As a podcaster, it can be easy to get distracted by the numbers. I don’t like to focus on download numbers and listener numbers. They don’t represent how many listeners are converting into leads or how many partnerships come from your podcasts. It is more important, in my opinion, that your podcast contributes to brand growth and business growth. 

That being said, we all get distracted by podcast metrics from time to time. So here are some podcast milestones to celebrate. 

How to Set Realistic Goals for Your Podcast

For a lot of us, when we start a podcast, we imagine that we’re going to get thousands of downloaders, that we’re going to get hundreds of sponsors that will want to pay us crazy amounts of money. Unfortunately, that is not how podcasting works. Podcasting is a long game. 

It is important to remember when creating your content that podcast listeners tend to absorb a lot of content at once. They tend to listen to about eight to nine shows per week. Keep this in mind when you are creating your podcast content and when you are creating goals for your podcast. Instead of celebrating a certain number of downloads or listens, celebrate the number of podcast episodes you’ve recorded. 

Set Podcast Milestone Based on Episode Numbers 

90% of podcasts don’t make it past episode 3. Of that 10% of podcasts that make it past episode 3, another 90% don’t make it past episode 20. This means that to be in the top 1% of podcasts, all you need to do is make it past episode 21. 

So, forget downloads and listens. Your focus needs to be on how to make sure you are able to show up. When I have strategy sessions with clients before they launch, the majority of the session is dedicated to planning out the first 10-15 episodes so that those clients can be in the first 10%. Regardless of whether that client works with us again, they at least have 10 episodes. 

It is easy to forget that follower numbers don’t always translate to podcast listeners. Setting arbitrary milestones around downloads is unproductive. Even if you have hundreds of thousands of followers, you need more than 50 episodes to be able to achieve thousands of downloads. 

Milestones You Can Celebrate

Here are some milestones I recommend: 

• 20 or 25 episodes – you’ve already made it further than the majority of people who start a podcast 
• 50 episodes
• 100 episodes
• 150 episodes
• 200 episodes

And celebrate in a big way. Do happy dances, buy yourself a treat to celebrate, and shout it from the rooftops. When I hit 50 episodes, my friend bought me a shirt that says, “be careful, or you’ll end up on my podcast.” And I love it! Get yourself something that makes you feel like, yes, I did it. I am doing incredible things with my show. 

At 100 episodes, celebrate with your audience. Some of our clients switch up the way they do their podcast at 100 episodes, or they have a special episode where a guest interviews them. Get other people in on it. Email past podcast guests to tell them that you just hit 100 or 200 episodes. Send them the link to their episode to jog their memory. They may share it with their audience. No matter what you decide to do, build hype around your milestone episodes so that you are not celebrating alone. 

Links mentioned:

Reddit thread

Episode 23: How to Create a Podcast Launch Plan

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Marketing is essential to growing our businesses, but creating a marketing plan often takes up more time than it should. This week, episode 86 of Listeners to Leads is about how to create a one-hour marketing plan!

In this episode of Listeners to Leads, Mallory Schlabach and I share the importance of breaking down marketing into manageable pieces and actionable steps you can take right now to grow your podcast and supercharge your business. 

Mallory Schlabach and I also chat about the following: 

• What ‘visibility’ means for different businesses.
• The volatility of social media and other ways to build community.
• Alternative ways to utilize podcasts in your business.
• Content repurposing to promote your podcast and speed up your marketing planning.

Remember, you don’t have to be everywhere, doing everything all the time. What matters most is doing what you can do and being consistent!

Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips on turning your podcast listeners into leads and to hear even more about the points outlined above.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

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Chapter Markers

00:00:00 TITLE

00:06:54 How to grow your business through referrals

00:16:56 How you can use your podcast for marketing

00:20:50 Content Repurposing and how to break your episodes down into different kinds of content

00:28:02 Be Your Own Cheerleader

As business owners and podcasters, we are BUSY. Not only are we creating consistent content for a podcast, but we are also creating social media content, creating blog posts, having conversations with people, doing client work, meeting with clients, and strategizing with clients. All of that stuff can feel like a lot. So, let’s talk about three ways you can repurpose your podcast content to save your precious time.

