Branded Podcasts: Branding Strategies to Win Mindshare + Examples

B2B buyers are more discerning than ever. After years of being inundated by sales messages, they’ve learned to tune out the noise and focus on what works.

Data shows that 81% of B2B buyers already have a preferred vendor at the time of first contact. That’s why it’s crucial to earn real estate in your audience’s brain before they reach the point of researching potential partners.

In this guide, we’ll run through all the essentials for a branded podcast that puts you at the top of the vendor shortlist. Ready? Let’s get started.

A branded podcast is a podcast hosted by a business brand, typically as part of a larger content marketing or brand messaging strategy.

But running a successful B2B podcast is harder than it looks. Consider all the different types of content you create for your brand. Some assets are educational. Some aim to sell. Some build brand identity.

The best branded podcasts build trust and authority with your target audience. You’re not selling. Most of the time, you’re not even talking about your product. But podcast marketing is far from unstrategic—in fact, it can be foundational to your broader marketing strategy.

But, do you really need a branded podcast? It depends. Here are some of the benefits a branded podcast can deliver:

• Extends reach and brand awareness
• Positions your brand as a thought leader in your industry
• Delivers a steady stream of long-form content to repurpose across channels
• Humanizes your brand and builds a genuine connection

B2B podcasts see an average consumption rate of 60%. However, they’re not for everyone. Podcast marketing is a long-term strategy; one that provides a larger return the longer you put the effort in.

Ultimately, a branded podcast is about making your brand part of your audience’s routine by offering value that goes beyond what you sell.

Creating a B2B podcast involves some intentional, upfront thinking about your theme, target audience, and episode format. For the purposes of this guide, let’s assume you’ve got all those elements squared away.

Once you have a plan for the content and logistics, it’s time to consider your podcast’s branding. Start with these four categories. (Starting from scratch? Check out our Guide to Starting a B2B Podcast.)

You probably already have an idea of the type of content your podcast will cover. But have you considered that content through a branding lens? Think about these pieces:

1. Tone and voice: Make sure your podcast’s content is consistent with your brand voice. Think serious vs. humorous; formal vs. conversational. Your brand's personality and values should carry through the podcast.
2. Title: Come up with a title that’s catchy and easy to remember. (We noticed that a couple of our examples below use alliteration. 🙌🏼) Most importantly, make sure it reflects your brand.
3. Host: Choose a host who embodies your brand's voice and can connect authentically with both the audience and guests.
4. Episode structure: Podcasting requires a balance between structure and flexibility. Keeping some structural consistency helps listeners know what to expect. It also builds familiarity with your podcast and, therefore, your brand. Your podcast intro and outro are great places to achieve this consistency.

Nailing your podcast’s positioning can be tricky, but it’s crucial for branded podcasts to get this right. Spelling out your positioning helps you ensure that the premise, topics, and guests are directly relevant to your brand’s mission and values.

In other words, it helps you stay in your lane. Positioning includes:

1. Unique angle: What sets your podcast apart? Hint: It should be similar to what sets your brand apart.
2. Guests and sponsors: Make sure these partners align with your brand values.
3. Message consistency: Try to tie every new episode back to your brand’s values and goals. It doesn’t have to be explicit—in fact, subtle is often better—but always keep the message in mind.

Visual branding is just as crucial in podcasts as in any other marketing materials. If you’re producing a video podcast, visual elements become even more important. But even if it’s audio-only, there are still plenty of visual branding opportunities in your logo, thumbnails, landing page, and streaming platform pages like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

1. Logo and cover art: Design high-quality assets that match your brand’s tone and embody the essence of your podcast.
2. Color palette: The obvious route is to keep your brand’s palette—but you could consider incorporating a unique accent color to differentiate your podcast from other materials.
3. Digital overlays: These graphics are key for any video components of your podcast. You can also use them on thumbnails for a cohesive look.
4. Platform presence: Check how your podcast looks across different distribution platforms for consistency.

You’re putting blood, sweat and tears (okay, hopefully just sweat) into producing a branded podcast. Following through with promotion is how you’ll get it in front of your target audience and achieve the bottom-line business goals you laid out for the podcast.

A few promotional considerations:

1. Organic product mentions: Weave product mentions into your podcast through real-world stories and case studies when organic. Be wary of coming across as overly-promotional.
2. Cross-platform content: Use social media, newsletters, and partnerships to reach new podcast listeners and get more downloads.
3. Content repurposing: Repurpose your podcast content into zero-click LinkedIn posts, teasers, and blog posts.
4. Interactive elements: Encourage listener interaction through live sessions or Q&As.

A successful branded podcast isn’t about conversions or revenue. It’s about embedding your brand into your audience’s professional lives and earning mindshare as an authority in your space.

