With all the time you likely spend looking at screens, marketing podcasts offer an easy way to learn more about promoting your business—and a welcome alternative to eye strain. Marketing podcasts provide tips and tricks for helping grow your business. And the best ones offer invaluable insights for achieving your marketing goals in a format that feels like a conversation among friends and colleagues.
But, in 2021, there’s a lot of podcast content out there to sift through, so it can be difficult to know what’s good, what’s relevant, and where to start. So we’ve put together a list of 10 of the best marketing podcasts in 2021 that will provide plenty of bang for your listening buck. These podcasts will help you quickly and enjoyably learn how to grow your business… all while working, cleaning, driving your car, or doing any of the other 5,000 things on your to-do list!
These podcasts offer both explicit digital marketing advice that you can use immediately and knowledge for better understanding your business and its place in the big, sometimes intimidating, economic landscape.
They’ll get you up-to-speed on the marketing, innovation, and economic climate in 2021 and give you plenty of thought-provoking and actionable ideas to chew on.
In addition to our favorites below, be sure to check out our own podcast, The Lead Generation podcast, for more exciting stories and lessons about small business growth.
Here are the 10 top marketing podcasts for your listening pleasure.
This podcast is about the history and current practices in the ad industry, and it offers lots of insights into the inner workings of ad agencies. It’s kind of made for those of us who are still missing Mad Men. In addition to just being a really fun and engaging listen, the stories told by host Terry O’Reilly are bound to teach you a thing or two about the surprising ways successful marketers reach their customers.
O’Reilly has decades of copywriting experience that shine through in his command of the industry ins and outs. He reveals the marketing strategies behind, well, just about everything—even song arrangements on studio albums. Revelations like these will get you thinking about marketing in a whole new way.
Some episodes focus entirely on micro histories of the advertising industry, like the one about Mary Wells, aka the Real Mad Woman. These stories and insights are entertaining and educational, serving to expand your understanding of the marketing world. Many of the stories also emphasize the importance of time and context on successful marketing campaigns. After all, the market changes culture and culture changes the market.
Be sure to check out this episode It’s Finger Lickin’ Bad: Marketing in the Time of Covid. This episode explores what works—marketing-wise—in the pandemic (and post-pandemic) world and what doesn’t. From the Zoom boom to curbside pick-up to decreased sales of lipstick, O’Reilly explores the unpredictable effects of the pandemic on all kinds of industries you might not expect.
In this daily podcast, entrepreneurs Eric Siu and Neil Patel share what they describe as actionable digital marketing lessons in five minutes (or shorter) episodes.
Each episode is short and sweet, boiling down otherwise complex marketing strategies into bite-size portions that just might lead to a podcast binge session.
They focus on key concepts like SEO and marketing through social media and email. Though those are marketing standards, Siu and Patel do a nice job of defamiliarizing stale approaches and asking innovative questions that will spark your creativity and help you break out of a rut.
In addition to addressing broad marketing concepts, they also offer direct how-tos and, like they say, actionable advice. You’re sure to complete each episode with a new idea to try out right away.
Check out this episode: 3 Simple Tricks to Get More Blog Traffic. The hosts explain the importance of collaboration and peer relationship building in the pursuit of more likes and clicks.
This show provides a funny and light-hearted perspective on business and finance—something that’s direly needed in an area that, if we’re being honest, is lacking in it.
In each episode, the hosts Corbett, Chase, Barrett, and Steph chat casually with each other and guests. The guests tend to be CEOs and COOs of marketing companies who get candid about their struggles and successes in the industry.
This podcast’s special focus is on the relationship between brands and their audience and how businesses can best foster that relationship. Their massive episode archive contains tips for relationship-building for entrepreneurs, small businesses, and larger corporations. So, there’s something for everyone here!
Notably, much of the podcast’s content is listener-generated in that the hosts choose topics in response to listener requests and comments. This approach makes for wonderfully personal and tailored information that is always relevant to the audience.
Don’t miss The Golden Age of Content. In this episode, Barrett Brooks addresses the changing world of digital marketing and the forces of power within the marketing industry. If you’re feeling small in the marketing world, give this one a listen for a new perspective and some insights into how to expand your influence.
The Sales Evangelist targets those in sales and sales management and airs multiple times a week. Like “The Fizzle,” this show takes a friendly and sometimes funny approach to marketing.
Host Donald Kelly is all about successful sales and knows the ways to make that happen, from generating leads on Facebook to subscribing to email newsletters. His tips will help you stay current in sales methods in 30 minutes or less of individual episode time.
Kelly’s advantage is his tone and commitment to sounding like a human (like all great sales people). His knowledge of successful marketing strategies allows him to focus his energies on crafting his approachable tone and teaching you how to do it, too.
To expand on Kelly’s own expertise, each episode features him in conversation with other marketing gurus who generously share their business savvy and wealth of experience.
Check out this episode: Tacie Avedikian: Unseen is Unsold. In it, Kelly and Avedikian discuss the concept of an “influencer,” breaking down what that is and what we can all learn from it in this fast-paced industry.
Copywriting is one of the most valuable skills in digital marketing, and The Ray Edwards Show is the go-to copywriters’ podcast. Edwards is a wildly successful copywriter who has written for Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, and Mark Victor Hansen (creators of the iconic “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series) and his work has generated over $100 million in lifetime value.
Edwards encourages listeners to view business, and marketing in particular, through invigorated eyes and to feel empowered about the work we do. Included in that is encouragement to take more breaks, show yourself compassion on a daily basis, and learn to work better with others. Who doesn’t need those reminders?
