Straight To Voicemail · 2026-07-02 · 3 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
26 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Carly Baker, head of media partnerships at the HubSpot Media Network, breaks down how B2B podcast success extends far beyond vanity metrics. At HubSpot, the organization thinks about podcast ROI across three distinct buckets: establishing thought leadership through narrative building around employee experts and company POVs; building brand visibility and credibility through derivative media that delivers audience value; and driving measurable business results through deliberate audience selection and conversion strategy. The key insight is reversing the typical podcast creation process - rather than building a show and hoping for business outcomes, HubSpot works backwards from their ideal customer profile and conversion goals, then structures editorial decisions, guest selection, and creative assets to support those targets. This approach treats podcasting not as an isolated content channel but as an integrated part of the broader marketing and brand-building ecosystem. For B2B operators considering podcast launches or evaluating existing show performance, Baker's framework provides a practical lens for assessing whether your show is actually delivering business value alongside its brand-building benefits.
HubSpot thinks about B2B podcast success in three buckets: establishing thought leadership and building narrative around company POVs and employee experts; building brand visibility and credibility through high-value derivative content; and driving measurable business results through strategic audience targeting and conversion focus.
Rather than deciding content first, B2B podcasts should reverse-engineer from conversion goals - identifying the type of customer you want to attract, then structuring editorial, guest choices, and creative decisions to align with that target audience.
Derivative media from podcast episodes helps amplify the show's reach and business value by distributing your POVs and talent expertise across multiple channels, which strengthens both brand visibility and thought leadership in the market.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode consists almost entirely of generic framework-stacking (thought leadership, brand credibility, derivative content, funnel optimization) with no novel claims, specific metrics, or concrete examples of what actually defines success. The advice is abstract platitude: 'define what success means' and 'think about it in buckets.' A B2B operator learns nothing actionable here.
There's a lot of ways that we can define success for a B2B podcast
we kind of think about it in three buckets
This recycles standard B2B marketing thinking: thought leadership, brand visibility, conversion funnels, and derivative content are textbook concepts circulating everywhere. There is zero contrarian insight or first-principles reasoning. The 'reverse engineer from audience' angle is bog-standard funnel logic.
having a show and having all the derivative content from your show is a great vehicle for thought leadership
we're able to build a narrative and build a brand
Carly Baker is legitimately senior (head of media partnerships at HubSpot Media Network) with real operational scope over a major podcast network. However, she is presented as a disembodied voice answering a single question; there is no live conversation, no follow-up, no depth of dialogue that would normally validate guest caliber. The format undermines her credibility.
Carly Baker is the head of media partnerships at the HubSpot Media Network
she is the person running the partnership program for HubSpot's Media Network
The episode is devoid of named examples, metrics, timelines, or dollar figures. No case study, no audience data, no conversion rate, no actual success criteria beyond abstract buckets. Carly mentions HubSpot's shows in passing but provides zero specifics on results, KPIs, or concrete outcomes.
we kind of think about it in three buckets
the results that it's going to drive for us as a business
This is not a conversation at all - it is a pre-recorded voicemail from the guest answering a single question with no follow-up, no push-back, no genuine dialogue, and no host craft. Adam's intro is pure puffery ('genius, wizard, expert'). There are zero moment of productive interrogation or clarification.
Hi, Adam. Sorry, I missed your call
I know you are looking for an answer to one of the biggest questions in podcasting
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Every B2B marketer wants to know the secret to a high-ROI podcast, but few actually know what success looks like before they hit record. When it comes to defining the return on investment for a B2B podcast, there is no one better to turn to than Carly Baker , Head of Media Partnerships at the HubSpot Media Network. In this episode of Straight to Voicemail , Adam Sockel hears from Carly on how one of the biggest media networks in the business defines podcast success. Carly breaks down HubSpot’s "three buckets" approach, explaining why a successful show requires a blended strategy that balances top-of-funnel brand visibility with bottom-of-funnel business results.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Adam : Every single time I speak to a prospect or a new Share Your Genius client, one of the questions I ask them is, what does success look like for you for this podcast? Fast forward six months or 12 months from now and what would define success? And it's interesting that oftentimes people don't know what they want success to be for their podcast. So to get to the bottom of it and help people better understand what they should be thinking about in terms of return on investment for their B2B podcast.
I went to one of the best sources available in the industry. Carly Baker is the head of media partnerships at the HubSpot Media Network. In short, she has a massive job. She is the person running the partnership program for HubSpot's Media Network, a network that produces so much exceptional content, specifically in the podcast space.
Carly is genius, a wizard, an expert, and so many other wonderful adjectives. So when I reached out to her, I asked her one simple question. What does a successful B2B podcast look like? Carly : Hi, Adam.
Sorry, I missed your call. I know you are looking for an answer to one of the biggest questions in podcasting of all, which is How do we define success for a B2B podcast? There's a lot of ways that we can define success for a B2B podcast. And here at HubSpot, when we think about sort of the results that we want to see from our shows, we kind of think about it in three buckets.
The first is just that like having a show and having all the derivative content from your show is a great vehicle for thought leadership. So we're able to build a narrative and build a brand around both our like employee subject matter experts or talent that we work with, and we create content to sort of distribute our own POVs as a business, and build up around the creator of the talent. Thought leadership, of course, goes hand in hand just with sort of brand visibility and brand credibility in the market.
We know that having sort of derivative media coming from brands is really important, and especially if those episodes that you're producing are driving value, it's really great for your brand to the one that's sort of presenting that and is helping the audience members. So those two kind of go hand in hand, but definitely a role and work We really think about our shows from a blended approach, not only from, of course, those like top of funnel important activities and thought leadership, but also on the results that it's going to drive for us as a business.
and when we're thinking about how we're building a show, the editorial, the types of guests that we're coming on, what creative looks like, like we're really thinking about, the type of people that we want to convert at the end and sort of reverse engineering everything from the start.
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