Welcome to episode 498. I want to talk about three reasons your show might not be growing. This is actually a really common question, how do I get more listeners? Why isn’t my show growing? And I actually want to shift this question a little bit, because what I want you to be thinking about is why aren’t my potential clients listening to my podcast? And that’s because I want you to care less about the total number of people listening and more about the total number of people listening who are converting to clients. Who are converting to customers. Because that’s where the value in your show is.
The three things we’re going to talk about today are absolutely applicable to just mass growing your audience, but the actual answers to each of these, the actual solutions to each of these, are going to be found in really looking at who do I want listening to the show? Are they or are they not doing what I would like them to do as a next step? And that in the case of you listening is most likely reaching out to you as a business owner to provide services or information or whatever. And so this is going to be a quick and dirty one. I want to hop right in.
Number one, your audience doesn’t care about what you’re talking about.
It’s that simple. You’re not creating content that they want to consume. Generally speaking, this comes from not being really connected with why you want them to listen. And I see this so often when we’ve got podcasters who come in to work with us or I’ve got somebody in a strategy session, and they’re giving me kind of vanilla topics. And by vanilla, I mean they’re great, but they would be better if we added the toppings that entices the right consumer. This episode is a great example, three reasons your show wasn’t growing. Anybody on the planet who has a podcast about podcasting has done this episode. Where I’m shifting the conversation is really speaking to my audience of podcasters who are podcasting as a part of a business strategy, as part of a marketing plan and who are looking to generate revenue through that podcast.
I’ve shifted this to be less about how do we just blatantly grow our show? What are sort of three massive ways to blow up an audience of just people? Just download numbers. And instead, we’re talking about how do we grow your audience with your customers, with your clients, with your buyers? Again, I took something that was really vanilla and I added the right toppings for you to actually want to listen to this. And that’s where so many people I talk to are missing and it’s created a gap.
The first and foremost problem, reason why a show isn’t growing, because your audience does not care.
It’s your job to give them a reason to listen and to keep listening and to listen from episode to episode. The highest compliment I can be paid as a podcaster, as somebody who produces a show week after week, is I binged so many episodes of your show, because it tells me that I gave you a reason to keep listening. I was creating content you actually cared about.
And that’s what I want you to look at doing. Are you creating content your audience actually needs to help move them from problem to solution? We talk a lot about this when we talk about marketing strategy. It’s something I bring up ad nauseam when I host workshops. It is our job, our only job to move our people from problem to solution.
They start at problem, the ultimate solution is usually some sort of paid service we provide. We have to inch them towards that solution and the podcast is how we do that. And if the podcast is not moving them a little bit down that road, not all the way, but forward, they will stop listening. The same with your social, the same with your emails. If it’s not moving them a little bit down that road, they’re not going to keep consuming it. That’s number one.
Number two, bad audio quality. A show is hard to listen to.
This does not mean you have to go to a studio and spend a bazillion dollars on equipment and gear and whatever. It does mean not to tap your desk if your mic is sitting on your desk. It does mean to clean up some of the ums and the ahs. I do like to leave some because I want you to realize I’m a human, but for the most part, you’ll notice this show moves pretty swiftly. That doesn’t mean I recorded it very swiftly. It just means that we edited it to sound like it moved pretty swiftly. Be aware of your noise. It doesn’t mean that your podcast has to be completely silent and perfect and studio quality.
I have clients who I’m thinking of somebody specifically, Allison Crow. We do not edit her show, full disclosure, but she’s one of our marketing clients. And one of my favorite things about listening to her show is you can often hear her dogs in the background. It’s awesome. It’s part of what makes Allison, Allison and that podcast, that podcast. And so should we be the ones who edited, when she started working with us, she already had a podcast editor. We don’t produce her show. But if we did, I would leave that too. It’s reality, it’s your life. It’s part of what makes you, you. Don’t get so type A about it, that it’s got to be studio silent. But also be aware of what’s happening and maximize your impact by improving your quality of the audio.
If it is hard to listen to, it will not be listened to.
A great thing to think about, think about the room you’re in, minimize your echo. Think about the acoustics of the room. Add a rug, create a little mini studio box. Do what you need to do to make it sound as best it can without getting caught up in perfection. But your audio quality is a very, very important piece.
Number three, you’re not actually promoting your show.
I know, I want you to sit with that one for a second. You may be releasing your show. You may be recording your show, editing it, putting it on Libsyn, pushing it to Apple and Spotify and all the places, but are you actually telling anybody about it? Are you emailing your list, posting on social? Are you talking about it in the communities you’re in? And then how often? Because once is not enough. I want you to be talking about your show over and over and over and over again.
I don’t go on a podcast where I don’t talk about my podcast. And I don’t speak at an event where I don’t talk about my podcast. I don’t show up at a networking event where I don’t mention my podcast at some point. A week doesn’t go by where I don’t promote this podcast a couple of times across different social channels.
We reuse episodes of this show in funnels. I mention past episodes of this show in this show, sometimes. Be promoting the show. If you want the show to grow, you have to tell people about it. It is the most commonly skipped thing. And I don’t think this is unique to podcasting. I think it’s true of any content creation process, blogs, videos, whatever. But it’s not an if they build it, they will come. This is not a field of dreams. This is a podcast. And just like every other part of your offerings, it has to be promoted.
People have to be told it’s available, where to find it and why the hell they should care. Don’t skip that step.
All right. I told you quick and dirty this week. That’s three reasons your show isn’t growing. Your audience doesn’t care, your audio quality is off and you’re possibly not promoting your show enough. Promote it more. No matter how much you’re promoting it now, promote it more. Talk about it more. Maybe look into paid advertising. Find new and fun and creative ways to be sharing your show all the dang time. All right, that’s it. Quick and dirty this week.
I would love to sit down and talk to you to talk about growing your show. A great way to do that is our podcast hour. This is a single 60 minute session where you and I hop on and we talk podcast strategy. Growing your show, building out a content calendar, optimizing your show, refining your audience, talking about your gear and what can improve your audio quality. Any of those things are on the table. Bring your podcasting questions, fire them away and I will give you answers to every single one.
All right, book that now over at uncommonlymore.com. I cannot wait to talk to you next week, because next episode is episode 499. And the week after that is episode 500. I cannot believe I’ve done 500 episodes of the show. It’s crazy pants. I will see you then. I hope to see you there. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being a part of this show. Talk to you soon. See you on the next one.
