In a volatile economic period, it can be tough for younger B2B brands to not only reach customers, but just survive. Even brands that have been around for decades are struggling to keep up with digital content marketing.
That's why it’s a major accomplishment for a company that’s been around as long as Caterpillar to remain as recognizable as it is today. It’s an even greater endeavor to digitally transform the brand to keep serving existing customers as well as connect with the next generation of Caterpillar customers.
This transformation is what Hailey Wheeler, Marketing Communications Consultant at Caterpillar Oil & Gas and Marine, shares with us on the latest episode of The Casted Podcast. And it should be no surprise that a branded podcast (or two) is one of the most impactful channels for achieving brand awareness and generating demand for Caterpillar products. Plus, she uses a variety of performance metrics to know what’s resonating most with her audience. Hailey discusses all this and more on our latest episode.
Digging into Key Takeaways
For each episode, we like to highlight some key takeaways. Think of it as a podcast outline or live show notes. Here are just a few of the takeaways that really stood out to us in this episode.
How Hailey Keeps Content Fresh and Exciting 🌼
In the past, Caterpillar customers valued traditional content, like web pages, blog posts, email, and press releases, basically anything in print. Hailey still provides that kind of text-based content to her whole audience, but she’s also tasked with finding new customers using more modern content marketing options.
Utilizing Your Podcast as a Way to Connect with Your Customers 👏
As COVID drove many B2B brands to find new reliable channels to connect with customers, Caterpillar’s marketers had to get a lot more creative too. Once the brand could no longer do in-person meetings, Hailey turned to podcasting with three main goals: Build brand awareness, drive customer loyalty, and generate leads.
The Cat Power Podcast targeted existing customers and provided a wealth of virtual content that attracted not only customers, but also prospects and Caterpillar dealers. Takeaway: If you make a really great podcast full of content you know your audience wants, you absolutely can grow your audience and become a source of expertise and advice that people keep coming back to.
How Themes Can Impact Future Marketing Campaigns 🧩
Planning out content, identifying your topic gaps, and ensuring everything aligns with your marketing strategy is a huge ongoing responsibility. It takes time and performance intelligence that many teams don’t have enough of. If you can find a solution that makes this responsibility easier and more accurate, you can plan future content and campaigns with greater predictability — just as Hailey has at Caterpillar using a content solution we call Casted Themes.
Success Metrics to Consider When Reviewing Your Podcast’s Performance 🔎
Content marketers don’t always have great ways to judge content performance; when it comes to podcasts, it’s an even murkier proposition. Some metrics only tell you very general things about audience engagement, like total views or downloads. Hear how Hailey looks for metrics that reveal engagement, impressions, and reach for Caterpillar.
Interested in More from Caterpillar?
For more on how Caterpillar is creating relevant content that their audience wants, check out Caterpillar.com and any of their podcasts, like the Cat Power Podcast or Beyond the Iron.
Want to skim through Hailey’s episode instead of listening? Read the transcript here.
About Season 7 of The Casted Podcast
Welcome to Season 7 of The Casted Podcast, where we focus exclusively on our customers. Why? By becoming a Casted customer, it's pretty clear how committed these brands are to delivering high-quality content that their audiences truly want, and they want to share their experience and knowledge of how audio, video, and text-based content fits into an integrated marketing strategy. Hear from the most forward-thinking brands discovering how to harness the power of conversation and amplify their content marketing in a range of formats and channels to grow their audiences. They're practicing what we preach, and we want you to hear all about what they're doing, why they're doing it, and most of all, how you can do it too.
