5 Marketing Podcasts, 20 Podcast Episodes that made me a better marketer
In late 2017 I started listening to podcasts and started morning and post-dinner walks. I am not sure which has benefitted more.
I wasn't going to write this weekend.
The week has been one of my personal-worst with COVID taking more mental space, emotional trauma, and general anxiety, than ever. Working through the week was hard. In fact, I had to take a leave mid-week to recalibrate.
I almost decided to skip writing this weekend, hence there was no planning, no research, and no draft on Saturday.
But writing gives me peace and the much-needed distraction from everything that is shitty in the world. So this post is more for me than anyone else. If you can still find value in this, I will feel very good about it. If you can't, I can just hope that you understand and come back to read a (hopefully) another post next weekend.
So, what's this post about?
The post is about a habit that turned my life around as a marketer and a human overall. A simple habit - podcasts. This post is about my favorite marketing podcasts that give you the best return on your time invested.
For every podcast I am listing below, I have listened to a considerable number of episodes to make a judgment about them. I hope you'll like them as well.
#1 Everyone Hates Marketers
A no-fluff, no-BS, straight-to-point podcast on a lot of marketing tactics. The host Louis Grenier was at Hotjar when he started this and now has moved into full time developing this community and brand.
Why it is different: Truly non-BS. Even when the guest wants to brag or says something vague, Louis has this knack of picking that up and asking the hard questions to get it to a point of clarity and BS-free implementation.
Episodes that I have loved:
What it takes to build successful marketing teams with Udi Ledregor, CMO at Gong.
Buyer Persona: Your guide to creating 100% accurate and detailed ones
Make your brand stand out, fight sameness and be genuinely different. With Peep Laja.
#2 How I positioned that
You wouldn't find this podcast on any of the podcast players out there and there's a reason.
It is not a standalone podcast but a mini-series under a bigger podcast. The bigger podcast is called The product marketing experts. On most episodes of the Product Marketing Experts, there is a guest who shares their learning and advice on a certain aspect of product marketing. The host is Marcus Andrews, the Product Marketing leader at Pendo.
Why it is different: The mini-series of How I positioned that is a must-listen. In 6 episodes, Product marketing leaders share their exact journey of how they positioned their product/company. A lot to pick as readily implementable tactics.
How I Positioned That: Spotify, Atlassian, PluralSight, Shopify, Airtable, and April Dunford.
#3 The DGMG Podcast by Dave Gerhardt
We are talking about B2B Marketing. How can we not talk about DG. I don't need to sell you this, but I will set the expectations right to help you.
Why it is different: DG is an excellent interviewer and he brings in the best guests. My favorite question was about how they have structured the marketing org.
Episodes that I love: Confession - I have heard each episode, few multiple times. But if you want to have the creme-la-creme. Here are my top 3:
#4 Getting to Market
Product launches have been something that I have had a love-hate relationship with for more than 2 years now. This podcast helps deconstruct the most famous product launches from the hottest SaaS brands.
Why it is different: I love the positioning and the niche. Also, it is a mini-series with just 14 episodes, so it can be treated like a mini-course rather. It goes deep on the most famous product launches and GTMs, straight from the horses' mouths.
Episodes I love:
#5 In Depth by First Round
It's by First Round. If you are not reading the first-round review, you're missing out on the best content on almost everything in a startup, right now.
Why it is different: It's by First Round. The first-round review got famous by going so deep on topics, that the readers saw Adele rolling there. In-depth does justice to their way of making content.
Episodes that I love:
Unpacking all the non-consensus moves in Atlassian’s story — Jay Simons
Start with the story — Drift’s David Cancel on lessons he’s learned as a 5X founder
“My product is the company” — Kevin Fishner on how startups can build better systems
Bonus #1: Episodes that I have loved from Podcasts I have not followed religiously.
The startup-scaleup Marketing Playbook with Arun Pattabhiraman
What tactics, frameworks, and approaches work best for you when you scale your company? Arun Pattabhiraman, Chief Growth Officer at Freshworks opens up the startup – scaleup marketing playbook.
Blake Thorne's transition from content to product marketing
Blake Thorne is a product marketing manager at Atlassian, but he previously worked in journalism and content marketing. For those interested in product marketing, Blake says it's not *that* different from content. "Same bow, different arrow," he says.
Zuora CEO Tien Tzuo with Andy Raskin
If you don't know why this episode would have been epic, you need to read more on SaaS. Maybe Googling Andy Raskin, greatest sales deck, Zuora is a good place to begin.
State of Demand Gen - The Power Shift From Sellers to Buyers with Dave Gerhardt and Chris Walker
Chris Walker and Dave Gerhardt in one conversation. Was value-packed and fun overall.
How Max Altschuler Grew & Sold Sales Hacker
One of the first media acquisitions in SaaS. Interesting story, and a lot of learning on how to hyper grow a blog.
Bonus #2: My secret non-marketing podcast
Very few people know but I with my 2 younger twin brothers recorded a podcast in the last lockdown. We had 100 subscribers and some 1000 plays. No marketing, just fun. Find it on Spotify, if you are interested.
I also have a curated list of non-marketing podcasts that I listen to as regularly as I listen to these marketing ones. Let me know in the comments or reply to the email if you would want that playlist as well.
Till then, stay safe. And try to distract yourself with healthy habits like listening to podcasts or maybe writing about them. :)
This is a gem. Thank you for writing this. Exactly what I wanted to hear. These episodes are so relatable and give soo much to think/implement, feels like they were made for me personally.
🖐️ Rohit, this is great. Everyone Hates Marketers is my favourite.
And, I would love to get the playlist from you.