How Can I Increase My Downloads – PTC 484

Have you had little success finding new listeners and growing your podcast downloads? You aren't alone.

THE CHALLENGE WITH DOWNLOADS

I recently sent an email to my tribe asking about the biggest challenge most podcasters face. Podcasters like you mentioned things like these as their biggest challenges...

• Finding more subscribers interested in my content

• I need perfect people listening to my podcast

• I'm trying all things to increase downloads

• Learning to build an interactive community

• What else can I do to grow my downloads

• I have no email list

• I need a strategy

Have you had similar struggles?

You've tried many things. Empty promises is all you get from the webinars you've attended.

It is time you get a growth strategy that works.

That's why I've turned my Audience Explosion Blueprint program into a powerful 3-day workshop. I shot a video all about it. You can see it at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/audience.

During the Audience Explosion Blueprint workshop, you'll develop a REAL strategy to consistently and easily grow your podcast audience.

This event will help you quickly and easily explode your audience without the frustration, hard work and guessing.

To overcome your growth struggles, join us. You can see all the details and get registered at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/audience.

PODCASTS FADE AWAY

Podcasts fade away for 3 reasons.

Podcasters give up because podcasting is more work than they thought it was going to be. They don't have a system in place to produce their show easily and consistently.

Podcasters give up because downloads of their show doesn't grow as fast as they thought it would. They don't have a strategy in place to help them grow consistently.

And finally, podcasters give up because the show doesn't make money as fast as they thought it would. They don't have a process in place to grow a business with their podcast.

DOWNLOADS WITH SPRAY AND PRAY

Let's talk about growing your downloads.

Many podcasters approach growing their downloads with a spray and pray approach. They try a million things and wonder why nothing works.

Imagine you were trying to lose weight.

Today, you try cutting out all carbs.

Yesterday, you tried riding the stationary bike for 30 minutes.

The day before that you didn't do anything, because you got busy.

You tried the Atkins diet the day before that.

It was walking around the neighborhood the day before that.

You only ate Lean Cuisine meals the day before that.

Unfortunately, you missed two days, because you were out of town.

But you ate nothing but vegetables the day before you left town.

You hit the gym for the first time in 3 months the day before that.

This has been going on for 3 weeks and you wonder why you haven't lost any weight.

When you dabble in a variety of tactics, nothing seems to work. But when you focus on a few select tactics and work consistently, you have a better chance of experiencing results.

But, we're getting ahead of ourselves. Before we can talk tactics, we need to talk fundamentals.

YOUR POWERFUL WHY

Why do you want to grow your downloads?

A powerful "why" can be inspirational to you and your tribe.

Podcasters give me many reasons they want to grow their downloads.

It could be to spread your message. Maybe you want to build your authority.

Growing your downloads can help you grow your business or market your goods and services.

Maybe you want to grow your downloads so you can be a thought leader. Or you're creating a home base for your tribe to find you.

Growing your downloads could help you have more impact in the world. Maybe you want to generate more revenue or have a bigger and better reputation.

There are many reasons you might want to grow your podcast downloads. And all of these reasons are valuable and worthy. But you can't choose all of them.

You need to select a reason that is meaningful to you. The reason must stir the fire inside of you and inspire you. Your why can't be for anyone other than you.

When you have a why that stirs you in a special way, it will be much easier to execute your growth plan consistently and effectively.

REASONS YOU DON'T

Once you have your why, you need to understand the reasons podcasts don't grow.

Your downloads may not be growing, because you are not getting in front of new listeners. Find people who are not aware of you and invite them into your world.

Greg Payne hosts the Cool Grandpa podcast. His show was featured in an article on grandparents in the New York times. His downloads nearly doubled overnight.

When you find pools of your ideal listeners who aren't aware of your podcast, you can tap into that community to really help your downloads grow.

The next reason you may not be growing is because you are not keeping current listeners coming back.

If you are bringing in new listeners but not keeping them coming back, it's like putting water in a bucket with holes. The bucket never fills.

Give people on your email list and your social media followers a benefit of listening to the show this week. Effectively tease next week's episode.

Your downloads may not be growing because there is nothing unique about your show in your niche.

Share your story and personality to stand out from the rest.

Finally, your podcast downloads may not be growing because you are not getting people to actually listen. Downloads are not enough. If people don't actually push play, the podcast will stop downloading for them.

HOW MANY DOWNLOADS?

What does growing your downloads look like? How many do you actually want?

I recommend you focus on quality over quantity.

Having an audience of 100 who want everything you offer is much more valuable than having an audience of 1,000 who are only superficially interested.

Imagine if you could get on stage in front of 100 people every week and make offers to them. How valuable would that be?

That is the power of your podcast. Quality over quantity.

Each month, Libsyn shares data about downloads on their podcast The Feed.

Last fall, Libsyn said median downloads for shows that have been available for between 30 and 60 days was 139 for shows hosted on Libsyn.

That median if you stack all the podcasts largest to smallest, the one right in the middle is the median. 50% have more downloads and 50% have fewer.

The adjusted mean (or average) is 1,346. It is adjusted because they throw out top half percent and any show that has 3 downloads or fewer.Only 6.9% of all podcasts on Libsyn had more than 5,000 downloads in the month.

Keep your downloads in perspective. Find the right listeners and serve them well.

WHERE TO START

There is a process to growing your downloads. When you follow this strategy consistently, you can grow your show.

First, start growing your downloads by identifying your ideal target listener. Know everything you can about that single individual.

Next, determine where those people hang out online. Who already has the attention of those people? You can't attract them if you can't find them.

This is the reason you can't attract everyone. It is incredibly difficult to find everyone online or determine who has the attention of everyone.

Once you've found them, get in front of those people. Engage those people with your story and personality. Build rapport.

When you are in front of them, provide those people a reason to get on your email list. I know it sounds odd.

Why don't we invite them to listen to the show? If they listen and don't come back, you can't reach them again. When they are on the list, you can contact them again and again until they unsubscribe.

Now that they are on the list, nurture your list and encourage those people to listen to your show. Give them a real reason and benefit.

Spend 30 minutes a day following this strategy and growing your downloads.

HOW TO GET IN FRONT OF THEM

As you implement this strategy, there are a variety of way to get in front of new listeners.

You can get interviewed on other podcasts.

Swapping email mentions with other podcasters can be effective.

I like appearing on summits.

You can create a crowdsourced episode full of other experts who can share the episode with their followers.

Speak at events to get in front of your ideal listeners.

Providing value to masterminds has been effective for me as well.

As we talked about earlier, don't try everything. Select two or three and focus with consistency. Give the strategy time to take effect.

BUILD YOUR STRATEGY FOR YOUR DOWNLOADS

Are you ready to put this into action and build your strategy?

I've turned my Audience Explosion Blueprint program into a powerful 3-day workshop. You can see the details at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/audience.

Let's work together to build your strategy to grow your downloads.

During the Audience Explosion Blueprint workshop, you'll develop a REAL strategy to consistently and easily grow your podcast audience.

This event will help you quickly and easily explode your audience without the frustration, hard work and guessing.

To overcome your growth struggles, join us. You can see all the details and get registered at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/audience.

If you don't have a mentor who can take your hand and walk you every step of the way, go to www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/apply, click the button and apply to have a chat with me. We will develop your plan and see how I can help and support you to achieve your podcast goals.