A solid B2B podcast strategy separates the shows that drive real business results from the thousands that fade after a few episodes. Podcasting is one of the most powerful ways to build trust with a specific audience. But it requires doing things differently than most companies approach it.
Ian Faison, CEO of Caspian Studios, has built podcasts for companies like Salesforce, Asana, and Gong. His team produced Murder in HR, a fiction podcast that reached 2 million listeners and won two Webby Awards. I recently spoke with him about what actually works, and his insights reinforced many of the patterns I have observed working with executives on their content strategies.
Table of Contents
The numbers paint a clear picture of the challenge. Over 100,000 new podcasts launched in just the first half of 2025, joining roughly 4.5 million shows already fighting for attention. Most of these never make it past episode three or four. The ones that succeed share common traits that have nothing to do with production budgets or celebrity hosts.
This practical guide provides companies who are considering starting a podcast with a clear a roadmap to building a B2B podcast strategy that drives business results, not just listeners. Listen to the full podcast with Ian:
Start With the Enthusiasm Test
Before worrying about equipment, formats, or guests to start podcasting for business, answer one question honestly:
Do you actually want to do this?
This sounds obvious, but I have seen countless executives launch podcasts because they felt obligated to keep up with competitors or check a box on their marketing plan. That mindset shows up in the content. Audiences can tell when someone is going through the motions versus when they genuinely care about the conversation.
The enthusiasm test has a few components worth a closer look:
- Do you want to talk to guests about these topics in public?
- Are you excited to tell stories in audio or video format?
- Would you create this content even if no one listened?
If you answered no to any of these, podcasting might not be the right medium for you right now. Ian put it this way when we spoke: “People who are tepid throughout the process create a lukewarm show that is probably not going to break out.” The executives who succeed treat their podcast as something they genuinely look forward to, not another task on the calendar.
Understanding Your Podcast Audience’s Needs
There is framework Ian created for podcast audience building that gives you a clear lens as you develop a B2B podcast strategy. He calls it the Hierarchy of Audience Needs. It borrows from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs structure but applies it specifically to content creation.
The five levels progress from basic to advanced:
| Level | Need | What It Looks Like in Practice |
| 1. Utility | “I need to learn how to do something.” | How-to content. High competition, low differentiation. |
| 2. Expert | “I need someone who really knows this space.” | Deep, specialized knowledge your audience cannot get anywhere else. |
| 3. Taste Maker | “I follow this person because they are interesting beyond their niche.” | Your host becomes someone people seek out for more than just industry tips. |
| 4. Parasocial | “This person is part of my weekly routine.” | Listeners subscribe, follow across channels, and pay for premium content. |
| 5. Community | “I belong to a group of people who think like me.” | You connect like-minded audience members to each other, not just to you. |
Most business podcasts get stuck at level one, churning out the same how-to content as everyone else. The goal is to climb higher by becoming genuinely interesting and building real relationships.
Separate Your Podcasting for Business Goals From Audience Listening Goals
One of the biggest mistakes he sees companies make is confusing what they want from podcasting for business with what their audience wants from it. These are completely different things, and mixing them up creates that transactional feel that drives people away.
| Your Business Goals | Your Audience Goals |
| Drive revenue and pipeline | Learn something that helps their career |
| Create brand awareness | Connect with peers facing similar challenges |
| Generate qualified leads | Solve a specific problem they are dealing with |
| Position your company as a leader | Be entertained or inspired during their commute |
What separates good podcasts from great ones? It comes down to why people buy: they have to like you first, and then they have to trust you.
If every interaction feels like a sales pitch, the relationship stays transactional.
That makes people not like you and not trust you.
Ian shared an example that is more common that you might think. He described seeing companies gate webinar recordings where their own customers praise them. His reaction: “You’re gating something that is one of your customers talking about you. Are you crazy? Just put that out into the world.” That kind of self-serving approach is exactly what audiences learn to avoid.
