Podinar /‘pad, in, are/ – The combination of a podcast and webinar. Traditionally done between a host and a guest. Used to discuss specific topics, implementations, technology innovation and more. Short, consumable sessions of less than 20 minutes. Hosted to a company website and used across marketing and social media to drive engagement and lead-gen. (Source: Um, me.)

Chance are you’ve heard of a podcast and a webinar, but a podinar…what the heck is that? In the last year, I’ve had a couple clients launch these marketing projects, and I’ve been working on building a new one for another client. Here’s an example.

The real concept behind a podinar is to provide a resource that’s easy to consume and that can be used in a variety of ways across PR and Marketing. Essentially, we’re talking about a 20-minute video interview on an interesting topic. That’s nothing new. But how you extend the use of that initial work is what makes it more than a webinar or a podcast, it’s both (and more).

The primary landing page serves as the podinar pillar page, with sub-pages for each individual episode. Those sub-pages not only have the video, but links to audio-only recordings that are hosted on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, a complete transcript of the recording, and highlights of the interview.

Why start a podinar?

  • Creates additional SEO juice with original weekly or bi-weekly content.
  • Helps create a thought-leadership platform you can actively market against.
  • Gives partners and customers the opportunity to engage your thought leader in a fun medium.
  • Provides source material that can be shared on your social media accounts (in the form of short 30-second clips).
  • Can be used by sales and customer success teams.

Starting this kind of marketing program takes a real investment in resources, from the thought leader all the way through to marketing teams and external agency resources. And when it comes to guest, it’s best to focus on a mix of customers, partners, and other though leaders in the space (such as analysts or standard bodies).

So, what goes into launching a podinar? Here are some quick tips:

  1. Identify the thought-leader within your organization and get them excited about the opportunity. Be sure to explain how this will help raise awareness and excitement about your brand.
  2. Work to understand your thought-leaders’ personality and be open to infusing that into the overall theme of the podinar (maybe it’s fireside chat, maybe they’re into Anime). Explore topics and start making a general episode guide built around key topics, questions, or hypotheses.
  3. Develop the creative theme, name, and other aspects of the podinar. Write out the mission, the introduction that could be used, etc. This helps bring the idea to life.
  4. Once in alignment, get your creative team working to design out the elements needed (landing page, iFrame skin for video, logo, digital video elements, etc.).
  5. Identify your guests. Work with the thought leader to identify personal connections they might have. Talk with sales to identify customers that would be excited for an opportunity like this, and chat with your head of partnerships and alliances.
  6. Create a repeatable process for getting interviews completed and through the branding process. Consider having your host record on the same day/time each week to make the task repeatable. And work to schedule out guest two months in advance (this gives the host and guest the time needed to prepare properly).
  7. Use the tools available to you when recording. Most of us have Zoom, and for this, it’s the perfect platform to easily record. Just be sure in recording settings to check “Record active speakers,” then check only “Gallery view” so you get that slick side-by-side video view. Also be sure to check “Optimize the recording for 3rd party video editor.”
  8. During recording, be sure to tell guests if they make a mistake and want to restate something, that they stop, pause 2-3 seconds, then start over. This makes the video editing process more streamlined.
  9. Finally, after the first recording, be sure to provide feedback to the host. What did you like, what could they improve on. Do they need to bring more or less energy. Did they appear to be reading off a screen when asking questions.

Building out a podinar can be a great addition to your content marketing activities. Interested in launching your own, but don’t have time to manage the process? Voxus is here to help. Just reach out at https://voxuspr.com/contact-us/