2018’s best podcast episodes for email marketers

2018 was yet another high watermark for podcasting, especially in North America, as more and more people are consuming podcasts.In fact, 1 in 4 Americans now listen to podcasts regularly. Understandably, brands, educators, and media companies are all jumping into this medium and, thankfully fhor us, they are also dropping some gold nuggets for digital marketers.

If you’re a little overwhelmed with the amount of podcasts out there, we’ve got you covered. Rather than putting together yet another list of the top 10 podcasts that you can find everywhere, we’ll go one step further and recommend specific episodes that will really get the gears moving in your mind. Maybe after listening to one, you’ll dig deeper into the show’s full catalogue.

At Mailjet, we believe that great marketers (and of course great email marketers) are those that are great copywriters, are authentic, work well in teams, and can think outside the box. As a result, in this post we try to cover all of these bases and we’ve shared episodes that span from wonky conversations among marketing practitioners, to in-depth interviews with industry thought leaders, to highly produced documentaries and stories.

Unlock New Ideas and Learn From Industry Leaders

Duct Tape Marketing Podcast: Seth Godin

In all honesty, we could have picked any podcast that was able to get Seth Godin for even 10 minutes, but we wanted to highlight this show in particular. Duct Tape Marketing is hosted by John Jantsch and has been around since 2009, well before podcasts became a necessity for all marketing brands. It’s a weekly podcast with past guests like Guy Kawasaki, Neil Patel, and Ann Handley.

Why This Episode?

The Seth Godin episode will help you rethink how you approach marketing and branding. Even in a world where the majority of marketers are millennials, we are still stuck in the traps of the 90s - trying to interrupt our prospects, as opposed to building a brand. Here’s one stand-out moment from the episode.

Think, right now, of a logo that you admire. Let’s say, you’re talking to a designer. Think of a logo. I’m going to bet you, 10 to 1 odds, that the logo you thought of is not a pretty logo but is in fact something that adorns a brand that you care about. This brand you care about, why do you care about it? Why do you pay extra for it? Why do you cross the street to engage with them?

Seth Godin, Author, This is Marketing

Gary Vee: Effectively Marketing to your Target Audience

Gary Vee is many things, and if you’ve ever heard him speak at an event, seen him on Instagram, or stumbled upon one of his posts on Linkedin, you’ve probably formed an opinion of his approach. Whatever you feel about him and his content though, Gary Vee has a singular view on modern branding and marketing.

Why This Episode?

While there are many episodes that you should listen to in Gary Vee’s catalogue, an episode from earlier this year takes you to Facebook’s office in London, UK, for Gary’s keynote talk on how to effectively market to your target audience.

The first 100 ads on TV were radio ads, because creative agencies hadn’t figured out what a TV ad is.

Gary Vaynerchuk, VaynerMedia

We are reinventing the marketing medium and channels everyday. Radio to TV was one slow change. AdWords to Facebook, to Linkedin, to Snapchat, to Instagram, (and ironically) back to Radio (Podcasts) has been much faster. These channels demand different approaches, and, in this episode, Gary outlines how you can avoid making the same mistakes of the past - making radio ads for TV...or TV ads for Instagram.

Wonk Out on Marketers Talking Marketing

In the Wonk Out section of this article, we’ve outlined three great podcast episodes that will help give you a pretty in-depth look at marketing. Here are a few great conversations from marketing practitioners discussing everything from how to set up a lead generation funnel, to building a brand from scratch, to leveraging Lebron James’ Instagram account to build the NBA brand.

Betaworks Builders: CMO Roundtable

Betaworks is a startup studio in New York, and the studio behind some great digital products like Giphy and Unsplash, as well as podcast behemoths Anchor and Gimlet.

But what they’ve have also built is an incredibly strong podcast that brings together thoughtful minds and people “who are making a dent in the universe”. New episodes every Tuesday cover topics like the future of voice interfaces, immersive storytelling, the chaos of the advertising industry, and how brands can engage customers in 2018 and beyond.

Why This Episode?

In this episode, Builders pulls together a roundtable of CMOs including Joanna Lord (CMO, Classpass), Pam El (CMO, NBA), Emily Culp (Former CMO, Keds), Linda Boff (CMO, GE), and Christina Carbonell (Co-Founder, Primary.com).

Part of being relevant is being in the right place at the right time. It’s not ever about an ad, it’s a lot about where is our content being served up where people want to see it. And want to see more. So we spend a lot of time thinking what will go on Instagram. vs what will go on Facebook.

Pam El, Chief Marketing Officer, NBA

Buffer: Science of Social Media

Social media company Buffer has consistently stood out as a brand that puts out fantastic content and adds value to marketers of all stripes. While social media is at the heart of their brand and their podcast, “Science of Social Media”, it often delves into many other areas of interest for marketers of stripes. Whether it’s “9 Marketing Ideas That Don’t Include Blogging” or the “A to Z’s of Influencer Marketing”, there is always 1-2 tidbits you can take from their episodes.

Why This Episode?

An episode from earlier this year that captures this idea well (and one we’re especially interested in here at Mailjet) is “7 invaluable marketing skills for teams”, which includes skills like storytelling, collaboration, and experimentation. The best part, though, is the podcast’s length - a brisk 10-20 minutes, just enough time for a run or walk to the coffee shop.

