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44 mins
Recruitment Podcasts and Reaching Recruits with White and Case

The world of law is highly competitive, and that starts with competing for the top graduates. How do you make a connection with your graduate hiring pool to make sure that you identify the best people to represent your business? White and Case developed their own recruitment podcast. We spoke to Juliette Fernandez (Legal Recruiting Coordinator) and Andrew Farmer (Senior Manager in Employer Brand Communications) to find out.White & Case LLP is an international law firm based in the USA. The firm has been operating for more than a century and has 45 offices in 31 countries worldwide. White & Case is one of the top ten law firms worldwide in terms of revenue.White & Case differentiates itself from other law firms by its culture. While the "big law" workflow may be similar across different businesses, White & Case are fully aware that it is their people that make the company, and they work hard to nurture them.What triggered White & Case to start a podcast?Traditionally, White & Case would conduct on-campus interviews with potential recruits. Juliette had noticed that many interviewees prepared last minute on their smartphones by browsing sites and reading promotional material of potential employers.It had been in her mind that podcasting could offer an effective way to make use of interviewees’ desire for information and engagement, especially in that pre-interview moment of nerves that so many candidates experience. A recruitment podcast also offered an effective way to go to educate potential recruits about the realities of working for White & Case. After all, the recruitment process is about finding that ideal fit, which means that candidates should be well educated about what the role entails and what to expect from the interview process.When the pandemic hit, White & Case needed to innovate to find an effective way to get in front of candidates. This was when the idea of making a personal connection with potential recruits via podcasts crystallized, and the firm invested in a recruitment podcast.White and Case’s recruitment podcast, On The Record with White and Case, provides interview tips, as well as providing insights and understanding of the culture and values of the firm. The podcast guests tell personal stories to assist listeners and to make them more personable and accessible to their audience.How do you keep your podcast engaging to new listeners?Listening to their audience's needs has been a huge part of ensuring that the podcast is engaging and meaningful. The team hears what graduates are asking and ensures that the content speaks to their needs.The second component of White & Case's secret sauce is to keep it fresh. Juliette has an "off the record" moment at the end of her interviews. This allows a more informal and humorous connection between herself and the company representative she is talking to. Juliette firmly believes that this human connection is vital to their format.How is the recruiting podcast made?Who creates your recruiting podcast?Juliette and Andrew work together to brainstorm through the ideation process. They point out that it is vital that their content matches the peak recruiting flows, so the team works to ensure that content is ready in advance to securely match the timeline.Also, the team works to ensure that the podcast communicates White & Case’s commitment to inclusivity. For example, some of the material past podcasts have covered includes a focus on the wide diversity of groups who are a valued part of White & Case’s human resources. For example White & Case highlights certain key events in the year, such as Pride Month or Asian Pacific Islanders’ Month, allowing the podcast team to spotlight how they get involved.One of the key components that comes across when talking to Andrew and Juliette is that they are an effective team, able to complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses.Who produces your podcast?White and Case utilizes their in-house production team and editorial team to record the content and add the post-production touch-ups that each episode requires.Who promotes your podcast?The creation team then releases, and the external marketing team promotes the material. Primarily traffic is driving from LinkedIn and Instagram.What are the benefits of using podcasts?Juliette explains that podcasting has been a natural and complementary tool to the other channels that recruitment already applies. The benefits have been clear, thanks to feedback from candidates that consumed the material pre-interview. The pre-interview preparation has spoken reliably and directly to the audience's needs.Furthermore, the podcast has given a platform to community members who would otherwise not have a voice. For example, a summer intern who later became a recruit passed on meaningful advice – also giving prospective candidates a connection with someone they can relate to.White & Case's Andrew and Juliette are very clear that podcasting has been an excellent medium to provide information in a format that is not too slick or too corporate, but is instead, accessible and personable.One of the clear wins, as Juliette notes, is that she can leverage those members of her community who are excellent at connecting with others and who are not afraid to have conversations that open up different perspectives. The power of giving them a voice can't be overstated. The audience wants to hear from colleagues, Juliette tells us; they are, in fact, your #1 marketing material.Is there any take-home advice?Andrew did not want to restrict himself to one piece of advice; so we are maxing up the take-homes here: Audience First: understand your audience and cater to their needs. This is the scaffold to building a good podcast. Content Plan: it is vital to understand your entire "season" of content planning. Guests must be engaged; never underestimate how long that can take. Have fun! It really comes across to your audience when you are having fun with your podcast, and it results in more engaging material.

Interview
43 mins
How Jostens Used Podcasting to Boost Morale and Connect their Employees

