Why Your Podcast Isn't Growing (And How to Fix It)
You’ve been publishing episodes for a while now, but it feels like there isn’t much happening with your show. You’re not making sales, potential leads are not reaching out, no DM’s are happening, and it seems like you’re stuck!
Now you’re questioning if podcasting is even worth the effort - sound familiar? Before you throw your hands up and say you’re done with podcasting, let’s see if you have the foundation put in place to actually grow your podcast.
The foundation to grow a podcast is a plan, strategy, and systems.
You Need a Podcast Plan Before You Can Grow
Be honest with yourself before you publish episode one: did you write down your goals for your podcast? What you wanted your podcast to do for you? What the call to action was going to be after each episode? Or did you start randomly recording and randomly publishing episodes with no idea what direction it was going?
If it’s the second one - then you need to create a plan for your show.
Get Clear on Why You're Podcasting
You need to answer the following questions:
Why did I start this podcast?
What is the goal for this podcast?
How does the podcast support my personal brand or business goals?
We need to get out of the mindset that podcasting is only content creation. Podcasting can help establish your personal brand, support your business, build relationships with potential clients, share your message, and more.
Establish Your Target Audience
Your podcast isn’t for everyone, and you don’t want it to be. Just like your business isn’t for everyone. Answer these questions:
Who is your listener?
What are their challenges, questions, and interests?
Create episodes that speak to their needs and questions.
Next, you need to decide what you want your listener to gain after each episode. Each episode serves a purpose: are you educating, entertaining, inspiring, sharing a story etc., and lastly, what is the call to action at the end? What do you want your listeners to do after each episode?
Write down, who is your audience, what is the goal of your podcast, what are you trying to accomplish? This is your roadmap towards creating purposeful podcast episodes.
Now, You Need a Strategy to Connect With Your Audience
You've got your podcast plan in place and are creating episodes with intention; next, you need to figure out how you'll connect with your audience.
Marketing is how people know that a new episode is out, but more than that, you need to share why they should listen and what value they will get from the episode.
Here is more information you can share about your episode:
What is the backstory for this episode?
What is one takeaway you’d like listeners to get out of this episode?
What CTA you’d like for them to do after listening?
Do You Know Where Your Audience Is?
People automatically think you need to market your podcast on social media, and you absolutely can, but you can also market your podcast on:
Email lists
Online Communities
Networking Events
Other Podcasts
In-person networking events are one of the most overlooked ways you can connect with your audience. Get in front of your audience and connect with them on a 1:1 level. Build a relationship with your audience beyond the microphone. Building these connections and relationships will help your podcast grow deeper and further than social media.
Repurpose Your Episode Into Different Pieces of Content
Different people like to receive their content in different ways, so you can repurpose your podcast episodes into different pieces of content.
For example:
Blog post
IG post with quotes from the episode
IG Carousel
Video clip for IG, TikTok, YouTube Shorts
Newsletter
LinkedIn Post
Facebook Post (If your audience is still there)
Audiogram
Pinterest Pins
People post about their episode once, and then they’re done. You can actually post about your episode for weeks using different pieces of content and continually get people to listen to your episodes. You should milk your episode as much as you can, especially if your episode is evergreen.
Tip: save your content for the episodes because, as time goes on, you can eventually do “flashback Fridays” or “throwback Thursdays” and promote older episodes.
Create Your Podcast System for Long-Term Consistency
Winging your podcast episodes will not sustain long-term consistency because burnout will happen quicker than usual. Long-term consistency will help you reach your podcast goals because it takes time.
Creating a system for your podcast is what will help you stay on track and consistent. Without having a system in place, it will feel like you are starting over each episode from scratch.
Here is a quick system to put in place for your podcast:
Plan your episodes in advance by setting aside time each month to plan.
Set a recording date and time.
Set an editing schedule if you cannot outsource.
Use project management software like Trello, Notion, Asana, ClickUp, etc., to keep content organized.
Create a checklist and ensure steps are not missed.
Use templates whenever you can.
When choosing a project management system, make sure it’s easy for you and your brain to use. I’ve noticed that not all systems work for everyone, and you don’t want to use one just because all other podcasters use it. Make sure that it works for you.
Your Podcast Growth Self-Audit: What Is Missing?
Use this post and episode as a way to self-audit your podcast to check to see what is missing.
Do you plan your episodes ahead of time?
Are your goals clear?
Who are you podcasting for?
Do you have a system in place?
Lastly, if you would like a podcast audit or a strategy call to help you set up your podcast system, I’d love to help you. You can schedule a strategy call. It’s an hour-long call; we will discuss your podcast goals and create a plan and strategy to help you grow. And afterward, I’ll send you a detailed email with the notes from our call and action steps.
I am here for you!
Con Amor, Coach Heidy
