nobody, was going to listen to us.
We understood that what we had to do was to add value. And that is achieved by telling stories that are useful to those who hear them.
And in the case of Bancolombia, what we did was to provide knowledge. We took all the bank's experts, friends of the bank and allies and started extracting as much useful knowledge from them as we could. And that's where it all clicked, where the pieces fell into place. Because in each episode the listeners were taking away tools, tips and anecdotes to apply in their companies or even in their personal lives.
2. Companies have a duty to lead the way
And what does this mean? Well, you see, if you think about it, one of the things that abound in large companies is knowledge. Big companies, for different reasons, are experts in different subjects. A large company always has something to teach regardless of the industry it is in.
Whether for their human talent, for their research, for their publications or for their research, the point is that they are mines of trapped knowledge. This is not to say that a podcast for a company should only teach about what it knows. There are also companies that want to get into unfamiliar topics and learn in the process, or simply make entertaining content.
I'm always asked: Why is it worth doing podcasts for companies? And I always say: "There are many benefits of doing it. But the one I like the most is to think that a good podcast is a golden opportunity for a great company to connect with its audience at a H2H (Human to Human) level, at a level where there is empathy and value."
And this is exactly what happened with the Bancolombia podcast. It became the "machete" to open the way for those who come behind in innovation.
Remember this phrase:
"If you're the first one up, leave the ladder set for those who come behind."
- Unknown
3. Brand Vs. Hook
Here is a lesson learned, which is not so obvious but it is worth leaving it here. Whenever a brand wants to make a content strategy it has to think about two variables that are inversely proportional. The amount of branding in the content versus listener engagement.. And by engagement I mean the amount of time a person spends consuming the content.
So what did we realize after 60 episodes with Bancolombia, and in general not only with them but with our entire client portfolio? Well, that the more intense I am in mentioning how beautiful my brand is within the content, the less engagement I get.. This, of course, does not mean that now everything has to be private label.
This means that we have to find the middle ground where a content strategy contributes to business branding objectives. But it also adds value to the audience. If you listen to an episode of Bancolombia Innovation you will NEVER hear things like. "And remember to enter this link to apply for a mortgage loan" or "Today's story is about how Fulana de Tal got her first credit card".
4. Patience
The marketing and advertising world is invaded by the phenomenon of "instant gratification" which means that we are all waiting for any marketing or communications strategy to pay off tomorrow... and the truth is that it's not like that, I always tell my clients "If you want results for RIGHT NOW, don't do podcasts, put that budget in Google Ads".
Innovación Bancolombia was NOT born with 120 thousand listeners. In the first month we had 2 thousand listeners, and it was the CONSISTENCY that got us to where we are today, not eagerness. The best way to understand this is this: the holy grail of content strategies is consistency in publishing, ie, to become a habit for the audience.
When for some reason we don't manage to publish the episode of Innovación Bancolombia people start writing to us basically saying "What happened that you haven't published?" The episodes have positioned themselves as a weekly consumption habit of listeners, that's where the magic of a content strategy lies.
So if your company is exploring doing a podcast or any type of content, remember that this is a marathon, not a quarter-mile race.
I hope these learnings have shed some light on your process for podcasting or any other type of content.
If you want to talk to me, do not hesitate to write to me at santiago@naranjamedia.co
Here are some other shows we have done as a podcast producer for large companies reinforcing the point of "Let's add value without navel gazing".
Author:
Santiago Cortés Calle,
Director of New Channels at Naranja Media Podcasts - Podcast Production Company
IG: @santiccalle