Consistency is key. Goldcast’s On-Demand Hub makes it easy to house and repurpose your podcast alongside other video and event content. Having everything in one place keeps your brand intact and gets your branded content in front of more eyes.

Now that we’ve covered the different ways to align your branded podcast with your overarching brand, let’s take a look at how some brands have applied them.

In the Making is a popular podcast “for and about the creator economy,” produced by Adobe. It examines the success stories and creative processes of artists, innovators, and entrepreneurs.

• Content: The podcast’s theme naturally aligns with Adobe’s mission to enable creativity for all.
• Positioning: As guests tell their stories, Adobe positions itself as an integral part of the creative journey.
• Visuals: The logo and cover art use Adobe’s recognizable red combined with podcast-specific imagery.
• Promotion: Products are mentioned when appropriate; e.g. at the bottom of the landing page: “This season is supported by the new all-in-one Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud.”

➡️ Check it out: Landing page / Spotify

What It Means shares insights from Forrester analysts around technology and business trends. It covers tech innovation, customer experience, B2B buying trends, and more.

• Content: The podcast’s topics tie directly to Forrester’s core competency in research and consulting.
• Positioning: Forrester leans on its analysts’ expertise to position the podcast as a resource for decision-makers—which is also what the company does.
• Visuals: Forrester’s signature green appears throughout and aligns with the company’s more professional vibe.

➡️ Check it out: Landing page / Spotify

Qualio’s From Lab to Launch tells the stories of founders, investors, scientists, engineers, and pioneers in life sciences.

• Content: The podcast does an excellent job connecting the dots between what Qualio does, healthcare compliance, and who it empowers: innovators and life-savers.
• Positioning: It positions Qualio as a thought leader in life sciences by highlighting the humans behind the scientific advancements.
• Visuals: The podcast borrows elements from the overall brand, with a nice colorful version of Qualio’s logo.

➡️ Check it out: Landing page / Spotify

Marketing Against the Grain is a stellar example of a co-branded podcast, hosted by HubSpot CMO Kipp Bodnar and Zapier CMO Kieran Flanagan. It explores unconventional and innovative marketing strategies.

• Content: Created by two powerhouse brands known for innovation in marketing tech, the podcast’s theme tracks perfectly.
• Positioning: The podcast’s double branding positions HubSpot and Zapier not only as thought leadership, but also as collaborative and focused on value over profit.
• Visuals: The graphic identity is unique rather than carrying over from either brand. It’s bold and fun, mirroring the subject matter.
• Promotion: The podcast benefits from both companies’ extensive networks and digital channels. It also includes secondary branding as part of HubSpot’s Podcast Network.

➡️ Check it out: YouTube playlist / Spotify

In Evolving the Enterprise, SnapLogic explores stories and applications of AI, data, and automation in enterprise technology. The most recent season is a podcast series that looks specifically at generative AI and its impact on modern enterprises.

• Content: The podcast’s topics tie directly to SnapLogic’s expertise in intelligent integration.
• Positioning: Its tech deep dives and focus on new technology trends (e.g. GenAI) appeal to the brand’s target demographic, IT leaders and strategists.
• Visuals: The podcast keeps SnapLogic’s branding, which blends a professional navy with colorful, modern pops.
• Promotion: We love the scrolling logo band highlighting the variety of the different industry experts that have been featured.

➡️ Check it out: Landing page / Spotify

Yes, we are humbly presenting our own podcast as an example. 💅🏼 In the CMO Diaries, we get a behind-the-scenes look at real-life marketing leaders’ innovative strategies and most successful campaigns.

• Content: Our interviews with marketing leaders align with Goldcast’s target audience: forward-thinking B2B marketers.
• Positioning: We head straight to the top to uncover insights from CMOs for CMOs—positioning Goldcast as an authority in marketing tech.
• Visuals: The podcast’s branding uses our signature Goldcast red and other consistent graphics like overlays.
• Promotion: Podcast episodes are available on-demand, with clips shared via YouTube, social media, email and more to help drive traffic and distribution.

➡️ Check it out: Landing page

Creating a branded podcast is just the beginning. With thoughtful branding, your podcast can act as the foundation of a multimodal content strategy that captures more mindshare with your audience.

A lot goes into podcast production. Between recording, editing, branding, podcast hosting, and repurposing your podcast content—where do you start with software?

With Goldcast’s Recording Studio, you can take your podcast from inception to distribution in one end-to-end platform. Then, once you’ve hit “publish,” step over into our AI-powered Content Lab, where your podcast content is ready to repurpose into clips, audiograms, and more.

No re-uploading your logo for the zillionth time. No manual searching for that one sound bite that perfectly tied your topic to your brand’s mission. We designed this system specifically for B2B marketers running pipeline-focused content programs. Create your account to try it for free.