Growth Hub Podcast: Bill Macaitis of Slack

 If you’re in B2B SaaS Marketing and don’t listen to the Growth Hub Podcast, subscribe now. This podcast from Advance B2B features interviews with leading experts in SaaS from companies like Trello, Drift, and Slack, to get behind-the-scenes insights into their growth stories.

While there are a seemingly endless list of podcasts out there that talk about growth and startups, or entrepreneurship in general, many can be unrelateable and live in the clouds a little bit. The Growth Hub Podcast truly lives in the weeds, and explores the practical day-to-day approaches modern marketers are taking to solve problems, attract audiences, and grow their market.

Why This Episode?

The episode with Bill Macaitis is a fantastic look at what it takes to build a brand from scratch, and how to build a category, as Slack has done in workplace communications. While this episode may be especially valuable to B2B SaaS brands who can learn directly from Bill’s lessons from Slack and ZenDesk, his insights into how content can drive growth, how to measure brand campaigns, and how to be a customer-centric organization are insights that are valuable across all product and service categories.

Dive Deep with Long-Form Documentaries

Seeking Wisdom by Drift - Exceptions: Wistia

Seeking Wisdom is a podcast from conversational marketing leaders Drift, and often delves into the day-to-day ideas, conversations, and debates between Drift’s VP of Marketing Dave Gerhart and their CEO David Cancel. Their banter and endless recommendations on books, blogs, and experiments to run is well worth a Subscribe on it’s own.

What differentiates Seeking Wisdom from just about any other brand-produced podcast is their willingness to experiment with new shows and formats. This year, Drift launched a mini-documentary series within their Seeking Wisdom channel called Exceptions. Exceptions is an audio documentary series produced in partnership between Drift and writer/podcast host Jay Acunzo, which goes inside some of the world’s best B2B companies to understand how and why they’re building exceptional brands.

Seeing a brand like Drift put so much energy and thoughtfulness into an elaborate, well-produced, story-first podcast like Exceptions really shows how far this medium has come and the power podcasts themselves can have in driving brand.

Why This Episode?

The one episode we wanted to highlight is Episode 2 of their first season (P.S. Exceptions was renewed for a second season!). This episode features Wistia, a video hosting and analytics platform, and a brand that has continued to innovate on how they themselves use video for marketing purposes.

Like all episodes in this series, before launching into a conversation with Wistia’s team to learn about their approaches, Jay first sits down with some of Wistia’s customers to hear their perspectives on Wistia’s product and brand.

Afterall, one definition of a brand is “the customer (or potential customers) perspective of a product, service, experience, or organization.” The best way to measure brand is to measure customer perspectives. Perhaps, this exchange best summaries how Wistia has built their brand:

Jay: What would you say is the Wistia brand if it were a person?

Customer: My daughter, smart, helpful, and the person the classroom everyone turns too.

CEO of Wistia: The nerdy friend you trust. You’re watching to see what they will do next.

Freakonomics Radio: How to be Creative

You probably already know Freakonomics the book(s), and you may already know Freakonomics Radio. While this podcast spans well beyond the confines of marketing, there are often tidbits in each one of their shows that can help marketers better understand human behavior and decision-making. Some episodes can also help marketers much more directly, like their episode on “How to be Creative”.

Why This Episode?

In this episode (the first in a series looking at Creativity), they identify that creativity is “essentially novelty that works. It has to be somehow feasible, workable, valuable, appropriate to a goal.” As marketers, we’re constantly trying to come up with not only good ideas, out-of-the-box ideas, but ones that can operate within constraints. Whether it’s budget or team abilities.

One lesson you can take out of this episode is that to unlock your full creative potential, you need to get out of your bubble. That’s why it’s important to not only listen to podcasts on B2B SaaS if you’re a SaaS marketing, or podcasts on design if you’re a designer. Listen to podcasts with diverse perspectives, informed by experience radically different than yours. Here you can identify novel ideas and then figure out how to make them work in your context.

Honorable Mentions

Really Good Emails

Our friends over at Really Good Emails recently launched their podcast and have been interviewing practitioners and experts in the space of email, email design, and email deliverability. Be sure to check it out!

Marketing Over Coffee

Marketing Over Coffee is a weekly podcast that covers both classic and new marketing. Hosts John J. Wall and Christopher S. Penn record the show in a local coffee shop and frequently dig into the latest ideas and trends in email marketing, search engine optimization, copywriting, and more.

New Years Resolution

In an age of information overload and endless entertainment, it may be difficult to choose to listen to a podcast about marketing… after spending all day actually doing said marketing. But the wealth of knowledge that is available in your pocket right now is massive, and of course this list only scratches the surface. Also, with podcasts you can multi-task and learn while you cook, exercise, walk the dog or, hey, even when you’re working.

This New Year’s, take a look at those moments in your day where you can add podcasts to your life and, if you’re like many avid podcast fans out there, you’ll realize there are about 5-10 hours every week where you can literally listen in on some of the world’s leading experts, thinkers, and speakers on topics of interest to you.

Let us know what you find - post your favorite episodes on Twitter or Linkedin - we’d love to share them wide!