The EARS Podcast Marketing Framework
A straightforward system to diagnose, build, and guide your podcast marketing, growth, and revenue generation strategy.
How It Works
Your system for consistently and predictably gaining exposure to new potential listeners, clients, and customers who are a perfect fit for your show and your work.
The more attractive your show, the less time, effort, and money it takes to grow it. It’s the difference between pushing a boulder up a hill, and riding a toboggan down one.
Whether your business runs on clients, customers, or sponsors, chances are, you don’t need a huge audience to generate significant revenue from your show… if you know how to use it strategically to complement your other marketing & sales channels.
Less than 30% of first-time listeners stick around. Which means your biggest lever for growth isn’t getting in front of more new people, but keeping the existing ones coming back for more.
Your system for consistently and predictably gaining exposure to new potential listeners, clients, and customers who are a perfect fit for your show and your work.
The more attractive your show, the less time, effort, and money it takes to grow it. It’s the difference between pushing a boulder up a hill, and riding a toboggan down one.
Less than 30% of first-time listeners stick around. Which means your biggest lever for growth isn’t getting in front of more new people, but keeping the existing ones coming back for more.
Whether your business runs on clients, customers, or sponsors, chances are, you don’t need a huge audience to generate significant revenue from your show… if you know how to use it strategically to complement your other marketing & sales channels.
Find Out Why Your Show Isn’t Growing & Converting
Take our free two-minute assessment to identify the gaps in your marketing that are keeping you from growth.
Plus receive a personalized roadmap of what to do to fix them.
Exposure
If your show’s conversion rates are lower than the benchmarks listed above, it’s a sign that you’re missing out on potential listeners who are seeing your show… but deciding not to listen. Here are some potential reasons why.
How to Know If Your Podcast Has An Exposure Problem
Almost every podcaster believes they have an exposure problem.
In fact, they often believe a lack of exposure is the only problem standing between them and thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of listeners.
But is this really true?
The problem is most people don’t have an accurate idea of how many people actually are being exposed to their podcast in the first place.
Unlike YouTube or your website’s analytics, there’s no universal “impressions” or “traffic” metric telling you how many unique people have come across your show.
Spotify’s analytics dashboard gives us exceptional data related to how many people have been presented with your show, but that data only applies to impressions on Spotify, not the myriad other apps people consume podcasts on, much less the unmeasurable impressions that come via word of mouth, social media, and more.
That said, in most cases, its safe to say that most shows get way more exposure than they realize.
Based on our research of Spotify conversion rate data, a typical show might convert 5% of people who are presented with the show into listeners.
Assuming that this conversion rate holds true elsewhere, it’s likely that however many unique humans have clicked play on an episode of your show, at least 20x more have seen it in some capacity.
Even for small shows with just a few hundred downloads per episode, there’s a good chance that there show has been seen by tens of thousands of people.
In other words, for most shows, exposure is rarely the real problem.
The problem is converting that exposure into clicks.
That said, for shows with a proven track-record of attracting and converting listeners, exposure problems often manifest as a combination of both high click-through-rates and a slowing or plateau of growth.
This (rare) phenomenon is a sign that you’ve saturated your current market and must look for new audiences elsewhere.
Impact of An Exposure Problem
Assuming you know your show converts listeners when you’re able to get it in front of them, the impact of an exposure problem is a serious amount of wasted time (and perhaps money).
This time might be wasted on promotional and marketing efforts that aren’t working, or on producing a high-quality show that you’re not effectively getting in front of people.
Diagnosing The Root Cause of a Lack of Exposure
While most already shows get more than enough organic exposure to grow significantly by improving their Attraction and Retention, there are several factors that may be limiting exposure.
In all podcast-listening apps, discovery is heavily driven by SEO.
As such, if your show title, author tag, description, and episode titles don’t feature keywords or phrases people use when searching for a show like yours, you’re likely missing out on a significant amount of exposure.
Apps with strong discovery algorithms like Spotify and YouTube tend to promote shows with higher click-through-rates and suppress those with lower.
Improving your show’s Attraction, then—and with it your click-through-rate—will result in more organic exposure.
When it comes to your broader promotional and exposure strategies, common issues include poor or misguided execution of various exposure tactics, targeting audiences who lack alignment and interest in the podcast, and not regularly promoting the podcast regularly to your existing warm (but non-listener) audiences.
Finally, of course, there’s the possibility that you’re simply not putting any time or effort into earning exposure for your show on a regular basis.
How to Boost Your Podcast’s Exposure
If your show’s conversion rates are lower than the benchmarks listed above, it’s a sign that you’re missing out on potential listeners who are seeing your show… but deciding not to listen. Here are some potential reasons why.
Attraction
If your show’s conversion rates are lower than the benchmarks listed above, it’s a sign that you’re missing out on potential listeners who are seeing your show… but deciding not to listen. Here are some potential reasons why.
How to Know If Your Podcast Has An Attraction Problem
Almost every podcaster believes they have an exposure problem.