Mark Bussel, Jostens’s National Director of Learning and Development, claims that using Podbean caused him to rethink his strategy about how information is presented in an organization -- to shift away from an one-for-all newsletter in favor of targeted “microbursts of learning” across multiple podcast channels. Podbean’s Head of Marketing, John Kiernan, interviewed Bussel about why Jostens started podcasting, how they create podcasts and how podcasts have helped them improve their internal communications.Jostens is an American institution. With 127 years of history behind it, the company is all about making memories with a product range that includes its iconic Super Bowl and class rings, school photographs, diplomas, and yearbooks. But, Jostens goes beyond memorabilia by engaging with the communities it serves and working with its partner schools to improve awareness of issues ranging from climate to culture to the environment itself.Headquartered in Minneapolis, Jostens maintains a total of 10 facilities in the US and Canada, and its products are sold as far afield as Mexico and Europe. Their products are one-of-a-kind, and their business model is equally unique. Jostens thrives on client relationships formed primarily by the independent representatives that compose its sales force -- a salesforce with an average tenure of twenty-five years with the company.Why Podcasting?When it came to communications at Jostens, Mark Bussel, the company’s National Director of Learning and Development explains that “we had our trusty email blasts and, sometimes the content was written, sometimes it was recorded. We would send out some webinars or some face-to-face meetings every now and then.”While this worked quite well for employees on-site where engagement with management was direct, the main impetus to begin podcasting came from the company’s remote sales force who were looking for a way to remain current while they were traveling. “Our reps came back and said, ‘it'd be really cool if we could get your communications on our phones so we could listen or watch whenever we have some downtime or during our commutes.” In light of that request, Bussel claims, “Podcasting became a pretty obvious solution once we started to explore and dig into it.”Although Bussel was already sold on the idea of podcasting, COVID 19 upped the ante. “We had a remote sales force to begin with, then COVID forced our internal staff to go remote too. This whole communication thing became a real challenge for us.” Bussel and his team took the opportunity to embrace podcasting with Podbean, streamline their communications channels and give Jostens employees “a common library -- a single place to go for information on their own schedule.”The Power of the Podcast“These channels are instrumental in our ability to help our team reach a completely different level and, and give them access to information, knowledge, and perspectives that we wouldn't have had regardless.”Discussing the shift from emailed communications to podcasting with Podbean, Bussel speaks about how things have changed since the early days of simply sending out video links with his weekly email updates.“Podbean allowed us to build communications in a different way -- we started to look at our audience and segment it a little bit. We looked at their needs and it empowered us to start to deliver some different content that became critical during COVID, especially content related to working remotely, like well-being and training.”Developing ChannelsOnce Bussel and his team began using Podbean to develop different content channels suited to the varying audiences within Jostens, he says, “We ended up with about six internal channels that people can go to various topics and targets -- before we didn’t have that.”With such strong internal success, says Bussel, “We even created channels for our people out in the field to share with their customers.” Here, they discovered an unexpected side benefit -- podcasting has helped Jostens improve its customer communications as well as that of its employees.According to Bussel, customer-facing podcasts allowed Jostens to “share our purpose”. He explains, “Purpose and mission can become like a fancy brochure you hand out. But now, with Podbean, you can hear it. It's a living, breathing thing with an ability to really reach a much broader audience much quicker.”Positive FeedbackThis ability to segment meant Jostens was able to reshape its employee experience, especially that of its independent reps, a potentially difficult demographic, within the company. Bussel was able to add value in a way that was focused and authentic rather than intrusive. A fact that he is quick to point out was supported by the feedback.“Once we got into it, the feedback started coming in from sales and our internal folks. There was an appetite there, especially with people being remote. We were able to take the pulse of what was going on in this feedback loop.” Considering the response, Bustle states “It was the result of Podbean, which has kept us, oddly enough, better connected than we were before.”Creating ContentWhen it comes to producing podcasts with a department of two, Bussel admits “I was really kind of shocked at how easy it was to publish. I thought there was a lot more to it.” Due to Podbean’s ease of use and intuitive toolset, he says he can “spend maybe two, three hours a week putting together the content for the upcoming weeks.” This leaves him time to focus on other roles in the company.Bussel stresses that Jostens takes a “grassroots” approach to its podcasts and that he is not the company’s sole contributor. “Our people contribute, whether they shoot on their phones, or record video in their Zoom. There's a lot of different ways that we've started to gather content.” Jostens benefits from Podbean’s universal accessibility -- content can be created with a basic recording device and edited on a laptop that already serves multiple purposes within Bussel’s role.There is no dedicated editing team. “We'll take maybe 15 minutes to create an episode by putting a bumper on the front and back and adding a little bit of music. I am by no means a technical expert, but I've learned in a really short period that we can make it look pretty doggone good.”Alluding to his prior experience, Bussel says “I didn't know anything about podcasting. Zero. I listened to podcasts every now and then.” He now finds himself the resident podcasting expert. I get asked, he says, “Did you get somebody to do that? Are you a professional at this? And I’m like, No, I just had the will to do it. And it was really cost-effective. Let me show you how.”The ResultsOne of the key benefits of switching Jostens over to Podbean to deliver information, Bussel says, is the flexibility to present and adjust content organically. “You reserve the right to make changes and grow along the way. If you see another need, or if you see another opportunity, don't be afraid, even if you change a channel in midstream, you know that that's okay. You reserve the right to make it better.”Bussel knew what he didn’t want for Jostens. “The meetings that I really struggle with are the ones that you go on into when it's face to face and you just start walking through a PowerPoint deck. I struggle with that. I want that conversation. I want that interaction.” In his quest to unite the company, he admits that before adopting Podbean he wasn’t sure what was possible. “I don't know if we anticipated it, we were hoping that that engagement was a possibility. But it gave us this two-way communication. That’s just at a different level than where we were before.”Finally, Podcasting allowed Jostens, as Bussel puts, it to “open the door for some outside perspective, which we have never done before. It has helped us empower our employees to the next level, regardless of where they are.” It is a significant change for an organization that had become entrenched in its employee interactions.Last Minute AdviceWhen asked to offer advice to anyone considering bringing podcasting into their organization, Bussel stresses focusing on the message over the tools.“Listening to your audience is just so important -- figuring out how you connect and driving that value down to them. We went out and we listened and we asked: What are the challenges going to be? What are the challenges that we need to communicate and share? And what are the solutions?With that done, I look at what it takes for me to produce almost all this content on my little laptop, and it's not that hard. I knew nothing about it ahead of time. It's really cool how using Podbean has transformed an organization.”

