Creating a branded podcast to reposition Buffer as the voice of small business owners.

With over 4 million users, Buffer is a tool that users to schedule and automate their social media. While they had traditionally been serving B2C e-commerce brands, they wanted to turn their attention to the bread and butter of their consumer base, small business owners.

We worked with them to create a narrative podcast that helped them reposition themselves as the voice of small businesses. We created two series of an eight-episode narrative podcast that goes behind the scenes with inspirational small businesses who are truly driving innovation and redefining how work happens.

Reaching their target audience

While their previous podcast, Breaking Brand, aimed to reach marketers for direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, ‘Small Business, Big Lessons’ was created with small business owners in mind.

This meant creating audio that would resonate with people running micro businesses. The podcast was created for people who are the ultimate decision-makers for how marketing happens in their organisation.

So, why is a podcast the right way to reach this audience?  

• Meeting the audience where they are. Many small business owners are podcast fans and even creators themselves. There’s been a huge increase in business and leadership podcasts over the past few years, and founders are used to getting tips and tricks of the trade in their podcast feed.

• More engaged audiences than other mediums. Spotify reports that 60% of their audience say they tune into podcasts to educate themselves, and two out of three podcast listeners give them their full attention.

• Adding the personal touch. By bringing in the voices of small business owners themselves, we were able to create a branded podcast that reflected their own struggles in running their company. Podcasts also bring an element of intimacy to content marketing, as your audience consumes the show in their homes, cars or on the train. With podcasting, you become part of your listener’s daily routine.

The production process

We worked with Buffer on every element of the production to deliver a podcast that was audience ready; plotting the narrative, organising interviews, scripting, recording, transcription, editing, sound design, and offering distribution advice.

With every branded production we work on, we begin the production process with a content workshop. It’s during this workshop that we ensure we’re telling strong stories and come up with the background information to set the scene for each episode.

Challenges

Every project comes with challenges and this was no different. On a project like this there are a lot of moving parts and this can mean working to tight deadlines. Especially when you’re dealing with international guests and on-site recordings.

With such a quick turnaround required, there’s very little room for error. That’s why we ensure the audio is of such high quality, meaning less time has to be spent in the cutting room.

Impact

The show launched in September 2021 to a great reception from its target audience. Not only did the podcast exceed expectations in terms of reach, but it also garnered lots of great feedback on social media.

The podcast also received a number of positive reviews on Apple Podcasts, which helps to improve podcast visibility.