Building Brand Authority and Executive Relationships Through Podcasting
Karrikins Group works with enterprise leadership teams to align HOW they lead together, turning good strategy into consistent execution through behavior change that lasts. They work with some of the world’s largest organizations and most ambitious leadership teams, but access to their ideal clients is not easy.
Getting into the room requires trust long before a formal sales conversation ever begins.
As Karrikins Group CEO, Julie Williamson, geared up to release her now best-selling book, Make HOW Matter, the firm needed a way to elevate Julie’s voice and create meaningful conversations with the executives they most wanted to reach.
The solution was The Failure Gap podcast. In partnership with OTM, Karrikins built a full-scale content engine designed to establish long-term credibility, foster high-value executive relationships, and consistently share their thinking with a hard-to-reach audience.
THE PROBLEM
Karrikins Group has a proven track record of improving outcomes inside some of the world’s largest and most respected enterprise organizations. Their proprietary, behavior-based methodologies set them apart, but success at this level creates a unique challenge. The executives they are best suited to help are also the hardest to reach.
At the Fortune 500 level, access is not earned through traditional marketing or polished content alone. It’s built on trust. To truly reach the executive room, Karrikins needed a channel that could do more than explain what they believe. It had to demonstrate it, inviting senior leaders into real conversations that show what aligned leadership looks and sounds like in practice.
Our challenge was twofold:
- We needed a vehicle for meaningful, high-level conversations, one that could open doors to Fortune 500 executives by building trust through real dialogue, not marketing messages
- Secondly, we needed a credible brand platform that could support the Make HOW Matter book launch while consistently and credibly showcasing their proprietary, behavior-based approach and the outcomes it drives inside the world’s most prominent organizations
THE SOLUTION
OTM partnered with Karrikins to bring The Failure Gap to life as a full executive podcast strategy. The show has become a tool for relationship-building, brand development, and strategic visibility across multiple channels.
While the Karrikins Group team brought the leadership perspective and guest relationships, OTM built the engine behind the scenes:
- Crafting the podcast identity and branded visual assets
- Launching a dedicated landing page on KarrikinsGroup.com
- Building scalable production and promotion workflows
- Coordinating distribution across LinkedIn, email, YouTube, and the website
- Supporting guest coordination and amplification strategies
The podcast centers on closing the “Failure Gap”, the space between agreement and alignment where even great ideas fall short without action. It is a natural expression of what Karrikins Group helps leaders do every day, while also creating an approachable way to invite executives into meaningful, unscripted conversations.
Unique Approach
The Failure Gap is a strategic platform built to serve a business need.
OTM ensured the content tied directly into Karrikins Group’s positioning, marketing, and sales priorities. The podcast gives Julie a credible space to share her perspective, while also opening authentic conversations with C-level leaders in the firm’s target audience.
Behind the scenes, we streamlined everything. With multiple stakeholders involved, we developed a seamless workflow that allowed for high-quality weekly visibility without adding more to-dos to the team’s list.
Obstacles to Overcome
Launching an executive-level podcast involves more than content production. It demands integration across brand, marketing, and operations. From day one, OTM and the Karrikins Group team designed the podcast strategy to scale and sustain.
Three key challenges we solved:
- Strategic alignment: With multiple contributors and stakeholders, we created a repeatable workflow from idea to distribution
- Brand clarity: The podcast had to expand Karrikins Group’s presence without diluting it. OTM anchored the platform in the firm’s voice with a dedicated landing page and targeted messaging that reinforced brand credibility.
- Guest experience: Every episode was professionally branded, promoted, and distributed, creating a high-touch experience that reflected the caliber of Karrikins Group’s client relationships and strengthened executive connections.
RESULTS
Outcomes (Qualitative Results)
- Drove a 325% increase in LinkedIn followers within 90 days, expanding Karrikins Group’s executive-level audience for ongoing thought leadership
- Achieved consistent early listenership among a highly targeted executive audience, with 616 total downloads in the first six months
- Doubled website traffic year over year, driven in part by executive-facing thought leadership content and podcast distribution
Key Performance Indicators (Quantitative Results)
- Positioned Julie Williamson as a leading voice on leadership alignment, supporting the launch of Make HOW Matter
- Created a repeatable content engine that fuels LinkedIn, email, and website visibility
- Turned the podcast into an executive ABM tool for building strategic, senior-level relationships
- Built an owned leadership platform that creates long-term brand equity and reach
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