✴How to grow your podcast listener count

Chances are, you clicked on this video because you’ve been podcasting for a while or just started a show, and want to grow.

You might be wondering to yourself…

How can I increase my number of listeners?
Where do I find my community?
What’s a gal gotta do to get monetized around here?

GIRL! I hear you, and you’re in the right place.

In this video, I’m going to dish on my NUMBER 1 technique for building a growth strategy that works no matter how many listeners you currently have.

NOW, let’s talk growing your listener count. In order to find your podcast ride-or-dies you’ve gotta know who it is you’re looking for, and where she hangs out online. In other words, you need to know Who is your ideal listener.

The best technique for figuring this out is to create a listener persona. “What is a listener persona?” you might be asking.

✴ What is a Listener Persona?

By definition, it’s a breakdown of a theoretical listener that includes information like age, location, job, as well as her interests and pain points. With a bit of creativity and imagination, the creation of a listener persona helps podcasters empathize with their audience and anticipate where they should be marketing, what kind of language to use, and what content to create.

Wondering where to begin? I’m going to walk you through the steps you need to create a listener persona.

✴ Step 1: Give your persona a name

For our purposes, let’s call her, “Michelle”

✴ Step 2: Define her demographic information

Michelle is a creative entrepreneur in the interior design space living in San Diego, California. She is 32, married, and has two fur babies at home.

✴ Step 3: Identify her interests and pain points

Michelle is all about holistic health, self-improvement, and is in the early stages of launching her own interior design firm. She feels creatively stifled in her current work environment and is looking for the tools to feel confident in striking out on her own.

You might realize during this phase that you have more than one listener persona. That’s perfectly fine. Just create separate personas for each listener you want to target. By knowing their unique pain points, you can create content specifically for one persona vs another.

✴ Step 4: Infer where she hangs out online

Michelle participates in Facebook groups where female business owners swap marketing tips, motivational quotes, and ways to encourage a work/life balance.

✴ Step 5: Use her pain points to engage

Michelle is not a fan of her current boss or commute, but it gives her just enough time to check out a podcast episode that will light her entrepreneurial spirit and give her the motivation to make some major money moves.

Boom! Michelle feels real enough to reach out and hug! We recommend doing this exercise 3-5 times to create the ultimate crew of listeners you’d like to be catering to.

Related: 7 Ways To Market Your Podcast

✴ Make your listener persona even more accurate

Now, without further ado...my BONUS TIP of the day!

Instead of only assuming your target listener’s motivation and pain points, go out and ask her! Interview friends, colleagues, or people within your online communities who fit your ideal listener and find out what’s really up. By chatting directly with your target listener you’ll be able to learn her likes and lingo which you can then use in your future marketing campaigns.

✴ Let’s review your listener persona

Let’s break what we learned.

In order to attract your dreamiest listeners, you’re going to figure out who they are by creating your listener persona. You can do that by:

Giving your persona a name
Defining her demographic information
Identifying her interests and pain points
Inferring where she hangs out online, AND
Using her pain points to engage
Rinse and repeat 3-5 times.

Then, if you’re feeling like a true Podstar, interview those real-life target listeners and use your findings to become a magnet for your dream audience.

Simple as that!

Don’t forget to subscribe, turn on those notifications, AND if you want a template to create your listener persona, we have one for free right here. Now you really have no excuse not to create one.

Don’t hesitate to leave your questions or experiences with this in the comments on YouTube. Create a rad listener persona? We wanna meet her! Leave a question and you might just see a whole video dedicated to your question...because we like you. Like, like you-like you...

Thanks for watching! Keep podcasting, and enjoy the ride.

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