How Goldman Sachs grows its investment bank, one conversation at a time
How Goldman Sachs grows its investment bank, one conversation at a time
Goldman Sachs's Guest Strategies
Welcome to the new joiners. I’m George, from Orama a content studio that helps Β2Β brands grow with podcasts. The podcast strategy of an investment bank may not rank high on your Summer reading list, but if you’re in the UK ☔️ like me, your Summer has not started yet. Love or hate them, there’s much to learn from Goldman’s podcasting efforts.
Even if you’re not a finance bro (I used to be one), you must have heard of Goldman Sachs (GS), a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm. It entered popular culture after the Great Financial Crisis when it was nicknamed the “Vampire Squid”, but my favourite Goldman anecdote precedes it. In 2004 a story broke out that a secretary had stolen £4 million from her Goldman bosses and they barely noticed! The firm was inundated with applications after that.
After an attempt at launching a retail offering (Marcus, launched in 2016 and closed in 2023), Goldman is back to its core serving clients that are typically multinational firms.
And that’s what makes it an interesting case study in podcasting and conversations:
Why does Goldman even bother with podcasts, videos, etc. in a secretive industry, where all the clients (multinationals) already know them?
And why does an investment bank known to pitch ruthlessly, invest so much in such a ‘soft’ activity?
NB: This is not about finance, I’ve got another newsletter for that. We want to see how conversations, through podcasts, drive Goldman’s growth.
A marketing pioneer
Investment banks are not known for their marketing, it is a function that barely existed a decade ago. In 2020, Goldman had its first-ever CMO, which says a lot about the emergence of marketing in the industry.
I’ve written about Goldman twice before, both were AHA moments at the time.
In 2018 I wrote Goldman Sachs and the Future of Financial Marketing. An investment bank that does content marketing?! What seems obvious today, was the future back then.
In 2020 I wrote Rogan, Goldman and the Art of Vodcasting. They’re creating episodic content, i.e. podcasts?! And they’re doing video clips from their podcasts! And it’s the same tactic used by ultimate podcaster Joe Rogan! Hello?! Of course, they do, like everyone else now. Except again, it was new for the industry back then.
Wring this 2024 edition, was another discovery: the clever choices of Goldman’s guests and hosts.
This is a 5-part breakdown:
Overview
Behind the Mic: Guests and Hosts
How does it grow the firm?
What can we learn from them?
What should we do differently?
Overview: Goldman’s channels
All its content is under the “Intelligence” umbrella on its website. They publish across social media, where they have established a strong following.
There’s a list of 7 channels. “Top of Mind” and Research are articles, the traditional investment banking content. The other three are podcasts that often revisit their Research:
I copy them along with their official descriptions - WARNING: it sounds super boring!
Talks: Conversations with pioneering business and cultural leaders about leadership, strategy, and how business and the economy are changing.
Exchanges: Leaders, investors, and analysts from across Goldman Sachs break down the key issues shaping the global economy
The Markets: Goldman Sachs leaders, investors and analysts break down the key issues moving markets in our weekly podcast The Markets, a new series from Goldman Sachs Exchanges.
All three are conversations, available in podcast formats. The Articles and Videos sections are the same content in text or moving images (repurposing!).
Guests and Hosts
This is where Goldman gets it right. I’m copying the guest and host from three of the latest “Talks”:
Eli Lilly Chair and CEO Dave Ricks joined Goldman Sachs’ John Waldron
Jay Shetty (author, life coach) with Goldman Sachs’ Jacqueline Arthur
Jared Cohen, president of global affairs and co-head of the Office of Applied Innovation at Goldman Sachs, joins Goldman Sachs’ John F.W. Rogers
And 3 of the latest “Exchanges”:
Kathleen McCarragher of Jennison Associates speaks with Goldman Sachs’ Betsy Gorton
Goldman Sachs Research’s Sharon Bell and George Cole
Goldman Sachs’ Chief Economist and Head of Goldman Sachs Research Jan Hatzius, Peter Praet, former chief economist of the European Central Bank, and Maurice Obstfeld, former chief economist of the IMF
To sum it up:
Guests are Personalities, CEOs, external experts and Goldman Sachs employees.
