A Brief Overview on Podcast Growth

Hello! My name is Deanna and I help people create great podcasts. Every Sunday I'm sharing one tactical tip to make a killer podcast. So let’s get into it!

If you’re reading this newsletter, chances are you already know that podcast discovery is not very good, which is why a lot of shows are moving to video to have that YouTube algorithm work it’s “magic.” But what if you don’t do video? How do you grow?

Now more than ever, it’s crucial to keep making podcasts (and art in general) AND to tell everyone about it. Unfortunately, leaving social media completely is not an option for a lot of us because we make things that exist on the internet.

So today, here’s a broad overview on how to get the word out about your podcast:

Listen to Arielle Nissenblatt and make sure your podcast has a newsletter. Here’s a great interview she did with Podcast Bestie.

Post about your show on social media, even if this feels like the least effective option. Do it more than you want to and more than you think you need to because not everyone is going to see every post anyway. And if people do get tired of you yelling about your podcast on social media? Then they probably weren’t really your target audience to begin with.

Here’s one that I think is underrated. Promote other podcasts. Tell people about your favorite podcasts. Share episodes that you really enjoy. Those shows will likely respond and/or share your posts, which will get new people finding out that you exist.

Related to that, do cross promotion! Do feed drops! Many of us don’t have the budgets that iHeartRadio, SiriusXM, or Amazon have, so we have to build a community. We can’t brute force an audience by running ads all over the internet or even commercials.

Support each other and it will take some time, but you will see results if you team up with shows that have a similar audience to you. For example, when the hosts from Blank Check go on The Big Picture, it’s a crossover event! People love that stuff.

Community matters. I say this as someone who often feels like I still haven’t found mine yet. It makes everything harder when it feels like you’re doing it all on your own. So go make some podcast friends and do cool things with them.

I’ll go into more detail with more examples on each of the above points in future issues, but this should give you a place to get started in the meantime!

If you enjoyed this newsletter and really want to level up your podcast, I’m bringing you tips from the smartest people in the podcast industry. I’m always looking for the best ways to help you grow your podcast. So be sure to subscribe and share this with a friend! And if there’s something you’d like to see covered, reply to this email.