Ultimate Guide to Corporate Communications Podcasts: Ideas, Tips, and Insights from an Expert
We gathered all of our corporate communications podcast expertise into one place for you. Here’s everything you need to know, starting with:
Why are we doing a corporate communications podcast in the first place?
For millennia, humans have learned through storytelling. This might explain why around 30% of people are auditory learners - and why so many people prefer listening to a podcast over reading a blog or watching a video.
There are many other reasons why you want to do a podcast:
Audio conveys tone of voice, your passion for the topic, and your personality much better than text.
Professional podcasts are much cheaper than professional video.
Audio allows you and your guests to communicate freely without worrying about how you appear on camera.
Audio can be much longer than a video.
People can listen no matter where they are or what they’re doing - driving to and from work, folding laundry, sitting at the airport waiting for their flight to board.
A podcast can also build your brand awareness:
You will reach a new audience.
You will engage people on a deeper level.
You will humanize your brand.
You will share content that positions you as a thought leader.
You will build your personal and company brand.
We actually created our podcast production process to ensure our clients meet each of these goals.
Before we record a podcast episode, we schedule a prep call with the guest(s), walk them through what to expect, and answer any questions. On the day of the recording, they will be relaxed and ready to go.
During the recording, hosts and guests use headsets we provide that capture high quality audio. And we use remote audio recording software that allows us to create darn-near studio quality without the need for an acoustically treated environment.
After the episode has been recorded, we provide our clients with a transcript they can edit. They might say, “Remove this section” or “Swap these points around.” A transcript is especially helpful for clients in a highly regulated industry, because they can be reviewed by their compliance officer or general counsel.
An edited transcript allows us to edit faster. We cut out everything the client asks us to, edit out most of the “ums” and “likes” to reduce distractions, adjust the volume levels, remove background noise, and more.
A podcast is not a webinar
Yes, it may seem obvious that a podcast is not a webinar. However, I recently talked to someone who wants to do a one-off webinar. I had to explain that a webinar is not a podcast.
A podcast is audio distributed through an RSS feed. (An RSS feed is a line of code that allows content creators to publish and distribute content to an audience and allows the audience to subscribe and comment on it.)
You can use an RSS feed for video, but there’s no reason to do that when you can easily publish and distribute your video on YouTube. (I personally do not recommend recording video when recording audio. Here’s why audio-only podcasting is the way to go.)
Understand your audience and what they want to hear
As with any marketing channel or strategy, you need to start with your audience. Who are they? What information is most valuable to them?
Let’s start with the “who.” We always recommend focusing on a niche audience. With a corporate communications podcast, your audience quality is far more important than your audience size.
Having 10,000 listeners or downloads is fairly meaningless data - unless you are Conan O’Brien. (But an entertainment podcast is MUCH different from a B2B podcast.) It is much more important to engage a small number of the right people who can bring in business or educate key industry leaders.
True story: We produced a podcast that discussed public policy. Thanks to a niche audience, the podcast actually went from discussing federal policy to influencing it.
Now for the “what.” To set your podcast apart from competitors and build thought leadership, consider creating a series of niche topics. For example, a law firm could focus on one practice area, like employment law, and cover wage and equal pay issues, discrimination in the workplace, wrongful discharge, employee contract negotiations, etc.
If your budget doesn’t allow for long episodes or a lot of episodes, focus on high-impact topics. For example, how does your business or industry impact pop culture topics that attract more clicks?
5 things we’ve learned about creating interview questions
When you’ve produced hundreds of hours of podcasts, you learn a thing or two about creating interview questions.
1: Don’t worry about yes/no questions
Guests on corporate communications podcasts arrive prepared to talk and share their expertise. They will be expressive and go much further than a one-word answer.
The bigger problem is actually guests who talk too much, because it is harder to edit for continuity. As a host, you can partially remedy this by distilling the information your expert guest just shared. If you ask a question and get a long answer, clarify. “I heard you say ABC. Is that correct?”
2: Ask questions appropriate for your audience
When you’re writing up questions, make sure they are sophisticated enough for your core audience but also digestible for a lay person or someone who is new to the industry/topic.
With that said, don’t go too broad on your questions, because you will get an answer that is more appropriate for an encyclopedia (or Wikipedia).
3: You only need five questions
I typically see the guest and host work on questions together. As the host, provide five questions on ONE topic to your guest and ask for their input to ensure they provide succinct but helpful responses.
4: Be ready to ask follow up questions
I see a lot of hosts sticking strictly to the script when recording the very first podcast episode. It sounds awkward, and yes, sometimes it does sound like the host isn’t listening. If you’re relaxed and open to asking follow-up questions, you can get some new insights you weren’t expecting.