The counterintuitive reality is that serving your audience first actually makes selling easier later. When listeners already think about the world the way you do, you have built trust before any sales conversation happens.
B2B Podcast Case Study: Murder in HR Podcast
When it comes to podcast ROI for business, originality is one of the biggest success factors. Having a point of view that differs from the consensus, one that is not for everyone, is how you stand out in a market flooded with similar content.
Most companies play it safe because they fear being wrong or different. But playing it safe is actually the riskiest approach. Your competitors are all making the same cautious choices, which means there is little competition for the companies willing to try something different.
How a Business Podcast Reached 2 Million Listeners
The most striking example of originality in B2B podcasting comes from a show that sounds nothing like typical business content.
In 2023, Gym Pass (now Wellhub) faced a challenge familiar to many HR technology companies: how do you reach Chief People Officers in a way that cuts through the noise? Their CMO, Ryan Bonnici, took a meeting with Ian Faison’s team at Caspian Studios. The pitch was an unconventional B2B podcast strategy.
The concept: a fiction podcast about an HR department at a tech company that secretly serves as a front for assassins. The HR team deals with mundane workplace problems like vision insurance disputes while surrounded by hired killers. The comedy comes from the contrast between extraordinary circumstances and ordinary workplace frustrations.
Multiple CMOs had already rejected the idea as too strange. Ryan saw something different. Gym Pass wanted to communicate that wellness is the antidote to workplace toxicity. The show’s characters would embody toxic workplace traits, and wellness would play a role in the narrative resolution.
The team cast Kate Mara and Brett Gilman in lead roles. They brought in cameos from real Chief People Officers. They created murder mystery themed events where HR executives could experience the show’s world in person.
The results exceeded anything a traditional B2B podcast typically achieves:
| Metric | Result |
| Total Listeners | 2 million |
| Chart Position | #1 Fiction on Apple and Spotify |
| Awards | 2 Webby Awards |
| Sales Impact | Used in outreach, one prospect requested private viewing party |
| Brand Perception | Positioned Gym Pass as creative industry leader |
Ian reflected on why more companies do not take creative risks: “There’s nothing scary about it. There’s no brand risk. It’s a silly show about HR and assassins. Nobody takes this seriously.” Yet when he pitches creative concepts, most companies hesitate because it’s not traditional podcasting for business.
This B2B podcast strategy lesson applies beyond fiction podcasts. Whatever format you choose, finding an angle that only you could take is where the value lies.
Limited on time? This guide will help:
How to Build Executive Visibility Without Finding Time to Write
Business Podcast Promotion Best Practices
For business podcast promotion, Ian’s experience is that too many companies treat distribution as an afterthought. They pour resources into production and then assume the audience will find them organically.
His key point is that organic growth is not a fast-growth strategy for podcast audience building. It’s actually a slow strategy. For business podcasts where executives need to demonstrate results, waiting months or years for organic traction is rarely practical.
A few promotion principles that he’s found to work consistently when podcasting for business:
- Allocate paid budget for every episode. Even modest spending on LinkedIn thought leadership posts or display ads accelerates learning about what resonates.
- Post content natively on social platforms. Zero-click content that delivers value without requiring people to leave the platform often performs better than links back to your podcast feed.
- Build specificity into your distribution. A show trying to reach everyone reaches no one. If you sell to multiple industries, consider separate feeds targeting each audience. Creating additional podcast feeds costs nothing.
- Use the host’s personal channels. Content performs better when it comes from a person rather than a company brand. Nobody gets excited about “The Coca-Cola Podcast.”
The goal of paid promotion is not just reach. It is learning. If your content is not resonating, paid distribution reveals that quickly instead of leaving you guessing for months.
Another tactic for business podcast promotion that's been effective for my podcasts:
Get guests who are active on LinkedIn because they will cross-promote their episode with you to their audience.
See our detailed guide: AI Powered LinkedIn Strategy
Practical Decisions That Shape Your Show
Several tactical choices will determine whether your B2B podcast strategy succeeds. These decisions deserve more attention than they typically receive.
