So, you’ve launched your podcast.
You’ve developed your 10-word description. You’ve found your niche, and you know your dream audience inside and out. You’ve even put out some episodes you’re really proud of. You have a great podcast!
Now what?
Having a podcast is not the same as having a podcast business. If your goal is to make money, you can’t just produce a show and hope the listeners and dollars will come to you.
You have to work to slowly bring your potential listeners further and further into your sphere before you can ask them for money.
You do this by bringing them through what we call the seven-step listener funnel.
In this post, we are going to break down each of the seven steps you need to take to go from having a podcast to having a monetized podcast business. Plus, we will provide additional resources to help you confidently master each step.
So, let’s start from the beginning.
The top of the funnel is how you are going to turn strangers into listeners.
1. Your Potential Audience Member is Aware You Exist
This is the first moment that needs to happen before anything else on this list.
Your listener needs to learn that you exist and that you have a podcast to offer them!
This happens in a number of ways:
- On a podcast they listen to
- On a social account they follow
- In a group/forum they frequent
- On a blog/newsletter/publication they read
- On a video/show they watch
- At a conference/event they attend
- Social media DMs
- They find out about you from a friend (word of mouth)
You get the picture.
The people who are at this part of the funnel really don’t know what you can offer, but they’ve heard of you.
Ideally, however, step one happens at the same time as subsequent steps. In a perfect world, the listener will discover you WHILE you’re providing them value.
2. Your Potential Audience Member Has Received Micro Value
In order for a stranger to dedicate one hour of their time to your podcast, they need to have enough trust in you to believe that the episode will be worth that time.
When using the more conventional podcast growth techniques, that trust is already baked-in. This includes:
- When your podcast guest shares on social media
- Word of mouth
- Borrowed credibility from a celeb, show, or publication that they already trust
But, those moments are out of our control and are becoming harder to come by as the industry grows. So, you must take matters into your own hands and create a system where you will build trust manually via smaller micro-interactions.
This happens when:
- You don’t pitch them, link them, or ask them for anything. You just be thoughtful and helpful. You simply give.
- They are delighted by social media content of yours that’s immediately useful or entertaining and fits the context of the platform on which it’s consumed.
- They have a human, 1-on-1 interaction with you that is immediately valuable on its own. This happens in comments and DMs.
Once you have delighted them once via a micro-interaction, and have built just a little bit of trust, then you actively and directly invite the listener to check out the show.
Ideally, you send them a hand-picked episode that is related to the interactions you’ve already had, with a personalized recommendation as to why it’ll be great for them.
The key point that people miss with micro-content is this:
Things like “link in bio!” and “new episode available now!” don’t perform well, and people almost never go listen to the episode right then and there.
This will build some trust, which you can later cash in on by getting them to tune into the podcast.
The point of the micro-content is NOT to promote your podcast.
Instead, the point of the micro-content is to deliver micro-value. Even if the individual doesn’t listen to your show, they should still get value from the interaction.
Free Resources To Help You Create Awareness and Micro Value:
Targeted Daily Engagement: How to Use Social Media to Double Your Audience
How To Grow Your Podcast Audience on Social Media (Video)
How to Know if Your Targeted Daily Engagement is Working
How to Get Your Podcast Featured in Media Outlets and on TV, With Damona Hoffman
How to Get Podcast Listeners From Facebook Groups, With Alex Hillman
How to Make Your Podcast’s Social Media Content Stand Out, With Hala Taha
3. Your Potential Audience Member Becomes a Listener
This is the bread and butter moment— getting your potential to press play results in the almighty “download.”
However, the work has only just begun.
Now that you have them listening, you need to over-deliver on the promise of the show and make episodes so amazing that the listener wants to listen to as many episodes as they can.
For this reason, every episode you release must be great. Otherwise, you’ll break trust and potentially lose a listener.
Usually, after a potential listener has listened to 1-3 great episodes, they’ll subscribe, and become a listener.
4. Your Listener Subscribes to or Follows the Show in Their Listening App
By now, they’ve heard enough to add your show to their regularly scheduled podcast programming. You’ve over-delivered on your promises, and they actively want whatever is coming next.
This is a big deal because there is only so much space you can take up in their lives.
Podcast listeners listen for six hours per week. That’s it.
Keep in mind that it only takes one bad episode to be voted off the island. That’s okay though because you’re going to have high content standards.
