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Welcome to hundreds of the best articles on podcast growth, podcast monetization, podcast marketing, and show development. You can browse the articles by topic below or start with a curated list of our recommendations.

Most Recommended Articles

The 4 Phases of Podcast Growth (& How to Navigate Each of Them)

If your marketing isn’t working, there’s a good chance its because you’re using the wrong tactics for the phase of growth you’re in.

7 Hurdles Your Podcast Marketing Must Address to Win Each New Listener

The little-known micro funnel within your larger marketing funnel that might be holding you back from more listeners.

8 Specific Elements Found In Every Great Podcast Episode

Check these boxes in every podcast episode you produce to instantly improve your listener retention & grow your show faster.

Articles By Date

The Yin & Yang of Podcast Growth

This post is part of a series of guest posts sharing reflections on the 2024 Podcast Marketing Trends Report. This post is from Alison Osborne, VP of Marketing at CoHost, a podcast analytics and audience insights platform built for brands and podcast...

The Biggest Misconception In Podcast Marketing

It’s hot. You’re lying on the beach trying to enjoy your well-deserved (and long-overdue) vacation… But you’re distracted by the never-ending beads of sweat running down your arms, your back, your face. One drips off your nose onto the open book you’re trying to...

The B-Plot: The Hidden Emotional Hook Running Through All Great Podcasts

On the surface, Harry Potter— perhaps the most successful story of our time—is about a young wizard’s struggle to defeat the most powerful (and evil) wizard in history… and avenge his parents in the process. It's a fantastic premise, as is the world built up around...

Write Better Podcast Episode Titles Using the SHARP Framework

Of all the skills necessary to grow a podcast, few are more important than your ability to write episode titles. Your titles are the single data point most listeners will use to decide whether or not to click play on their episode. As such, improving your titles is...

4 Podcast Growth Challenges (& How to Design Your Show to Solve Them)

Podcasting has a discoverability problem. But it’s not the problem everyone thinks it is. The problem isn’t related to tech platforms finding more efficient ways to get more relevant content in front of potential listeners. If it was, 90% of all YouTube views—driven...

5 Podcast Cover Art Design Decisions That Will Accelerate Your Growth

Your podcast cover art might just be the most important asset of your entire show. For many potential listeners, your artwork is the first touchpoint with the show, singlehandedly forming their first impression. And every listener will encounter the art before...

4 Specific Design Problems Every Show Must Solve

There’s no denying that podcasting has a discoverability problem. But it’s not the problem everyone thinks it is. The problem isn’t related to tech platforms finding more efficient ways to get more relevant content in front of potential listeners. If it was, 90% of...

Content Fractals: How to Make Your Podcast Stand Out By Zooming In

I don’t talk about it here much, but I’ve spent the last 8 years traveling full-time. When I first started traveling, I approached it the same way many people do: Each country was a line item on a checklist and I wanted to check off as many of them as possible. And so...

What If We’ve Got Podcast Analytics All Wrong?

Sometimes a seemingly simple question can take you to unexpected and surprising places. Take this one that’s been bouncing around my head recently: What are we actually trying to measure by tracking podcast downloads? Downloads, of course, are the current de...

The Subtle Message Every Great Show Communicates to It’s Listeners

Think of the last time you rode as a passenger with a driver you didn’t trust. Maybe they were driving too fast, recklessly, or inattentively. Maybe were constantly being distracted by their phone. Or maybe they simply didn’t know where they were going, and what...

The 80/20 of Every Early-Stage Podcast Marketing Strategy

There’s a quote from famed Venture Capitalist, Marc Andreessen that I can’t stop thinking about in the context of podcasting. “The only thing that matters is getting to Product-Market Fit.” The advice is directed at early-stage founders building companies on the...

Avoid This Podcast Listener Feedback At All Cost

A few weeks ago, I came across an ad in a well-known podcast industry publication for a new-ish tech company in the podcasting space. The company was a new sponsor of the publication and as part of their sponsor package, received a number of targeted shoutouts, both...

