Your podcast metrics are falling short compared to competitors. How will you maintain your motivation?

The only act of comparison worth considering is the one between you vs you. Always adoping a mindset to beat one's own personal best has served me well. When it comes to podcasts, it can be compelling to peak at other shows and see how you stack up. But ultimately it's an unfair comparison, since there's an endless amount of variables to compare. It's more worthwhile to put together a plan that sees that new you is beating the records that old you has been setting consistently

Adjusting goals is crucial, but equally important is understanding the unique value your podcast offers. Not all growth is measured by numbers alone. Focus on deepening connections with your existing audience; their engagement often leads to organic growth. Leverage what makes your podcast special—whether it's a particular storytelling style, guest selection, or community interaction. Remember, sustainable growth stems from genuine listener relationships, not just metrics. Stay true to your podcast's mission, and growth will follow.

I have always focused on the longer term goals. I have found that the biggest reasons for failure are not always obvious to the creator of any type of podcast or blog. Remember to stay focused on your content and the purpose you are sharing it. In the past, I found myself meandering and combining multiple topics that are much easier to comprehend when we stay attentive to one subject at a time. It might take some practice before you see your content and words flowing more freely and hitting the mark so that your audience profits from the knowledge you share. Any good blog or podcast will grow when you share concise information with your followers. Also, a little humor helps everyone to stay engaged.

Even the biggest podcasts on the world can experience volatile statistics in their own league. As the podcast is arguably the most important media platform type on the world right now, and will remain so for some time, as long as there is internet, podcasters should feel the urge to produce the highest quality content they can, speak about things they deem most important for themselves and enjoy the most, and not divert from that, even at times when Chartable gives them the downward pointing red arrows in the charts. If you stick to the type of content you love doing the most, the rest will come if you're disciplined and hard working enough. Don't change your character to fit the charts. Create your unique brand to capture YOUR audience.

First off, one of the strong suits of podcasting is convinient, low-cost production. Podcasting is meant to fit snugly into your daily routine as opposed to say, travel vlogging, which requires immense production cost and planning. That means this question begs for two answers--not one. 1. To tackle lagging views, you'll need to analyze what audiences are looking for and of course, stay current. Surf whatever wave of current events is dominating the news cycle 2. However, to keep your motivation up, you should look at your daily routine and how podcasting fits into it. Consider hiring an animator to change your style a bit. Maybe upgrade your mic Don't despair! A few tweaks here and there and you will be back in the driver's seat

Connecting with your audience is very important and is also fun, most of the time. However, one cannot keep up with replies and interactions after a certain amount. In order to avoid deep frustration because of the sheer number of incoming messages and comments, and your lack of time to reply all of them, consider creating content (posts and mentions in your episodes) that addresses your audience's topics and motivates/stimulates them to express thoughts to you. Both you and your audience should recognise that answering every single message and comment is an unreal expectation, but there are other, more productive and more relaxed ways to communicate.

Actively engage with your audience to maintain motivation. Build a community around your podcast by interacting with listeners through social media, emails, or live Q&A sessions. Hearing directly from your audience about how your content impacts them can provide a morale boost and remind you why you started podcasting in the first place. Their feedback can also offer insights into areas for improvement, helping you refine your approach and potentially boost your metrics over time.

Before you change directions or do a marketing push, make sure the content reflects your goals. Are you consistently reflecting your brand with high quality content that can engage your audience. People want to break through the digital divide and connect. High quality visuals, sound and thoughtful editing removes distractions and allows the message to shine. At its core, the content is the message. Make sure it’s genuine and consistent so people know what they are getting. Tactics that drive your audience to you only work if the destination can hold them.

Quality, creativity and originality are the primary factors to a successful show. We live in extremely turbulent times and people are starving for honest, educative, funny and high quality content as these are factors that are lacking almost entirely in mainstream media. Podcasts are slowly but surely taking over, and offer much broader and higher quality content than the propaganda machines of mainstream media. Your content and your honesty will win against low quality shows of corporate television and drive the success of podcasts like yours, in a mutual fashion.

The grind is real in podcasting. Regardless how expensive your equipment is, your style, your intellect, your ideas that manifest in your podcast will be the decisive factor for your audience. This is good news for people who like and are willing to learn. Being a podcast host, editing and post-processing a show is a never-ending learning curve which allows for virtually limitless improvement and keeps your intellect busy at all times. Don't be afraid of new challenges. Celebrate the nature of podcasting, which drives you towards constant improvement.

Maintaining a solid social media presence is hard and also time-consuming. Try to optimise your resources by doing research before spending enormous amounts of time or money to produce social media content. Check out how your favourite shows are doing their social media business, and try to pin-point a few core strategic attributes from what you learned. Try to schedule posts in advance and react on actual stuff in a timely manner, too. Stay up-to-date with new features of your social media applications, as new effective functions are likely to show up every now and then.

I can relate! Both of my podcasts, The Empower Hour and Freedom Fridays, went through this. Remind yourself that you’re glorifying God by dedicating time to spread the gospel, teach biblical truth, and help others. This pleases God and stores up eternal treasures in Heaven, regardless of your earthly metrics. Every farmer knows that they must plant seeds, water them, cultivate them, protect them from bugs, weather, etc. And it takes time for them to produce a crop. Keep sowing! Keep watering! In due time you’ll reap the harvest! As long as you’re doing what actually matters, and you love and enjoy it, it’s a worthwhile endeavor. Keep improving your process and product. You’ll have a fulfilling life and hopefully reap results too.