Shownotes
Can You Get Podcast Downloads Without Actively Marketing It?
I often get asked, "What would happen if I didn't promote my podcast at all?" In this episode, I'll share what I found when I tested this out on my podcast between Seasons 1 and 2 of the show.
I'll discuss the impact on my downloads, traffic, retention, brand, and social media.
I wanted to create a season preview about what the new season will bring while telling you what happens if you neglect podcast promotion. By doing so, I also hope to help you avoid seeing zero downloads on that dashboard—a traumatic scenario for any podcaster. I understand the effort put into creating a show, only to have no listeners can be disheartening. So, let's dive into this topic and discuss a few big changes happening behind the scenes.
The Consequences of Not Promoting Your Podcast
What happens if you decide not to promote your podcast at all? I did a little experiment—I did mention the podcast once in a newsletter—but for almost three months, I didn't promote it on social media or through my newsletter, except for that one time. So, what happened?
I looked at the data right before recording this episode and here's what I found:
- Shift in Platform Use: There was a notable shift in platform use. While Spotify has seen growth among users, especially where Android is more prevalent, my US-based audience primarily uses Apple devices. This shift was surprising and suggests behavioral (or audience) changes among listeners, with Spotify launching new features contributing to this change.
- Analysis of the Data: Comparing an almost 90-day period of not promoting my podcast to the previous 90-day period, I saw a 30% drop in downloads and unique listeners. This number is interesting as it held consistent across downloads and unique listeners.
- Impact on Video Content: The impact was also felt on YouTube, where I had lower view durations and 40% fewer views compared to the previous period. Google continued to drive traffic to my podcast pages due to SEO optimizations, ensuring a steady stream of new traffic. However, without promotion, this viewership decreased.
- Consumption Impact: There was also a decline in consumption, with listeners not engaging as deeply with the episodes. This is consistent with attracting "cold traffic" – new audiences unfamiliar with my content.
- Inactive Status on Platforms: My podcast showed as inactive on some platforms, which could discourage potential sponsors or new listeners who want active content creators. Despite this, I continued to receive numerous pitches for guest spots, despite not featuring guests for a while.
Embracing Major Changes
Now, let's discuss some exciting news I previously shared on Instagram.
Initially, I planned for about 20 episodes of solos and interviews, but I've decided against it. I'm moving from Dallas, Texas to Bentonville, Arkansas due to my husband's job! To ensure consistency, I've pre-recorded all content in my office. This means a consistent look and sound for the show - something extremely important if you’re trying to create a professional image of your show.
The Three M's: Marketing, Metrics, and Mindset
The theme for this season is very strategic: Marketing, Metrics, and Mindset. These elements are crucial and interrelated. During my coaching and consulting sessions, I often see clients benefitting from adjustments in these areas. Here’s a peek into the topics we’ll cover:
- Passively Attracting and Converting Listeners: Learn how to enhance your podcast profile and attract listeners without aggressive promotion.
- Crucial Podcast Metrics: Discover the top three podcast metrics that every business owner should track to grow their show—and no, it isn't just about the downloads!
- Overcoming Limiting Beliefs: Understand how limiting beliefs can stifle your podcast’s growth and what steps to take to overcome these barriers.
This season will feature ten episodes. I invite you to sign up for The Podcast Space newsletter to receive these episodes directly in your inbox through our RSS automation.
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Transcripts
Oh, hello there, friend.
Speaker A:It's so good to be back for season two of the podcast space.
Speaker A:I'm very excited to be revealing all the things that we're going to be talking on season two of the podcast space, and also what happened in between season one and season two, because I always get asked what would happen if I was to not promote my podcast at all, and what would be the impact on my downloads, on my traffic, on my retention, on my brand, on my social media?
Speaker A:You see where I'm going, right?
Speaker A:So I wanted to create a seasoned preview about what the new season will be about, but really telling you a little bit about what happens in the in between, what you can expect if you do that, and also how you can avoid having zero downloads on that dashboard, which I think is probably one of the most traumatic things as a podcaster, to put all of these time and effort into a show and then realizing that, yeah, it's not getting any listeners.
Speaker A:So I want to be talking about exactly those two things and also reveal a few big things that you may have not heard if you don't follow me on instagram, by the way, I'm at the podcast space.
Speaker A:T h e podcast as a singular word.
Speaker A:And then space, because, yes, some big life changes had happened on this side of, and it's going to affect how season two and a lot of the strategic content was based on these decisions.
Speaker A:If you're new here, hello.
Speaker A:I'm annex Aver.
Speaker A:I'm the founder of the podcast Space.