Interview
33 mins
Giving Your Ambassadors a Voice

What happens when the way your leaders connect with their teams is removed overnight? Many enterprises have faced this question as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns and remote work meant that management was disempowered and disconnected from their team at a time of great challenge.Podbean connected with Mark Mathia, Chief Experience Officer at Signature Performance, to hear about how they faced this challenge. Signature Performance works in the field of healthcare administration. Signature Performance recognized the fear and uncertainty that their people were experiencing and knew they needed a tool that brought people together in a deeper way. We joined Mark to find out more about how Signature Performance leverages its management team as ambassadors on its podcast.Why Podcasting?Corporate communications, branding, and marketing are all within Mark’s areas of responsibility. So when 80% of the Signature Performance’s workforce went remote in response to the threat of the pandemic, Mark’s team needed to pivot quickly.Isolation is not good for employee morale, especially in a time of widespread fear and economic uncertainty. Signature Performance felt that remote work left people feeling disconnected and lonely at times. Mark and his team decided that the benefits of actually hearing their colleagues’ voices would create a deeper human connection across the team. They also wanted to meet people where they were with something easy and convenient to digest, which is how they landed on podcasting and their target episode length.How Do You Use Podcasting?Signature Performance uses podcasting for internal communications. There are three strands to this implementation:Primarily, Mark uses podcasts as glue to connect his teams and people. Signature Performance uses podcasts to give their leaders an effective way to lead and inspire their remote teams. That is, to re-enable management to be ambassadors for the company.Signature Performance also uses podcasts as a way to connect with and better equip their management teams. By using Podbean’s secure podcasting platform to deliver their channel content privately, Signature Performance has shared “classified” information within their own management teams to communicate changes in strategy and vision.Finally, Signature Performance captures evergreen materials from podcasts and upcycles that material into training programs. The podcasts provide key information that can be more easily retained and reused.How Is the Podcast Created?Mark tells us that the process is extremely easy with Podbean (thanks Mark, we worked hard to make it so!). Mark works with his team to determine what materials are required. Part of that process involves surveying within their teams to identify what their content needs are across each quarter.The equipment used is basic, typically just a laptop and microphone. Signature Performance applies a hosted interview format to assist those content providers through the process. Also, one team member takes responsibility for the post-processing of the audio material before the podcast is released.Signature Performance’s approach is to channel content toward a particular target group. Their belief is that creating curated, targeted content is the most effective strategy for creating high levels of engagement. They also focus on curating content for the people who are their biggest center of influence, their management team.What Are the Benefits of Corporate Podcasting?The simple answer, connection.Signature Performance’s business model evolved rapidly during the pandemic – as the needs of the healthcare providers changed. This meant that new strategies had to be communicated effectively, at speed, across a scattered team. So, what did podcasts offer over MS Teams or Zoom? The element of storytelling; a deeper and richer experience than offered by the written word. There’s also the element of convenience for team members to listen and relisten as they wish.Signature Performance also used podcasts as a way to introduce new members of management. The changes to the business model brought new additions to their C-suite team. By creating podcasts, these managers were able to introduce themselves across the company in a personal way that communicated the essence of their personalities, not just their words.As Mark says, the impact of management sharing their vision for the future comes across much more strongly when presented in their own voice.Is There Any Take-Home Advice?Mark’s advice is to leverage podcasts to give your management team their voice back. He says: “get a microphone that’s clear and get a message that’s impactful”. He also reinforces that podcasting is an efficient way to communicate in terms of time, effort, and expense.Mark recommends patience. Mark says, “Early adoption doesn’t often happen in droves...but believe in what you’re doing and just get started.” Don’t expect immediate take-up, do expect to build the podcasts like a brand. Form the habit and let it grow.Perhaps the key take-away is not to underestimate the power of voice. Mark strongly believes that voice goes beyond the written word. Mark’s premise is that the essence of a person’s tone and inflection, sincerity, and confidence comes across in podcasts in a richer way that is possible through emails and newsletters.

Interview
57 mins
Why Employee Stories Matter with Lehigh University

With shake ups in the workplace such as “the great resignation” and new employees onboarding during a pandemic, it has never been so important to find ways to build your employee community and strengthen those human connections.We spoke to Hillary Kwiatek, Lehigh University’s employee communications specialist. Lehigh is a mid-size private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, that ranks in the top 50 in the US. Hillary dropped by to share her experience of launching Lehigh University's career journey story podcast.What inspired you to start a podcast?Creating their podcast The Spotcast was part of the natural evolution of diversifying from traditional, printed communications to more digital media. With a very limited budget to speak of, podcasting offered an efficient and affordable medium to reach Lehigh’s staff and even the broader community.It also provided Hillary with a channel to showcase the staff in a way that is different from the normal press release and social media paths, offering opportunities to give voice to the diverse stories that make up their community.Who creates the podcast?Hillary and, when she has one, an intern, do all the work, from identifying interviewees to purchasing the music license to interviewing and recording. The University has its own audio recording studio, so Hillary has access to all the equipment she needs to record and edit the show.The strategy Hillary applies to each podcast is to have a fifteen minute conversation with the interviewee before the show. She tries to avoid giving them a specific list of the questions she intends to ask prior to the interview. She helps them feel comfortable in this pre-interview meeting so they go into the interview prepared and it can then follow a natural conversational flow.How is the podcast promoted?The marketing of the podcast is all on Hillary. She promotes each show in the e-newsletter and the university's social media channels: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Hillary uses quotes and images of the interviewee and, of course, makes sure she shares the link with the interviewee. This cross promotion between Lehigh University’s official channels and the interviewee’s network often widens that reach.What is the value your podcast offers your audience?At one level, the podcast is about building the brand of Lehigh and augmenting employee relations.On another level, it performs a particular function, which is to open the audience to the incredible potential and possibilities they will have access to in their career path. Many careers, and especially perhaps careers in the academic and academic-support space, only make sense with a degree of hindsight. The podcast provides an avenue through which to showcase employees' careers and provide that hindsight, so that others may be inspired to see different paths.And finally, the podcast is also a vital part of Lehigh's hiring strategy. From portraying the wide array of types of positions available at a university to articulating the work culture at Lehigh, the podcast allows people who are external to the community to learn more about Lehigh and its 1,200 staff members.Is there a wider value to the podcast?Hillary feels that the podcast has allowed staff members’ stories to have greater reach than their normal range might offer. For example, one of the staffers is a role model to, and supportive of, the LGBT+ community at Lehigh. Students and faculty members who otherwise may not know, were made aware of this person's commitment to being an important resource. Another episode featured the story of the university’s performing arts center director. This story served both to highlight the diverse careers and paths to them at Lehigh and also to show people beyond the campus the many functions the university serves in the community.What has the response been to the podcast?Interestingly, the response is often related to a more hidden value of the podcast. That is, the recognition that the interviewee receives as a result of the exposure.Time and again, Hillary sees the podcast travel beyond the normal brand reach of Lehigh University and travel outward on social media in the interviewee's own circle.In fact, it is often the interviewee who returns with feedback to Hillary regarding the overwhelming response they received. It is this personal feedback and the connections created, more than numbers, that have shown the success of the podcast.What value does a podcast bring that other mediums don't?Hillary loves conversation and listening to other people's stories and is a firm believer in the connection that the medium of speech gives both the interviewee and interviewer.Based on the response to the podcast that Hillary receives, she can see how it is building community by creating reach at a human level.What are your future goals for the podcast?Hillary is considering adding a format to allow employee communications to go beyond the focus on personnel profiling to discuss policies and practices that affect staff. Hillary considers this will require a shorter form podcast. Meanwhile, she remains committed to retaining the original, longer-form interviews as well. There are still a plethora of fascinating stories to uncover amongst Lehigh employees.Do you have any take-home advice?Lehigh University's brand promotes that "you bring the passion we bring the possibility". Hillary's experience has taught her that this resonates well via podcast. So, Hillary’s number one piece of advice is that podcasting is an excellent medium for passionate individuals to unleash great possibilities.More pragmatically, Hillary also emphasizes that it is okay to not aim for perfection, and that most people won't even notice what you consider to be flaws. Pick your battles and determine how much you want to invest in each.

