How to Make Your Podcast Growth Strategies More Effective

Let's say today I start listening to your podcast. Let's say that I discovered your show just this morning as you were doing some GDE and you commented on one of my Instagram posts, something thoughtful, something that I enjoyed and engaged with and in doing so, check you out, check out your profile and saw, oh wow, they've got a podcast. Let's pretend that just happened and I am your newest podcast listener. I've got a question for you. Six months from today, after six months of me listening to your podcast, week in and week out, how is my life different? Who have I become? How has my world view changed? What do I now have that I didn't have before? Can you answer these questions? That is what we are here to do today. This is Grow the Show, the podcast to help you grow your podcast. My name is Kevin Schmidland, I am a podcast coach whose mission is to help you, the independent podcaster, to grow your audience more quickly, more cheaply, and to make more money from your podcast as much money as you possibly can so that you can have a thriving podcast business. That's my mission. I've taken two podcasts of my own past six figures in revenue for a combined more than half a million dollars made in just about three years and I've got nearly 150 podcasters in my paid accelerator program. We've got a team of six here at Grow the Show. We've got about 6,000 podcasters who are in the free Grow the Show sphere. And all that to say, I've seen a thing or two about podcasts. I think I've probably discovered about 6,000 podcasts in the last year alone. And what I've discovered helping all of these podcasters, all that to say is that I get the same questions over and over, which I love because I love helping folks and I love the results that we get when we help podcasters grow and monetize. But here's the thing, a lot of those results come after that podcaster gets a major breakthrough. Both tactics are great. Yes, I'm sure that if you haven't tried TDE yet, you're in for a great surprise. TDE is targeted daily engagement. That is our framework here at Grow the Show for growing a podcast totally for free on social media. We've seen listeners of this podcast grow their audience more than 100% in one month. And these are folks that had several hundred downloads already. We're not talking people who only had two downloads and then got to four. We have seen people just by implementing that framework get huge, huge, huge growth gains. And so if you're interested in learning more about that framework, you can check out episode eight of this podcast. It explains it in info, but all that to say TDE is great. Growth tactics are great. Learning how to use Facebook ads is great. Learning how to sell sponsorships is great. Learning how to interview is great, but even though these are the things that most podcasters are seeking out when I hear from them for the first time, right, they want to know how to grow and monetize faster. What I found is that the thing that is holding them back from growth and monetization and the thing that is probably holding you back from the growth and monetization that you could achieve is not that you don't know the right growth tactics. It's not the strategy. It's not optimization. It's the foundational work, right? It's understanding why the heck somebody is going to become your raving fan in the first place. It's understanding what it is your show offers that no other podcast in the entire world and the entire universe, assuming there aren't podcasts on other planets, offers to people. What is your unfair advantage and what is the effect that your show has on your fans? It's that effect that's going to keep them coming back for more. It's that effect that is going to drive word of mouth. It's that effect that's going to make all of those growth tactics, which yes, I collect them, I share them with you, but without this effect, it won't mean anything and all of your time and your money will be completely wasted on this podcast. So that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about what transformation your podcast provides. Like I said, we have not discussed this yet on the free growth show feed. This is something that we beat my clients over the head with. So if you are a grow the show client, accelerator student who's listening to this, now is your chance to think about this again. But if you're not a grow the show student, totally, totally fine, you are about to learn exactly what the transformation is and how just this change in thinking is going to make it so that the stuff that you're doing today to grow and monetize your show works better. It's not about learning new tactics. It's about making the tactics you're already doing work better. So let's begin. In order to create a hit chart topping podcast, one that grows itself, it seems because people are spreading the word. There's word of mouth. It's got that momentum in every single week that you look at your download numbers. You see the numbers going up 10%, 20%, maybe even more. In order to create that podcast, we need to determine the why behind it. I do not mean what most podcast coaches mean when they say determine your why. I don't care about your why. You already know your why. This is not something that we need to spend time on. No, today we want to determine the why the heck will someone listen to this podcast? Why are they going to tune in week after week after week? Why are they going to devote hours and hours of their time every single week, every single month, for indefinitely to listening to you? Now to make this why question easier, we're going to actually break the why behind the show into two separate questions, where and who this assumes that you already know who your listener is. So that's not the who that we're going to ask. We should already know painfully, specifically who your listener is. And if you would like an exercise to help with that, you can listen to the episode of this podcast with Eric Newsom. So the episode of this podcast with you, Vault Yardin, we'll help with that as well. If you've already figured those things out, you know painfully, specifically who your listener is, then let's move on to the why the heck they're going to become your raving fan and we're going to break that question into where do we want to take this raving fan via our podcast and who will our listener