Now that they’re a subscriber, your job is to push them further down the listener funnel and get them to:
- Your business
- Your podcast membership
- Your sponsors
- Your email list
- Your community
All of these next steps will be called out with specific, clear, urgent Calls to Action (CTAs). You will learn how to do this right.
The most important next step, though, is to get their email.
Free Resources To Help You Create Amazing Podcast Episodes:
How to Edit a Podcast In Descript (Video)
How to Produce an Attention-Grabbing Podcast
How a 7-Time Bestselling Author Writes Voiceovers, With Jo Piazza
The Podcast Editing Process That Saves Hours, With Max Graham
How to Make Your Podcast Sound More Natural, With NPR’s Lauren Migaki
How to Record Professional-Sounding Podcast Audio, With Rockwell Felder
How to Make Your Podcast Irresistible, With Eric Nuzum
5. Your Listener is on Your Email List
Your business is about as strong as your email list.
Your podcasting business is no exception
Email is by far the most direct access to your listeners unless you have their phone numbers.
That said, people hate cluttered inboxes, and marketers routinely abuse their email lists with valueless sales messages.
Incessant messages of social proof, “book a call!”, and “new episode available!” can work, but more often than not, they make people unsubscribe, and cause a lot of noise.
Because of this, there are two rules you’ll need to follow to build and grow a healthy email list:
- In order to ask for somebody’s email address, you have to offer them something that is massively and immediately valuable to them. This is often called a lead magnet.
- You should refrain from emailing your list anything that isn’t also immediately valuable.
Through your email marketing, you can make strategic calls to action that will bring your listeners further down the funnel, where they’ll join the community.
6. Your Audience Member is Active in Your Online Community
One of the best ways to get people locked into your podcast audience is to build an interactive community around your show.
This has many, many benefits including but not limited to:
- Your listners get to connect with other people like them, who are on a similar journey, and who want a similar transformation.
- Everything good that they receive from the community gets linked to you, your business, and your podcast.
- When they join, they interact with dozens, hundreds, and thousands of other people who are also happy consumers of your content and products. This provides social proof. It makes them *want* to move further within the funnel, like the others around them did.
- You get instant, massive access to the hearts, minds, and experiences of your listeners. You’ll never have to run another listener survey. You get a front-row seat to the conversation. This will guide what content you make, and it will keep you laser-focused on what your audience needs and wants at this very moment.
- It gives you yet another opportunity to provide value and get them deeper into your podcast funnel by posting, commenting, and participating in your own group.
Now that they listen to your show religiously, they are subscribed to your email list, and they get massive value from the community, your listener is absolutely primed to be monetized.
Free Resources to Help You Build a Thriving Community
How to Build a Community Around Your Podcast, With Yuval Yarden
How to Get Your Podcast Listeners to Take Action
How to Optimize Your Podcast Website, With Brenden Mulligan
How to Make Somone’s Favorite Podcast, With Jay Acunzo
7. Audience Member Has Become a Paying Customer
This is where you actually make a living from your podcast.
The only way to monetize a podcast audience is to get that audience to buy things that further their transformation. They need to become a customer, and they become customers when you convince them to buy something.
The things that podcasters get their audiences to buy generally fit into two buckets:
- A product or service that you offer
This is by far the most lucrative way to monetize your podcast. Plus, it can literally make you millions of dollars in a matter of a few years. I’m not exaggerating. At this rate, I’ll make one million dollars with Grow The Show before the end of 2022.
Here are some types of products/services to consider selling:
- Courses
- Live Events/Conferences
- Done-For-You Services
- Physical products
- Coaching/Consulting
- Apps/Software
- A Monthly Podcast Membership
2. A product or service that someone else offers (usually done through ads on your podcast feed).
- Affiliates
- CPA Ads
- CPM Ads
Free Resources to Help You Monetize Your Podcast
How to Calculate How Much Money You Can Make For Every Podcast Listener, With Gary Arndt
The Future of Podcast Monetization, With Jason Sew Hoy
How to Monetize Your Podcast Today, With 30 Under 30 CEO Amanda McLoughlin
How I Took GTS to $500K In One Year
In Conclusion…
Drumroll, please…..
That’s it!
That is the roadmap that is going to help you turn your podcast into a monetized podcast business.
Stay tuned for future blog posts on how to quickly and easily move between levels of the funnel.
In the meantime, if you have any questions about the funnel or want advice on how to best attack each stage, be sure to hit us up in the Grow The Show Facebook group (our ahem online community). It’s full of hundreds of podcasters who support each other, collaborate, and provide advice!