5: Ask for personal anecdotes and experiences
Let’s say your podcast focuses on personal finance and investing. When a wealth manager is appearing as a guest, you might ask “What’s the biggest financial mistake you’ve seen among clients?” Financial advisors who are listening may nod along, while individuals who are listening will take notes.
Audio quality — why it matters for corporate communications more than ever
High-quality audio is a must for corporate communications podcasts. Yes, it’s important to sound professional, but quality audio allows you to deliver your message with maximum impact and truly engage your audience.
A podcast episode that includes audio drop-outs, echoes, static, background noise, and volume fluctuations is distracting. And you will lose listeners - permanently.
We use a third-party recording platform that is designed for podcasters. It allows media to be recorded on the user’s machine and uploaded simultaneously to the cloud, so there are no disconnections or glitches on the final recordings.
Can you record high-quality audio on Zoom? Technically, yes.
But it requires a heavy lift and a lot of time. You need to take a deep dive into Zoom’s internal settings on both their website and app to make the proper adjustments. Your guests will have to do this too. And both you and your guests will have to send the recording to your podcast producer.
With the platform we use, the burden of delivering the recorded media is off your and your guests’ shoulders.
We use audio editing software called Avid Pro Tools, which has been the industry standard program for major motion pictures and television shows for the last 20+ years. Its flexibility and versatility allow for edits down to 1,000th of a second, and it supports our fast turnaround times.
We also use a variety of third-party software plugins that allow us to remove ambient noise and room reverberation. Between Avid Pro Tools and these plugins, your remote podcast will always sound clear and professional.
Finally, we edit to make sure the conversation flows AND sounds natural. This means we remove pauses, coughs, and most (but not all) um’s.
Take a listen to the differences between good and bad audio quality. You’ll hear for yourself what different recording setups sound like.
Professional production makes a difference
Podcast producers do more than edit audio for flow so it sounds natural.
We manage the entire process, starting with expecting the unexpected. If things go wrong - and they do - we will handle it quickly.
During pre-production, we find out who is recording, where they are recording, when the recording needs to take place. We help coordinate the constantly changing schedules of hosts and guests and make sure everyone receives a headset that is compatible with their computer, well in advance of the scheduled recording.
We also select the music for your intro and outro. Using our “producer’s ear”, we can identify a handful of on-point selections that fit your criteria, align with your organization’s brand, and pace well with your show hosts’ natural cadence.
When we are recording the podcast, we are there to help. If a guest cannot connect, we will troubleshoot it immediately. If something happens during the recording – perhaps a train whistle drowns out the audio – we will ask the speaker to start over.
Once post-production is complete, we consult on loading the final approved podcast to an RSS feed that distributes to all the podcasting platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. And we make sure all those moving parts on the internet work together.
We also keep you on time and on budget, and - most importantly - we stay calm when technical hurdles arise. Keeping a cool head is paramount to successfully recording your time-sensitive content.
Your podcast should be as good as humanly possible
Let’s talk about artificial intelligence (AI).
Though AI is good at performing very specific tasks, do not use AI to create or edit your podcast. It cannot take the place of a professional producer.
With that said, we do use AI for transcription and audio processing. AI transcriptions are around 90% accurate. However, if a recording has a lot of background noise or someone has a heavy accent, the transcription will require human intervention.
If I receive a terrible audio recording, I will use AI to help with processing. Two typical tools of a modern audio engineer are noise and reverb reduction. First, I de-noise and de-reverb using my ears. Only then do I hand it over to AI to make it sound better.
If you let AI handle all of the editing for you, it will sound very different than a podcast edited by a human. A “done for you” podcasting service will probably ask you to first edit the transcript and remove any passages you don’t want to keep. Then AI will remove all of the ‘um’s and ‘like’s.
Hundreds (if not thousands) of edits later, you’ll have a terrible sounding podcast that is choppy, poorly paced, and so distracting your audience will completely miss your message.
We do so much work behind the scenes to make each podcast episode sound natural and professional and to preserve the context of your conversation.
We delete most of the um’s and like’s with remarkable care, so every edit is seamless. (Yes, we do occasionally leave in some um’s if it sounds more natural, because that’s how people talk. )
We also adjust the pacing, so it flows smoothly and doesn’t jar the ear. Take a listen to this podcast recording I made a couple of years ago. Can you tell that I made 28 edits to it?
And now you are an expert on corporate communications podcasting!
OK, maybe our team knows a little more than you. But you did learn a lot in this guide:
Podcasts can convey your expertise and emotions much better than text or video, thus allowing you to engage more deeply with your audience.
When it comes to audience size, quality always beats quantity.
High quality audio can make or break your podcast.
A professional producer will solve technical problems quickly, saving you time, money, and frustration.
Podcast editing requires a human touch to sound natural.
And if you’re ready to launch your own podcast, our team of podcast production experts will ensure you reap the many benefits of a corporate communications podcast. Contact us today to learn more.