Interview
37 mins
Brand Building with Company Branded Podcasts at EY

Podbean connected with Marius and Jessica of EY Germany to hear about their experience of the first two years of producing company branded podcasts. EY is an international professional services network firm. Their global services cover markets such as accounting, operations, HR, insurance consulting, financial transformation, and more.Building a global brand is a significant challenge, yet it is one that podcasting, especially localized podcasting, is well suited to address.When did EY decide to implement podcasting?EY's commitment to podcasting was stimulated by the pandemic. For example, the first episode of EY's "FinTech Beyond Borders" was released in May 2020 and now boasts approximately 40 episodes.Marius and Jessica suggest that the disruptions created by the pandemic primed EY's audience to listen to podcasts. EY’s experience is a good illustration of how podcast engagement has exploded over the last couple of years.How is EY using company branded podcasting?EY uses company branded podcasting to build its brand both internally and externally. EY operates as a network partnership that boasts over 700 offices in more than 150 countries. With a spread across so many cultures and languages, internal brand building is central to retaining the knowledge base, philosophy, and ethos of EY.Externally, EY uses company branded podcasting to establish itself as a thought leader in the transformation space. To this end, a broad range of topics are covered. A common strategy applied to EY's podcasting is to bring in guests who offer different perspectives and add serious expertise to the discussion.Listener participation and engagement are key to EY's podcasting strategy. In fact, EY engages with its audience on a deep level. EY is learning what interests their listeners by inviting them in. Listeners engage by actively expressing opinions, suggesting topics, and giving feedback. If they have an interesting topic, they can bring the topic and even offer themselves as the subject matter experts.The outcome of this strategy is that the target group is both driving the conversation and raising brand awareness.How are your podcasts produced?Each podcast is run by different EY offices. A common strategy is to hold weekly creative brainstorming sessions where anyone on the team is welcome to pitch new ideas. Once a concept for an episode is agreed on, typically the person who pitched the idea writes the script or outline and invites the subject matter expert.The podcast lead schedules a pre-meet with the subject matter expert to determine what will be covered and, if the format applies, agree on a script.EY uses a production company to manage the recording and post-production to ensure the highest-quality final product. EY manages all the marketing once the podcast is ready.How do you create awareness?The strategy EY uses to promote the podcasts to build awareness and engagement depends on whether the audience is internal to EY or external and in the customer or potential customer base.Internally, podcasts are announced via the intranet. The banner or news burst promoting the podcast will often also link users to related materials, even if those are external sources of information. In this way, employees are encouraged to go deeper into a topic and further educate themselves.Also, such news bursts are targeted according to their geography, ensuring that relevant materials are targeted appropriately. For example, in Germany, EY produces the popular Transformation Tacheles podcast, which covers topics such as consulting, strategy and current affairs in transformation. This is targeted toward EY’s German speakers working in consulting.Externally, they apply a range of promotional strategies. Awareness is raised via EY’s newsletter and on the EY website. Teasers are passed to team members who have a strong standing in the subject area for them to promote on social media to increase traction. EY reports that LinkedIn is an effective platform for driving traffic.A particularly useful strategy is that EY’s agents are encouraged to share the episode with their target audience and are allowed to do this under their own branding. This is an easy win for such agents, as they are passing an item of value for free. It is an easy win for EY as the traffic is pushed to them, further strengthening their brand.EY loves the podcasting medium, as podcasts are so much more sophisticated and attractive than a "newsletter" format. Instead of linking to just one item of value-added material, once they reach the platform, the EY audience has access to all the podcasts produced. Their results show that this drives the audience to consume more content than what they found with other mediums.What hurdles did you have to overcome?Jessica and Marius agree that the biggest hurdle is finding a balance for the production pipeline. Producing ahead makes the production pipeline more robust. However, you also want to take into account current affairs and timely topics. For example, when producing a podcast that looks at major hacks and their effect on businesses, you simply can't produce too far ahead and still be current.Finding this balance is especially challenging for EY because they often host debate formats that require up to four speakers per episode and up to two moderators. With this many people gathering, it takes just one person to drop out of the meeting to make the planned collaboration fall apart.Do you have any take-home advice?Marius and Jessica both agree that to be successful in podcasting, you need an enthusiastic team with people who are willing to bring and drive their ideas. An engaged team with a diverse range of expertise who can grow the podcast is vital in creating an engaged audience.Also, from their lessons learned: have a robust release pipeline with backup evergreen material ready to go in case of those unpredictable scheduling conflicts.

