B2B Podcasting: Why to Start a Show and Who Should Run It

A company podcast can look like a media project: microphones, an audience, download charts. For a B2B company it works better as something simpler. It is a reason to have a long, useful conversation every week or two with someone you want to know: a buyer, a partner, a person whose opinion your market follows.

That changes how you plan the show, and it changes the question of who should run it. This guide explains what a B2B podcast is for, how to decide between building a team and hiring a production company, and how to plan, launch and promote the show. It draws on a podcast series I recorded in 2021, when Content Allies, the company I founded, was producing shows for B2B clients.

What a B2B podcast is for

A B2B podcast is a show a business-to-business company publishes to reach the people it sells to and works with. The format I'd recommend for most is an interview: the host talks to an executive, a customer or an expert in the market, and the episode goes out on podcast apps, YouTube and the company's own channels.

Many companies start by asking how they will build an audience. In the first episode of my 2021 series, I challenged the idea that an audience is the main value of a podcast. A listener base takes time: for my own show, it was about a year and a half before I noticed inbound business and opportunities coming from it. The relationships start with the first interview. A podcast lets you invite people "who otherwise would not get on a call with you", and you are offering them something in return: exposure, an episode they can share and a link to their work.

So a company show does several jobs, roughly in the order they pay off:

• Relationships. One interview a week is about 52 conversations a year with buyers, partners and people who already have the audience you want. This is the idea behind account-based podcasting.
• Content. One recorded conversation can become a video, short clips, social posts, an article and quotes for the guest to share.
• Authority. A host who talks to respected people in a niche every week becomes known in it, and invitations to speak or appear on other shows tend to follow.
• Inbound. Listeners who have heard the host for hours arrive with a strong sense of whether they want to work with the company. This takes the longest.

Podcasts are now a mainstream habit. In Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2026 (opens in a new tab) survey of 2,050 Americans age 12 and over, conducted in January 2026, 58% had consumed a podcast in the last month. The survey also found that 57% had both listened to and watched a podcast. For a B2B show, the size of the total audience matters less than whether the right few hundred people hear it, and the second figure is a reason to record video.

The relationship value is what a company should judge the show by. Content Allies, which I founded, publishes case studies from its client shows. One of them (opens in a new tab) covers Ryan Dull of Sagemark HR, who started a show with it in early 2021. It reports that Content Allies scheduled more than 70 guests from his target market, and that he won nine new clients in the first year while spending about two hours a week on interviews. Those are Content Allies' own figures for one show; what they show is the measure to use: named relationships and clients, not downloads alone. It matches my own experience: in 2017 I traced over 60% of the clients I had closed in the previous 12 months back to my podcast in some form, often because guests became clients or referred them.

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Pew’s December 2022 survey found learning and entertainment were common reasons Americans listened to podcasts. The sample covers U.S. podcast listeners generally, rather than B2B buyers or sponsored shows.pewresearch.org (opens in a new tab)

Is a podcast right for your company?

A podcast suits a company that sells to a defined group of people it can name, and that has a host who will show up every week. It is a weaker fit when the buyers are too broad to invite, when nobody senior will host, or when the business needs pipeline within a quarter.

Before you commit, check that you can answer each of these:

If the honest answer to the second question is "nobody", solve that first. Some companies hire a host from outside; hiring a B2B podcast host explains how that works.

Who should produce it: a team, contractors or a production company

Every episode needs the same chain of work: a guest found and booked, a recording, an edit, artwork, show notes, publishing, and promotion. In my 2021 episode on building a production team, I said the hardest part of podcasting is "the act of project managing and coordinating so many different people". Each job depends on another: the designer needs the writer's headlines, and the publisher needs every piece ready on the same day.

I learned the contractor risk on my own show. When the person publishing my episodes or writing my show notes dropped off, I would pause the podcast for "three, six months at a time" while I found and trained someone new, even with episodes already recorded. That is what led me to create Content Allies.

The contractor route can still be the right one. In 2021 I described how the companies I saw running a show themselves did it: the host produced it and booked the guests, and they hired an audio editor, a graphic designer and a writer, with someone to publish each episode. At the time, those self-produced shows generally left out video. Hiring contractors directly can reduce production fees, but compare the full cost, including the host's coordination time.