Choosing the Right Host
The host question comes down to whether you select someone internal or bring in external talent. Both approaches have tradeoffs worth considering.
Internal hosts build more brand equity for your company. They can speak authentically about your perspective and have natural context for conversations with customers and prospects. The risk is that the show feels too promotional.
External hosts bring credibility and potentially an existing audience. They can ask questions that would seem self-serving coming from someone inside your company. The risk is that they feel disconnected from your brand, which won’t serve you well for podcast audience building.
Whichever direction you choose, a few criteria matter:
- The host should be genuinely enthusiastic about the topic
- They should be interesting enough that people want to spend time listening to them
- They should own channels where they can promote the content personally
One concept Ian introduced that I found valuable is the distinction between play-by-play and color commentary styles. A play-by-play host keeps things moving and explains what is happening. A color commentator provides nuance and deeper expertise. Pairing these two styles when podcasting for business often works better than finding one person who tries to do both.
Building Your Guest Strategy
For guest selection, a balanced approach tends to work well. Aim for roughly equal thirds:
- Customers – They provide credibility and can share genuine experiences
- Prospects – The podcast becomes a relationship-building tool
- Influencers – They bring existing audiences and cross-promotion opportunities
Guest booking remains difficult regardless of experience level. Plan your production schedule around realistic expectations for how quickly you can confirm guests.
Podcast Editing: Be Ruthless
Editing is one of the most underrated tools for podcast audience building. Just because you recorded something does not mean it needs to appear in the final episode.
“There’s a big edit button. Anything that you do, just cut it shorter. That answer was clunky? Just cut it out. No one’s ever going miss that,” notes Ian.
If a host comes across as low energy, coaching them to show more enthusiasm often helps. If that fails, you can edit them out entirely and string together guest answers with transitions. A 50-minute recording can become a tight 15-minute episode if that serves your audience better.
The executives who succeed with podcasting are often the ones most willing to cut ruthlessly.
Your Podcast for Business Launch Checklist
For executives ready to move forward, a lean podcasting for business approach to launching looks like this:
- Find your burning thing. Identify the insight you share in private that makes people lean in. That should be the opening of your show.
- Open cold. Skip the lengthy introductions and music. Start with your most interesting point and get into the conversation immediately.
- Record more than you need. Give yourself material to work with in editing.
- Cut ruthlessly. Remove anything that does not serve your audience, even if you worked hard to create it.
- Invest in promotion from day one. Allocate budget to learn what resonates before you have spent months producing content no one sees.
The test for whether you should start a podcast is straightforward: would you make it for free? If the answer is no, this probably is not the right channel for you. The executives who succeed believe their perspective needs to be out there. They would create the content regardless of business outcomes.
Turning Your B2B Podcasts Into SEO Content
You have invested the time to record a great conversation. The insights are strong, the stories are real, and your audience would benefit from hearing them. But not everyone in your target market listens to podcasts. Some are searching Google or AI answers. Some are scrolling LinkedIn. Some are reading newsletters over morning coffee.
A strong B2B podcast strategy does not stop at the episode. That single recording can fuel your content engine for weeks. With MakeMEDIA, you can upload any recording and turn it into polished, voice-matched content across every channel your buyers pay attention to.
What you can upload:
- Podcast episodes
- Webinar recordings
- Zoom calls and internal interviews
- Any conversation where real expertise was shared
What you get back:
- SEO-ready articles built from your actual words, not generic AI output
- LinkedIn posts that sound like you, not like a prompt template
- Newsletter content your subscribers look forward to opening
- A full month of content from a single conversation
If you already have recordings sitting on a drive or in a podcast feed, you are sitting on a library of untapped content. Start MakeMEDIA’s free trial and see what your next podcasting for business episode could become.
Want to see a sample of a podcasting for business article first? You just did… this article was built with MakeMEDIA, then polished for publishing in a fraction of the time of writing an article from scratch, plus it’s optimized for search.
