The first reason why people aren’t listening to your podcast is because it doesn’t have widespread appeal.
Now be careful with this choice of words, because there is not one podcast that appeals to everyone. In fact, some of the most successful podcasts are so niched down that only a certain segment of the population would find them to be interesting, and that’s okay. Widespread appeal means that there’s not enough people who are interested in what you are saying. This is more than likely because you haven’t set a theme and a real guide for what you are sharing…you’re a podcasting box of chocolates–no one ever knows what they are going to get. It’s important as with any marketing tool that your podcast speak to a particular audience. As tempting as it may be to just turn on a microphone and start talking, without proper planning, you run the risk of having very few listeners and even fewer who are loyal.
The next reason is fairly obvious: You’re not marketing your podcast.
Unless you have a pretty large following when you launch, you’re going to have to tell people that your podcast exists. This is when choosing a platform becomes somewhat important. There are many platforms that will provide you with marketing tools such as audiograms and friendly links. Platforms such as Buzzsprout and Lisbyn are the ones that we recommend to our clients. We get it, you may have thought that just because your podcast was approved on iTunes that your work was done. You may have also thought that because you go live while you’re recording your podcast that again your work was done. On the contrary, your work has just begun. Taking the time to create a true marketing strategy, including audio clips, collateral, timeline quotes, and even advertising may be the missing link between you and your next listeners.
Lastly, because this could go on for a while, here is the last reason why people aren’t listening to your podcast.
And the truth is you’re spending way too much time looking at the metrics. And because of that you think that people are not listening to your podcast. When our fearless leader Ozeal first started podcasting, and way before No Permission Needed became New and Noteworthy, he too, thought no one was listening to my podcast. And so he decided that he would skip a few weeks of posting episodes, only to find himself with an email from a international listener who was wondering where I had gone. Admittedly, Ozeal was so busy wanting to get metrics (high listener numbers and high downloads), that he wasn’t realizing that my message was valuable and that there were people who were waiting to hear what he had to say and what guest he would interview next. If you find yourself a bit discouraged because the metrics just do not reflect your effort, and you feel as if you’re doing everything right to get your podcast heard, just relax. Continue to share your well-crafted, well-meaning, and well-developed messages, secure in the fact that though the metrics may say otherwise, someone is indeed listening. And yes we do realize that the last reason may sound as if we’re talking on both sides of this topic. We are! Because just as important as it is for you to have a great concept, and a well communicated episode, it is just as important for you to realize that the metrics are not everything… Especially not in the beginning.