90. Which Stage of Podcasting Are You In? | Podcasting Success Journey

There are 4 distinct stages of podcasting...do you know which one you're in? In this episode, you'll learn:

• What the different stages are
• Examples of signs to look for in each stage to help you determine where you are
• Action steps to take so that you can level-up to the next stage.

Resources Mentioned:

Podcast Startup Academy: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/academy

Podcast Growth Collective: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/collective

Free Consultation: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/consult

This episode was produced by me, The Podcast Teacher! Contact me at Hello@ThePodcastTeacher.com.

Take the quiz to find out what you need to focus on for podcast growth: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/quiz

Transcript

Hey. Hey. And welcome back. Today, we're talking about the four different stages of your podcasting journey. I'm going to share what the different stages are, give some examples of signs to look for in each stage to help you determine where you are, and also provide some action steps to take so that you can level up to the next stage. My intention is that this is a foundational reference episode that will be useful for you to come back to again and again so that you can see more and more podcasting success. For today though, I would love for you to determine which stage you're in right now as of this moment. I also have to give a quick shout out to my mentor, Adam Scheible, who created the core of this framework and has allowed me to adapt it.

Thank you, Adam. Alright. So let's kick things off with stage one. If you're in stage one, you are an aspiring podcaster. You don't have a show yet. Maybe you're experiencing what Adam calls podcrastination. So here are some signs that you are in the aspiration stage. First and most obviously, you have not started your show yet.

But this typically is not a case where you just had the idea to start a podcast last week. This usually is where a podcast has been on your to do list or vision board for a while, but it hasn't come to life yet. You are probably repeatedly going through a cycle of being excited about the podcast idea and putting some work into it and then putting the project on the back burner. You keep saying that you'll launch it next month or next quarter or next year, but your podcast still hasn't been launched. You are likely experiencing analysis paralysis and getting caught up in perfectionism and overthinking. You are concerned about getting things, quote, unquote, right. That was definitely me. You might also be intimidated by the tech.

The idea of editing sounds like a lot of work, and you aren't even sure what the heck an RSS feed is. You're thinking that maybe this podcasting thing isn't for you after all. If any of those things sound familiar, then you are in the aspiration stage, stage one. In order to move forward, launch your show, and progress to the next stage, I have a couple of suggestions for you. First and foremost, you have to embrace imperfection. Now I am not saying to just slap something together. I do recommend spending some time learning, practicing, and giving it a solid effort. But once you've done that, you need to call it good enough.

We're striving for b level work here at the launch, not a plus level work. If you're like me, I know that's hard to embrace, but I promise that it's the best way to actually move forward. You have got to stop finding excuses to return the project to the back burner. No. You don't need a bunch of fancy equipment. No. You don't need to hire five different graphic designers to find the best one for your cover art. No.

You don't need to have your website set up before you launch your podcast. The hard truth is that it is not going to be perfect. You can always upgrade your equipment or redo your cover art down the road. You can give people your email address to get in touch with you instead of sending them to a website. It's okay. Embrace the mantra. Done is better than perfect. I do find that mindset is usually the biggest challenge in the aspiration stage, and so working on that is my biggest piece of advice.

But in terms of tangible tasks, get really clear about who you are talking to and what you're going to talk about on your podcast. Brainstorm and write down a list of your first twenty five episodes, and finally determine your podcast's name. Things become a whole lot more exciting and doable when your podcast has a name. Then you need to rip off the band aid and just launch your show. So to recap, if you have not started your show yet, find yourself in a cycle of continually moving the project to the back burner, and or are intimidated by the tech, you are in the aspiration stage, stage one. To move through this, you need to embrace imperfection, get clear on your audience and content plan, and name your show, then launch it. If you need help as an aspiring podcaster, I encourage you to check out Podcast Startup Academy, my program to help you finally launch your podcast with confidence, step by step instruction, no guesswork required. You can check it out at the podcastteacher.com/academy.

Moving on to stage two. This is the frustration stage. If I had to guess which stage you are in, this is probably it. A lot of people sit here in the frustration stage for way, way too long. If you are in this stage, you have launched your show. Hooray. But now you're feeling frustrated with the lack of growth your podcast is seeing or at least the speed of growth. Either things are not growing or they're growing super slowly.

You're probably getting less than 500 downloads per month, and you likely are not getting clients from your show. You thought that things would be further along than they are right now. And if we're being honest, you've probably thought about quitting. Podcasting is starting to feel like a chore, and you're questioning if the theoretical rewards are worth the effort because you're not seeing them yet. Now nearly every podcaster spends some time in the frustration stage, and experiencing these feelings for a month or two or three is completely normal. Podcasting is a long game, and it takes time to accelerate. But if you're going on month four, five, six, or more, it's time to make some meaningful changes in order to alter your trajectory and avoid quitting. Podcasters usually do not quit in stages three or four.

