Podcasts have soared in popularity during the pandemic. There’s only so much Netflix you can watch in a day, and podcasts were the perfect accompaniment to our state-sanctioned single workout per day during the first lockdown.
Beyond relaxation and entertainment, podcasts are also an easy way to bone up on ecommerce while you’re walking your dog, having a bath, or just while you’re trying to work out how the iron works after months of not needing it.
We’ve listed our favourite link building books—now it’s time to plug into our favourite ecommerce podcasts. Enjoy!
Best podcast for hustlers: Mixergy
Image Mixergy
Host: Andrew Warner
Where it’s available: Apple iTunes, Google Play
In ecommerce—indeed, in virtually everything—you’ll get nowhere without standing on the shoulders of giants.
If you’re smart, you learn from your successes and your failures. If you’re even smarter, you learn from other people’s.
It is this ethos that powers Andrew Warner’s Mixergy. Its tagline is “learn from proven entrepreneurs”, and Warner interviews a range of said entrepreneurs, ones with impressive credentials.
From Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales and YCombinator’s Jessica Livingston to The Dash’s Laura Roeder and VaynerMedia’s Gary Vaynerchuk, each expert is questioned by Warner on their career highlights and failures. You’ll come away from every episode having learned something valuable
Best episode: Gary Vaynerchuk: virtually everyone knows Gary Vee, and this interview is a fascinating episode for both diehard fans and those with a passing interest. This colourful career will give you plenty of food for thought.
Best podcast for marketers: Goal Digger
Image Goal Digger
Host: Jenna Kutcher
Where it’s available: Apple iTunes, Google Play, Spotify
Spanning marketing, social media, budgeting, and branding for ecommerce, Goal Digger is required listening for any digital marketer, whether in-house or agency.
What sets Goal Digger apart is its unique format and highly engaging manner of its host. Jenna Kutcher is an online marketing pro, and her personable and articulate manner makes her easy to listen to, speaking in an accessible way about otherwise complex topics.
Crucially, Kutcher eschews the interview-style format in favour of hands-on workshop feel. It’s like a one-on-one mentoring session for your ears, and you always come away feeling as though you’ve learned something valuable and actionable.
These podcasts span the essentials—passive income ideas, sales-driven website tips, influencer marketing, and so on—to more leftfield topics like selling during a crisis, toxic thought patterns, and one-product businesses. Kutcher’s engaging style and diverse subject matter make this a wonderful addition to your downloads.
Best episode: Boost Your Podcast Growth With These 6 Steps: even before the pandemic, podcasts were lauded as a glittering opportunity for marketers in 2020. As listenership only increased during lockdown, this episode is a must-listen.
Best podcast for creatives: The Creative Empire
Image: CreativeEmpire.co
Host: Reina Pomeroy & Christina Scalera
Where it’s available: Apple iTunes
2020 is the year conferences went virtual. From BrightonSEO and MadFest to outREACH Online and Online PR Show, we ditched the crowded conference rooms for the comfort of our own homes.
Sadly, that did mean we weren’t able to enjoy the one-on-one meetings of minds that these conferences afford (not to mention all the free swag).
Thankfully, The Creative Empire brings all these speakers, influencers, and industry pros together so, whether you’re restricted by budget or pandemic, you can still get some knowledge bombs regardless.
Hosted by entrepreneurs and success coaches Reina Pomeroy and Christina Scalera, The Creative Empire focuses on incisive, forward-thinking ideas through interviews with creative entrepreneurs from a plethora of niches, from handwritten gift card services to opt-in strategists.
Between these insightful interviews are dedicated mentoring episodes, with each one looking at common problems faced by ecommerce entrepreneurs and the solutions required to fix them. Need a mentor but lack the budget? The Creative Empire is the podcast for you.
Best episode: Episode 243: 5 Tips for Growing a Successful Business: as any business self-help book can attest, habits build success. This episode highlights some essential habits you should nurture
Best podcast for business owners: Deloitte Insights—Tech Trends 2020
Image Deloitte Insights
Host: Various
Where it’s available: Apple iTunes, Google Play
Regular readers will know of Seeker’s ongoing love affair with tech, and following on from our recent Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 award, it only seems natural to include this one from the Deloitte Insights series: Tech Trends 2020.
Hosted by various Deloitte experts, the podcast brings together business and thought leaders from a range of industries to discuss the myriad innovations and emerging tech trends from the past year.
Topics include macro technologies, ethical tech (particularly resonant given fake news, Cambridge Analytica, Russian hacks, and other scandals and incidents of the past few years), and even the connection between humans and machines in the form of AI-powered solutions—essential listening for anyone working in or around ecommerce.
As well as looking at the trends of 2020, the series also looks ahead at what 2021 has in store. It’s advanced stuff, but well worth a listen for a glimpse into the future of business tech.
This is just one of several stellar business podcasts from Deloitte—find more insightful podcasts here.
Best episode: What’s next? A future look at the tech trends: featuring insights from futurist Mike Bechtel, this episode offers a fascinating glimpse into the future of tech for business in 2021. A useful quote from Scott Buchholz, emerging trends research director: “The same way that we say, if you’re not falling while you’re skiing, then you’re not learning. If you’re not failing while you’re doing technology, then you’re probably not really pushing the boundaries of the possible.”
Best podcast for beginners: From Scratch
Image From Scratch
Host: Jessica Harris
Where it’s available: Apple iTunes, Google Play
Ecommerce is something of an industry Hydra—as soon as you have a handle on one emerging trend or technological innovation, yet another appears in its place. Just as with SEO, you need to constantly stay ahead of the game, and From Scratch is a good place to start.
Led by the multitalented Jessica Harris, From Scratch takes us on a journey through the ups-and-downs (and ups-and-downs and ups-and-downs…) of life in ecommerce (and beyond).
Guests come from a range of sectors, spanning business, ecommerce, social, arts, and entertainment, all bringing their own unique insights and experience to the podcast.
Harris herself is a fantastic interviewer, drawing out raw honesty and truth from her guests, not shying away from the inevitable failures that entrepreneurial life brings. With so much hype and self-promotion in the world, From Scratch provides welcome relief.
Best episode: Coss Marte: Marte developed an exercise program while in prison, and today offers online classes for those looking to work out from the comfort of their own home—particularly appropriate for 2020!
Between all your favourite podcasts about dads making pornos, comedic looks back at famous historic moments, and gruesome true crime cases, make some time for these on-point podcasts.
