Podcasters spend so much time and energy working to gain exposure to new potential listeners as a way to grow their audience.
But what if focusing on converting cold audiences wasn’t in fact the fastest way to grow your listener base?
Overwhelmingly, the most common avenue for podcast growth is through word of mouth, and yet few podcasters really double down on this strategy for growth, most likely because it feels completely outside of their control.
But it’s not.
It simply means that instead of focusing your efforts outward, your energy would be better spent on the attention you already have from your existing audience, and turning them from casual listeners into advocates.
What are Advocates?
In short, your advocates are your super fans.
They’re the people who not only listen to every episode you produce but tell every person they meet who might be even remotely interested in your show about it.
One advocate is powerful, and will likely bring in a few more listeners. An army of advocates, however, will do all of your marketing for you.
Converting Listeners Into Advocates
The first and all-important step is to be clear on who you’re serving and how you’re serving them. It’s going to be all but impossible to create advocates if your content and audience targeting are loose and unfocused.
Consider which small group of people you can truly become the best in the world for and the work to become that.
People will readily advocate for a solution they know to be the best option available. You need to be that solution to a handful of people.
Once your targeting is on point, it becomes a matter of giving your audience an experience that goes beyond what they expect from a podcast host and telling them how they can help spread the word.
Give more of your time and your effort than other similar hosts do. Get on calls with your listeners regularly, send them hand-written thank you notes, give them “Wow” moments.
Most importantly, consistently get them results, by delivering on the promise of your show.
Be specific about how you want people to share the show. Is there a specific landing page for new listeners? A specific platform you want to engage on? An intro episode that serves as a starting point for people unfamiliar with your work?
The easier you can make it for people to help, the more they will.
The Power of Advocates
Not every listener will become an advocate, even if you provide them an incredible experience and make it easy for them to help.
But you don’t need every listener to become an advocate.
Imagine what just ten advocates could do for your show. Ten people who brought in one or two new people each month, who shared about each new episode on their social channels and talked about you to their friends and peers.
Over a year that’s roughly 240 new listeners that your ten advocates have brought in on their own. If you’re able to then turn a portion of those new listeners into advocates themselves, the growth begins to increase at an exponential rate.
Listener advocacy is the only marketing tool that can possibly approach exponential growth rates, let alone achieving them for free.
Remember that while marketing through your advocates might not cost a lot of money, developing listeners into advocates will certainly cost time, attention, and emotion.
Invest each of these wisely into your audience and watch them grow your show for you.
Every Sunday I send out an exclusive article on how to use podcasting to build an audience and grow your business.
No opt-in, no freebie no bribe. But hopefully a new perspective, encouragement, and maybe even some occasional wisdom. It’s something I’m proud to create and I’d be honoured to share it with you.
Jeremy travels full-time, loves long-distance cycle touring, and will always look back on the day he finally saved up enough money to buy the Millennium Falcon Lego set as one of his proudest achievements. He believes that the way to grow sustainable businesses is by leading with heart, vulnerability, and helping your people be and become their best selves.
- Why Wouldn’t They Just Google It? - March 14, 2021
- Before You Can Market Your Podcast, You Need To Create A Marketable Podcast - March 11, 2021
- Podcast Promotion & Marketing Are Different (Here’s How to Use Each Effectively) - March 10, 2021