This is How Good Your Podcast Needs to Be to Have a Shot at Success

I was talking with a friend who is deeply embedded in the podcast world last week about the current state of podcasting and he said something that stuck with me. “The average podcast just isn’t that good.” To be honest it shocked me. Not because it was wrong. But...

How Much Untapped Revenue Is Locked Up In Your Podcast?

There’s an old saying in online marketing circles: “The money’s in the list.” And it’s true. An engaged email list is one of the most valuable assets you can build when it comes to selling your products and services online. There are numerous reasons why email is so...

The 3 Levers of Mastering Podcast Marketing

There might be no medium that does a better job of systematically guiding participants from novice to mastery than video games. I say this after having recently eased my way back into the world of video games after a 15-year break. Specifically, I’ve been playing...

8 Specific Elements Found In Every Great Podcast Episode

If you want to grow, you need to hook listeners and keep them coming back. The best way to do that? Create great episodes. Of course, this begs the question: What exactly makes for a great episode? And if there was a simple rubric, wouldn’t everyone just follow it and...

54 Predictors of Podcast Marketing Success

What is it exactly that allows some shows—and the marketing behind them—to be successful and others not? This question has been playing on a constant loop in the back of my mind for at least the past 5 years. For a while, I—like most people—was most interested in the...

Are Your Episode Titles Accidentally Killing Your Growth?

Consider this scenario. You’re the host of an interview show that features wide-ranging hour-long interviews with your guests. The guests are fascinating and entertaining people and over the course of a typical interview, you jump from topic to topic, going down each...

How Would Tesla Create & Market A Podcast?

Back in 2020 the auto industry spent more than $12 billion on digital advertising in the US alone. That's a huge number. It's also a number that doesn't include the ubiquitous TV or radio advertising we're constantly being bombarded with, nor any advertising elsewhere...

A Simple Test to Predict Your Podcast Growth

There’s a quote by the management consultant W. Edwards Deming that I think about on a near-daily basis when it comes to making and marketing podcasts. The quote? “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” When it comes to growing your podcast,...

Attack & Defend: The Tactic Behind All Captivating Podcast Interviews

There’s a YouTuber who’s been popping up in my feed recently named Brandon McNulty. Brandon is a fiction author who shares the writing advice he wishes he had when he first started out, including topics like storytelling, dialogue, plot and character development, and...

The North Star of Every Effective Podcast Marketing Strategy

When taking on any new challenge, it always helps to know what exactly you’re up against. Whether it’s a weekend hiking trip, a new job role, or marketing a podcast, understanding the terrain you’re operating in and the challenges you’re likely to face helps you...

A Clear Red Flag That Your Podcast Is Doomed to Fail

I've had 1:1 conversations with literally hundreds of podcasters looking to grow their shows. And there's one sentence that—when uttered—instantly tells me that their show will probably never be successful. I've heard it spoken by everyone from solo creators to...

To Retain More Podcast Listeners, Get Clear on Why They Choose You

Think for a minute about all the dozens of targeted ads that chase you around the internet every day. Whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, or Google the companies behind the ads have clearly identified you as one of their ideal target customers. But despite...

The 3 Types of Consistency that Are Essential for Podcast Growth

Everyone loves to parrot advice about the importance of consistency for growing a podcast. And it’s true, it’s hard to overstate the value of consistency. Unfortunately, most advice about consistency only addresses one of the three types of consistency that are...

The 4 Hooks Framework: The Key to Winning Over New Podcast Listeners

The success or failure of your podcast ultimately boils down to your ability to get people to click "play" on your episodes. And while there’s a lot that goes into getting (and keeping) people listening, the majority of the battle is won or lost within the first few...

It’s Not Your Guests’ Job to Grow Your Podcast

Imagine this: You’ve just recorded an episode with a guest who has a huge following. You might not know exactly why they agreed to be on your show in the first place, but you’re absolutely sure that this is the big break you’ve been waiting for. You take your time...