Interview
31 mins
How Branded Podcasts and Internal Members Podcasts Provide Benefit: with The Moderate Party

We spoke with Zackarias Fariss, the Moderate Party's Project Manager. The Moderate Party is Sweden's second-largest political party and the main opposition party.Why Podcasting?With an upcoming election and the COVID-19 pandemic forcing people to spend more time at home, the Moderate Party had to reassess its communication strategy.How Do You Use Podcasting?Fariss explains that the Moderate Party has taken a two-pronged approach to podcasting. This allows podcasting to be part of the branding strategy and to support internal communications. The Moderate Party uses company branded podcasts; their publicly available podcasts. Also, they use internal podcasts; these are access-controlled podcasts to communicate within and between teams.How Do You Create and Promote Your Podcasts?The Moderate Party has a tiny dedicated team; that is a one-person team! However, there was plenty of go-to support from the wider team to get things off the ground.In terms of promotion, there is an email list for the internal podcast. For the company branded podcast, emails are also used occasionally. However, to avoid spamming their target group and to spread the word, the Moderate Party promotes individual podcasts on social media channels such as Facebook.Interestingly, Fariss says that word of mouth is one of the best promotion tools that they have – once a listener finds value in a podcast, they inevitably recommend it to similar-minded acquaintances.How Do You Leverage Company Branded Podcasts?The Moderate Party makes their public podcasts available on Apple and Spotify, Sweden's most popular podcasting channels. Through the Podbean platform, they’re able to easily distribute the public podcasts on all the podcast directories and apps.These podcasts take several formats. One channel applies an interview format to engage with high-level political party members and academic experts. There is also a news channel that allows the Moderate Party to spread its message and respond to current events.How Do You Leverage Internal Podcasts?Fariss explains that internal podcasts are an excellent mechanism for communicating highly sensitive information to the people that need access to it. This includes the strategy for winning the upcoming election.“The ability to share a high-value strategic vision and ensure that there is no risk of the opposition accessing that can not be underestimated,” says Fariss.How Successful Has Your Podcasting Strategy Been?The results are fantastic, Fariss tells us. The Moderate Party's branded podcast is in the top ten of the Swedish political podcasts on Apple.The benefits of a podcast’s ability to reach anyone at any time are paying off. Rather than asking people to join a virtual conference or consume a video of a virtual conference, the Moderate Party provides a self-serve channel that dramatically improves the ease at which listeners access their content. This helps not only spread the word and gain support for the party, but also keep listeners more informed on a range of issues.What Does Podcasting Offer That Other Channels Do Not?Apart from the ease of consumption, the ability to provide the full content of a conversation is a big plus.Fariss believes that there is simply no other mechanism that would allow them to record and distribute such in-depth conversations and political analysis. Radio, for example, is so very time-constrained, as are most traditional media channels. Podcasting has freed the Moderate Party from the typical time constraints that apply to public communications.What Hurdles Did You Need to Overcome?Engaging with the older generation has been the biggest challenge that the Moderate Party has encountered. For the uninitiated, they have developed a clear set of instructions to assist those unfamiliar with the world of apps and media consumption on the go to engage with their content.One of the benefits of encouraging the older community to listen to Podcasts is that they are sticky listeners; once they "get it" they stick around and listen to more.Do You Have Any Take-Home Podcasting Advice for Other Political Parties or Organizations?A word of advice aimed specifically at political parties is: don't plan too far ahead! The world of politics is very agile, and the Moderate Party has remained responsive to the shifting winds of this arena. For most businesses, of course, creating a content strategy is a far more robust approach. But, this advice to stay flexible can apply in many settings. Podcasts have the unique benefit of being both relatively easy to produce and accessible for consumption… so they can be tailored to keep people apprised of timely information.The other piece of advice is to be patient. The first few episodes of your podcast may not have much uptake. “Be confident that if your content provides value, then your listeners will come. Stay committed to podcasting," says Fariss.And, as a last word from Fariss, remember: "Listeners want a natural conversation. It shows honesty".

