If you work in marketing for businesses-to-business, you’ve undoubtedly heard of the phrase “dark social.” Perhaps you’re familiar with the term “dark funnel” as well. In spite of the fact that they are distinct in certain ways, we are going to discuss them together in this blog article. “Dark social” refers to the online behavior of prospective consumers that occurs outside of the scope of the tracking capabilities of typical lead attribution tools. This includes things like Slack groups, word of mouth, and podcasts, as you probably already surmised.

The launch of a business-to-business podcast is an investment. Yet, if you do not know how to monitor the outcomes of your podcast, you cannot justify making that investment. Continue reading to see how you and your company can demonstrate that an investment in a B2B podcast is money well spent.

Understanding the dark customer journey

Let’s begin by taking a look at this wonderful graphic that was created by strategicabm. This journey of a prospective client excellently highlights how traditional methods of lead attribution may not always represent the actual route that the buyer takes.

As can be seen, a number of different touchpoints occur before a customer has their first direct connection with your brand. What appears as a hit for organic search in your lead attribution software is really a far more in-depth narrative.

Demand generation vs. demand capture

Demand capture has always been seen as the most important aspect of marketing in the digital age. In the 2010s, Facebook and other pay-per-click (PPC) platforms were very inexpensive and produced excellent results. All of the marketing teams’ hopes were pinned on pay-per-click advertising, and they worked diligently to get their wares in front of customers as soon as they detected intent signs. A fantastic illustration of demand capture is the use of paid search. Your potential customers inform Google directly that they have a need for a product or service, and you place a bid to get the privilege of being displayed to them as their best choice.

Demand capture is still an essential component of digital marketing, despite the fact that PPC prices have increased and efficiency has decreased, particularly since the release of iOS 14. Demand generation has been shown to be a savior in recent years for digital B2B companies looking to make up for the declining ROAS of demand capture channels.

The most senior marketing executives in companies who are transitioning to a demand generation model are coming to the realization that it is more valuable to influence the customer experience than it is to simply capture it.

Either you wait and hope that potential customers will come to you as they refine their wants, or you can develop leadership for your brand that establishes your value long before potential customers even know precisely what they want. You have the ability to take customers through that process, thereby generating confidence in your business as the best possible answer for them. You have the ability to shape their purchase experience while they build an attachment for your brand. As a result, they may become brand ambassadors who steer new prospects in the direction of your brand rather than your industry as a whole.

Put simply, demand capture looks like this:

A potential customer realizes that they need a CRM. They Google the best customer relationship management (CRM) software, and after doing some comparisons, they decide to arrange a trial with Salesforce. This is partially due to the fact that Google’s algorithm displayed that ad first.

“Demand generation” looks like this:

After gaining real-world value from podcasts and video content and learning about Hubspot in their professional community, a prospect realizes that they require Hubspot as soon as CRM needs emerge within their organization. This realization comes after the prospect hears about Hubspot in their professional community. They can do a web search for “Hubspot CRM” or go to the Hubspot website directly. Although lead attribution attributes this to direct traffic or organic search, we know this is not the case.

You’re on board with demand generation and you enjoy the concept of podcasting, but the question is, “How can we monitor an investment in B2B podcasting to establish its value?” It remains unanswered.

B2B podcast tracking in a demand generation world.

Understanding which leads are originating from podcasts may be accomplished with the least amount of effort using self-reported attribution. One of the options that should be included in the lead capture forms that you use should be for visitors to tell you how they heard about your business. As was just said, the buyer’s journey will not be accurately reflected by even the most advanced lead attribution software.

When you develop a high-quality B2B podcast, you will have a wealth of engaging material at your disposal, which you can then share on social sites like LinkedIn. As a result of the ease with which social interaction can be measured, businesses may use a program like PhantomBuster to scrape data from their postings and then cross-reference that information with their CRM data.

To host a podcast, however, you will find that having a dedicated page on your site is the single most important thing you can do. Direct listeners to this website rather than the show’s feed in a podcast app so that they can keep up with the latest episodes. If you host your podcast feed on your own website, you can utilize the monitoring tools you already have to observe how consumers who listen to your program are influenced while they are in the process of making a purchase.

Is there a possibility that a shortened sales cycle will come from a prospect listening to a podcast? Is there a greater number of demo requests coming from podcast listeners? Do people who listen to podcasts sign contracts with greater value? The answer to these questions is often “yes,” but you won’t really understand how your company might profit from a B2B podcast unless you measure the visitors and activity on a hosted website.

Podcasting is a great tool for business-to-business marketing, but it demands a unique approach compared to other types of content. Tracking the effect of your B2B podcast may be done by using self-reported attribution, statistics on social interaction, and page-level analytics. This will allow you to get the most out of your investment.