· Playbook · 3 min read
LinkedIn DMs vs a B2B podcast: stop pitching, start hosting
Connect, pitch, follow up, get ignored. The LinkedIn DM playbook is exhausting and it scales badly. Hosting a guest is the version that actually builds relationships.
The LinkedIn DM playbook is well worn: connect, wait, pitch, follow up, follow up again, get left on read. It can work, but it asks you to be the person sliding into someone’s inbox with a request. That is a hard position to win from, and it gets harder every quarter as more people run the same script.
There is a calmer, more effective version of the same goal. Instead of pitching the people you want to know, host them.
The status flip
A DM puts you below the person you are messaging. You want something, they have it, and you are hoping they grant it. A podcast invitation puts you beside them, or even slightly above. You are the host, you are offering a platform, and you are making them look good.
People accept invitations from hosts. They ignore pitches from strangers. Same person, same goal, completely different response rate, because the framing changed.
DMs disappear, episodes compound
A great DM exchange lives and dies in an inbox. Nobody else sees it, and it produces nothing you can reuse.
A recorded conversation is permanent. It becomes an episode, a set of clips, quote graphics, and posts. Your guest shares it with their network, which puts you in front of exactly the kind of people you wanted to reach in the first place, without you having to DM any of them.
The follow-up is built in
The hardest part of LinkedIn outreach is the follow-up that does not feel desperate. After a podcast, the follow-up writes itself. You are sending them their episode, the clips, the graphics, a thank you. Every touch gives them something. By the time a business conversation is natural, you are not a stranger in their DMs. You are the person who put them on a show.
When DMs still make sense
If you only need to reach a handful of very specific people and you have a genuinely personal reason to message them, a thoughtful DM is still the right tool. The problem is not the DM. The problem is the templated, high-volume version of it. A podcast is what you reach for when you want the relationship to outlast the message.
The takeaway
Stop being the person asking for a meeting in the DMs. Be the person offering a stage. It is a better seat, and it leaves you with something to show for the effort.
Vivin builds that machine for you: we book the guests, produce the show, and turn each episode into a month of content.