Interview
24 mins
Podcasting for Training and Internal Communications

Better Training SolutionsTraining is an ongoing need for every organization. As the great Richard Branson said, “Train people well enough so that they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to”. But, when your employees are busy, and on the move, training is a significant challenge.Not only that, when your leaders provide great content at an event, how do you ensure that such high-value content is fully leveraged? How do you extract the best moments, those golden nuggets, and make sure that they are available to people that are not even part of your organization yet?Well, part of the answer is that innovation is core to the human condition; faced with a problem, we innovate a solution. Our very own John Kiernan, Podbean’s Head of Marketing, met with Marty Boyzuk, the Direct of Enablement Technology Architecture and Design at VMware, a virtualization company. We learned about the innovative approach that VMware implemented to overcome the challenges of both capturing the best of busy people and training busy people.Why Podcasting?VMware was interested in podcasting as a secure, internal communications solution. Part of that interest was due to the enthusiasm for podcasting that entered the company with Marty. Marty was an early adopter of podcasting when he was at HP software. He identified that his highly-technical target audience already had an appetite for consuming podcasts, as many used them while working.Interestingly, VMware was not just experiencing a motivation-toward or pull to podcasting. There was also a motivation-away from the existing solutions. Marty explained that a downside of their existing toolset was the poor support for offline playback. His audience does a great deal of travel for work, and so it made sense to support them to use this time effectively.How Do You Use Podcasting?VMware uses podcasting in 3 main strands, customer-facing content, partner-facing content, and internal content. Marty is responsible for the internal stream, which is composed of 8 very active channels.These channels are audience-targeted. One of the key channels is aimed at the sales team, while others are targeted at technical teams. Their purpose falls into 2 categories; internal communication and training.VMware has been particularly innovative in its approach to utilizing Podbean for training. With a little extra code, VMware’s learning management system (LMS) was smoothly integrated with Podbean’s app. This enables employee’s consumption of the podcasts to be monitored, allowing their progression through internal training content to be marked as completed and credits assigned to the trainee.Not only that, VMware is using podcasts as a way to preserve institutional knowledge. So, for example, a global training session held over Zoom is recorded. The channel team then extract the evergreen content that should not be lost, this is packaged as a cast and the knowledge retained.How Is the Podcast Created?Being a technical company, Marty discovered that they have a pool of podcast geeks who were super keen to learn more about audio editing. In addition, what has been very effective at VMware is encouraging the audience to become co-creators. Employees have taken on the responsibility of creating training content for other people in the company.VMware keep podcasting so simple that they advise users to use Zoom to record a session, to download the resulting MP3/4, and to get editing! When folk begin to love the medium and push for more, VMware provides these internal producers with Adobe Studio and a good-quality microphone.VMware’s internal communications team also see that promoting the podcast material is as important as creating it. SharePoint banners, newsletters, emails, mentions in meetings are all used as a mechanism to increase the audience’s awareness of new content on the various channels.So, What Are the Benefits of Corporate Podcasting?For VMware, having Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication was mandatory to ensure the security of the content they produced that was intended to be used outside of the corporate physical perimeter. So, one of the big wins for Marty was the security that Podbean guarantees its clients.One of the extended advantages of implementing SSO, is that the listener is identified. It was this SSO that allowed the training credits to be assigned to each employee as they consumed their required training content.Part of Marty’s strategy at VMware is that podcasting gives them an alternative format over which they can reinforce information. They recognize that the first exposure to key data may not be the occasion at which it resonates with the recipient. Perhaps they are distracted at the time. Perhaps it did not make sense. By being able to present such important information over real-time training sessions, in written format (for example, in newsletters and emails), and in casts, VMware has found a mechanism to improve the chances that recipients are exposed to essential data while they are open to its message and, therefore, improve its uptake.Is There Any Take-Home Advice?Yes, get started! You don’t have to stay in Zoom forever using a mediocre mic. But, you can always upgrade to a better system (and Marty does advise that, eventually, you should).VMware also recommends taking a consume-as-suits-the-consumer philosophy. This means that they do not put time-sensitive content onto the podcast. Marty’s recommendation is to keep the pressure off. Encourage listeners to form the habit and allow them to do so at their convenience.

Interview
22 mins
The Impact of Corporate Storytelling

It is vital to cultivate a culture that enables teams to understand and engage with each other to encourage productivity and information flow. That task just became a great deal more challenging with the exponential growth in remote work.When teams don’t connect, the danger is that there is a tendency to silo; that is where information is held within teams. Businesses are very aware of the cost of silos. Silos reduce efficiency in the enterprise; they can impact morale and erode the company culture. Silos arise from many underlying causes, but a common factor is that there simply are not sufficient opportunities for teams to interact and become familiar with each other.Podbean connected with Vimal Parker, Marketing Manager with Slalom’s Global Marketing team and the orchestrator of Slalom’s internal podcast – Slalom On Air. We wanted to know about how Slalom tackles the tricky issue of connecting global teams. We learned how Slalom implemented podcasting into their organization and cultivated a vibrant culture around their company’s podcast.Why Podcasting?Vimal had many internal communication tools available to tap to increase intra- and inter-team engagement, so why was it that Slalom chose podcasting?Vimal presented a familiar picture to John Kieran Podbean’s Head of Marketing. She described Slalom as a highly-successful enterprise in its growth phase. Not only were existing teams getting larger, but they were also becoming more scattered as Slalom began its expansion across the globe. Podcasting represented an intimate way to connect individuals who may otherwise have very little contact time.How Do You Use Podcasting?OnboardingOne of the key wins that Slalom gained from using the medium was for onboarding new employees. By presenting new hires with a curated selection of episodes, they were able to quickly engage with the company culture and familiarize themselves with key players and best-practice methodologies in the organization.An Audience-targeted ApproachSlalom’s approach to podcasting is to create categories or channels of stories to suit the various audiences. For example, the account leads present "Wins to Know" to highlight success stories of partnerships with their clients and how those were cultivated. The Leadership Series hosts podcasts from management to communicate the company strategy. Slalom is dedicated to inclusion and diversity, and so that philosophy is supported by the channel "Raising our Voice".How Is the Podcast Created?Slalom has a storytelling team that identifies individuals with great stories to tell. They support employees through the process. This includes a pre-interview to establish the framework for the story and drafting of the questions that the interviewee should expect. And finally, the team works to make the interviewee feel comfortable and ready to discuss their ideas in the novel setting of the recording room.Vimal’s team sees promoting the podcast as an integral component of creating it. There is no use to a podcast that sits unlistened to after all! Especially in the early days, Slalom’s approach was to treat their podcast as a strand of their brand and commit time and energy to promote the app and create a listening habit across the global team.When the storytelling team identifies the next potential story, they align this with the audience segment to whom the story must be promoted. Promotion takes multiple forms, such as email alerts and mentions within meetings. One of the lessons that Slalom’s storytelling team have learned is that one person forwarding the link to another is one of the most effective marketing mechanisms; another reminder that people listen to people!So, What Are the Benefits of Corporate Podcasting?Slalom uses podcasting as the primary mechanism to share stories across the business. One of the massive advantages is that this can happen while people are not in front of their computers. Moving is good for people! By providing a medium that can be consumed on the go and at the listener’s convenience, Slalom has seen excellent consumption rates of their podcasts.In her interview, Vimal quoted the truism that is often attributed to Francis Bacon "Knowledge is Power". By leveraging podcasting, Slalom has developed an effective knowledge-sharing tool, accelerated connections between disparate teams, assisted new employees to feel grounded, and created a valuable form of institutional memory to ensure that best practices are shared. Slalom has taken significant steps to ensure that they don’t grow beyond their own interconnections.Is There Any Take-Home Advice?We asked Vimal if she had any advice for our listeners and readers, whether there was anything folk needed to get started (apart from a smartphone and a set of headphones, that is). Vimal says: "Have a clear mission". Now that is great advice for any business proposition! Create your KPIs, know what success looks like because that way, you know where you are headed and whether you succeeded in your aims.Slalom has been highly successful thanks to their commitment to keeping their teams connected, however far apart they are geographically. How have you used podcasting within your business? Does Slalom’s story resonate with yours?