Time is the deciding factor. In the same episode I estimated that managing a weekly show yourself takes about five hours per episode, against about an hour to an hour and a half with a production company handling it. That adds up to roughly 20 to 25 hours a month against four to six. It was a rough estimate I gave in 2021, when I was already running a production company, and the point is the gap: the coordination falls on someone. For a senior leader whose hours are better spent on the guests, I'd put that time into the relationships and hand the coordination to someone else.

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Jake’s historical account, summarized from this article. These results describe his experience and are not a performance forecast.

The roles on a podcast team

Whichever approach you choose, someone has to cover each of these roles. In a small show, one person covers several.

If you hire contractors, the minimum is an audio editor, a show-notes writer and a designer. Freelance marketplaces work for these roles; look for people with some podcast experience rather than the cheapest bid, and write down each step of the episode process before you hire, so a new person can pick it up.

You may be better off with a production company if

• Nobody on your team has time to project-manage every episode.
• You have no audio or video skills in-house.
• The host's time is worth more spent with guests than on coordination.
• You want both editing and guest booking handled.
• You need regular reporting for a budget holder.

How to choose a production company

Production companies range from editing shops that cut your audio to full-service firms that plan the show, book the guests and run promotion. Decide first which jobs you will keep in-house, then compare companies on those you will hand over.

1. 1

   Write down what you want to hand over

   List the roles from the table above and mark each as yours or theirs. Some companies only edit audio; others also book guests and run promotion.

2. 2

   Ask for shows like yours

   Ask to hear shows the company produces for businesses with buyers like yours, and to see what each show achieved for the business as well as its download counts.

3. 3

   Ask what is included and what is extra

   Service menus are not always packages. Content Allies' own services page (opens in a new tab), for example, says its listed services are "not included by default for all customers" and that it customizes the scope to goals and budget. Get the scope, the number of episodes, the term and the price in writing.

4. 4

   Ask how guests are found

   Ask who researches guests, whether the research follows your criteria, and who sends the invitations. For a B2B show, the guests are the point.

5. 5

   Ask what you will get in reports

   Agree the measures before launch: downloads and views, which guests became relationships, and what the sales team did with them.

The comparison of podcast production companies shows prices where firms publish them. If you want advice while your own team does the production, podcast consultants are the other option.

How to plan your B2B podcast

Choose a topic your buyers care about

Start with who the show is for. In a 2021 episode on planning a B2B podcast, I said the biggest mistake most people make is to "build a podcast focused on their peers and not their prospects." I made it myself: my first show interviewed other freelancers, which was enjoyable and brought some referrals but little business.

The fix is to go up a level, to your customer's world, and make that the show's theme. An agency that serves e-commerce brands, for example, would host a show about e-commerce and invite the people who run those brands. The guests are then the people you want to know, and the conversations are more interesting for the host too.

Pick a name

There is no formula, but three approaches work:

• Direct: the name says what the show covers, which helps people searching inside podcast apps.
• Creative: a memorable name, with the keywords in a tagline beneath it.
• Guest-focused: a name that flatters the guest, such as "Leaders of" or "Heroes" shows. Leaders of B2B, which I co-host, is one; LTC Heroes, a show Content Allies works on for the long-term care industry, is another.

You can change a name later. My own show began with a different name and a different audience.

Keep the format simple

An interview format suits most B2B shows: a short introduction, the conversation, a short close. Heavily produced, documentary-style shows cost far more to make, and for most B2B companies the return on that level of production is rarely worth it. The guests are the value.

Length follows the guest. 20 to 45 minutes is a good middle ground, usually from an hour-long booking; a strong guest who has a lot to say can carry a much longer one.

Decide where the show lives online

You can publish the show on its own website or on a page of your company's site. A website is not essential for a podcast, but it helps with credibility when you invite guests.

You can also do both: a standalone site for the show's identity and episode pages, and a page on the company site that introduces the show and links to it. Give the full episode pages one home and link to it from the other site, so readers and search engines are not choosing between two copies. Google's guidance on duplicate pages (opens in a new tab) notes that the same content at several addresses can confuse people and makes performance harder to track.

If your web team cannot build a page for months, launch on a standalone site and add the company page later. If your site does not allow embedded players, publish the show notes and articles there with links to listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Prepare for launch

1. 1

   Design artwork that reads on a phone

   In a podcast app, your artwork shows as a small square next to other shows. Use big, bold text and few details.

2. 2

   Get the microphone close

   A USB microphone on a boom arm or desk stand, a pop filter and headphones are enough for the host. Keeping the microphone close to your mouth matters more than which model you buy, and headphones stop the guest's voice echoing back into your microphone.

