How Do I Get More Listeners on my Podcast?
600 episodes strong this trauma survivor built a loyal following of over 200,000 loyal listeners.
With a few decades of experience in being on both sides of the microphone I can appreciate the amount of effort that goes into building a podcast audience.
Yet, based on the numerous times the question arises, new podcast creators continue to ask, “how do I get more listeners on my podcast?”
I can’t help but react in a way feeling in which creators expect people (ahem, listeners) to appear in droves simply because someone put out new content.
Although many podcast creators burn out after 21, 7, or even less episodes there are still approximately 200,000 new podcast episodes published weekly. That’s a fair amount of noise to move through, while seeking the attention you deserve.
Martha, coach, author, and host of the Own Your Choices Own Your Life podcast, advocates for trauma survivors who deserve a shining light backed with story-telling confidence.
Follow her journey on Instagram!
Creating Content Beyond the Podcast
Success, or great momentum, doesn’t happen overnight. During our conversation, I learned that Martha hustles. HARD.
The most interesting part about her creative process, to me, was how she works backward. What I mean by this is that she starts with social media content and expands that into a podcast episode. Traditionally, most creators start with long form content to create social posts for marketing.
So I kind of reverse engineer. I'll look at like, what do I have coming up? Right? So in this example, like at this time, we're starting like a bookwriting mastermind coming up. And there's some bonus calls. So it's officially not starting until September, but there is some things earlier.
With a clear vision, planning ahead, and starting from within her comfort zone (eg. what she knows) and expands from there.
On Marsha’s Instagram page, you’ll see her utilizing everyday content (prepping in the kitchen, going for walks, or working in her home office. You’ll notice some quotes, clips, or something thought-provoking going on in the foreground.
I think that as humans, we overthink our content constantly. And we think the things that we're walking through every day are boring or not relatable. They're the most relatable parts of us. And so I just tend to share, I'll get a download that might be three or four stories and I will share it. And then sometimes if I get good feedback, that becomes another podcast episode coming up.
Ready to listen to the conversation I shared with Martha?
You may also find your favorite podcast app to listen on thanks to episodes.fm.
The Long Game
She could have given up when the listeners didn’t come early on. Back in 2017 podcast listening was still fairly underground and not yet in the mainstream like it is today.
2020 | 10,000 listens
2021 | 54,000 listens
2022 | 115,000 listens
2023 | 215,000 listens
So, what inspired Marsha to start a podcast in the first place?
I mean our story probably started about 12 years ago and we probably fought hard for five years of that where it was like very much isolated, alone, lots of trauma, lots of challenges.
I had a counsellor who said to me, you know, if your boys come back to you, you need to be a springboard to be able to support them. And right now you're nothing but a big pile of quicksand.
Wow.
I couldn’t imagine.
Talk about strength, right?
Nearly Missed Opportunity
In 2015 Marsha was actively involved in the community, presenting her story and inspirational messages for schools and local audiences.
Out of nowhere CBC* reached out. “Marsha, we’d love to interview you about what amazing work you’re doing.”
But, wait. Marsha shared that she doesn’t just do interviews like this - at least not back then.
Something made her go for it. To tell her story. Go for it.
Barely five minutes in Marsha gets interrupted. “Actually, we’re going to have you in tomorrow morning. We’re going to do this live.”
And I'm thinking, that's okay. Cause nobody, like nobody listens to CBC radio in the morning.
I literally had told myself that I'm actually probably grateful that I told myself that and I went in and did the interview. I felt like it went really well. I was very, you know, honest and I learned to speak from a space of not anger.
What happened after the interview is super cool. Marsha explains.
I came out, turned my phone on and I was just like, oh my God, like it literally blew, it, my phone blew up and I just went, well, everybody knows. It just was this free moment of, and I mean, a lot of people knew we were walking through something, but nowhere's near to this level. And it just felt like it opened up the doors that wait, maybe I could do something good with the worst story in time in my life.
How cool is that?
The next time someone asks, “how do I get more listeners for my podcast?”, you may want to answer starting with, “how much time and effort do you want to invest?”
Has Marsha’s story influenced you to step outside of your comfort zone? If so, how?
Follow Marsha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshavanw/
Learn more about Marsha: https://www.marshavanw.com/
Listen to Marsha’s Podcast: https://ownyourchoicesownyourlife.libsyn.com/
*CBC stands for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and is a public media outlet in Canada.