Why Your B2B Podcast Is Failing (And How to Fix It)

Hey,

I spent three months this year doing something that probably sounds like torture to most people: auditing over 200 B2B podcasts for our annual video podcast report.

Hours of listening to awkward interviews. Scrolling through endless episodes with titles like "Digital Transformation in the Modern Enterprise Landscape."

But somewhere around podcast number 150, something clicked.

I started seeing patterns. Not just in what successful podcasts were doing right, but in the specific ways most podcasts were failing. And the failures weren't random – they were systematic mistakes that killed shows before they had a chance.

Here's the story of what I discovered, and why it probably applies to your podcast strategy too.

The Tale of Two Fintech Podcasts

Let me tell you about two shows that perfectly illustrate what I'm talking about.

The first one I'll call "Fintech Leaders Today" (not the real name, but close enough). Beautiful branding. Professional studio setup. Host with an impressive LinkedIn profile. Episodes with guests like "VP of Innovation at MegaBank" talking about "The Future of Payments in 2025."

This show had everything going for it. Except viewers.

After 8 episodes, they quietly stopped publishing. No announcement. No farewell episode. Just... silence.

The second show focused entirely on Brazilian payment infrastructure problems. Scrappy production. Host recording from what looked like a home office. But incredibly specific content about cross-border payment failures, currency conversion issues, and regulatory nightmares that merchants face in Latin America.

This show gets 10x the engagement of the first one. Comments from actual CTOs and payment processors. Speaking opportunities at fintech conferences. Partnership inquiries from companies solving similar problems.

The difference? One was playing podcasting theater. The other understood the actual game.

The 5 Mistakes That Kill B2B Podcasts

After analyzing hundreds of shows, I've identified five systematic mistakes that turn what should be relationship-building engines into expensive content graveyards.

Mistake #1: Treating Guests Like Content Filler

This is the biggest one, and it's everywhere.

Most podcast hosts approach guest selection like they're casting a TV show. They want "interesting" guests who can "share insights" about "industry trends."

The result? Random industry people who have nothing to do with their business goals.

But the smartest hosts I studied flip this completely. They treat their guest list like a business development strategy.

One SaaS founder I interviewed books only three types of guests:

• Prospects at companies he wants to sell to

• Strategic partners who sell to his ICP

• Existing customers who influence other potential customers

His podcast became his most effective sales tool. Not because it generates leads directly, but because it builds relationships that turn into revenue.

"Prospects watch 3-4 episodes before our first call," he told me. "They already understand our approach, they trust my expertise, and they're ready to talk about implementation, not education."

Another founder uses her podcast exclusively to interview potential partners. Every episode is essentially a 45-minute partnership exploration disguised as thought leadership content.

The content is still valuable to listeners. But the primary goal isn't content – it's relationships.

Mistake #2: Optimizing for Perfection Instead of Discovery

Here's what happens at most companies when they decide to start a podcast:

Marketing team gets excited about the creative possibilities. They spend weeks on branding, logo design, and intro music. They hire expensive production companies. They plan elaborate video setups.

Meanwhile, nobody thinks about how people will actually find the show.

I found podcasts with $15-20K+ production budgets that have never ranked for a single industry search term. Beautiful shows that might as well be published in a locked filing cabinet.

The successful podcasters do the opposite. They start with discovery and work backwards.

They research what their target audience is actually searching for. They find industry keywords with search volume but no dominant content. They optimize episode titles for YouTube search, not creative awards.

One show I studied ranks #1 for "SaaS pricing strategy mistakes" and gets qualified leads every week from that single optimized episode. Another dominates searches for "supply chain software implementation failures."

These aren't accident. They're strategy.

The founders researched their market, identified content gaps, and filled them with valuable, searchable content.

Mistake #3: Platform Fear (AKA The YouTube Problem)

This one drives me crazy because the solution is so obvious.

Most B2B podcasts still distribute primarily on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Why? Because that's where podcasts "belong."