3. 3

   Choose and test your recording setup

   Interviews over a video call can stutter when the connection drops. Use a recording tool that captures each person's audio and video separately on their own device, such as Riverside (opens in a new tab), and keep the call's own recording as a backup. Make a short test recording and confirm that both the separate tracks and the backup are usable.

4. 4

   Record a trailer episode

   A short first episode tells new listeners what the show covers, who hosts it and why, who the guests will be, how often episodes come out and how to get in touch.

5. 5

   Script a standard intro and outro

   Recording a custom intro for every episode takes time most hosts do not have. Record one standard intro and outro, and open each episode with a 10 to 15 second clip of the guest's best moment before it.

6. 6

   Book your first guests through your network

   A few well-known names make every later invitation easier, because they show the show is worth a guest's time. Start with people you know, then use them as social proof when you invite strangers.

7. 7

   Set up hosting and distribution

   Upload the trailer, artwork and show details to a hosting service, then submit the feed to Apple Podcasts and Spotify. For YouTube, use RSS submission where it is available, or upload your video episodes. Check that the show is available on your chosen platforms before you announce it.

8. 8

   Launch with several episodes

   Publish the trailer and a few interviews together, so a new listener who likes the first one has more to hear.

How hosting and distribution work

For an RSS-based show, you upload episodes to a podcast hosting service, which publishes a feed that listening platforms use to list the show. You can submit that feed through Apple Podcasts Connect (opens in a new tab); shows must pass validation and a review before they are listed. Spotify for Creators (opens in a new tab), where Anchor's old address now leads, is Spotify's set of tools for audio and video podcasts, and it distributes audio shows to Spotify wherever they are hosted. YouTube accepts podcast RSS feeds (opens in a new tab) in select countries and regions, and turns each audio episode you choose into a video with the show's artwork; if you record video, upload the full video episodes instead.

Invite guests

Describe your ideal guest as you would a buyer: job title, company size and type, industry, interests and expertise. Industry associations, conference speaker lists and boards are good places to find them.

Then invite them by email or LinkedIn. Ask whether they would like to be interviewed, show your social proof (the guests you already have, or your audience), and link to a page about the show with what to expect. A personal introduction from someone they know helps most. The guide to conducting a great podcast interview covers the conversation itself.

Produce each episode in a repeatable order

Once the show is running, the same sequence repeats for every episode. Writing it down is what lets someone new pick up a role without the show pausing.

1. Book the guest and send recording instructions, including the tools and the headphones they will need.
2. Research the guest, prepare questions and record the conversation with a backup.
3. Edit the recording, and prepare the title, show notes, artwork and promotional assets.
4. Have the producer check the finished episode and materials before release.
5. Upload the episode to the hosting service and publish the website and video versions.
6. Send the guest the sharing kit, promote the episode and follow up on the relationship.

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The approach described in this article, shown as a visual guide.

How to promote a B2B podcast

The most useful promotion is the work you do for each guest, because each guest brings their own network. In my 2021 episode on promotion, I described the pre-written email Content Allies gave its hosts to send each guest, with the links, a thumbnail, video clips and quote graphics, ready to post.

For every episode:

• Give the guest a sharing kit: links, thumbnail, clips and quotes, sent on release day.
• Repurpose the conversation: short video clips and posts for the host's LinkedIn, and an article on the company blog.
• Offer the guest an article about the interview for their own website, linking to the episode.
• Write titles and show notes for search: a podcast app is a search engine in itself.
• Use the channels you already have: the newsletter, the website, the sales team's emails.
• Appear on other people's podcasts and mention your show.
• Interview the people who run your industry's associations and events, then look for ways to share episodes with their members.

When the show goes live, announce it on LinkedIn and ask people to suggest guests. The launch announcement is one of the best chances the show gets for attention, because people get behind a new show and tag others.

Paid promotion helps when the show needs a specific audience faster than organic reach can deliver it. Listen Network, which I own, offers paid podcast distribution (opens in a new tab) targeted through LinkedIn and Google Display, with reports on who listened by job title, industry and seniority. The podcast marketing strategy guide compares organic and paid tactics in more detail, and the guide to B2B podcast KPIs covers what to report.

Give the audience time to build, and track downloads and views from launch. Judge early progress by the guests you have met and what came of those conversations, alongside the audience goals agreed with the budget holder.