They quit here in stage two, the frustration stage. So to move forward and get out of this stage, you need to do a couple of things. First, you need to dial in your keywords and your search engine optimization strategy. A cold audience can easily discover your show if you're hitting the mark with this strategy. You also need to put in some marketing efforts. The goal is to promote your podcast in five different ways within seventy two hours of your episode publishing. Now that is the finish line of sorts, what I want you to work towards, and you can work up to this. If you are not marketing your podcast at all right now, promoting it in one place is a step in the right direction.

If you're already promoting it in one place, adding a second place is a win. You don't have to jump from nothing to five overnight. In fact, that's a good way to burn yourself out, so work up to it. To market your podcast, pull out a nugget of info and repurpose it for content in a newsletter, on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etcetera. Show up where and how is best for you with this nugget, and then direct people to the full episode for the rest. You can also turn the content into a blog post with an embedded player of the podcast episode. And of course, if you have the budget to do so, you can also run ads for your marketing. Finally, to move out of this stage, you need to get really clear on what your offer is and the journey that your listener will take to get there.

Usually, this involves some type of lead magnet or a discovery call. Start giving one, just one clear call to action and give it in every single episode. So to recap, if you're getting less than 500 ish downloads a month, feeling frustrated with your growth, and are having thoughts of quitting pop into your head from time to time, these are all signs that you're in stage two, the frustration stage. To move out of it, dial in your SEO, market the podcast in five ways within the first seventy two hours, and clarify slash refine your listeners journey to becoming a client, student, customer, whatever it is for your business. If you need help moving out of the frustration stage, I invite you to check out the Podcast Growth Collective. This is my program to help you grow your podcast faster with expert guidance, proven strategies, and a supportive network of podcasters by your side. You can check it out at the podcastteacher.com/collective. Alright.

On to stage three, which is the acceleration stage. This is the stage where your podcast is really starting to work for you instead of feeling like you work for it. You are probably getting a few clients or students from the podcast and are making some income, but it's likely not to the level that you want yet. You are likely getting more than 500 downloads a month. That's of course a ballpark figure. All the download numbers I'm giving here are really really rough estimates, but 500 ish downloads a month or more, your SEO is pretty much dialed in, and your marketing systems are mostly in place. There's always room for improvement, but you've got a pretty solid handle on these systems. These are all great signs that you're on the right track, but you want more, and you keep asking what's next.

There are a few important things to do to move through this stage. The first is to keep doing what you're doing. What you have been doing has been working, so keep it up and continue fine tuning as necessary. If you have not yet invested in paid ads, this is a great point in the journey for you to do that. The next thing is to evaluate and refine your positioning as the expert. If you're doing interviews on your show, you might need to do fewer of them in order to keep yourself in the spotlight. Along those lines, you probably want to incorporate some coaching style episodes. These are episodes where you coach someone in your area of expertise for free for fifteen to twenty minutes, and you air it on your podcast.

The rest of your audience gets to see you in action, see your style and your knowledge and how you're helping that person who you're coaching. Your audience can therefore imagine themselves in that seat getting support from you. You also want to collect testimonials from your students and clients and air them on your podcast. It is best if you can collect these in audio or video form so that you can play the audio and your audience can hear it straight from the client. Plus, the client can give their business a shout out in the process. Airing these testimonials reinforces that you know what you're doing and that you have the ability to help the person listening. They just need to be the ones to take the leap. So to recap, you're in the acceleration stage.

If your systems are in place, you're getting 500 ish downloads a month or more, and you're getting a few clients from the podcast, but you want more. In short, you want bigger and better. To move through this stage, keep running those systems like the well oiled machine that they are, focus on positioning yourself as the expert, and air client and student testimonials. If you need help moving through the acceleration stage, I invite you to book a free discovery call with me to discuss how I can help. You can schedule this at the podcastteacher.com/consult. That brings us to the fourth and final stage of your podcasting journey, which is the optimization stage. This is the goal that we're all working towards and what we want as podcasters. At this point, you are getting clients or students from the podcast regularly, and you're making meaningful income.

You're probably getting 1,000 plus downloads per month, and you're having fun doing it. This is the quote unquote finish line of sorts, so you don't really need to move through this stage so much as you need to stay in it. You need to continue doing what you're doing, making tiny tweaks to test and optimize your systems and the customer journey. It's easy to get complacent and stop doing all the things, but staying the course is what's going to keep your podcast successful. Beware of shiny objects and the temptation to create new offers. Keep doing what you're doing if it is working. Experiment if you feel like things are starting to slip or getting stale. Alright.

So a final recap. Stage one is aspiration. Stage two is frustration. Stage three is acceleration, and stage four is optimization. There's a possibility that you may kind of fall in between some of these stages, but I find for the most part that most of the characteristics will align. I would love to know which stage you are in. Use the send me your question link in the episode description. It's an easy way to send me a message even though it's not technically a question.

Use that link and let me know which stage you are in. Until next time, happy podcasting.