Hosts are Various executives at Goldman, including the CEO David Solomon even though he doesn’t appear on my sample.
What makes it special is the mix. Whereas most corporate podcasts use ONE anchor, Goldman’s employees take turns. This has evolved. Initially, the podcasts were all hosted by their Global Head of Corporate Communications. The evolution has multiple advantages:
create more content (you don’t rely on a single person’s agenda)
elevate the firm - not just one anchor
your employees are hosts and guests - they become “stars” just like the CEOs or Jay Shetty
your audience learns about the firm’s expertise
I wonder how the process works internally, could people be waiting for their turn to host the podcast? Do they have specific training?
These findings reminded me of 2 previous posts:
My conversation with Nvidia - where their Head of Developer Relations, Fintech told me that he had followed a course on podcasting.
The case study on venture capital firm a16z - they also talk amongst themselves
How does it grow the firm?
I like to use this simple framework
Grow the brand - create new demand
Grow the user base - capture that demand
Grow the user value - retain that demand
Grow the Brand
Our favorability increases more after people view [our] content rather than see a straight ad. (Kaydee Bridges, VP, digital, social media, Goldman Sachs)
This content effort started as a defensive move.
Back in 2008 faced with an adverse narrative, GS realized that most people did not know the company outside of the news. They looked for ways to actively engage the public. (from the 2018 article)
They haven’t stopped, but nowadays I feel they play offence more than defence.
Grow the User Base
We can’t connect the podcast to M&A advisory sales…. bu GS could engage in “content-based networking” where they invite their “prospects”, multinatioal CEOs, to chat on the podcast. It’s about buildingrelationships.
The showcase of their expertise is also a constant reminder for users in industries covered by GS that they can be a partner for their strategic moves.
Grow the User Value
We have to make assumptions, but as the Eli Lily CEO was in our small sample. A quick search shows that Eli is a client, and his firm and GS have a good working relatiohsips. Very briefly: GS advised on a major acquisition in 2023, covers the stock positively, they participate in each others’s events.
What can we learn?
Repurposing content: a research piece becomes a podcast conversation - that feeds the YouTube channel - and becomes a short Instagram clip
Multi-hosts
Don’t just ask questions: showcase your expertise
Consider multiple podcasts: just like GS and a16z
GS is a giant bank, but all the strategies above can be scaled. For example, instead of having a DOZEN hosts, you could just use 3-4 people as regular hosts.
What should we do differently?
If you read at the podcasts description above, you could replace GS with any investment bank. These are pretty indefferentiated - maybe because that’s the reality of investment banks. It could also be that the GS brand is perceived to be so strong in that niche that “Talks at Goldman Sachs” has an edge over “Talks at JPMorgan”?
In any case, the rest of us can and should do a lot better with the description of the podcasts and series. There needs to be a clear premise, the defensible purpose for your show, pulled from your brand and vision.
I’d also think that conversations is not enough - find a format that makes it more engaging, even if it’s to talk as something as serious as investment banking. You don’t need to go as far as the Blackstone holiday video… something in between.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the Summer!
PS: This newsletter will double down on podcasting for B2B niches or complex industries. I’ve reorganized the content from this publication into tabs.
Here’s how it looks now on the homepage.
Case studies: will feature deep dives on how specific brands grow with podcasts and conversations (this post goes there)
Grow your audience: how to grow a podcast or YouTube channel
Capture more value: a gap in many brands’ podcasting strategies that create content for content’s sake. If you’re podcasting for a brand it’s about growing the business, not the podcast (but that may help)
For Fintech marketers: will regroup all the posts with related fintech/finance content
great take, very interesting ... cheers!