Interview
44 mins
How to Create a Thought Leadership Branded Podcast With Gene Marks of Paychex’s Business Series

It can be a daunting task to start a thought leadership branded podcast. We met with Gene Marks, host of the Paychex Business Series podcast to find out how businesses can leverage podcasting as an effective marketing channel.Paychex is a global HR and payroll services business, supporting more than half a million small to mid-sized businesses. While Gene Marks is the creative inspiration for Paychex Business Series as well as its host.How do branded podcasts serve Paychex’s marketing strategy?Paychex started considering ways to modernize their marketing strategy about four years ago. Podcasting was proposed as a way to provide meaningful information to support their existing customer base and also other small businesses around the country. The inspiration came from researching and learning how successful podcasting was becoming, and Paychex not wanting to miss a chance in this unique space.The Paychex Business Series is, in fact, just that start of the plan. Already Paychex had added a branded podcast targeted at HR leaders in mid-sized companies. Long-term, Paychex aims to introduce more podcast channels.We all want to learn, which is why Paychex’s strategy is to provide an interview-style learning channel. "Nobody wants to have commercials or products jammed down their throats. But we all want an education", says Gene Marks. It is this strategy that led Gene as the host of the podcast to engage with speakers who influence the small business space. Gene brings in experts ranging from CEOs, tech company leaders, economists, entrepreneurs, government officials, and Paychex’s own compliance representatives. His interviews allow small businesses to understand how changes in the economic and regulatory landscapes will impact them.In what way has podcasting built the Paychex brand?The first factor is that the podcast helps to reinforce the Paychex brand with their existing customers. By providing high-value content to their existing customer base, Paychex helped cement the relationship with their customers, adding value and improving the chances of retaining those customers for life. This “captive” audience has come to expect a 360-degree support from Paychex, helping them to address those concerns they have that are common to any small business.The next factor is brand growth. To grow the brand, the Paychex philosophy is simple: all it takes is one recommendation. If just one existing customer recommends a branded podcast as a worthwhile listen to another small business, Paychex has, ideally, a potential new customer, and if not a customer, then one more potential new promoter.It is this organic growth that underpins Paychex’s branded podcast marketing strategy.How is the branded podcast produced?A high-value, well produced branded podcast usually has a team behind it. We asked Gene what is “under the hood” of the Paychex podcast. Being a small business owner himself, Gene’s own pain points and need-to-knows drive the content creation process. Gene has an excellent network of connections to tap into and he marries the need to the expert and places the proposal before his producer.The producer is a Paychex employee who handles the pitching and administration surrounding getting everyone together. The producer also manages the person responsible for post production.In terms of recording the show, Gene’s trick is to record a video call with the interviewee followed by adding the introduction and closure for the show to the same call – after the interview is done. This allows him to be responsive to the interview that actually happened, rather than the one he predicted would happen. Sounds like a great tip, Gene!And, finally the podcast is promoted on social media channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.Do you have any take home advice?Gene’s advice splits into two items, firstly a great piece of advice for the interview format itself and secondly great advice for anyone starting out.Interviews are conversations, not Q&A sessions.If you undertake an interview-format show then make sure your interviewer is actively listening. Gene warns that a set of pre-determined questions must be handled with caution! While they are essential to guiding a show, Q&A can quickly descend into a transactional experience which will lose your listener's interest.Gene reckons that part of his show’s success is built on the fact that he is genuinely interested in the subject matter and wants to know the answer to what he asked. It is this genuine intent that brings the interview alive and ensures that the listener’s experience is rich.Starting out?Finally, Gene explains that growth is gradual. “Build your base”, he says; “and recognize that it takes time to grow”. If you have only 100 dedicated listeners, then you have 100 potential customers and that base will grow.Remember, Gene advises, that your podcasts are like a library for your customer base. Maybe they discover you years after you started out. By focusing on content that matters, you have created a resource that can inform and engage your target audience long after you produced the branded podcast content itself.