The 3 Universal Building Blocks of Podcast Growth

Imagine for a moment that podcasting “success” is a bar set at a predefined height and your goal is to build your show up toward it. To do so, you have your choice of three basic building blocks, each of identical dimensions. The first block is time. The second,...

What’s Your Podcast’s Hook?

Think of the last movie you actually went to see in the theater. Chances are, before committing to the movie you either had heard about it from a friend or seen a trailer and were intrigued enough to forgo Netflix, leave your house, and head to the theater. In other...

Niche Your Podcast’s Marketing, Not Your Content

Imagine you have a choice of two lakes to fish in, one on your left and the other on your right. The lakes are identical, except for two factors. The lake on your left has 10x as many fish as the one on the right It’s also 100x bigger, with the fish evenly dispersed...

Better Podcast Discovery Won’t Save Your Show

As a podcaster, it's easy to look at platforms like TikTok and YouTube and get a little wistful. So many podcast hosts imagine that if only podcasting had a universal discoverability engine similar to those platforms, their shows would have an easier time finding and...

The Most Reliable Blueprint for Podcast Marketing Success

You’ve never heard of Stuart Reid. But he’s the best in the world at what he does. There’s almost no doubt about it. In fact, he’s pretty much the only person in the world doing what he does. Despite the lack of competition—and at least initially—the lack of demand...

How Long Should You Wait Before Quitting a Podcast?

As far as creators go, it’s hard to argue that Matt D’Avella is pretty successful. On YouTube, he has more than 3.5 million subscribers. His podcast, which he produced from 2017-2019, has more than two million downloads. His newsletter is read weekly by more than...

The Counterintuitive Math Behind Podcast Growth

Depending on the positioning of the planets in relation to each other, it's around 225,000,000 kilometers (140,000,000 miles) to Mars. As with all spaceflight, one of the most difficult challenges facing any voyage to Mars is fuel. 225 million kilometers is more than...

7 Hurdles to Acquiring Every New Podcast Listener

A typical marketing funnel consists of several distinct phases that map out a potential client, customer, or podcast listener’s relationship with us. These phases might include a person’s general awareness of us and our work, engagement with our show and other...

Every Podcast Starts From Zero

Zero listeners, zero fans, zero reputation. Every podcast creator starts in the same place. It’s easy to begrudge the big brands and media empires for instantly racking up millions of downloads without having to pay their dues. But they did. They started from zero...

The Only Type of Podcast You’ll Ever Be Able to Grow

Chances are, you'd like your podcast to reach more people. Not just reach people, however, but connect with them, move them, change them. The way to achieve that, as you might have already guessed, is through marketing. But there's a catch. There's a secret that...

Don’t Steal This Podcast Marketing Strategy

A few years ago, I heard a story about a high school basketball player who was determined to one day make the NBA. Like so many up-and-coming basketball players his age, his idol was LeBron James. In an effort to replicate LeBron's career trajectory and success, the...

Why Specificity Is the Hidden Driver of Podcast Growth & Monetization

Imagine that in the past few days, you've started suffering from back pain. It started as a dull ache just above your tailbone but has now sharpened into an acute needling pain that shoots up your spine in waves. Realizing that the problem isn't going to resolve...

The Cliché Career Advice That Will Grow Your Podcast

“Dress for the job you want, not the one you have.” At some point, you've probably heard this advice applied to career advancement. And while the concept might be outdated in a world that's going increasingly remote—when it comes to podcasting, it’s never been more...

One of The Biggest Illusions In Podcast Marketing

Imagine that by some twist of fate, you were granted access to Studio Two at Abbey Road to record and mix your next episode. As the site of landmark recordings from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Oasis, Adele, Ed Sheeran, and many more, Studio Two is one of the most...

To Keep Podcast Listeners Coming Back, Nail Your Episode Endings

The US version of the Office had a problem. They were six episodes into their pilot season and on the brink of cancellation. To this point, they’d modeled everything in their show on the hit UK version of the show, including their main character, Michael Scott, played...