Podcast Content Repurposing: How to Turn Your Podcast Content Into Social Media Posts, More Podcast Content, and Sales Funnels

1.    Repurposing Podcast Content into Other Types of Content

The first way to repurpose your podcast content is to turn it into different types of content. For example, your podcast or snippets of your podcast can have a second life as:

• Social media content
• Blog content
• A weekly email

Let’s look at social media content. There are 3 main ways we help our clients repurpose their podcast content to produce social media content.

The first is grabbing quotes or questions to drive social media engagement. Especially with questions, this allows you to create engagement with your audience on social media. You can also use this as an opportunity to point people answering the question back to the podcast for more information.

The second is an audiogram or videogram. Most social media platforms are now highlighting short-form video content, so this is a great way to grow. Facebook and LinkedIn will add captions to your video content automatically, but Instagram will not for content that isn’t directly spoken into the app. There are captioning apps like Wave.video or headliner app that can add those captions for you.

Don’t forget to title the audio so people can find your audio when they search for the topic.

The third is a general post about the podcast or episode. This could be as simple as asking your audience if they listened to the podcast episode. Just make sure that each is a little unique in the way you approach it but still on-brand for you.

You can also repurpose your podcast content for your emails, no matter how often you send emails to your subscribers. Your email subscribers may not listen to your podcast or follow you on social media, so how will they find your podcast otherwise? Even if they do follow you on social media or listen to your podcast, sometimes people need a friendly nudge to check out the episode.

2.    Repurposing Podcast Content into More Podcast Episodes  

The second way to repurpose your podcast content is to create more podcast episodes from your current podcast content.

This could be as simple as inviting back a podcast guest who brought a lot of value to your audience. Personally, I would prefer to invite the same guest back multiple times than to throw in a guest who may not be a good fit for my audience. Look at your metrics, especially which episodes got a lot of downloads to find which guests give your audience the most value.

Another way you can repurpose your podcast content for future podcast episodes is to expand on topics you’ve already covered. Look into past episodes, especially the ones where you took a high-level look at a topic and see where you can go deeper into the topic. Think about where you can expand on a topic to make sure your audience is getting the most out of your knowledge. For example, if you have an episode that lists multiple ways to solve a problem, you could do an episode where you dive deeper into each of the solutions. 

3.    Repurpose Podcast Content into Supplemental Content for Clients

If you have a membership or a course, your podcast content is amazing supplemental content. You’ve already spent time and money producing content for your podcast, so rather than repeating it, use specific podcast episodes as extra information.

Don’t just point your members or clients towards your podcast in general, recommend specific episodes that will provide them with more information. For example, if I had someone in my membership who was struggling with podcast content, I would ask questions to find out what the issue was. I may ask:

• Are you ready to create new content?
• Are you planning your content?
• Are you repurposing your content?

That would give me the information I need to recommend one or a few podcast episodes that would give them multiple things to try.

You can also turn your podcast content into client reports. Recently, I had an episode where I talked about the future of podcasting. This is highly valuable content for my clients, but not every client listens to my podcast. I turned the content of that episode into an end-of-year client report. Even if all of my clients listened to my podcast, the report provides them with a quick summary they can refer to when planning their podcast strategy.

After turning it into a client report, I also created a blog post for my website with embedded code for the podcast episode. I turned it into a LinkedIn article and an Instagram carousel too. The Instagram carousel got a lot of traction, and I was able to point people towards the podcast episode to learn more.

After sending the end-of-year report to my current clients, I turned it into a freebie or lead magnet people could download. The report then encourages the downloaders to sign up for a strategy session where we can talk through how they can make the most of their podcast based on the report and my expertise. So, your podcast content can be repurposed into lead generation content as well as supplemental membership content.

