15 Podcasting Secrets to Grow Your Audience

Podcasting is exciting. It’s quickly become one of my favorite ways to create valuable content. But at the end of the day, your podcast is useless if nobody is listening to it. 

Having little to no listeners is one of the most discouraging parts of starting a new podcast. Similar to starting a new website or blog, getting people to find you and then getting them to keep coming back can be the hardest part of the process.

Fortunately for you, there are some ways to fast-track success in the podcasting space. Most of the proven strategies in this guide are completely free and don’t require any additional budget beyond your time.

Whether you’re new to podcasting or you’re trying to take your existing show to the next level, this guide is for you. I’ll help you 10x your podcast audience with my secrets for growth below. 

1. Submit to Every Podcast App and Podcast Directory

The first thing you need to do is ensure that people can actually find your podcast. To achieve this, your show must be available on every podcast platform.

Apple Podcasts and Spotify are the two biggest players in this space, controlling roughly 65% of the market share. Having your show on one but not the other is a big mistake, as you’re neglecting a massive segment of podcast listeners. 

In addition to the top platforms, you should also submit your show to the less-popular podcast directories. 

• Amazon Music
• Pandora
• iHeartRadio
• SiriusXM
• Stitcher
• Overcast
• Castbox

While some of these platforms may only have 2% or 5% of the podcast market share, you can communicatively expose your show to an additional 30% of podcast listeners by being available on all of them. 

There’s also less competition on some of these platforms, which makes it easier for people to find your show. 

2. Create Video Versions of Your Podcast

Beyond the traditional podcast apps, you can also record a video version of your shows and upload them to YouTube. 

With online video consumption at all-time highs and podcast trends soaring upward, this is the perfect way to align your video and talk marketing strategies—while simultaneously expanding your reach to the 2.1 billion monthly active users on YouTube. 

According to a recent survey, YouTube has become the preferred podcast delivery method for adults in the US. 33% of survey respondents said that YouTube was their favorite way to view podcasts compared to 24% who said Spotify and just 12% for Apple Podcasts. 

Similarly, YouTube edged out both of these platforms in terms of new podcast discovery:

With a video, you can also repurpose short clips of your shows as promotional material to use on your website and other social platforms. 

3. Target a Niche Audience

At first, this strategy might seem counterproductive. But narrowing your focus to a tighter audience actually increases the chances that you’ll get more listeners. 

It’s like any other business and marketing strategy. If you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to nobody. 

Take the time to research the audience that you want to target. Then you can align your show’s content and promotional strategy based on what that audience wants to hear. 

Let’s say you have a podcast about fitness. Your show will look very different if you’re targeting men between the ages of 18 and 25 compared to women between 35 and 50. 

So pick your niche, and go after that specific group of people with everything you do surrounding your show. 

4. Invite Guests to Your Show

Having guests on your podcast is a great way to increase listener engagement. That’s because podcasts with guests tend to be about eight minutes longer than the average podcast without one. 

Furthermore, the organic reach of podcasts with guests is about 10% higher than other podcasts. This makes sense since it’s more likely that your guest will talk about your show either before, during, or after they’re on. This automatically exposes your show to a new group of listeners. 

Studies also suggest that podcasts with guests have about 30% more listeners than podcasts using different formats. 

5. Accept Invitations to be a Guest on Other Shows

Piggybacking off of the last point, you should go on other podcasts whenever you have the chance. This is an indirect way to reach new audiences—more specifically, audiences who already listen to podcasts. 

If a listener hears you on another show and likes what you’re offering, they’ll be more inclined to subscribe to your show to hear more of what you have to say.

It’s also worth noting that podcast hosts love promoting upcoming guests on their shows. 

So if you accept an invitation, there’s a good chance you’ll be mentioned and tagged in several posts promoting the episode. This can send people to your page and ultimately get them to your podcast channel. 

6. Develop a Marketing Workflow

Like any brand, product, or business, your podcast needs a marketing strategy to increase its reach. But you can’t achieve this by creating a haphazard approach to its promotion. 

Take the time to create a marketing workflow that you repeat for every episode. This adds consistency to your marketing efforts to ensure nothing gets missed.

Here’s an example of a podcast marketing flow:

• Create a graphic for each episode that can be used in your marketing materials
• Publish three posts on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for each show
• Send a mini promotional kit to every guest, so they can easily copy and paste to their own channels
• Publish a new blog post for every show, along with a link to the episode and transcription
• Put the latest episode in your email signature
• Email blast new episodes to your subscribers
• Notify any friends, family, or colleagues who are willing to share your show

Your flow will change over time, and you can refine it based on what works best for you. But the main goal here is consistency. If you do the same thing for every episode, your efforts will pay off over time. 

7. Invest in Ads

If you have the cash, don’t be afraid to experiment with paid ads. The great part about this strategy is that your investment can be put towards building lifelong listeners. 

That’s because the average podcast listener in the US subscribes to six shows and listens to seven episodes per week. About half of this audience listens to at least four different podcasts in a week. 

In short, if people listen to one of your shows and subscribe, there’s a really good chance that they’ll continue listening in the future.

