132. Why Your Podcast Isn’t Growing (Yet!): The 4 Podcasting Stages You Must Move Through

You’ve launched your podcast, you’re showing up consistently… so where are the results? It might come down to the stage of podcasting you’re in. In this episode, I’m walking you through each stage of podcasting growth so you can identify where you are, why things might feel frustrating right now, and exactly what to do next to move forward. 

Take Your Next Step:

• Podcast Startup Academy: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/academy
• Podcast Growth Collective: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/collective
• A free consultation: www.ThePodcastTeacher.com/consult

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

Transcript

Why isn't your podcast growing yet? You're showing up, you're putting out episodes. You've been doing this for months. So where are the listeners? Where are the clients? Where's the momentum? If you have ever had these thoughts, you are not alone. And you're definitely not failing. You're just in a particular stage of podcasting. Every podcaster goes through four distinct stages, and the reason you're feeling stuck is probably because you haven't moved through one of them yet. Hey there. I'm your podcast teacher, Julia Levine, and you're listening to Podcasting for solopreneurs, the show that helps online business owners grow their podcast to get more listeners, leads, and sales.

Today, I'm going to walk you through the full podcasting growth journey, stage by stage, so that you can pinpoint exactly where you are, what that means, and how to move forward. I've talked about these stages on the podcast before, but it's been a little while and there are a lot of new listeners, so I thought it was worth revisiting today. I also have to give a quick shout out to my mentor, Adam Scheibly, who created the core of this framework and has allowed me to adapt it. Thanks, Adam. All right, 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 podcastination.

I love that phrase. So here are some signs that you are in the aspiration stage. Stage one. First, and most obviously, you have not started your show, but this typically is not a case where you just had the idea to start a podcast last week. This is usually where a podcast has been on your to do list or your vision board for a while, but it has not come to life yet. You are probably repeatedly going through a cycle of being excited about the podcast idea post, putting some work into it, and then putting the project on the back burner. You keep saying that you'll start it next month, next quarter, or next year, but your podcast still hasn't been launched. You are likely experiencing analysis paralysis and are getting caught up in perfectionism and overthinking.

You are concerned about getting things quote unquote, right. Right. That was definitely me. You might also be intimidated by the tech. Maybe the idea of editing sounds like a lot of work and you just aren't sure what the heck an RSS feed is. You're thinking that maybe this podcasting thing is not for you after all. So if anything, I just mentioned Sounds familiar. Then of course, you are in the Aspiration Stage.

Stage 1. In order to move through this stage, 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 level work. And 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've got to stop finding excuses to return the project to the back burner.

No, you do not need a bunch of fancy equipment. No, you do not need to hire five different graphic designers to find the best one for your podcast cover art. No, you do not need to have your business's website set up before you launch your podcast. The hard truth is that it's 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, I want you to get really clear about who you are talking to and and what you're going to talk about on your podcast. Then brainstorm and write down a list of your first 25 episodes and finally determine your podcast's name. Refer Back to episode 130 for some tips about naming your podcast. Then you need to rip off the band aid and just launch your show. If you need help as an aspiring podcaster, I encourage you to check out my podcast, Startup Academy. This is my program to help you finally launch your podcast with confidence, step by step instruction, no guesswork required.

You can check it out at thepodcastteacher.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 too long. If you're in this stage, you have launched your show Hooray. But now you're feeling frustrated with the lack of growth that 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, maybe way less. And you aren't 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 theme is 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. 2, 3 is completely normal.

Podcasting is a long game and it takes time to accelerate. Frustration is part of the process, but if you're going on month, 4, 5, 6 or even longer, it's time to make some meaningful changes in order to alter your trajectory and avoid quitting. Podcasters don't usually quit in stages three or four that I'm going to talk about here in a moment. They quit here in the frustration stage. So in order to move forward and get out of this stage, you need to do a couple of specific 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 72 hours of the episode publishing and I will clarify that that is the finish line of sorts. That's what I want you to work toward 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 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 definitely work up to it. To market your podcast, pull out a nugget of information and repurpose it for content in a newsletter on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Etsy, etc.

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 episode. And of course, if you have the budget to do so, you can also run ads. Finally, to move out of this stage, you need to get really clear on what your offer is and the journey to that your listener will take to get there. Usually this involves some type of freebie like a lead magnet or a discovery call. Start by giving one clear call to action and give it in every single episode. So to recap, getting less than 500 downloads a month, feeling frustrated with your growth, and having thoughts of quitting pop into your head from time to time. These are all signs that you are in Stage two, the Frustration Stage.

To move out of it, dial in your SEO, market the podcast in five ways within the first 72 hours and clarify Refine your listener's journey to becoming a customer. 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 thepodcastteacher.com/collective.

All right, 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're getting a few clients or students from the podcast and you're making some income, but it's not to the level that you want yet. You're probably getting more than 500 downloads a month. Your SEO is pretty much dialed in and your marketing systems are mostly in place.

There's always room for improvement, but these systems are fairly solid. 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 in order to move through this stage. The first is to keep doing what you're doing. It's 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 to do that. The next thing is to evaluate and refine your positioning as the expert. If you are 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 15 to 20 minutes, and you air it on your podcast. Your audience gets to see you in action, see your style and knowledge, and how you're helping that person who you are 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's best if you can collect this 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, giving them incentive to actually complete the testimonial for you. 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 take the leap.

So to recap, you're in the acceleration stage. If your systems are in place, you're getting 500ish downloads or more per month and you're getting a few clients from the podcast, but you want more. In short, you want bigger and better. So to move through this stage, keep running those systems like the well oiled machines that they are. Focus on positioning yourself as the expert and air 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@thepodcastteacher.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 are all working towards and what we want as podcasters.

At this point, you're getting clients or students from the podcast regularly and you're making meaningful income. You're probably getting 1000 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 as 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 and your 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's still working.

Experiment if you feel like things are starting to slip. So to recap, stage one is aspiration. This is where you're dreaming of podcasting, but you're stuck in your head. Stage two is frustration. You have launched your show, but growth is slow and inconsistent. Stage three is acceleration and this is where you're gaining traction, but you still want more. And finally, stage four is optimization. This is where you have built momentum and now it's just about sustaining and scaling wherever you are right now.

I hope that this gave you clarity on your current season of podcasting and also gives you confidence in the next steps that you need to take. If you've been wondering why things are not working yet, maybe it's just because you haven't moved through the stage that you're currently in. So now that you've heard about the journey, which stage are you in and what is the next step that you are going to take to move forward? I would love to hear from you. Use the link in the episode description to send me a quick message and let me know. Until next time. Happy podcasting.