This is a picture of This Old Marketing podcast, one of eight marketing podcasts you should be listening to today

8 Marketing Podcasts You Should Subscribe to and Listen to

Become a better marketer by listening to these eight marketing podcasts.
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Listen to these eight marketing podcasts to make sure you’re abreast on the latest in marketing trends, news, and campaigns so you don’t lose your job or get passed over for that promotion or raise.

OK, there may be no direct link between listening to these podcasts and keeping your job or getting a raise. But you’ll likely be a better marketer if you do listen, and that may help in job security and career advancements.

Since launching the Rethink Podcast a year ago, I have quickly become addicted to podcasts and thought I would share some of my favorites with you. It seems when you get more than one podcast listener in a room, they often share what shows are catching their attention. This happened recently with myself, a product marketer, and a customer success marketer. Or maybe that was the intro to a bad joke…

Anyway, there are hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there, and several hundred of those are marketing-related shows. So, what were my criteria for choosing this list?

Value Added

First, they needed to be a value-added investment of your time. By that I mean the show should regularly offer a takeaway or two that you can apply to your own work as a marketer, or that will otherwise help you professionally.

For example, I’ve included Gimlet’s newest show The Pitch in this list. Well, you may not be pitching your startup before a bunch of investors, but you’ll benefit by listening to the types of questions and concerns investors have about a pitch. These are very similar – if not the same – questions and concerns your prospective buyers ask themselves when considering your product or service: Does it solve my problem? Are there better alternatives? Do I trust the company or founder?

Interesting

Second, they needed to be interesting enough to listen to for 15 minutes or an hour. I really enjoy how Reid Hoffman’s Masters of Scale has reinvented what would normally be a simple back-and-forth interview. He identifies key qualities or characteristics of successful entrepreneurs and then explores how and why those attributes contribute to that individual’s success ‒ and maybe your own.

Not Too “Salesy”

There are some business and marketing podcasts out there that are pretty damn popular but not included on this list. And that’s because each time I’ve listened to them, I felt I was listening to a used-car salesman trying to sell me back the same junker I just traded in. This could be in the form of wanting me to subscribe to whatever get-rich scheme they’re offering, or they’re interviewing a guest who has probably paid for that privilege, which results in a lot of brand-focused softball questions. I’ve got enough spam in my life, thank you.

Current

Finally, they needed to be current. I’m always on the hunt for a source – whether blog, magazine, or podcast – that keeps me up to date on the latest trends, awesome campaigns, and so forth. Well, several of these shows – This Old Marketing, Adlandia, HBR Ideacast – help me do that.

Podcasting has been around more than a decade, and really it existed before that but wasn’t called “podcasting.” A lot of folks say its recent trendiness came following the success of the This American Life spinoff, Serial, in 2014. I also attribute its growth to the global adoption – even saturation – of mobile devices.

Edison Research has been tracking podcast listening over the last decade. The recent 2017 findings show podcasting metrics continue to rise across the board, from awareness to monthly listening:

  • Monthly listeners grew to 67 million people, and 42 million weekly.
  • The audience for podcasts continues to be predominately ages 18-54, and leans slightly male.
  • Podcast listeners outpace the US population in education, education, and employment.
  • Average time spent listening to podcasts each week is five hours.

Kent Lewis of Anvil Media, who we interviewed in Episode 2 of Rethink Podcast, offered several takeaways in our conversation (watch this video to learn his thoughts about The Swing). One thing he said that’s stuck with me was that, once a marketer goes in-house, his or her skills atrophy.

Well, I believe it’s up to the individual marketer to allow that to happen or not. Listening to these eight marketing podcasts will stretch your creative and analytical muscles. Enjoy the workout.

PNR: This Old Marketing | Content Marketing with Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose

Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose are two well-known content marketing experts. Each show covers the latest content marketing trends from their perspectives. There is a “rants and raves” segment on current campaigns or other news. And it ends with a This Old Marketing example from the past that we can still learn from.

Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman

Reid Hoffman has been incredibly successful as an investor (Facebook, Airbnb, etc.) and entrepreneur (LinkedIn). His rolodex is not too shabby, and he uses it to interview such business A-listers as Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Eric Schmidt, and others.

Rethink Podcast

So, I’m recommending our own Rethink Podcast for a couple of reasons. One, this is my blog post, after all. Two, I really do think we’re meeting the criteria I outlined above. We’ve had on the show such A-list influencers as Ann Handley, Larry Kim, Scott Brinker, and Jill Rowley, among others. We’ve also interviewed subject-matter experts to get their tips on webinars, email marketing, marketing plans, and more. We also welcome your show suggestions; just email us at [email protected].

Marketing Land Live

Marketing Land Live offers the latest digital marketing news and analysis from the folks that run Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. In it, you’re getting up-to-date news on Facebook and Google and other major platforms, often recorded in a roundtable format that offers different insights from the reporters covering these beats.

Tagline

Tagline is a relatively new podcast from iHeartRadio and Advertising Age and features conversations with the Who’s Who of adland, such as David Droga. They talk about the latest in the industry and whether a trend or development is good or bad. And, because the show is sponsored by Diageo’s Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, there’s usually a fancy cocktail involved. (By the way, if Breakside, Boneyard, Ex Novo, or pFriem IPAs want to sponsor Rethink, I’m open to negotiations).

The Pitch

This could be the rotating tap where you swap in whatever is the recent Gimlet Media show, either Startup, The Pitch, or Mogul. As I mentioned, I like The Pitch for its behind-the-curtain look at entrepreneurs pitching to investors. I once worked as a screener for an angel investment group, and this is pretty spot-on (as compared to Shark Tank).

HBR IdeaCast

From the folks at Harvard Business Review, this show features leading thinkers in business and management. You’ve heard the Wayne Gretzky business cliché about skating to where the puck is going, not where it has been? HBR IdeaCast is helping you see where the puck is going. I loved a recent show on blockchain.

Adlandia

Adlandia’s ambition is to focus on the signals in the noise of the advertising/marketing industry, with the goal of helping to “ shape what’s next, and our goal is to have people in the industry get a different take on something and hopefully not just ask themselves, what if, but why not?”

Other good choices include: Marketing Over Coffee, Marketing Smarts, and VB Engage. What are some of your favorites? What did I overlook?

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