I had a meeting with one of my long time clients yesterday where we talked about her podcast, the guests she wants to book and in general, how everything’s going! Her first reaction was “Eh, it’s okay, I wish it was better.”
I asked, “Well, why do you say that?”
She said she wishes her download numbers were bigger and that she can’t quite get over the hump of a couple hundred downloads an episode.
Now, as an aside, people ask me all the time about how big their audience ‘should’ be and what is considered to be ‘good’ in terms of download numbers.
My answer is always the same: It depends.
It depends on what your goal is for the show and what you want to do in your business.
Back to the conversation with my client…
A lot of people would hear desire for bigger download numbers and immediately start giving advice on how to promote the show and how to get more listeners. This was not my first reaction. Instead, I asked her what her goal is with the podcast; how will this podcast help her in her business? Because more download numbers may not necessarily be the solution.
When she revealed to me that her goal is to offer products and courses and do one on one consulting, I said, great! How big is your list?
Not surprisingly, she was disappointed by the size of her list (Between 100 and 200 opt-ins), but I was not disappointed at all!
What I learned in this conversation was that social media was the main platform she’s using to promote her show, but email marketing to her list had taken the back burner.
Big mistake!
Regardless of how big your list is, those individuals are the most important people you should be communicating with. Those are people who have raised their hands and said, “I like what you have to offer, I like your podcast, I like you, and I welcome you into my email inbox!”
That is powerful stuff! Don’t take that for granted!
My big piece of advice to my client was to focus on nurturing the relationships with people who have opted in first, before trying to compete on social media for attention from new listeners.
Also, in regards to business success, I am proof that you do NOT need a big list (or big download numbers) to have a successful business. When I met my goal of becoming a 6 figure business, I had a whopping 100 people on my email list, I had between 20 and 30 people viewing each episode of my web TV show, Interview Connections TV, and I hadn’t launched my podcast yet.
So, if you’re sitting here wishing for more downloads and hoping for a bigger email list because you assume that you need those numbers before the $$ start rolling in, think again. Regardless of how many people are on your list and regardless of how many listeners you have, focus on THEM first because when they become raving fans (which they will, if they feel like you are paying attention to them) they’ll start promoting your show for you.
And how cool is that?
