Zoom fatigue is a real and troubling phenomenon. Also, it is difficult for team members that work on a by-appointment basis with clients to commit to joining virtual meetings, to say nothing of the challenge added by time-zone differences!
Podbean connected with St. James’s Place’s content strategist, Lauren Smith, to find out more about how St. James’s Place, the UK’s largest wealth manager, leverages podcasting to support their highly mobile partner base and position the company as thought leaders.
Lauren explains that St. James’s Place, like many large corporations, operates in a highly volatile ecosystem. This often means that the communications team must pivot fast. Added to this, the internal teams that Lauren supports are scattered and mobile. St. James’s Place has discovered that a consume-as-suits content delivery stream significantly strengthens its overall content delivery strategy.
St. James’s Place launched with two podcasts which grew to five podcasts within a year. The majority of these podcasts are internal for their investment division, which includes over 4000 partners. Lauren’s team has adopted podcasting as a multi-functional tool – offering an effective internal communication tool as well as supporting their wider marketing strategy.
The internal podcasts are proving an excellent vehicle to engage partners in the nuances of developing highly functional partner-client relationships. Via their company-branded podcast “ Tomorrow Comes Today”, St. James’s Place explores trends and ideas in the wealth management space. This public podcast has established St. James’s Place as a thought leader, increasing its visibility and links.
Lauren explains that St. James’s Place uses podcasts to complement its existing communications strategy. Pre-podcasting, the communications department already focused on offering different-sized chunks of vital information. This is referred to within the team as “a bite, snack, and a meal” approach. This approach responds to the reality that people’s availability, and appetite, for consuming content varies with their workload, travel requirements, and private life.
Podcasting has slotted in perfectly with this existing strategy, from 15-minute “snacks” or updates to 45-minute “meals” or deep dives. By applying the push notification for new episodes in the Podbean Pro app, St. James’s Place is able to inform listeners about new content quickly. They also use traditional media, such as email and newsletters, to promote new, upcoming, and popular podcasts.
In a word, portability. For St. James’s Place, the portability offered by podcasting allows them to meet the needs of partners. Having engaged with podcasting as a communications tool, Lauren highly recommends the strategy as an excellent way to meet the needs of high-value partners. By reaching out to discover what areas of capacity building the partners wanted, St. James’s Place has been able to create curated content targeted to meet these needs. Partners are on the road meeting clients, meaning that time to consume written or video content is short. So, the ability to consume the content from a mobile app while on the road particularly suits their dispersed and mobile partner base.
Lauren’s team is always looking for strategies that make communications more accessible and engaging. The Podbean Pro App gave leaders at St. James’s Place a deeper way to connect with their distributed teams. There is an authenticity and relatability that is added by leaders communicating in their own voice. The feedback that Lauren has received has convinced her that podcasting is an effective, intimate, and personal way to hear from leaders.
Also, Lauren recommends Podbean’s advanced analytics tools. The data provided support easy analysis of content consumption. This gives communications teams real-time feedback on the success of each content channel and episode. St. James’s Place is excited about the potential for improving the impact of each channel by tweaking the strategy and following the outcomes.
Yes, indeed! Lauren recommends podcasting to lighten the virtual meeting load. St. James’s Place experience demonstrates that podcasting offers an agile and effective strategy to support staff and clients – providing a simple, accessible way to consume high-value content.
Finally, Lauren advises that a workplace podcast must have a defined purpose to really make an impact and create the demand within teams. So, Lauren places a challenge with her take-home advice: build a sense of community and offer something that solves, or offers advice on, that community’s problems. Do that, and you have the foundation for an impactful and successful internal podcast.