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PODCAST EPISODES MENTIONED:

14 Ways to Repurpose Your Podcast Content

Using Your Podcast as Supplemental Content in your Business

Going Deep (Instead of Wide) With Your Podcast Content 

The Future of Podcasting

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One of the most overlooked ways to increase the success of your podcast is to improve your podcast quality. It doesn’t matter if you get the best podcast guests or share highly sought-after knowledge. If your podcast is poor quality, it will distract your listeners from the value you provide. There are two types of podcast quality that podcasters should focus on – content quality and audio quality. 

If you’ve listened to this podcast before, you know I talk all the time about the importance of having quality content and audio for your podcast. As the industry is growing, this is only becoming more imperative when it comes to showing up and providing value for your audience. This week, episode 78 of Listeners to Leads is about why podcast quality is so important!

In this episode of Listeners to Leads, I’m sharing the importance of taking the quality of your podcast seriously and actionable steps you can take right now to improve the quality of your podcast and stand out to your ideal listener.

How to Improve the Content Quality of Your Podcast

There are over 5 million podcasts that people can listen to, including podcasts that are no longer publishing episodes. That’s a lot of content that your listeners can consume. So, what value are you offering listeners to stand out from other podcasts?

If you are a business owner using your podcast to generate leads for your business, content quality is especially important. Your listeners will see the quality of your free content as a reflection of what you offer in your paid services. You can’t do a subpar job of educating your audience and then expect great results.

I think where the problem lies is that, as business owners, we feel pressure to create vast amounts of content every week. I used to think that in order to have a successful podcast, you needed to constantly produce new, exciting podcast content. However, looking at the direction that podcasting is going and the trends, I don’t think that a limited series podcast is the worst thing. In fact, I think it is better to have a limited-series podcast packed fill of high-quality, high-value content rather than a weekly podcast that is a bit hit-and-miss. The benefit is that you can also repurpose your podcast content to replace some of your other content creation. 

We had a client who is no longer publishing, but they harnessed their podcast to very specifically educate their audience. The way they were able to do it resulted in their listeners binge-listening to all of their episodes and then immediately after book a call to discuss working with them. It was a great lead-generation tool for their business. But it only worked because they were delivering an immense amount of value to a very specific type of person – their dream client. 

How to Improve the Audio Quality of Your Podcast

The next aspect of podcasting quality is audio quality. Now, if you’ve read my blog or listened to my podcast in the past, you will know I am passionate about audio quality. It has a huge impact on the listening experience, to the point where poor audio quality can sink an otherwise excellent podcast. 

Here are some tips to improve the audio quality of your podcast. 

• Use a quality microphone – Quality doesn’t mean expensive. Personally, I don’t think some of the more expensive microphones are all that great *cough, Yeti, *cough. For my very first podcast, I used a small $20 microphone. 
• Record in a quiet space – Find a quiet time and place to record your episodes. That may mean you need to wait until you’re the only one home or wait until your kids are in bed. I have blackout curtains in the room where I record to dampen any noise from cars driving by or neighbors mowing their lawns. 
• Re-record if necessary – Sometimes, even if you have tested your microphones, you notice after listening that a section was muffled or your microphone had problems. If this happens, don’t be afraid to re-record sections to improve the audio quality. It’s not fun to do this; believe me, I have had to re-record my parts in three episodes because I chose the wrong mic, but it is worth it for the podcast quality. 
• Have a human edit your podcast – There has been a rise in automated podcast editing recently. It’s great for cleaning up the audio quality of your podcast recordings, but nothing beats a human ear. Whether you edit your podcast yourself or hire a podcast editor like me, a human editor can do things like cut out tangents or rants. 

Start Now

Start improving your podcast quality now. There is no rule that says you need to wait until a new season or year to make a change. You can start a new season now if you want. You can announce to your audience that you want to improve the quality of your podcast and solicit feedback from them. Or you could just make small changes moving forward to consciously improve the quality of your podcast. This could be something as simple as hiring someone like us to edit your podcast. It could be something as simple as buying a new microphone or recording software. Do whatever you need to in order to re-engage your audience. 

