Podcast Success Steps for 2023

Podcast Fam!

I hope you’re having a great holiday season and that most of the craziness and panic is behind you! If you’re anything like me, that anxiety lasts all the way through Christmas evening.

But the day after Christmas is different.

Obviously not everyone celebrates Christmas. But it seems like that week before the New Year is a great opportunity to:

… reflect on the previous year,?

… reset our energy and our mindset,?

… and also recalibrate our goals and our targets.

Often as podcasters we get so caught up in getting episodes out that we don’t take enough time to pat ourselves on the back and give us some credit. Publishing a podcast consistently can be a grind, and it can be tough to acknowledge the amount of work that you’ve done.

So if you haven’t done that yet, I want to give you a pat on the back and a digital fist bump

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If you’ve stuck with it and are still publishing your show, then you deserve some recognition!

You also deserve to take a little bit of a breather. You may not be able to take an extended vacation from your show, but perhaps you can take an afternoon to stop working IN YOUR podcast and to spend a little time working ON your podcast.

If you want an easy exercise to show you just how much your show has grown, go back and listen to your first episode of 2022. If you’re doing it right, you might cringe a bit. This is because you’ve grown so much over the year – you just haven’t realized it.

But once you get over the initial reaction to turn it off, take a second to think about some things that you’ve really done well this year. What were the insights, breakthroughs, or changes that you made in 2022 that you want to carry into this next year? Maybe you stumbled on an episode topic that really resonated with your audience. Or maybe there was a particular format that you enjoyed creating.

I know it sounds simple, but find the things that worked and do more of them.

It also helps to remind yourself why you started your podcast.

Because it’s easy to get lost in the process of recording, publishing, and then promoting your show every single week. This can cause your show to get stagnant and prevents you from growing. It happens because podcasters get into a rut by doing the same thing over and over again - without feeling like they're getting anywhere.

There’s two solutions to this: consistently setting achievable milestones and constantly improving the quality of your show.

The first solution has to do with setting achievable milestones. This can be difficult for some podcast hosts because there's so much ambiguity about what a “good number of downloads is.”

My answer to that is to just find out for yourself. Because everyone has a different starting place depending on how big their initial audience. So don't focus on what your friends or even people in your niche might be doing. Just focus on making sure your baseline is improving.

You might be getting only 1 or 2 downloads when you first start your show, and that’s okay.

Part of the problem is it takes time for podcasters to find out if their show is resonating with people. Unlike social media platforms, listeners can’t really leave comments or even “like” a particular episode. So many hosts have to wait a few days or even weeks to tell which episodes are resonating with people.

But here’s some quick ways that you can tell if your show is improving. First, take a look at how many downloads you’re getting on publishing days. If that number is going up, you’re doing something good. The second thing you’ll want to take a look at is your monthly downloads. If that is also going up, then that’s another sign that your listeners are enjoying the show.

If these numbers are not going up, take a look at your publishing schedule.

Having an inconsistent publishing schedule can be one of the biggest reasons for a show not growing. This is partially because the podcast apps stop automatically downloading the episodes after a while, and it’s also because those listeners find other shows to listen to instead. So your show may be actually improving, but you’re missing out on the gains because you’re not publishing consistently. Figure out what's holding your production process back or get some help to ease your workload.

But no matter what... Publish Consistently!!?

So what do you do if you’re publishing consistently but the numbers aren’t going up?

The simple answer is to make a better show. Many podcast hosts who publish AND promote their podcasts consistently often forget about this crucial element. But what does it actually mean to create a better show? Tthere’s no one answer to that because every show is different. But there are a couple ways you can find those answers.?

1?? Find Your Most Popular Episodes

Go back and look at this year’s episodes to see which ones performed the best. You might’ve had a certain guest on or covered a certain topic that really resonated with your listeners. Consider doing a follow up episode on that topic or even bringing that guest back for a part 2. Looking at your top episodes over the year can be a great way to plan and strategize your episodes for 2023.

2?? Get Feedback from Your Listeners

This one might sound too simple but trust me on this one. The validation and fuel that you can get from your listeners can take you a long way. But it will also give you insight into what they enjoy and also what might be preventing them from binging even more. So reach out to your listeners and get some feedback on how you might be able to improve.

The easiest way to do this is to reach out via social media. You can ask a simple question like,?

“hey (name), have you happened to catch an episode of (show name) recently?”

If they haven’t listened they’ll either say no or won’t respond.

But there will be some people who have listened and others that will go and listen before they get a chance to respond. These are great people to get feedback from. These people can provide great insights into the things that your listeners are going through. They can also provide a perspective and set of experiences that are different from yours. This gives you the ability to see potential blind spots or places where you can improve the show.?

For people who respond and say they have listened to the show, you can say something like:

“Thanks! I’m really trying to (insert podcast goal) this year in 2023 and was hoping to get some feedback. Could I ask you a quick question?

If they say yes, you can respond with:

"Thank you! And by the way… don’t worry about offending me – I’m just trying to get as much feedback as I can.

But what’s one thing you either LOVE or HATE about the show?"

The more feedback you get, the better. The more people you reach out to, the more feedback you’ll get. So don’t be afraid to reach out to as many people as you can. This conversational approach will help you to further connect with your listeners and also give you some insights into some ways you could improve your listener experience.

So have at it - and let me know what you learn!

I never really know where these newsletters will go sometimes, but I’m hoping that this gave you something that can help you hit your podcast goals in 2023.

Some people have also told me recently that it takes about three years for you to really start seeing the fruits of your podcast labor.

So those of you who are just getting started, don’t worry about where “you’re supposed to be.”. And those of you who have been going at this for a while - stay patient because your time is coming.

And please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if I can ever support your show!

To Bringing Out Your Genius,

Hector Santiesteban

P.s… We have our last Podcast AMA Virtual Mixer this Wednesday. These are free to attend and open to podcasters of any experience level. Click Here for Details.