Interview
37 mins
How to Build Branded Podcasts with Kaspersky

One of the greatest challenges businesses face in the marketing arena is that it is crowded out there. Audiences are sophisticated, and businesses must compete in a highly selective attention economy.Now, podcasting already offers the heavy-weight advantage of portable consumption. Unlike video media, it is easy to consume podcasts while driving, washing the dishes, and exercising. So, how do you leverage podcasting and ensure that you make a splash rather than end up as just a drop in the ocean?We joined Susi O'Neill, Head of B2B Brand Content at Kaspersky, to find out. Kaspersky is one of the largest privately-owned cybersecurity companies. With over 46 offices worldwide, Kaspersky is well known for its security products, such as antivirus software.How Does Podcasting Work within Kaspersky’s Communications Strategy?Kaspersky’s Brand Activation Studio began producing podcasts several years ago. Susi explains that they started out with a traditional interview format in a show called Transatlantic. The show featured hosts from the UK and the US and presented current issues and ideas, and it built up an excellent following – setting Kaspersky up as thought leaders.With this experience behind them, the Brand Activation Studio started to innovate. Susi explains that Kaspersky was aiming for an extremely high bar. Their video production is, quite literally, at the award-winning level. So, when Kaspersky set out to innovate in the podcasting space, they were aiming for the same.Susi’s team created a novel method to deliver the Kaspersky brand message with their show Fast Forward. They evolved their podcasting strategy into an audio-documentary, story-telling approach. Kaspersky commissioned a popular British radio broadcaster to create a series examining the history, present, and future of networking technologies. This audio documentary covers, in-depth, topics such as our interactions with technology from supermarkets to the effect of business in space.For the listeners, the outcome of this effort is a collection of high-quality, book-markable audio documentaries hosted by PodBean. For the internal team, it was a gamble that paid off. Until they had the data, there was some tension with regards to whether the podcast would divert their audience away from their successful video channel "Tomorrow Unlocked" with its 10,000-strong following. But, Susi’s instincts proved justified, as adding the pre-recorded podcast channel grew their overall audience.So, What Are the Benefits of Corporate Podcasting?As with tools like YouTube, PodBean provides user analytics data to allow corporate teams to analyze the success of their shows. When Kaspersky compared the dwell time on their video content with their podcasting content, they saw a significant improvement, with the minimum average dwell time on the audio channel coming in at 5 minutes or more. This is significantly more than the video consumption rates, and remember, this is for a corporate team that wins awards for their video material!Not only has Kaspersky succeeded in creating a longer connection time with their audience – also they succeeded in reaching an older target demographic. With this target group already tuned into radio, it seems that the transition to their adopting the podcasting format has been particularly smooth.Importantly for the Kaspersky team, not only is podcasting a flexible medium for consumers on the go. It is also flexible for those involved in its production. Susi explains that even pre-pandemic, pinning down high-value experts for two days of video shooting was tricky. The video medium requires a significant time investment to do well. While podcasting, even at the high-quality production end that Kaspersky produces, means asking for just an hour or two of that expert’s time – in a studio near them.Is There Any Take-Home Advice?One of the incredible assets of a tool like PodBean is that anyone can start podcasting on a cost-effective budget. Not everyone has a commissioning pot the size of a commercial enterprise such as Kaspersky’s. So, what is the take-home advice that fits any budget?Susi recommends focus. Be entertaining, educational, or informative; choose and aim for one. That recommendation to focus goes further. Don't feel that you need to commit to high-volume or even a fixed pattern of releases. Rather, consider a fixed-length series of high-quality items. And, Susi even has a tip for getting the budget released; call it a pilot internally if you need to get it past the boss!Susi’s wealth of advice is available on our “Sticky Listening” article for those with a budget to spend. If that is not you, don’t fret, she also has cost-saving tips: consider reaching out to those not-so-busy-right-now musicians out there. They combine the skills required to provide you with brand-relevant novel music for your podcast and to provide your podcast with high-quality post-production.

Interview
24 mins
The Benefits of Podcasting in Business with Lauren Smith of St. James's Place

Zoom fatigue is a real and troubling phenomenon. Also, it is difficult for team members that work on a by-appointment basis with clients to commit to joining virtual meetings, to say nothing of the challenge added by time-zone differences!Podbean connected with St. James’s Place’s content strategist, Lauren Smith, to find out more about how St. James’s Place, the UK’s largest wealth manager, leverages podcasting to support their highly mobile partner base and position the company as thought leaders.Why Podcasting?Lauren explains that St. James’s Place, like many large corporations, operates in a highly volatile ecosystem. This often means that the communications team must pivot fast. Added to this, the internal teams that Lauren supports are scattered and mobile. St. James’s Place has discovered that a consume-as-suits content delivery stream significantly strengthens its overall content delivery strategy.How Do You Use Podcasting?St. James’s Place launched with two podcasts which grew to five podcasts within a year. The majority of these podcasts are internal for their investment division, which includes over 4000 partners. Lauren’s team has adopted podcasting as a multi-functional tool – offering an effective internal communication tool as well as supporting their wider marketing strategy.The internal podcasts are proving an excellent vehicle to engage partners in the nuances of developing highly functional partner-client relationships. Via their company-branded podcast “ Tomorrow Comes Today”, St. James’s Place explores trends and ideas in the wealth management space. This public podcast has established St. James’s Place as a thought leader, increasing its visibility and links.How Does Podcasting Work within the Communications Strategy?Lauren explains that St. James’s Place uses podcasts to complement its existing communications strategy. Pre-podcasting, the communications department already focused on offering different-sized chunks of vital information. This is referred to within the team as “a bite, snack, and a meal” approach. This approach responds to the reality that people’s availability, and appetite, for consuming content varies with their workload, travel requirements, and private life.Podcasting has slotted in perfectly with this existing strategy, from 15-minute “snacks” or updates to 45-minute “meals” or deep dives. By applying the push notification for new episodes in the Podbean Pro app, St. James’s Place is able to inform listeners about new content quickly. They also use traditional media, such as email and newsletters, to promote new, upcoming, and popular podcasts.So, What Are the Benefits of Corporate Podcasting?In a word, portability. For St. James’s Place, the portability offered by podcasting allows them to meet the needs of partners. Having engaged with podcasting as a communications tool, Lauren highly recommends the strategy as an excellent way to meet the needs of high-value partners. By reaching out to discover what areas of capacity building the partners wanted, St. James’s Place has been able to create curated content targeted to meet these needs. Partners are on the road meeting clients, meaning that time to consume written or video content is short. So, the ability to consume the content from a mobile app while on the road particularly suits their dispersed and mobile partner base.Lauren’s team is always looking for strategies that make communications more accessible and engaging. The Podbean Pro App gave leaders at St. James’s Place a deeper way to connect with their distributed teams. There is an authenticity and relatability that is added by leaders communicating in their own voice. The feedback that Lauren has received has convinced her that podcasting is an effective, intimate, and personal way to hear from leaders.Also, Lauren recommends Podbean’s advanced analytics tools. The data provided support easy analysis of content consumption. This gives communications teams real-time feedback on the success of each content channel and episode. St. James’s Place is excited about the potential for improving the impact of each channel by tweaking the strategy and following the outcomes.Is There Any Take-Home Advice?Yes, indeed! Lauren recommends podcasting to lighten the virtual meeting load. St. James’s Place experience demonstrates that podcasting offers an agile and effective strategy to support staff and clients – providing a simple, accessible way to consume high-value content.Finally, Lauren advises that a workplace podcast must have a defined purpose to really make an impact and create the demand within teams. So, Lauren places a challenge with her take-home advice: build a sense of community and offer something that solves, or offers advice on, that community’s problems. Do that, and you have the foundation for an impactful and successful internal podcast.

Interview