Your B2B Podcast Isn’t Working Because You’re Solving the Wrong Problem
Most B2B podcasts fail for one simple reason. They’re built around topics nobody is looking for, instead of the real moment a buyer realises something in their business is breaking.
In this episode, I break down why your “marketing”, “leadership”, or “productivity” episodes are getting skipped, and what to do instead.
We’ll get into:
• How to spot actual content you should be publishing, using your sales calls
• Why “topics” make your show sound like a 2014 panel discussion
• The shift from brand awareness to belief-building
• Simple ways to turn your podcast into a pipeline machine, not a weekly chore
If you want episodes your ideal clients recognise themselves in, this is the one to listen to.
Want me to help you with all this? https://podknows.co.uk/audit
Just want free insights sent directly to your inbox each week? https://podknows.co.uk/email/
Transcript
So let me tell you about something that most business podcasts
Speaker:get completely wrong. They build episodes
Speaker:around Topics. Welcome to B2B Podcasting
Speaker:Insights with Neil Velio, founder of Podnos, a
Speaker:podcast agency helping you get better results from podcasting.
Speaker:Marketing, leadership, culture,
Speaker:productivity. No one's out there googling
Speaker:productivity, hoping that they're gonna find your take on it. If
Speaker:you want your show to drive business and not just tick off boxes
Speaker:on your content calendar, well, you gotta build around buying
Speaker:triggers, not topics. Let's talk about that.
Speaker:So, first of all, what is a buying trigger then? Well, it's that exact moment
Speaker:your potential client, and in this particular case,
Speaker:listener, realizes something is off,
Speaker:their old system is not working, and they've come to you
Speaker:to listen to your podcast to figure out why
Speaker:that is. Their own audience has completely stopped
Speaker:engaging. Maybe their sales team is ghosting their own
Speaker:pipeline. That's where your show should live.
Speaker:Think about it like this. Your ideal client doesn't wake up thinking, do you
Speaker:know what? I'd love to learn more about marketing funnels today.
Speaker:No, they don't. Contrary to what thousands of
Speaker:podcasts would have you believe, they wake up thinking,
Speaker:why did our last campaign tank even though the product is
Speaker:good? That frustration we've identified there,
Speaker:tanking marketing funnels despite good product,
Speaker:that is a buying trigger. It's the start of their buying
Speaker:journey, and it's exactly what your B2B podcast
Speaker:needs to speak to. Let me give you a short example that might be
Speaker:relevant to your own situation. If you help
Speaker:founders fix their sales messaging, don't do an
Speaker:episode called how to Write Better Copy. Everyone is
Speaker:doing that. What you need to do is. An episode that speaks to a
Speaker:buying trigger may be called what to do. When prospects
Speaker:keep saying, thanks for the. Information, we'll think about it carefully and
Speaker:get back to you very soon. Okay, we appreciate your time and
Speaker:effort. Same topic, different angle, but one
Speaker:gets skipped and one gets a play click.
Speaker:Potentially gets you followed. Even
Speaker:more potentially gets them on your email newsletter list,
Speaker:and ideally gets them on the end of a zoom call or
Speaker:teams meeting.
Speaker:This is why most podcasts miss this. Most
Speaker:B2B podcasts sound like panel discussions
Speaker:from 2014, because people build them around
Speaker:what they want to talk about, not what their ideal
Speaker:buyer is feeling in the moment. Right
Speaker:before they decide they need you, they're thinking
Speaker:top of funnel brand awareness. But the thing
Speaker:is, podcasts aren't there really for
Speaker:building brand awareness. They're there for building
Speaker:belief. They're there to be you
Speaker:in the room with them before you can physically
Speaker:get in the room with them. Look, if you want brand
Speaker:awareness, go make some TikToks, go pop some
Speaker:reels on Instagram, just shove some
Speaker:slop on LinkedIn. If you want trust,
Speaker:go make a podcast. So just how do you find your
Speaker:buying triggers then? Well, I'm glad you asked.
Speaker:Here's an exercise for you to carry out which will absolutely help
Speaker:you with this. First of all, listen back to your sales
Speaker:calls, read the transcripts, put them in
Speaker:ChatGPT and have a conversation with your GPT
Speaker:about your sales calls. Try and figure out the
Speaker:exact moment that a prospect says, yeah,
Speaker:that's our issue. That's the moment you know you
Speaker:have a successful buying trigger. So ask
Speaker:your best clients what was going wrong right
Speaker:before they decided to pull the trigger and work with you.
Speaker:Maybe scroll through your DMs and your inboxes. Look at those
Speaker:questions people ask you repeatedly. They're absolute gold.
Speaker:Great ideas for podcast episodes. In fact,
Speaker:use the exact questions as your episode titles.
Speaker:At this point, when you've got this working correctly,
Speaker:you're not creating content anymore. You are answering
Speaker:buying stage pain points out loud.
Speaker:You're addressing buying triggers.
Speaker:Let's have another crack at what this might sound like in practice.
Speaker:Say you're a B2B SaaS company. Instead of
Speaker:the future of Martech, try
Speaker:what happens when your CRM stops closing deals.
Speaker:Instead of AI and creativity, do
Speaker:the moment you realized automation just made your
Speaker:brand sound robotic. Each of those triggers
Speaker:a specific business pain that somebody is already in,
Speaker:and that's what gets your episode shared internally
Speaker:within teams, helping you close the
Speaker:sale. Get to the decision maker. Activate
Speaker:complete buy in. Forget the topics list.
Speaker:Stop trying so hard to sound smart. Yes,
Speaker:we know you know the thing that you talk about. You should.
Speaker:It's your thing. Stop trying to outsmart
Speaker:everybody else in your industry and instead
Speaker:try to sound relevant. Answer the questions
Speaker:they're not answering because they're too busy focusing on building their
Speaker:personal brands. They want to be seen as the go
Speaker:to thought leader on the topic in the industry.
Speaker:Every episode you put out, you're aiming to have
Speaker:the listener say in their own brain, yeah, they're
Speaker:talking about me right now. And that's the moment a podcast
Speaker:stops being content and starts becoming
Speaker:a buying accelerant. If you want to know whether your
Speaker:show is built around buying triggers or is just putting content
Speaker:out, or maybe just sticking around comfortable
Speaker:topics that are easy for you to get out there,
Speaker:let's let you what I do and the link to my training
Speaker:is in the episode description. I hope you found this
Speaker:particularly useful, and maybe it's activated one of your buying
Speaker:triggers, in which case, make sure you click that link in the
Speaker:description. If you did find it useful, feel free to share it with a
Speaker:colleague or peer in the industry, or any industry that you think
Speaker:might get something from the episode. Make sure you're following the podcast in your
Speaker:favorite podcasting app, and I will speak to you on the next episode of
Speaker:B2B podcasting insights. Until then, best of luck
Speaker:continuing your podcasting journey.
