🎙️Are You Measuring Podcast Success the Right Way?
👋Hey there Podcaster!
A podcast can be good and still not be working. You can have great conversations. You can get positive feedback. You can even have respectable download numbers. But there’s still a question worth asking:
Is your podcast actually doing the job you created it to do?
🎯 Give Your Podcast a Job
I recently heard from someone who had enjoyed making her podcast, but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth continuing.
The show was supposed to help grow awareness for her business.
It didn’t do enough of that.
And once the amount of work started outweighing the results, continuing became harder to justify.
That got me thinking about how many podcasters never clearly define what they expect their podcast to accomplish.
Maybe you want your show to:
Generate leads
Establish your expertise
Grow an audience
Build relationships
Create a community
Open doors to speaking, partnerships or other opportunities
There’s no single right answer.
But you should have an answer.
📏 Measure the Right Thing
Once you know the job, you can figure out whether the podcast is actually doing it.
This is where download numbers can become misleading.
If the goal of your podcast is to attract clients, 5,000 downloads might sound great.
But if none of those listeners ever become clients, start conversations with you or even visit your website, those downloads may not mean very much.
Meanwhile, another podcast might have 300 loyal listeners and consistently generate introductions, clients and opportunities.
Which show is more successful?
It depends on the job.
Your definition of success should determine what you measure.
🎙️ A Quick Personal Favor
I’m in the running for Top Host, and I’d love your vote!
The winner receives $25,000, a six-episode podcast produced by iHeartRadio, and a guest appearance on On Air with Ryan Seacrest.
If I win, I’d use the prize money to take Community Makes Us on location. The series explores how community changes people and what those experiences teach us about building and leading communities.
One place I’d love to feature is Camp Footprint, the free camp for kids with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease where I volunteer.
Cast your free vote for me here.
You can vote once every 24 hours. The first cut is October 15.
🛠️ Design the Show for the Outcome
Here’s the part I think gets missed most often.
Once you know what you want your podcast to accomplish, look at the show you’re actually making.
Is it designed to produce that result?
If you want more clients, are you talking about the problems potential clients actually need help solving?
If you want to build relationships, are you inviting the right people onto the show?
If you want audience growth, are you consistently giving people a reason to discover and share it?
If you want listeners to take an action, are you actually asking them to?
Sometimes the podcast isn’t failing.
The strategy around the podcast just needs an adjustment.
🔎 Try This
Finish this sentence:
“Over the next six months, I’ll consider my podcast successful if it helps me __________.”
Then ask yourself:
Is the podcast I’m currently making actually designed to make that happen?
If the answer is no, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s time to quit.
It might simply be time to change something.
Your format.
Your guests.
Your topics.
Your promotion.
Your call to action.
Or even the job you’ve assigned the podcast in the first place.
🎙️ From the Podcasting Morning Show Archive
If this has you reconsidering what success looks like for your show, here are two conversations worth revisiting:
Episode 547: How to Grow a Podcast With Better Discovery and Analytics
We dig into podcast metrics, listener engagement and what the numbers actually tell you, so you can make better decisions without getting caught up in vanity metrics.
Episode 519: Monetize Your Podcast Without Big Downloads
A reminder that a smaller, connected audience can sometimes accomplish far more for your podcast and your business than a big download number.
I’d also love to hear from you:
What job is your podcast supposed to do?
Hit reply and tell me.
I’m grateful you’re here.
All my best,
Marc
👋Marc Ronick
This content was composed with assistance from OpenAI.
Some of the links in this newsletter may be affiliate links, meaning we earn a small commission if you make a purchase through them at no extra cost to you.