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

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LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Ep 22: Creating a Quality Podcast

Ep 34: Tips for Better Podcast Audio Quality with Lisa Zawrotny

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The trends are shifting away from chasing big numbers and followers to focusing more on having a solid and engaged community that shows up consistently for you and the content you’re creating. This week, episode 77 of Listeners to Leads is about creating a podcast for your community!

In this episode of Listeners to Leads, my guest Krista Lockwood shares how she started her podcast imperfectly as a direct response to the feedback of her community and actionable steps you can take right now to create a podcast that both works for you and your audience.

Despite attention spans getting shorter and shorter, I think that humans in general really crave consistency and predictability. So if you can be known as a person that is predictable and reliable, your audience is going to come to appreciate that.

Krista Lockwood

Krista and I also chat about the following: 

• Quick tips on how to optimize your podcast for SEO to reach your target audience. 
• Lessons learned when it comes to growing your community and, ultimately, your podcast listenership. 
• Knowing your audience so that you can tailor your podcast to reflect the content they are looking for while speaking directly to them and their needs. 
• How to keep your Facebook group engaged despite the changing algorithms.  
• Staying consistent with your content – predictability is not a bad thing!

You’re not going to find success in replicating what someone else is doing for their audience. Instead, you need to figure out the wants and needs of the audience that is unique to you. 

Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips on turning your podcast listeners into leads and to hear even more about the points outlined above.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

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EPISODES MENTIONED:

SEO for Podcasts [Tech Tips Series]

Going Deep (Instead of Wide) With Your Podcast Content 

Like anything, there are so many strategic decisions you can make when it comes to your podcast content, but unless you know your goals, you could be making content that is misaligned with what your audience is looking for. This week, episode 76 of Listeners to Leads is about being strategic with your podcast content!

In this episode of Listeners to Leads, my guest Casey Gromer shares how each component of her podcast is intentionally designed and tailored towards her goal and mission and actionable steps you can take right now to align your content with where you want your podcast to go. 

Casey and I also chat about the following: 

• Using the frameworks of your business and your podcast content to create an endless feedback loop of supplemental, valuable information. 
• 2 Reasons why Casey gives away so much information on her podcast. 
• Using the frameworks of your business to create podcast content your listeners will find valuable. 
• Carrying your podcast content and strategies over to social media to make the most of your content  
• Keeping your listeners front of mind when it comes to the guests and topics you highlight on your show. 

We all want to go viral and be that popular podcast but at the end of the day, you’re not going to have good podcast if you don’t have something you stand for. 

Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips on turning your podcast listeners into leads and to hear even more about the points outlined above.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

CONNECT WITH CASEY GROMER:  

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Female Founders Breaking Boundaries Podcast

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EPISODES MENTIONED:

Ep 36: How to Choose a Podcast Format

Listeners to Leads: Going Deep (Instead of Wide) With Your Podcast Content 

Female Founders Breaking Boundaries: Why You Need a Business Blueprint

Listeners to Leads: Using Your Podcast as Supplemental Content in your Business

There are countless metrics you can track and different strategies to take based on your podcast goals, however, if you’re not clear on what those goals are, you’re going to be tracking the wrong metrics and feel like you’re failing- especially if you’re playing the comparison game. This week, episode 75 of Listeners to Leads is about tracking and understanding your podcast metrics!

The Listeners to Leads Membership is for business owners who have a podcast and are looking to get Strategy, Community, and Accountability to grow their show and generate leads.

In this episode of Listeners to Leads, my guest Danielle Hayden shares the importance of understanding what your goals are as a podcaster and actionable steps you can take right now to use your podcast metrics to make strategic decisions to bring you closer to those goals. 