become in the process? The first one. Where do we want to take our audience? This question is basically what is the destination in our shows GPS? What is the grand quest that we are on? What is the promise land that you are seeking to bring them to? People are not going to tune into your show just to hear you talk. They don't tune in for analysis. They don't tune in for conversations or perspectives or whatever it is. They tune in because the show is going to take them somewhere. It's going to change their perspective, change the way they view themselves, the world, other people, something, a topic, whatever it might be. In order to convince them to press play, let alone to stick around. You need to paint the picture for where you want to take them. This should be your compelling future. So if you have an industry show, there's a lot of folks that listen to this podcast to our business owners who have an industry show. The podcast that you're listening to is an industry show. My compelling vision, my compelling future for this podcast that I hope you'll join me for and that I am driving towards with everything that I have is a place where there is a thriving middle class of podcasting where there are countless independent podcasters who are making up to six figures, maybe multi six figures and sometimes seven figures via their podcast and the products and services behind their podcasts. Right now, that's not the case. There's literally millions of shows that have up to about one to 200 downloads for episode. There's a very, very, very, very, very small handful of shows that get between 200 and maybe 5,000 downloads for episode. And then there's a small group of shows that are 5,000 and above. And you know, those are the ones that you've heard of. Those are the ones that get millions and millions of downloads. There's no middle class. There's the 1% up top, you know, the Pat Flynn's Tim Ferriss's, all the big media companies, Joe Rogan's, all that stuff. They're the top one of the 1% in podcasting and then everyone else has like 200 downloads for episode. And by the way, if you're above that, you know, you're in that middle class. But if you're here, you want more, right? That is my compelling vision. That is the whole purpose of the entire Grow the Show business, which includes this free podcast. It includes the forthcoming YouTube channel. It includes the podcast accelerator and everything else that I and my team of six do all day every day is for that vision to create a compelling middle class of podcasters, right? That's the destination that this podcast aims to take you on. So where do you want to take your audience? What is your grand quest? What is your compelling vision for the future? This is honestly oftentimes your why. So this is a lot of times what those other podcast groupers are asking for when they say, what is your why? They're asking, why are you doing this? What's the point? Many people ask, well, I want to make money. Well, I just want to do what I love. I want to spend my time doing this. I want to know your why, why the heck did you choose this topic? Why are you passionate about it? And where do you want to take this audience that you're building? So that's number one, where what is your destination? That is the term we will use. What is your show's destination? What is the grand quest? What is the promised land that your listener will reach if they follow you by listening to your podcast for every episode that gets released? Number two, then assuming that your podcast does in fact take them to the promised land, who will your listener become in the process? What is the transformation that your show will provide to them, right? The hero of your podcast is not you. The hero of your podcast is not your guests. The hero of your podcasts is your listener. How will their life be different after listening to you talk for 30 minutes every week for six months? What will they have then that they don't have today? Who will they be? For this podcast, the promised land is that there is a middle class, a thriving middle class of growing podcast businesses, and a thriving middle class of podcasters who are making multi five, multi six, even seven figures via their podcast. That's awesome, right? You want to be live in that world. And that is the compelling future that's this show's destination. But along the journey, the transformation that this podcast provides to you is that you become a badass, smart, successful podcasting entrepreneur. You know how to grow an audience at will. You know how to turn the attention that you get from your podcast into cash. It's a skill that you have. This is your full time job. If you're an entrepreneur, this podcast is driving sales and revenue for your business. And you get to basically spend your marketing activities, making the podcast that you love to make the whole reason that you made the podcast in the first place. So once we get to the promised land of Bro the Show, which is a thriving podcast middle class that doesn't rely on podcast networks, you along the journey will turn into you will become you will transform into a savvy badass podcasting entrepreneur who has a growing thriving show and gets to spend their time the way that they want to on their podcast. That's the transformation that we promise here at Bro the Show. Doesn't that sound better than interviews with successful podcasters? Tips and tricks for how to grow your audience. That is what we provide. That is the product, right? That's the mechanism. But our destination, our transformation is the reason that you have showed up to listen to my voice week after week, episode after episode. So how would you answer these questions? Where are you aiming to take your listeners? What is the compelling future? What is the promised land? And who will they become along the way? Now, I'm willing to bet that if you have indeed done the work to be insanely painfully specific about who you are here to help and who your podcast is here to serve. If you've done that work and you've started doing your TDE and you've started, you know, interacting with these folks online, I am willing to bet that you have heard several common problems, fears, hopes and dreams that this listener base, this audience base that you want to serve has, right? It's probably several of the same problem, fears, hopes and dreams that you either have today or that you