As for format, some episodes are recorded solo and some include interviews with other successful copywriters in the field, a welcome breath of fresh air and mix of perspectives. To stay current on his advice and help keep a positive perspective on your work, don’t miss a new show every Wednesday.
Don’t miss 5 Hacks for Writing 5,000 Words a Day. In this episode, Edwards provides practical tips for writing more efficiently (and enjoyably!). To give you a sneak peak, one of the tips is to audio dictate rather than type.
If you like stories about entrepreneurs and innovators, this is the podcast for you. The stories told by host Guy Raz are often inspiring and always educational. Raz paints compelling pictures of how some of the most successful companies were built and how they became what they are today.
But Raz offers more than just stories. His companion book titled How I Built This: The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World’s Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs is described as a “how to” that will guide you through the steps to “start, launch, and build a successful venture,” demonstrating Raz’s commitment to providing applicable knowledge and advice.
Whatever kinds of products, services, or experiences you market, you’ll find something in your wheelhouse on this podcast. Raz’s content ranges from interviews with filmmaker Ava Duverney to the backstory of Jetblue, so you’re sure to find an episode that addresses a market or industry that overlaps with your own.
Check out this episode How I Built Resilience: Bayard Winthrop of American Giant. Part of a “How I Built This” subseries, this April 2021 episode addresses the impact of the pandemic on the demand for comfy clothes and how American Giant capitalized on that shift.
Planet Money is a great go-to podcast for economic news, an important realm to stay up-to-date on in the marketing world. This podcast’s episodes usually range from around 15 to 30 minutes and are targeted at listeners without a PhD in Economics, so they’re easy to consume and make complicated topics accessible.
That said, it offers analysis and discussion of current and historic economic issues that isn’t oversimplified. In fact, episodes will often leave you thinking about a particular company or innovation in a new, more complex light. There are over 1,000 episodes in the archive so you’ll have plenty to choose from.
There are a variety of hosts to keep things interesting, and the episodes often include interview snippets with business leaders, consumers, and other relevant figures offering their own perspectives on the topic at hand.
Check out this episode Get the Vaccine, Lose the Skinny Jeans. Here, the hosts explore “carrot or stick” approaches to consumer influencing, with some insights that any marketer—or consumer—will find fascinating. The examples they explore vary wildly in tone but are all highly relevant for considering the current marketing climate.
Harry Stebbings is impressive, to say the least. At 24 years old, he has received $140 million for an investment fund from which he’ll be backing startup ventures around the world. And this accomplishment comes after gaining notoriety in his teens (his TEENS!) for his podcast, “The Twenty Minute VC.”
So, Stebbings seems to know what he’s doing in the world of business and investment. His intuition makes the podcast worth a listen. Additionally, his enthusiastic tone and energetic interviews are a pleasure to listen to on a sleepy morning when you’re struggling to get to work.
The podcast airs twice a week and usually includes interviews with entrepreneurs for around, you guessed it, 20 minutes. It’s clear that Stebbings enjoys sharing his knowledge and learning more from his interviewees. Listeners get to share in that learning to improve their own understanding of the many components of entrepreneurship.
Check out this episode Why and How The Best Companies Build Economies Around Themselves, When, Why and How to Build Effective Partner/Channel Networks & The Power of Compounding Growth in SaaS with Jay Simons, General Partner @ Bond . In this episode, Stebbings and Simons discuss Simons’ startup story and his deep belief in building partnerships as a cornerstone of any successful business.
This podcast from DigitalMarketer.com teaches you clever tricks for building your website traffic. While the prospect of a flood of visitors to your site might sound like a dream, this podcast will take you a step further by helping you navigate what to do once that actually happens!
Hosts Ralph Burns and Amanda Powell offer tons of expertise and guidance, much of it tailored to small business websites. And the guests they feature are also accomplished marketing professionals. They discuss complex topics in a casual, yet informative, way that makes even new marketers feel welcomed to the conversation.
Burns and Powell also dole out advice on things like navigating privacy concerns, advertising on a bootstrapped budget, generating leads from Facebook campaigns, and even TikTok advertising. No matter what marketing approach you want to try out, you’ll find something of interest here.
Check out this episode 3 Steps to Finding the Perfect Audience for Your Ads. Here, the hosts break down the intimidating subject of audience engagement into three digestible to-dos. At least one of these three tips will certainly apply to your business and you can make these changes immediately!
Grammar is the face of language. It is the first impression your writing gives to its readers. For that reason, good grammar on your website and really any piece of marketing collateral is essential.
But good grammar isn’t just a matter of knowing the rules. Grammar, like all other parts of writing, needs to fit its audience and purpose. Grammar Girl, Mignon Fogarty, gets that. She structures most episodes around a common grammar belief and then explains the truth of how to best apply the rule to real writing and communication.
Fogarty’s short and very fun episodes each focus on an aspect or two of the English language and advice for when and how to use particular grammarisms.
This podcast will give you the English 101 refresher we need and get you thinking more deeply about the language you use in your copywriting and other marketing pieces. Precise language leads to your audience better understanding your message and viewing your company as professional.
Check out this episode Pedantic Nonsense Up with Which I Will Not Put! ‘Discreet’ or ‘Discrete’? Can you end a sentence with a preposition? Fogarty gives us the answer (and the permission) we’ve all been waiting for. In this episode, she gives us yet another context-based explanation of a grammar “rule.” This is great information to have in your back pocket for writing and editing and just generally knowing what you’re doing with those words on the page.