Speaker A:I'm an award winning marketer that teaches impact driven podcasters and entrepreneurs how to use the show in a way that is meaningful and helps them get more visibility in the online space, which all need in the offline world, too, because the impact of a podcast is never just measured by the online impact.
Speaker A:So what happens if you decide to not promote the podcast at all?
Speaker A:Well, I kind of cheated because I promoted the podcast one time on a newsletter, and that was it.
Speaker A:So for almost three months, I didn't promote a podcast on social media or on my newsletter apart from that one time.
Speaker A:And what happened?
Speaker A:Well, I looked at the data right before recording these episodes because I'm releasing this on international podcast Day, which is September 30.
Speaker A:And here's what I found out.
Speaker A:First thing is that there was a shift in platform use.
Speaker A:You may have seen it in the news, and I share that on social media, that there's been a growth on Spotify users overall, even here in the US, in Europe, it's quite normal because not everyone has an iPhone.
Speaker A:So most people tend to use an Android.
Speaker A:And what most people use on an Android is, is also Spotify.
Speaker A:Now, because I am based in the US, the audience that I serve tends to be more users of Apple devices.
Speaker A:That was an interesting change, which made me believe that users are shifting their behaviors.
Speaker A:And again, Spotify is launching a lot of new features, so it kind of makes sense, but it's quite curious and you should totally check your podcast as well to see if you notice that trend.
Speaker A:So I looked at that almost 90 day period and compared it to the previous 90 day period because I couldn't compare it to the previous year because I had what I call like a surge in bot activity.
Speaker A:So basically, all of these bots on the Internet play in my podcast, which is something that I covered on another episode.
Speaker A:And I can include the link in the show notes so you can listen.
Speaker A:But it was something that I just could not look at the data.
Speaker A:And again, we look at data here and we break it down into useful and practical advice.
Speaker A:And the data was not usable, so of course I had to use something else.
Speaker A:So I compared to the previous section, which is, again, when I released content.
Speaker A:And so looking into the audio data, I was really surprised to see the amount of downloads that I got out of not promoting it at all.
Speaker A:It wasn't zero.
Speaker A:It was 30% of what I normally get when I actively promote a podcast and when I release content.
Speaker A:And I thought it was really interesting because it was not only 30% of the downloads, it was also 30% of the unique listeners, which this number really varies depending on the season that you're at.
Speaker A:And then when looking at video, I thought that was going to be minimally impacted because I normally promote the audio episodes more than YouTube.
Speaker A:So it just made more sense.
Speaker A:I had a 30% lower than average view duration.
Speaker A:So basically it was new traffic, unfamiliar with who I am and my content.
Speaker A:Then I had 40% less views in comparison to the same 90 days before, which was again, no active promotion.
Speaker A:So it's YouTube doing its thing.
Speaker A:And it was really interesting because I looked into the traffic sources and Google, which kind of confirms what I always say, which is you can get listenership that can come from newsletters, that is like part of your welcome sequence.
Speaker A:So basically the podcast is integrated in my email marketing welcome sequence.
Speaker A:So if you sign up to the podcast spaces newsletter, you will receive at some point a link that promotes a podcast, right?
Speaker A:So that's passively happening.
Speaker A:And then the pages, they are heavily SEO optimized and that we're already getting me traffic to the website, continue doing the same.
Speaker A:So basically, I know that those pages where I embedded specific episodes, and again, I track that's something that I teach you as well, like how do you leverage what's already working so you don't have to constantly be reinventing the wheel?
Speaker A:A ton of Google traffic, a ton of new traffic, word of mouth, and then podcast interviews, because I did a few in these period, all of them contributed to that 30% of what normally is my normal downloads.
Speaker A:And, and in terms of consumption, there was an impact in the consumption.
Speaker A:So basically, people were not listening in as much of the episode as per usual, which is normal for what we say, air quotes, cold traffic.
Speaker A:Now, I thought it was really interesting.
Speaker A:A few other things that happened in between was that the podcast actually showed inactive on some platforms.
Speaker A:So if I had someone looking for a sponsorship for the podcast space or something like that, or someone that is researching for strategic partners or something like that, they may want active podcasters.
Speaker A:And also, as a listener, if you're looking for new shows to add to your weekly playlist, maybe you are not as excited to add a podcast that may show as inactive, or at least not as updated from some platforms that show that information.
Speaker A:And let me tell you, I continued to receive endless pitches that were all terrible.
Speaker A:They were so bad.
Speaker A:They were like, me, me, me, me, me.
Speaker A:I want to be on your show.
Speaker A:And when clearly I haven't featured a guest in a very long time.
Speaker A:So I thought it was kind of silly.