had maybe a year or two or five ago, right? What are those problems, fears, hopes and dreams? This is called your audience's tribal language. You are, as Pat Flynn says, learning the lyrics that your audience uses when you describe those problems, fears, hopes and dreams that your audience communicates to themselves, right? It's the conversation that they have. What are the words that they use when they have the conversation in their head about what, you know, their problems are, what they're afraid of, what they hope for and what they're dreaming of? If you take that language and say, hey, this podcast is going to help you solve this problem. It's going to help a lay this fear. It's going to add to the hope that you have. It's going to make that hope come true and it's going to make your dreams come true. And it's going to give you the things that you want. It's going to give you the items that you want to acquire. It's going to give you the skills you want to acquire. And it's going to give you the status, the health and the money that you want to acquire, right? Obviously, you're going to put this in your own audience's tribal language. But that's the reason why they're going to show up to listen to you. It is not for interviews, conversations, perspectives, tips, tricks, strategies, stories, news, analysis. Nobody gives a flying crap about any of that. Nobody's ever woken up and said, man, I could really use a different perspective today. Nobody has ever woken up and said, man, I really wish I could listen to an interview today. You know what I really want to do? I want to spend 30 minutes listening to a conversation. No, nobody ever says that. So why when you are advertising your podcast, when you're telling other people what your podcast is and when you're introducing your podcast, why are you saying this is interviews? This is conversations with different perspectives every day, conversations with different perspectives. Nobody wants an everyday conversation. If you want that, go on the street and just listen to people's conversations. That's an everyday conversation. No, instead we must provide a guiding north star of our podcast, which is the journey we will go on together with our listeners and the transformation they will provide. Right? The transformation again is who this podcast, who your podcast will allow your listeners to become. It's what your podcast will allow your listeners to do. What your podcast will allow your listeners to have. Right? By the way, side note, being inspired, being educated, being empowered and being entertained are not specific enough for a transformation. So inspired is a big one that a lot of people say, this podcast is going to inspire them. You have to be more specific. Inspire them to do what? This podcast will empower them. Empower them to do what? Empower them to do what thing that they're not doing today, that your podcast will be the difference. How will their life be different? Six months from today, after listening to your show every week, what will your podcast allow them to do? What will it allow them to be? This transformation is going to guide much more than just our show, right? Our podcast. It's going to be the mission behind your entire podcast business. It's going to be how you select your sponsors, right? Every sponsor that you have for your podcast should further the transformation that your show is promising. So I am not going to have McDonald's ads on this podcast because how is a cheeseburger going to help you grow and monetize your podcast? It doesn't make sense, right? However, I will have advertisements for products and services that will absolutely help you grow and monetize your podcast even faster. We've actually turned down some advertisement opportunities because I'm here to just focus on doing this for free and the accelerator at this point. I'll add advertisements later. But either way, if someone reaches out to you to sponsor your show and it's the product or service that they are aiming to sell via their sponsorship to your listeners has nothing to do with the transformation that your show is there to provide, you should not take that sponsorship. I don't care how much money they're offering you because it's going to be such a misalignment of your message and people are going to be like, oh, you're literally just selling my attention for money. There's no reason for me to hear this ad. However, if you have the transformation of your show in mind and you can say this show is here to help X's do Y to help them get their faster, get to this destination, then you can think, okay, what other products and services might want to partner with me who can help this transformation happen even faster that I can have as sponsors on the show or for those of you who are entrepreneurs where the podcast is a marketing vehicle for your business, then the question becomes, what transformation does my business provide? And by the way, if you don't know that, it's the same concept. You are not selling coaching. You are selling the result of your coaching, whatever it is your businesses. You are not selling that thing. You are selling the transformation that that thing will provide to your client or customer. The same thing is true with your podcast. So align the two things, right? If you, let's say you have a thriving podcast and you want to create a course around the podcast, the course needs to be another way for your listener to get that transformation. Right? If it's something totally unrelated, it's not going to sell. It's not going to work. Your transformation will guide more than just your podcast. It'll be your mission behind the entire business. I should note that it is totally, totally okay. If you have not yet achieved the transformation that your show is promising, the podcast is also your vehicle to that transformation, right? I'm not a seven figure podcaster yet. However, I'm getting there by doing this work, right? And sharing it with you, I'm going to be within the next probably 12 to 18 months, but I'm not there yet. And that's okay. This show still is going to help you become a seven figure podcaster because I'm a couple steps ahead or I may even be a couple steps behind. I know there's people who listen to this who work on massive NPR shows and huge podcasts. But again, we are all in the same bus, right? We all want to make more money, have more fun, get more