Danielle and I also chat about the following: 

• Finding your voice through guesting on other podcasts before starting your own. 
• Tailoring your scorecard to track metrics based on the goals you have set for your podcast.
• How to use those metrics to make better, more strategic decisions for your podcast. 
• How long you should wait before looking at your metrics and once you start, how often you should be checking in on them. 

Stop looking at your metrics and your numbers as a sign of success or failure, but rather a lesson as to what is working and what might need to be changed. 

Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips on turning your podcast listeners into leads and to hear even more about the points outlined above.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

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LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Listeners to Leads: Using Podcast Listening Statistics to Make Better Decisions

Thought leadership is really about creating value and sharing knowledge around your area of expertise. Still, even more than that, it’s about taking a stand that may be different than others that allows you to separate yourself from other experts in your field. This week, episode 74 of Listeners to Leads is about using your podcast as a thought leadership platform!

The Listeners to Leads Membership is for business owners who have a podcast and are looking to get Strategy, Community, and Accountability to grow their show and generate leads.

In this episode of Listeners to Leads, I’m sharing some powerful thought leadership statistics you should know and how you can use podcasting as an unsaturated platform to share your innovative new ideas that go against the flow of the conversation being held in your industry. 

I also chat about the following: 

• What is thought leadership in the first place.
• Why thought leadership is important when it comes to creating brand awareness.
• How setting yourself up as a thought leader puts you front of mind for potential clients looking for connection in someone that can solve their unique problem. 
• Why a podcast is the perfect platform to get your thought leadership out into the world. 

A podcast is a perfect platform for you to share your knowledge, educate your audience, show up with authentic thought leadership, as well as create a strong brand awareness for yourself. So even if you’re not using your podcast to generate direct leads, as a thought leader, you are doing so much more that will impact how your audience views you compared to others in your industry. 

Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips on turning your podcast listeners into leads and to hear even more about the points outlined above.

Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

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LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Listeners to Leads: The Future of Podcasting

The New York Times: 22 Powerful Thought Leadership Statistics Leaders Should Know in 2022

It doesn’t matter if your podcast is brand new or if you have been podcasting for years; there is always room for improvement. Here are 15 ways you can improve your podcast results to get more listeners, convert your listeners to clients, and be a better podcast host. You don’t have to put all of these tips into action immediately. I recommend choosing three at a time. 

In this episode of Listeners to Leads, I’m sharing that while improving your podcast does take some strategy, and it doesn’t all have to be done at once. I encourage you to choose just 3 things from my list to start focusing on today. 

Improve Your Audio Quality 

The best way to improve your show is to improve your audio quality. It is so stinking important to the experience of your listeners. Here are some ways to improve the quality of your podcast audio: 

• Record in a quiet place – Find a time and place where you will have limited background noise to interrupt your recording. This may mean you need to wait until your kids are out so you can’t hear them in the background. I also recommend picking a place in your house that is away from the street so you don’t get disturbed by cars or trucks outside. My favorite place to record my podcast used to be in my walk-in closet. It was super quiet, and all our clothes muffled any noise. 
• Double-check your recording equipment – Each time you sit down to record, test your recording equipment first. There is nothing worse than finishing a recording only to realize that your mic was off and the whole episode was recorded on your laptop mic. So check your microphone settings and that it’s loading in your software. 
• Invest in Good Software – Pick software that has a lot of functions that can clean up the audio. We use Isotope RX. There is a bit of a learning curve to learn all of the features, but once you do, it can clean up mouth clicks, breaths, plosives, and the hard S sounds. It is also a lifesaver if there are strange sounds or an echo on your podcast guests’ side. 

Take Your Time When Recording 

Don’t be afraid to take your time and redo any stumbles or mistakes. This will allow you to fix them in editing. Make it as easy as possible on yourself (or your podcast editor) by pausing for 5 -10 seconds before you do the retake. You will easily be able to see the blank spots when you are editing. 

Niche Down 

People want to listen to podcasts and feel a sense of community – like they’ve found their people. This is where niching down helps your podcast. You attract the kind of listeners you want to work with, and they stick around because you are talking directly to them. They feel special and understand everything you are talking about. 