Is Your Podcast Setting You Up For Creative Burnout?

Not long ago, I hit a wall. It’s not surprising, really, in hindsight. At the time, I was publishing two newsletters, a long-form Twitter thread, and four Quick Podcast Tips every week. From a content creation perspective alone it was a lot. But that was just the...

The 10 People You Need to Grow Your Podcast

As podcast creators, our shows often based around a big goal or grand vision for how to make life better for a specific group of people. That vision might be a refinement or improvement on the way things are currently done or a complete uprooting of the existing...

The Two Tried & True Strategies to Make Your Podcast Un-Ignorable

When it comes down to it, there are essentially two tried and true ways to stand out in your niche and build a following around your podcast. The first is to produce the same content, in the same format, for the same audience that other podcasters are already creating...

Podcast Marketing Insanity (and Why It’s Keeping You Stuck)

“Insanity,” an oft-quoted phrase tells us, “is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” It's easy to recognize the absurdity of this approach in that friend who's stuck in a perpetual cycle of breaking up with their partner... only to get...

Great Podcasts Have A Distinctive Fingerprint. Does Yours?

Imagine ten of your favourite podcasts were put on shuffle mode and you were then played back random 2-minute clips from each of them. Presented with this small sample, what are the chances that you'd be able to identify each of them? If they're truly great shows, the...

The Idea Faucet: A Simple Exercise to Generate Ideas & Get Unstuck

A while back, I came across Julian Shapiro’s idea of the ​Creativity Faucet​. Here’s how he describes it: Visualize your creativity as a backed-up pipe of water. The first mile of piping is packed with wastewater. This wastewater must be emptied before the clear water...

Idea Generation: The Crucial Skill Your Entire Podcast Hinges On

If I asked you to list the skills that are most important to growing a successful podcast, what comes to mind? I'm guessing it's the technical ones. Skills like recording & editing audio, conducting compelling interviews, scripting, copywriting, and marketing. All...

The Overjustification Effect: The Silent Killer of Podcast Dreams

A couple years ago, I bought a book on beginner calligraphy and started practicing. I've always admired hand lettering artists and after taking a one-off intro calligraphy workshop, discovered that apart from looking cool, it was also a lot of fun. I had been looking...

The Kobe Bryant Approach to Podcasting

Kobe Bryant will forever be regarded as one of basketball's greatest players. Much of this can be attributed to his prodigious natural talent. But behind that talent, was one of the hardest-working players the game had ever seen. During the offseason, he followed his...

A Clever Hack to Stay Motivated When Podcast Growth Is Slow

One of the hardest parts of podcasting is staying motivated. We've talked before about how podcasting is built on compounding returns, which means we have to commit to playing the game for a long time before we can hope to see any real results. The thing is, playing...

Lessons From The Stock Market On Growing A Podcast

When I was in high school, my parents regularly nagged me about the importance of starting to invest for retirement early. Even $50 per month would be worthwhile, they said, and would go a long way toward building the habit of investing as I started working and could...

If Your Podcast Isn’t Your Audience’s Favorite, It’s Nothing

At the end of 2020, I discovered the software tool, Notion. If you’re not familiar with it, Notion is an ultra-flexible, all-in-one workspace, allowing you to wrap all your favorite productivity tools into one neat & tidy package. Now, I’m a systems nerd, and I...

The Slow, Unsexy, Utterly Effective Way to Improve & Grow Your Podcast

Think for a moment about your very favourite podcast. The show that you wish yours could be. What are the gaps currently separating your podcast from that show? Chances are they're significant. Your favourite podcast might record in a professional production studio...

The Real Work of Podcasting

If you've been producing your podcast for long, you know how much work goes into creating a great podcast. Guest outreach & management, research, recording, editing, promotion... Let's just say ​it's a lot​. Each episode of my last podcast took 15-20 hours of my...