Speaker A:So everybody do your homework, right?
Speaker A:Because it just, as someone who is pitched all the time, I just see the really lazy pitches.
Speaker A:And if you're struggling to convert the pitches you're sending to shows, there may be one reason.
Speaker A:So it sounds very generic and it shows.
Speaker A:You didn't even do the homework, so pay attention.
Speaker A:Just as a reminder, I feel like a lot of podcasters do the show because they cannot create content.
Speaker A:They are like, I can't imagine what I would be talking about on my social media or my newsletter.
Speaker A:And that's something that I don't have any problems with.
Speaker A:The podcast is actually just one of those things that I add to my list.
Speaker A:But I can have no issues creating social media content, video, graphics, and I can totally write a newsletter every single week, and that's not a problem for me.
Speaker A:For many podcasters, stopping seasons means that they have to maybe recycle content because they're like, just can get themselves around the idea of diving into creation without that meaty episode beforehand.
Speaker A:So let's move into the exciting things.
Speaker A:On Instagram, I shared that there were some major news that were having an impact in how I was going to release this season.
Speaker A:Initially, I expected to release about 20 episodes and incorporate some interviews, but I decided against it because I'm moving to Bentonville, Arkansas from Dallas, Texas.
Speaker A:I'm currently in Dallas and my husband's job is moving us there.
Speaker A:So life happens.
Speaker A:And that's one of the reasons why I decided to pre record all of the content in my office, so that I know, you know, what the space looks like.
Speaker A:The look is consistent, the audio is consistent.
Speaker A:I don't have to stress out on what it will look like and sound like and how I can lit it up.
Speaker A:The topic of the season is going to be the three M's, marketing metrics and mindset.
Speaker A:All of these are three very, very, very important things.
Speaker A:They are correlated more than you think.
Speaker A:And when I am coaching and consulting with clients, there's always at some point in our engagement a moment when I noticed that they really would benefit from a mindset shift, or they're not measuring enough, or they're not measuring the right things, or they're not marketing it in a way that feels good to them.
Speaker A:This podcast series is going to be strategic to help you get around some limiting beliefs, to bring awareness into some issues that you may not have noticed or kind of like guide you into understanding that maybe you need coaching, or maybe you need consulting.
Speaker A:Nothing is wrong with you or your show.
Speaker A:And a few things that we're going to be covering.
Speaker A:How to passively attract and convert listeners to your show through your podcasts profile.
Speaker A:Three podcast metrics that every business owner needs to track in order to grow their podcast.
Speaker A:And no, it isn't downloads.
Speaker A:And also how limiting beliefs can affect podcast and business opportunities and what to do instead.
Speaker A:This is such a big one.
Speaker A:I see so many people that have amazing concepts, amazing shows, and these beliefs are really completely limiting their potential and their show's potential.
Speaker A:It's gonna be ten episodes.
Speaker A:As I said, you can sign up to the podcast Spaces newsletter and receive those on your inbox.
Speaker A:Cause I have an RSS automation to remind you to listen to the show.
Speaker A:Now I'm very excited because we're gonna be expanding how the podcast base looks feels on the user experience side.
Speaker A:So if we go to the podcast Spaces website, you'll see segmentation again.
Speaker A:This will be like a multi quarter process.
Speaker A:But basically, if you are an independent podcaster, if you are a business owner, or if you are an agency, which is my secondary audience, you'll be able to really have more customized experience.
Speaker A:Same thing for the newsletter, and that is very exciting because it's just going to help everybody who's looking for specific support to find it faster.
Speaker A: s been on as a business since: Speaker A:And hey, it's my first business.
Speaker A:So of course there will be some pivoting and a lot of learning and a lot of growth and especially more interactive growth.
Speaker A:So if you're listening and you are an agency owner, there'll be a lot of opportunities for you to collaborate with a podcast base.
Speaker A:And yeah, I'll be talking about that in future episodes.
Speaker A:But I wanted to keep this first preview exciting, give you some insights into what happens when you market, when you don't market a podcast, what you look at and in terms of trends and all, I want to invite you to visit the podcast space.com if you need customized support to help you grow because you feel like you're spinning your wheels and podcasting feels lonely, and so at some point, we all need outside perspective to grow the show.
Speaker A:You can book your 30 minutes call with me.
Speaker A:I'll leave the link in the show notes.
Speaker A:Connect with me on Instagram if that feels less scary than sending an email.
Speaker A:And so the new episode is going to be dropping on October 2, same time, same day.
Speaker A:And I just invite you as always to keep creating imperfect content that moves you forward.
Speaker A:I'll see you in the next episode.