In terms of ad format, you can use social ads, paid search ads, and other traditional formats. But I also recommend advertising your show on other podcasts. This automatically reaches people who already listen to podcasts, which isn’t guaranteed if you’re using other ad formats. 

8. Create a Website For Your Podcast

Having a website for your podcast makes it easier for people to discover you through different mediums. It gives you the opportunity to reach wider audiences beyond podcast platforms. 

If your podcast is an extension of your business or brand, you might already have a website. Depending on your goals, you can simply add a dedicated landing page for your podcast to your existing site. Alternatively, you can create a brand new website for your show.

27% of people in the US search the internet to find new podcasts. That number jumps to 39% when you look at podcast listeners in Europe. 

If you don’t have a website, those people aren’t going to find you. 

9. Master Podcast SEO

Having a website is just the first step toward growing your audience. Now you need to take that one step further with a podcast SEO strategy. 

The goal here is to get your podcast episodes ranking in the Google SERPs when people search for your target keywords. To do this effectively, you should publish every episode on your site, include a transcription of the episode, and apply SEO-friendly keyword optimization tactics to your titles and headers. 

I do this with all of my podcasts, and here’s an example:

So when people search the web for brand strategy techniques, they have a chance to discover this episode—and then can even play the episode directly from within the web browser. 

10. Build an Email List

This is another tactic that goes hand-in-hand with having a website. Once people land on your site, you should incentivize them to join your email list. 

People get too many emails as it is, so simply asking them to opt-in likely won’t be enough.

Instead, you need to offer them real value. Maybe it’s a free ebook or masterclass. Or maybe you have some type of exclusive guide, unique research, or discount code for a product or service.

Whatever the case may be, growing your email list helps expand your reach. Then when you send out weekly or monthly blasts to subscribers, you can promote your latest podcast episodes.

11. Create a Podcast Trailer

Like a movie trailer, a podcast trailer is a short introduction to your channel or episode. These can be in audio or video form, depending on your distribution method.

The goal of the trailer should be to build hype for an episode, encouraging people to listen to it. You can use trailers in your ad campaigns, as part of an email campaign, or use it as part of your organic social strategy. 

Your trailer should be treated like a highlight reel. Take the best parts of an episode and clip them to draw the attention of prospective listeners. 

12. Publish Episodes at a Regular Cadence

Consistency is one of the key pillars of success in the world of podcasting. It hooks your most loyal listeners and ensures they continue listening to your new episodes. 

At a minimum, I recommend a weekly release schedule. 77% of podcasts are published every three to 14 days. So that’s what most listeners have come to expect from podcasters. 

If your episode releases are sporadic or too spread out, it’s easy for people to lose interest in your show and forget about you. But weekly releases help retain your audience, which increases the chances of your show growing organically through word of mouth. 

13. Get Active on Social Media

You don’t have to be an influencer to succeed on social media. Establishing an active presence on all major channels can help get your brand out there and ultimately increase the exposure of your podcast. 

Social media is also a great way to discover trending topics and get inspiration for your shows.

In terms of podcast promotion, you should focus more on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. But the right channels for you and your show will largely depend on your target audience. If your niche audience isn’t active on Twitter, then your efforts will be a lost cause. 

14. Engage With Your Audience

Whether it be via social media, email, blog comments, or third-party forums, you should always be looking for unique ways to engage with your listeners. 

If people feel like they can interact and connect with you on a personal level, then it increases the chances that they’ll become loyal listeners. 

One simple but effective way to engage with your audience is by taking a few minutes during each episode to read comments or share a story submitted by a listener. This strategy works really well if you end certain episodes with a call to action.

For example, let’s say you’re giving people tips on how to sleep better at night. You could end the episode by saying, “Leave a comment and let me know which strategy you tried and how it worked for you.” Then during the next episode, you can call out some of the top comments as proof of concept that doubles as audience engagement. 

15. Set Goals and Track KPIs

It’s tough to know which strategies are working if you’re just throwing ideas at a wall, hoping they stick. This holds true for your content, as well as your growth strategies. 

Write down your goals for the next three, six, and 12 months. Then track your progress over time to see if you’re heading in the right direction. Here are some podcast KPIs that you should monitor:

• Unique downloads
• Downloads per episode
• Subscribers
• Downloads month over month
• Listener locations
• Listens by source
• Top episodes
• Website visits
• Backlinks
• Social media engagement

As you can see from the list, I’ve included metrics that go beyond your podcast itself. The purpose here is to see if you can find a correlation between metrics on multiple channels.

For example, did you get a boost in unique downloads after acquiring new backlinks to your podcast website? If so, you can double down on that strategy and look for more opportunities to build backlinks. 

Final Thoughts

Recording quality episodes is just half of the battle when it comes to podcasting. You also need to make sure that people can find and listen to your show. 

Don’t get discouraged if your current audience count is lower than you’d hoped for.

Start applying the pro tips and strategies that I’ve outlined in this guide, and your audience will scale over time. If you need some additional assistance with talk marketing for your brand, reach out to my team for assistance—and we’ll help take your business to the next level.