The Hidden Benefits of Approaching Your Podcast as a Body of Work

Imagine for a moment that The Beatles had never written and released the song Hey Jude. Would they still be as popular and culturally influential without it? The song is not only one of the band's most popular songs, but one of the most popular songs. Of all time....

Great Podcasts Do “Work” for Their Listeners. Does Yours?

I came across this tweet from Sam Parr, host of the massively successful ​My First Million​ podcast a while back. The show's concept is that in every episode, Sam and his co-host Shaan brainstorm potential million-dollar business ideas for their listeners to take and...

Two Ways to Improve Your Podcast (& Why Most People Choose Wrong)

There are two ways to make anything better, including a podcast. The first, and more obvious, is to add something new. More features. More benefits. More bonuses. We often look at the work of others we perceive as more successful and think the difference in results is...

Two Ways to Improve Your Podcast (& Why Most People Choose Wrong)

There are two ways to make anything better, including a podcast. The first, and more obvious, is to add something new. More features. More benefits. More bonuses. We often look at the work of others we perceive as more successful and think the difference in results is...

Distribution Isn’t Enough to Grow Your Podcast

There's a ​classic scene​ in Season 4 of Seinfeld that relates perfectly to how many podcast creators approach their shows. Jerry and George are in a meeting with Russell Dalrymple, President of NBC pitching him a pilot for a TV show Jerry and George are writing. When...

Is Your Podcast Packaging Confusing Potential Listeners?

One of the best pieces of marketing advice I ever received was this: "A confused mind always says 'no'." When it comes to podcasting, this advice applies most specifically to your podcast's messaging. Here's how it works: Clear messaging has the effect of both...

Great Shows Are Built Around The Host’s Superpowers. Is Yours?

I always marvel at the way my girlfriend, Kelly, can get on a call with a total stranger and within 5 minutes be chatting away as if they grew up together. It might be (and often is) a prospective client, potential collaborator, a new acquaintance, or even a customer...

The One Way to Escape the Podcast Production Hamster Wheel

At one point or another, we've all experienced the podcast production hamster wheel. We run faster, produce more content, and yet never seem to get anywhere. The hamster wheel is exhausting, discouraging, and leads, in one way or another to the death of many a...

What’s the Rare Thing Your Podcast Provides?

Hi friends, I'm a bit of an ice cream fiend. I've sampled ice cream at dozens if not hundreds of ice cream shops around the world and my very first podcast was actually a show about local ice cream in Vancouver. Since I know you're curious, my favourite shop is Salt...

Podcast Growth Flywheels: How to Grow Faster with Less Effort

You might remember James Watt, from history class, as the inventor of the Watt steam engine. The Watt Steam Engine played a pivotal role in the industrial revolution. But while it was certainly his most significant invention, it was far from his only one. Another of...

The Truth About How Podcasts Really Grow

A few months ago, I decided to go through the list of podcasts I subscribed to and determine exactly how I had discovered them in the first place. There were 18 podcasts in my feed from Seth Godin's, Akimbo to Krista Tippett's, On Being, 99 Percent Invisible to LeVar...

Before You Can Achieve Podcasting Success, You Need to Define It

Asking what podcasting success looks like might seem like a silly question to ask. "Millions of downloads, of course! Oh, and a line up of sponsors out the door... And a book deal... and I want to interview Barrack Obama... And maybe a spin-off Netflix series? Once my...

The Square Peg, Round Hole Podcast Problem

When I started producing podcasts in 2016, podcasting was a completely different world. At only 60k active podcasts (compared to more than a million today), the medium was a lot less crowded for creators like us. With little competition, podcast hosts didn't need to...

How Emulating Successful Podcasts Kills Your Potential for Growth

With several million podcasts in existence, there's a lot of noise in the world of podcasting. It's not as much as Youtube (31 million channels) or blogging (600 million), but it's certainly not nothing. Many of those podcasts feature solid content and tight...

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