One of the reasons I personally love niching down is because it allows you to show up as your awesome self because you are speaking to your people. You know exactly how to give your listeners great value because you already know what they are struggling with. 

Share Your Podcast EVERYWHERE 

Yes, you can get listeners through SEO, but the best way to get listeners is to share your podcast everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. Talk about your podcast at the hairdressers, at your family BBQ –  any time someone asks what you do. 

This also includes social media. Tell your followers about your podcast regularly and share a link to your website page or podcast host page. This will allow your followers to choose the podcast platform they prefer. Make sure you include a little bit of information about who you help and what you talk about. 

Plan Your Podcast Content in Advance 

Take the time to plan out your episodes as much as possible. Even if you prefer to speak off the cuff, make sure you have an outline and a podcast style. If you prefer to have things planned out, you can even write a script. When you have your content planned in advance, it allows you to go above and beyond to provide value for your audience. 

Create Content You’re Excited About 

Your passion comes through in your voice. So does a lack of passion, so create content that you’re excited about. I could talk about podcasts all day. I get so stinking excited about podcasting, the direction it’s going, and what it does for our clients. And you can hear that in my voice. 

Pick a topic that you enjoy talking about and that you’re knowledgeable about. Make sure the topic is interesting to you, and share it in a way that interests your audience. 

Invite Interesting Guests 

Invite interesting and diverse guests to your podcast and actually listen to them. Instead of powering through your list of questions, give your podcast guests an opportunity to show off their expertise. Ask follow-up questions to explore topics that would be interesting to your listeners. 

Don’t be afraid to take time to think of your follow-up questions. Your podcast isn’t live, so you can edit it out later. Your guest will be okay with waiting. They’ll be excited to share their expertise. 

Make sure both you and your guest are prepared for the podcast episode so that you are both in a position to deliver maximum value for your listeners. This means researching your guest so you know a little bit about them and what you want to ask them. Send your podcast guest some information so they can prepare for the call. Give them some information about your audience and the topics you want to explore. 

Share Relevant Stories and Information 

Try to keep your stories and examples relevant rather than going off on a tangent too often. Your examples should drive home the information you are sharing rather than getting distracted. 

Tell Your Listeners Where They Can Connect with You 

Let your listeners know where you hang out most of the time and what kind of content to expect on that platform. Podcast content can sometimes feel like you’re yelling into the void, but on social media, you can have a two-way dialogue. Your podcast listeners will also be helped along the lead pipeline to your DMs.

Learn by Listening to Other Podcasts  

Listen to other people’s podcasts to see what is working and what is not. This doesn’t have to be podcasts in your niche; even if you listen to podcasts for entertainment, you can learn what works and what doesn’t. That information can be used to improve your podcast. 

Listen to Criticism 

Pay attention to criticism and extract the gems you can use to improve your podcast. For example, one of our clients received feedback from a listener asking for shorter episodes because her morning commute was 20 minutes. We ran the numbers and reduced our clients’ podcast episodes to 20- 30 minutes. 

Create Goals for Your Podcast

If you want to improve your podcast results, start by stating what your podcast goals are. Otherwise, how will you know if you have achieved your desired results?

So think about the following: 

• What are your overall goals for your podcast?
• Where do you want to take it?
• Where do you see it going?
• What is your 3-month goal?
• What is your 6-month goal?

Then celebrate when you achieve your goals. Celebrate the fact that you’ve improved and grown. 

Repurpose Your Podcast Content 

Repurpose your podcast content to expand your reach and maximize your efficiency. Take your podcast content and turn it into social media content, blog content, or even YouTube content. This allows you to share your lessons with people who don’t listen to your podcast. It will also help you to find new podcast listeners who want to listen to the entire episode. 

Optimize for SEO 

SEO can improve your podcast results. It will help your podcast episode to rank in the podcast search results and in Google search results. Optimize your episode title and episode description. 

