Launching your B2B Talkshow: A Beginner's Guide

Introduction
Why run a Talkshow?

A Talkshow is a great way to build your personal brand and establish credibility in your field. By talking to experts and building connections, you can expand your knowledge and discover opportunities in the market. You can also use talkshows to get early validation for your product, gather feedback on new features, and test your hypotheses. Talkshow can be used to create authentic content and fill your content calendar with highlight clips from the show. Additionally, talkshow is a great way to get video testimonials for your product. Overall, talkshow is an easy and inexpensive way to promote yourself and your product.

Who should run a Talkshow?

Business Goal: You are a relatively new entity or startup looking to establish your presence in the market. You don’t have much brand credibility. You have just launched or going to launch a product that you want to drive traffic towards.

Host Personality: You have some unique ideas and perspective in your area and want to establish your brand and thought leadership. You are a good conversationalist. You have a reasonable list of personal connections but you don’t have a way to leverage that towards your product.

When a Talkshow / Podcast is not a good fit: You’re expecting immediate results. Content Marketing is a long term game.You are camera shy and talking to people in a recorded setting makes you feel anxious.

Other Guidelines

Consistency is crucial in content marketing. You need to produce content of reasonable quality consistently over a period of time. By doing this, you can take advantage of the compounding effect. As you create more and more content, it will build up over time and create a rich repository of material that you can slice, dice, and redistribute to get even more value out of it. So, don't worry about creating high-quality content all the time - just focus on being consistent and you'll be on the right track.

Show Setup
Audience

If you want to make your show a success, you need to treat it like a product. Just like any product, you need to cater it to a specific audience. This audience should overlap with the ideal customer profile (ICP) for your startup. While you can have a slightly broader audience for your show, it's important to focus on a niche market where you have the most expertise. This way, you can create a show that resonates with your audience and provides them with value. Plus, it will be more fulfilling for you as well!

Format

If you're looking to create a talkshow that provides great value for your time and effort, consider interviewing an expert in your field. Each episode, choose a topic and bring on an expert related to that topic. Ask them specific questions and generate content from the interview. Distribute this content to your audience. You can even invite attendees to watch the show live, which adds engagement and interactivity and generates unique content. By focusing on expert interviews, you can create a talkshow or podcast that provides valuable insights and keeps your audience engaged.

Talkshow Name

Same guidelines as picking a name for a product. Easy to remember. Unique. Easy to associate with your product / offering. Not too specific. Not too broad.

Register for Zync: Schedule a Zync Demo to set up your workspace for your Talkshow.

Show Playbook
Before Show - Show Prep

Zync uses Generative AI to help you: 

  • Add top questions to your Zync show
  • Prepare a short 1 min Introduction for the topic
  • Prepare a short 1 min Introduction of your Guest.
During Show - Moderation
Show Script (40 min)

Set up (4 min)

  • Welcome Guest.
  • Verify you and your special guest have good A/V.
  • Tell them about the show format. Ask them to stay back after Show for Off the Record.
  • Start Recording

  1. Introduce Topic (1 min)

    <Your Topic Introduction>

  2. Introduce Guest (1 min)

    <Your Special Guest Introduction>

  3. Questions 1…. 4 (15-20 min)
  • <your question>
  • Other follow up question.
  • Summarize what they said.
  • Use reaction buttons when they say something that's funny / important / applause-worthy.

  1. Signature Question (3 min)

    Ask your signature question - same question that you ask all your interviewees.

  2. Thank you (1 min)

    Thank the guest. Tell them your favorite moment from the show.

  3. Off the Record (2 min)
  • Thank them again.
  • Tell them about the sections that you thought came out really well.
  • Tell them that you’ll send email / message them on LinkedIn and have them share the word about it.
Interview Guidelines
  • Take 5 minutes before your Show to warm yourself up and build the energy. Your energy in the first 5 minutes of the call is reflected by your guest. Go in with high energy to bring the best experience.
  • Own your tone. You are producing content so let your personality come through and it’s ok to be a bit exaggerated for your show. The last thing you want is a monotone conversation that drones people away.
  • Don’t rehearse your questions but it doesn’t hurt to practice saying the first 1-2 minutes of your actual show a couple of times.
Post Show - Content Kit + Distribution
  • After a Show is over, Zync autogenerates a Content Kit. It looks something like this. 
  • The Content Kit will contain Highlight clips. Each of which can be exported into various marketing assets. Assets like: Raw Video, LinkedIn Post, Twitter Post, etc. You can download these videos and post them to your social media.
Guest Management
Outreach
  • Use LinkedIn / Twitter to identify individuals to bring your show. Add them to your CRM. In the early stages, start with friendly people and you can go with more influential people as you grow your channel.
  • Start making a list of experts in your area of expertise. 
  • Use a script like this to connect with them on LinkedIn:
    {first_name}, I am connecting with leaders in the {your_area_of_expertise} space. I host The {your_talkshow_name} ({youtube_channel_link}). I would like to bring you on the show to talk about {an_important_and_timely_topic}.”
Schedule Pre Interview
  • Once they connect schedule a 15 min call to finalize topic. Use a follow-up message like this:
    Thanks for connecting. Would be great to have you on {your_talkshow_name}.  I want to interview you about {an_important_and_timely_topic}. Can we jump on a quick call to decide on the topic ? {your_calendly_link}”
Talkshow CRM

Setup your Talkshow CRM. This is where you maintain your Guest Wishlist / Show Calendar. Make a copy of this Google Spreadsheet.

Pre Interview (15 min)
  • Introduce self + product briefly
  • Ask them about specific topic
  • Ask open-ended questions and see where they have interesting stories and great anecdotes. They make for good content
  • Identify main topic you'll interview them for
  • Briefly identify 3-5 major questions you'll ask them during the show
  • Identify time when you'll record the show with them
  • Ask them to have good Wifi / lighting when they come for the show
  • Tell them what happens after the show. Generate episode video => Youtube.  Newsletter => Email. Social Media => Short Clips 
Schedule Show (1 min)
  • Immediately after the call - Schedule a Show on their calendar
  • Put the Zync Show link
  • Put the Topic + top 3 questions in the Show description.
Try Zync today!

Elevate your content strategy with your own talkshow. Zync utilizes the latest advancements in AI and human-centered design to help businesses launch a talkshow 10x faster and cheaper. Automatic snippet creation and show summary features save time and resources, allowing for easy repurposing of content across multiple channels. 

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