But here's the reality: Spotify and Apple Podcasts have zero discovery algorithms for new shows. Your content gets seen by people who already know about your podcast. That's it.

YouTube actively promotes your content to people searching for your topics. 60% of Google searches now return YouTube results. When someone searches for problems your company solves, you want your founder's face showing up in those results.

Yet most B2B companies treat YouTube like an afterthought because it feels "too complicated" or "too much like social media."

I analyzed the distribution strategy of 50 successful B2B podcasts. The pattern was clear: YouTube-first shows outperform audio-only shows by massive margins in terms of business impact.

Mistake #4: Going Broad When You Should Go Narrow

This mistake is everywhere, and I understand why it happens.

When you're starting a podcast, the temptation is to cast a wide net. You want to appeal to as many people as possible. So you create shows about "marketing trends" or "SaaS leadership" or "the future of fintech."

The problem? There are already 50 other shows covering those exact topics.

The successful podcasts I studied do the opposite. They go incredibly narrow.

Instead of "Fintech Today," they do "Why Enterprise Sales Teams Hate Your Payment Platform."

Instead of "Marketing Leadership," they do "B2B Marketing Attribution Failures."

Instead of "SaaS Trends," they do "Why Your Customer Success Team Can't Scale."

Narrow topics do three things that broad topics can't:

1. They attract passionate audiences. People searching for specific solutions are more engaged than people browsing general topics.

2. They dominate search results. It's easier to rank #1 for "customer success scaling problems" than "SaaS best practices."

3. They create clearer value propositions. When someone finds your show, they immediately understand what they'll learn.

One founder I interviewed switched from "Sales Leadership Insights" to "Why Your SDR Team Keeps Quitting." Episode downloads doubled, but more importantly, the quality of inbound inquiries improved dramatically.

Another company pivoted from "HR Technology Trends" to "Employee Onboarding Software Disasters." They started getting contacted by HR directors dealing with the exact problems their product solves.

Mistake #5: Running It Like a Marketing Project

This is the mistake that ties everything together.

Most podcasts are owned by marketing teams and treated like content projects. The goals are engagement metrics, brand awareness, and thought leadership positioning.

But the podcasts that drive real business results aren't marketing projects at all. They're business development tools that happen to create content.

The data backs this up. In our research, founder-hosted podcasts get 6x more engagement than marketing manager-hosted shows. Not because founders are better speakers (though some are), but because they approach podcasting differently.

Founders see opportunities marketers miss:

• They invite customers who might expand their contracts

• They build partnerships through conversations

• They use episodes in sales processes

• They position the company narrative from the top

When marketing owns the podcast strategy, it becomes about creating "interesting content." When founders own it, it becomes about building strategic relationships

What This Means for Your Strategy

If you're thinking about starting a podcast, or if you have one that isn't delivering business results, here's how to think about it differently:

Start with relationships, not content. Make a list of 20 people you'd love to have deeper business relationships with. Can you create conversations valuable enough that they'd want to participate?

Optimize for discovery, not perfection. Research what your prospects are searching for. Find content gaps you can fill. Make searchability a priority from day one.

Treat YouTube as your primary platform. Audio-only distribution in 2025 is like having a website that doesn't show up in Google. You're invisible to people who don't already know about you.

Go narrow, not broad. Find the specific problem your ideal customers are dealing with right now. Build the definitive content resource for that problem.

Make it a business tool, not a marketing project. Connect your podcast strategy to revenue goals, partnership objectives, and relationship-building outcomes.

The companies that figure this out in the next 12 months will have an unfair advantage. While their competitors are still debating whether podcasting delivers ROI, they'll be closing deals that started with podcast conversations.

The opportunity is massive right now. Most B2B companies are still making these five mistakes systematically. The few that aren't are building sustainable competitive advantages.

- Joe, Co-Founder at Sway One

P.S. If you want our complete breakdown of what successful B2B podcasts are doing differently, including specific examples and implementation frameworks, reply to this email. The full research report goes much deeper than what I could cover here.