What if the biggest threat to your podcast isn’t your audience, but the people inside your own company?

In this episode of Connect To Market, host Casey Cheshire sits down with Ryan Becker, Founder of Intuitive Podcasting, to explore how marketers can connect to their market by treating internal stakeholders as a primary audience and approaching their podcast like a true product. Ryan makes the case that executives, bosses, and clients control the freedom, trust, and resources marketers need to succeed, and that misalignment with these internal players is the fastest path to burnout. He shares why most marketers neglect internal buy-in, how to document tests when leadership insists on a direction, and how to translate marketing work into business value that resonates beyond the marketing department.

Ryan walks through why traditional podcast analytics are fundamentally flawed and argues that success should be defined by the right audience and tangible outcomes like leads, guest conversions, feedback loops, and revenue, not download counts. He reveals how shows with under 500 downloads can generate millions in pipeline and breaks down the most common mistakes companies make when they forget a podcast is a listener-focused product, from self-celebratory milestone episodes to overly promotional content. He also weighs in on why most brands aren’t equipped to run podcast-driven communities or internal podcasts well, and shares his conviction that as AI floods the content landscape, the premium on authenticity, lived experience, and asking questions only you can ask has never been higher.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why treating internal stakeholders as your first “target market” unlocks the freedom and resources to do your best work
• How to redefine podcast success around business outcomes instead of flawed download metrics
• The most common mistakes that turn a listener-focused product into self-serving content nobody wants
• Why AI is raising the bar on authenticity and the irreplaceable value of lived-experience questions

If you’re a marketing leader struggling to get executive buy-in for your podcast or wondering why your show isn’t driving real business results, Ryan’s framework for aligning stakeholders and building a listener-first product is the playbook you’ve been missing.

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Connect with Ryan:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/realryanbecker/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/realryanbecker 
• Absurdity with Ryan Becker Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/45DbluOYdniz5iUkUU9N8U 

Ways to Tune In:

• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/01kCcPP1ib9MSE9aNb5SQa 
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/connect-to-market/id1822777920 
• Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b5c3fb03-482f-4496-bcd0-82c1d66fed3d 
• iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/282837141/ 
• Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/connect-to-market-6138391 
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP_sn6_Cwun_qxaOz94Epgf6zdqeTFjJV 

Connect To Market is produced and sponsored by Ringmaster, on a mission to create connections through branded podcasts. Learn more at https://ringmaster.com/