"What's the ROI of a thought leadership video podcast actually going to be?"
I get asked this question all the time by CEOs and VPs of Sales/Marketing.
And rightfully so.
Why should any company invest in any sort of marketing strategy if it's not going to produce a return for them?
At the same time, the B2B buyers' journey has changed drastically over the past decade.
It's no longer a linear path like it used to be.
In fact, buyers are seeking to educate themselves about your product/service heavily before they ever want to talk to a sales rep.
And because of that, it's difficult to track how any video podcast episode, blog post, LinkedIn post, or YouTube video is directly attributing to the bottom line of the organization.
Usually, it's a culmination of all of these touches over weeks (even months and years) before a buyer feels confident to even reach out for a demo or a discovery call.
But just because the ROI can't always be tracked neatly by some sort of attribution software, doesn't mean it's not happening.
This is what the Edelman Group discovered in their 2020 impact study on the effects of thought leadership content in the buying cycle.
(Source: 2020 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study. Q11 ENGAGED: How frequently has the following occurred after you have engaged with a piece of thought leadership. Data: average % who responded sometimes, often or almost all of the time among Global decision-makers.)
Not only that:
(Source: 2020 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study. Q8 PREMIUM1: How much do you agree or disagree with these statements? Select one for each: strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, neither disagree nor agree, somewhat agree, strongly agree. Data: Top 2 Box Agree among Global decision-makers.)
The reason why this strategy works is that thought leadership content allows you to build a reputation with your buyers quickly, consistently, and even from a distance. When you consistently share your thinking about complex issues (particularly in video/audio form), you win trust with your buyers and give them confidence that you can solve their organizational problems as well.
So when you begin a thought leadership video podcast in order to distribute your thinking at scale, here are three timelines you should be observing to see the impact and the return your show is generating:
Examples:
Examples:
Examples:
I break down each of these timelines more in-depth in the 6min video below. Check it out and share it with your team.
Happy thinking,
Kap (CEO at Rveal Media)
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