When a podcast episode performs well, create updated versions so you are giving current advice. I noticed in my podcast statistics that I was getting a lot of traffic from search results for an episode. So I recorded a new episode with up-to-date advice, and I received a lot of impressions. 

Stay on Track with Templates, Checklists, and Outlines 

Use templates, checklists, and outlines to help you stay on track with the momentum you are creating with your show. These tools will help you to ensure you are doing everything you can to improve your podcast results and save you time.

Thank you for listening! Be sure to tune in to all the episodes to receive tons of practical tips on turning your podcast listeners into leads and to hear even more about the points outlined above. If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!

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EPISODES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Going Deep (Instead of Wide) With Your Podcast Content

How to Organize and Plan Your Podcast Content

14 Ways to Repurpose Your Podcast Content

5 Strategies to Never Run out of Podcast Content

Using Podcast Listening Statistics to Make Better Decisions

SEO for Podcasts [Tech Tips Series]

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Where is Podcasting Headed in 2023 and beyond?

The future of podcasting is not going to be about the numbers and the downloads but rather about connecting with your audience and actually creating content they want and enjoy. This week, episode 72 of Listeners to Leads is about the future of podcasting!

There is a lot of time, effort, and money being invested into podcasting and podcast advertising right now. According to the stats supplied by Buzzsprout, 81% of those surveyed say they pay attention to podcast ads more than they do to radio, TV commercials, billboards, and even digital ads on social media. We also know that ad revenue from podcasting is projected to exceed $2 billion by 2023.

Recommended Listening: How Much Money can you Make with your Podcast?

How to Monetize Your Podcast by Selling your Own Services and Products

But what does this mean for those who use their podcast to grow their business? That means that your podcast is still the BEST way to engage, educate, and connect with your ideal customers. Your podcast should be used to direct your listeners toward the products, courses, services, etc., that you have to offer.

More Americans listen to podcasts each week than have Netflix accounts. Worldwide, there are now close to 400 million listeners. The medium is growing! And though it might seem like there are more podcasts now than ever, of the 5.6 million podcasts on Spotify, there are less than 400,000 active podcasts. This means that the podcast industry is not as saturated as you might think. There’s still room to grow your audience with less competition than any other medium.

The Three Reasons People Start Listening to Podcasts

To learn something new.

This is important because it means that you, as a business owner, can use your podcast to educate your audience. That’s what the majority of them are there to do anyway.

Recommended Listening: The Power in Doing Solo Podcast Episodes

To feel connected to a community.

With this, niching down is important. If you’re trying to use your podcast to appeal to a broader audience, they aren’t going to feel that sense of community.

To spark creativity.

How can you help give actionable steps to your audience to further spark their creativity? Or how can you highlight guests who are doing incredible things that will inspire your listeners to take action?

The Three Reasons People Stop Listening to Podcasts

Not delivering on the podcast promise.

Podcast descriptions and episode titles are important for this. Your description tells the audience what they can expect from your show. If you aren’t delivering on that, then you leave them feeling disjointed and no longer listening.

Content is too long, the host or guest is boring, irrelevant side conversations, or referring to a live viewing audience in the audio.

Though this might feel like a general idea, we can narrow this down to one thing–your content should be relevant to the podcast listener and should only be as long as needed to get the point across. This doesn’t mean that you can’t share relevant information or stories that are applicable, but if there are side tangents, we’ll want to limit those. 

Content release time is inconsistent.

If you say (and have shown) that you show up consistently for your podcast, then you’re going to want to do that. Pre-scheduled breaks, seasons, or limited series are great as long as those have been defined and your audience is aware. Even with that, we’ve seen a dip in downloads when clients take seasonal or scheduled breaks. Just know that you should anticipate your numbers to be lower than normal when you come back, and you’ll need to build back up from there.

Where do people find new podcasts to listen to?

Searching the internet.

With Google indexing podcast episodes, we’ve seen how important it is for clients to have episode titles that are SEO friendly and accurate to what the episode is about. 

