I recently joined Sadaf Beynon on the Podjunction podcast to reflect on the beginnings of Browse Basket Buy. While I expected to focus on our production workflows and content strategy after six episodes, the conversation revealed a more important insight.

There’s a crucial difference between what people think podcasting requires and what actually drives meaningful results.

The traditional playbook (and why it’s incomplete)

When we launched Browse Basket Buy, the brief was straightforward: position RevLifter as thought leaders in the eCommerce space, demonstrate a deep understanding of conversion challenges, and build credibility with retailers and eCommerce marketers.

Standard B2B content marketing territory.

The podcast would allow us to explore intelligent promotional strategies in depth: how to boost conversions without compromising margins, why blanket discounts rarely solve the right problems, and what behavioural data actually tells us about purchase intent.

We’d bring on experts, extract insights, and repurpose the content. Clean, efficient, measurable.

That was the theory.

What actually happened

The positioning element worked as expected. Having conversations with people like Richard Shotton about behavioural science or Dave Harland about copywriting does establish credibility. The content serves its purpose.

But the real value emerged from an unexpected direction: network density.

The guests we invited, whether we paid them or they came on freely, weren’t just content sources. They were connectors. Agency leaders who knew other agency leaders.

Experts who attended the same conferences we did. People embedded in the eCommerce community who could introduce us to partnership opportunities, events, and challenges we hadn’t encountered yet.

Some of the episodes with less prominent guests, people with smaller but highly engaged followings, generated better reach into our target audience than higher-profile interviews. Not because the content was necessarily better, but because their networks were more precisely aligned with ours.

The time allocation surprise

I manage all marketing efforts for RevLifter. Website, email, social, the works. Adding a podcast seemed potentially overwhelming from a production standpoint.

It wasn’t.

AI tools, such as transcription services, content summarisation, and question drafting, handled most of the production-heavy lifting. Feed a transcript into the right tool, and you’ve got show notes, social snippets, and blog summary drafts in minutes. This frees up time for the actually challenging work: finding guests and securing commitments.

Cold outreach has predictable results. Some people ignore you. Others politely decline. The conversion rate is low enough to be discouraging.

Conferences changed the equation. Approaching someone immediately after they’ve delivered a compelling presentation or contributed to an interesting panel discussion yields dramatically different results. There’s context, demonstrated expertise, and a natural opening: “You were really smart up there. Would you share that intelligence with our audience?”

I haven’t had anyone decline when approached this way. The timing, the relevance, and perhaps the slight ego boost all align.

The paid guest strategy

Our first two episodes featured paid guests: Richard Shotton and Dave Harland. This wasn’t just about securing commitment, though that mattered. It was about launching with momentum.

Both have established followings and recognised expertise. Starting with credible voices signalled that Browse Basket Buy was a serious undertaking, not an experiment we might abandon after three episodes. It brought their audiences into our orbit and set a quality bar for subsequent episodes.

I expect we’ll continue mixing paid guests with organic ones; the combination appears optimal for both reach and authentic conversation.

Building a community brand

Here’s where it gets strategically interesting.

When you approach potential partners or guests under your company banner, they correctly assume you’re eventually going to pitch them. It colours every interaction. RevLifter wants something from you, even if the podcast conversation is genuinely valuable.

But Browse Basket Buy, positioned as a community platform, carries a different weight. It’s not trying to sell anything directly. It’s exploring eCommerce challenges, sharing insights, and connecting people who think about conversion optimisation. This makes it less threatening and potentially more valuable as a networking vehicle.

We’re exploring whether Browse Basket Buy could host small networking events under its own banner, spaces where eCommerce practitioners can discuss challenges without sales pressure. The podcast becomes the community hub that attracts people, builds relationships, and occasionally mentions it’s brought to you by RevLifter.

It’s a softer entry point into conversations that might eventually become commercial relationships, but it’s genuine community building first.

Thinking of starting a podcast?

If you’re considering a B2B podcast, focus on two core outcomes: valuable content and the network effects it enables. Often, the connections you build provide greater long-term impact than the content itself.

Utilise automation to streamline podcast production, but allocate most of your time to cultivating relationships with the ideal guests. Technology simplifies the process; human connection creates real value.

This article was written with the assistance of AI.