Impact of An Attraction Problem
Assuming you know your show converts listeners
Diagnosing The Root Cause of an Unattractive Podcast
While most already shows get more than enough organic exposure to grow significantly by improving their Attraction and Retention, there are several factors that may be limiting exposure.
How to Make Your Podcast More Attractive
If your show’s conversion rates are lower than the benchmarks listed above, it’s a sign that you’re missing out on potential listeners who are seeing your show… but deciding not to listen. Here are some potential reasons why.
Retention
If your show’s conversion rates are lower than the benchmarks listed above, it’s a sign that you’re missing out on potential listeners who are seeing your show… but deciding not to listen. Here are some potential reasons why.
How to Know If Your Podcast Has An Attraction Problem
Almost every podcaster believes they have an exposure problem.
Impact of An Attraction Problem
Assuming you know your show converts listeners
Diagnosing The Root Cause of an Unattractive Podcast
While most already shows get more than enough organic exposure to grow significantly by improving their Attraction and Retention, there are several factors that may be limiting exposure.
How to Make Your Podcast More Attractive
If your show’s conversion rates are lower than the benchmarks listed above, it’s a sign that you’re missing out on potential listeners who are seeing your show… but deciding not to listen. Here are some potential reasons why.
Attraction
If your show’s conversion rates are lower than the benchmarks listed above, it’s a sign that you’re missing out on potential listeners who are seeing your show… but deciding not to listen. Here are some potential reasons why.
How to Know If Your Podcast Has An Attraction Problem
Almost every podcaster believes they have an exposure problem.
Impact of An Attraction Problem
Assuming you know your show converts listeners
Diagnosing The Root Cause of an Unattractive Podcast
While most already shows get more than enough organic exposure to grow significantly by improving their Attraction and Retention, there are several factors that may be limiting exposure.
How to Make Your Podcast More Attractive
If your show’s conversion rates are lower than the benchmarks listed above, it’s a sign that you’re missing out on potential listeners who are seeing your show… but deciding not to listen. Here are some potential reasons why.
Increased revenue, audience growth, podcast awards, improved efficiency, chart rankings, and more. Our clients and community members have used our system to do it all.
How Jen 10Xed Coaching Income In 6 Months
How Doone Grew From 2k → 15k Dl/Mo In 6 Months
How Heidi Generated An Additional $20k In 6 Months
How Rob 5Xed Lead Acquisition In 3 Months
How Michael Became a Multi-Award Winning Producer
How Carolyn Consistently Ranks In The Top-30 For Her Category
Maybe you’ll be next?
So that’s it.
We’re pretty well acquainted.
If you’ve made it this far and are looking for more, you’ve got a few options.
Read Our In Depth Guides
The 4 Phases of Podcast Growth
If your marketing isn’t working, there’s a good chance it’s because you’re using the wrong tactics for the phase of growth you’re in. Here’s how to use the right marketing strategy at the right time
How to Become A Better Podcast Interviewer
A practical guide to improving your interviews, episodes, and guest relationships using the hidden skills, traits & practices behind truly great guest interviews.
The Definitive Guide to Podcast Hooks
The dark art & curious science of crafting a podcast that worms its way into your listeners’ minds and refuses to leave.
Subscribe To Our Free Content
Daily Podcast Marketing Micro Lessons
A daily newsletter breaking down the mechanics and the magic of making and marketing podcasts that grow, sell, and resonate.
Data-Driven Podcast Marketing Insights
Exploring the data behind the biggest and fastest growing shows to help you make better, smarter, more effective marketing decisions for your show.
Podcast Marketing Tear Downs
In every episode, we dissect one podcast to uncover tips, tactics, and strategies you can implement to grow your show.
Sign Up To Work With Us
A Step-by-Step Playbook to Your First 500 Podcast Subscribers
First500 is a self-paced video course and playbook walking you through the single hardest phase of podcast marketing: Gaining initial traction.
First500 Is Designed For:
- Established shows that have hit a plateau at fewer than 500 downloads per episode
- New shows that are looking to develop their ongoing post-launch marketing strategy
- Hosts who are new to—or intimidated by—marketing and looking for a straightforward, easy-to-follow playbook to get started
- Business owners, creators, and podcast managers looking for the 80/20 solution to gaining traction without spending hours consuming content.
Personalized, On-Demand Podcast Strategy For Businesses & Pro Creators
The PMA Membership gives you on-demand access to everything you need to grow your show, including personalized strategy & feedback, 100+ hours of podcast marketing training, dozens of step-by-step marketing playbooks, weekly coaching calls, a community of growth-oriented podcasters, and more.
The PMA Membership Is Designed For:
- Experienced business owners, professional creators, marketers, and podcast professionals looking for ongoing personalized marketing support
- Established shows that have been podcasting for at least a year and are looking to accelerate growth
- Brands & business owners looking to increase client acquisition and podcast-driven revenue
- Hosts looking to build (or grow) a robust cross-channel marketing strategy around podcasting, email, video, social, and more
Or, if you’re feeling especially saucy, you can apply to work with me directly via a personalized podcast audit, custom growth plan, and ongoing 1:1 marketing support.