Friend and family recommendations.

Telling your podcast listeners to share with a friend can help you grow! When was the last time you encouraged your audience to share? 

Bonus Script: “Hey friend, if you like this episode, I want you to share it with one person who you know would benefit from listening to it. I appreciate you sharing it!” 

Recommended from a podcast they already listen to.

This could mean that listeners are finding you through other shows you’ve guested on. We’ve seen clients do this with incredible results! One client saw a 102% increase in monthly downloads from one guest interview and then another 117% increase from another one just a few months later. Another client saw a 397% (yes, that’s right!) over a three-month period because of a combined effort of having an aligned guest on her show who brought in a ton of traffic and guesting on a show that had her ideal listener.

Recommended Listening: Finding Quality Guests for your Podcast

Being a guest on other podcasts is the 1% way to grow your show. Unfortunately, we don’t currently provide guest pitching services, but we have a guest pitching research package available only for clients to help you get started with pitching to be on other shows.

Recommended Listening: The #1 Way to Grow your Show

The five things I’m seeing as the future of podcasting.

In this episode of Listeners to Leads, I’m sharing my predictions on what we can expect for the future of podcasting in 2023, specifically for business owners, and how you can use these trends to continue generating leads, growing your business, and establishing authority in your industry.

SEO will be more important than ever.

Since Google indexes podcasts for search, it’s important that your episode title, description, and metadata clearly indicate what the episode is about. It’s also important that when Google “listens” to the audio (because they do) that it’s evident in the first few minutes what the episode will be about.

Recommended Listening: SEO for Podcasts

Video will NOT be the future of podcasting for business owners who don’t already have a video presence.

Even with TikTok and YouTube investing in video-style podcasts, I don’t see that being the direction the future of podcasting for business is going unless you already have a strong video presence. We saw one of the reasons why some podcasters stop listening is because the podcaster references a live audience. The same goes for if you reference something the video viewer can see that the audio listener cannot. With 49% of podcast listening happening in the home (mostly while doing other things around the house) and 28% of U.S. adults listening while driving, this doesn’t equate to video podcast streaming ranking high for those who currently enjoy the medium. 

Recommended Listening: Putting your Podcast on YouTube

Content standards are going to be set high! 

Your podcast audio, topic, and branding will need to be high quality. So if you are worried about a guest’s audio, take a moment to ask them to grab headphones to minimize echo or let them know that you need them to repeat something if their audio cuts out. We’re here to support you with all those things, so don’t be afraid to keep your audio quality at the forefront while you are recording. It’s more important than ever. 

Recommended Listening: Creating a Quality Podcast

Going Deep (Instead of Wide) with your Podcast Content

The importance of following the data.

If you’re someone who struggles with trying to figure out how long your podcast should be, first look at the data. Where are you seeing that most of your audience is falling off? This is a great place for you to start seeing how you can improve your show to match what your audience is actually looking for.

Recommended Listening: Using Podcast Statistics to Make Better Decisions

Podcast Stats: What They Mean and How to Measure Success 

Listeners (people) over downloads (numbers).

I know it’s easy to look at the download numbers and get discouraged, but let’s take a moment to realize that there are people behind those downloads. So 100 downloads on an episode are 100 individuals who are listening to what you have to say, which is incredible! Going back to the podcast stats, you’ll be able to see how many people follow you on the different podcast listening apps. That can tell you how many people have signed up to be notified that you have a new episode being released. I like to imagine that number shows the people who sign up for your talk at a conference. So 100 followers equal 100 people in a room waiting to hear you speak. How does that make you want to show up?

Need support with what’s mentioned in this blog post? Schedule a call today!

Sources:

https://podpros.com/who-will-be-listening-to-podcasts-in-2023-and-beyond/

https://www.buzzsprout.com/blog/podcast-statistics

https://www.iab.com/news/us-podcast-ad-revenues-grew-19-yoy-in-2020-set-to-exceed-1b-this-year-and-2b-by-2023/