listeners, right? Your curiosity as the person who has decided to lead this journey to the Promised Land is absolutely enough credibility and credential for you to lead this journey. The fact that you have declared yourself the student qualifies you to be the teacher. Cool. So I just want to get that out of the way because I know a lot of people are like, I want to help marketers, you know, make their first million dollars, but I haven't made a million dollars yet. Cool. You can still help them in. It's totally fine. That's totally, totally fine. That can still absolutely be the transformation that your show provides. And by the way, if you are an entertainment show, because I do angle a lot of what I'm doing here around business owners, if you catch yourself thinking, oh man, none of this stuff is going to work for me because I'm not a business owner. Stop yourself right there. That is a limiting belief. It will work. You will have a little more work to do to convey what the transformation is for your show. However, even if your show is transformational, even if it's a comedy show or a talk show, it's going to be harder to grow your podcasts. I give you that. I'll tell you that right now. But it doesn't mean it can't be done. And it doesn't mean that you don't provide a transformation. You know, it could be that you're a comedian with a comedy podcast. And before someone discovered your show, they dreaded their commute. They live in L.A. And it takes them an hour and a half to drive into work every single day. Then they discovered your podcast, which releases once a week. And now, let's say your podcast releases Sunday nights, now they look forward to their Monday commute because they get to spend it with your podcast. How is that? Not a transformation to go from dreading your Monday commute to actually looking forward to it because of this incredibly entertaining podcast. That is a transformation that you can and should lead into, right? You are a comedian. You are not selling jokes. You are selling entertainment. You're in selling the joy that those jokes bring during whatever it is that they're doing while they're listening to your show. Cool. Once again, the transformation that I provide here at Grow the Show is that Grow the Show helps you grow and monetize your podcast so that you can have a massive audience of fans. You can make tons of money and you can meet incredible people while having a blast doing it all. That is the transformation that Grow the Show provides. That is true for this podcast. It's true for the free Facebook group. It's true for my social media presence. And yes, it's true for my deep, deep, deep, really intense accelerator program. It's the same transformation. Now, those different things are going to get you there at different speeds for sure, but it's still the same transformation. At no point when I describe what Grow the show is, Grow the Show helps you grow and monetize your podcast so that you can have a massive audience of fans and make tons of money while meeting incredible people and having a blast doing it all. At no minute, at no moment, that I say anything about interviews, courses, modules, coaching, editing, this podcast, the accelerator, tips, tricks, tactics, strategies, or perspectives. Because you don't care about that. You just want the transformation, right? Some other examples. How I built this with Guy Russ doesn't tell stories of successful entrepreneurs. It helps you kick start your movement by providing the roadmap other entrepreneurs and visionaries took to build their world changing thing. Do you see the difference? Do you, can you, well, you can't, I don't know what you're seeing right now, but can you hear how different that is when you describe the transformation and the destination of the show rather than what the show actually is? Planet money, very popular show on NPR does not talk about money. It makes you an economist in 20 minutes. Same show transformation. Gold digger with Jenna Kutcher doesn't share growth tips. It helps you achieve your goals faster while living a balanced life. Not tips and tricks, transformation. So my question for you today, if you made it this far, I appreciate you so freaking much, is what transformation does your podcast provide? What is the destination that you have put in your podcast's GPS? Where are you taking your listeners? Is it something that this painfully specific audience is going to want to be along the ride for? And is your transformation something or someone that they want? If it isn't, then I would literally bet money on the fact that your podcast is not growing, not because you don't know the right tactics and your social meet to strategy and I didn't do enough to eat. No, no, no, it's this. It's the transformation that your show provides. Have you figured that out? Does the show actually deliver on that? That's a whole other challenge, right? And are you communicating that transformation to the people who discover your show for the first time? Or are you telling them that your show is something vague and boring, like interesting interviews with incredible people? Totally boring. That doesn't tell me anything. What's it going to do for me? So I'm going to leave it at that this week. My invitation to you is to hop into the free Grow the Show Facebook group where I will be putting a post Tuesday afternoon. This episode is publishing on Tuesday, November 9, 2021. On Tuesday afternoon, I am going to put a post ending free Grow the Show Facebook group that asks, what is your podcast transformation and destination? And I would like for you to comment on that post and let me know. And I will personally give you feedback on it and let you know if I think it's compelling. If I think it actually is conveying a transformation or if you are just describing the talking and this alone is going to make it so that literally next week, whatever it is that you are doing now to grow and monetize your podcast will be more effective because of this exercise. I promise you that. So the link to join us in the free Grow the Show Facebook group is in the show notes. I cannot wait to see you there. I cannot wait to give you feedback on your show's transformation. And I can't wait to see your growth numbers after you get this straight. My name is Kevin Schmidland. Thank you for listening to Grow the Show. I am your podcast growth servant. And we will see you next time.