How to Maintain Podcast Growth and Plan During Down Months

Hey Friend!

Is it possible to maintain podcast growth during down months? In today’s Quick Tip Tuesday episode, I answer a question from Toni-Ann, “Stef, my podcast downloads drop in the summer.

How can I maintain podcast downloads and create a strategy for growth to boost momentum during these seasons?!”

Love this question so much and I dig into a few specific strategies for Toni-Ann that help her focus on what her avatar (podcast listener) needs most during these off-seasons.

I also give her some podcast growth strategies to help her stay front of mind and in those earbuds!

I pray this blesses you!

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION:

(00:00):
Hey, Stef! This is Emily Nichols from The Self Transformed Podcast. Hey, girl, hey!

I just wanted to come and tell you thank you so much for being you and for helping me personally gain clarity in my business. It’s been right about a year since we worked with each other as a private coaching client.

(00:23):
And I was barely getting a thousand downloads on my podcast. Let me tell you what, girl, this past month, I’ve had eight times that amount.

Now, I’m on my way to getting a hundred thousand downloads here in the next month. I can’t believe it.

(00:39):
That is a lot of praise to God, praise to you for helping me get clarity, rebranding, and just staying consistent and staying the course.

And speaking of courses, my signature course is perfected now, and it’s still growing and allowing me to serve other busy working moms to help them through the power of habit strategy. So, thank you so much!

(01:04):
What’s up, Emily? Thank you for that testimony, my love! I am so grateful for you. I am so excited for you. Talk about some big wins.

(01:12):
And I remember telling you it’s about a year to two years in that you are gonna experience those floodgates bursting open if you just keep pursuing your purpose and you keep digging in and won’t he do it?

Girl, cheering for you big, friend.

(01:30):
In today’s quick tip Tuesday episode, I am answering an awesome question from Toni all-around maintaining podcast downloads in off-seasons. This is gonna be a real lead juicy episode.

(01:44):
I hope that you dig in, grab your notebook and pen. Let’s do the things. And P.S. Guess what? Podcast to Profit is waiting for you. We have some spots left.

I don’t know how many at this point. I do know that we have a lot of apps, I’d think 20 applications in and only 30 spots.

(02:06):
So, if you have it in your heart to have success like Emily or break through those barriers like Toni and you really wanna make your podcast super-profitable, scale it, grow it, triple, double, quadruple your podcast downloads.

(02:21):
Learn SEO, learn keywords words, learn visibility, learn pitch strategy, create a course or coaching offer, optimize it, learn how to sell it, learn how to scale it.

Every single technical piece from top to bottom to actually getting it done and the accountability to see it through my coaching, my eyes all over your business.

(02:40):
Spotlight sessions with me, my team, and another kingdom group of women, just like you to run this race beside you, podcasttoprofitmastermind.com.

Get that app in ASAP because we close enough shop pretty soon. And we’re getting started on April 14th. Again, podcasttoprofitmastermind.com.

(04:06):
Hey, Stef! It’s Toni-Ann from the Real Happy Mom Podcast and P2P graduate. I wanted to combine two questions about planning content in particular, during those times that you know that you won’t have that much traffic.

(04:18):
So, now I’ve had the podcast for a few years, I’m able to see what months are the busiest and what months I don’t get much traction.

And what I found is during the month of May, things really go down, and then it doesn’t back up until September.

(04:35):
So, my question for you is knowing that download numbers are gonna be down May through August, what would you suggest that I do during those times to either pick up traffic or just to kinda keep the momentum going?

Thank you so much, Stef. Talk to you later.

(04:56):
Toni-Ann, what’s up, my friend? It’s so good to hear from you. I love this question. So how to drive traffic during down months or slow months.

And you know, it’s funny cuz I know your podcast and I know you’re talking to moms and they’re busy and it’s the summer.

(05:12):
So it makes sense that your mom kind of stops listening to podcasts as much as she does during the school year, right?

When she’s dropping kids and them up and doing all the things where she can multitask. And now in the summer, she’s probably knee deep in little kids. So that makes perfect sense.

(05:30):
I have three things that I wanna walk you through to date that I think will help you drive more traffic and sustain those dry months.

Number one, Toni, I want you to redo some market research. I want you definitely 30 days before, maybe even 60 days before, I want you to start digging into, for you, the summer.

(05:51):
So, Hey mama, what are you guys doing this summer? What do you have going on this summer? Where are your biggest fears around summertime?

What are you struggling with when it comes to your mindset and maintaining your kids? What are your plans for your kids this summer?

(06:02):
How do you time block and schedule in the summer? Whatever. So, you wanna ask all of these market research questions.

And get to know what your mom’s top concerns, problems, pain points, desires, problems are that you can solve that have to do with the summer.

(06:24):
So you’re gonna find out those problems and you’re gonna create an Excel document and you’re gonna order them from greatest to least.

And you’re gonna do this in Facebook groups. You’re gonna reach out to people that listen to your show or on your email list, et cetera.

(06:39):
Number two, you’re gonna create content on your podcast, specifically solving those problems. So, let’s say that they said something like how to keep my kids busy without tech this summer.

(06:53):
You’re gonna create the tech-free tip Tuesday that you’re gonna run all summer long that’s gonna help the mamas have super fun, easy ways to connect with their kiddo.

To keep them busy, to keep them focused, project-based, fun, easy stuff that the mama can do.

(07:10):
For example, or let’s say that she says, I just don’t know what to do with my kids outta the house in the summer. So, maybe you have the summer fun with mama series.

(07:21):
So, I want you to create tailored content specific to her in the time period in which we need to drive traffic.

Cuz the only reason she’s gonna listen is if it’s something’s in it for me, for my problem that I’m experiencing right now. Does that make sense?

(07:40):
Now, the third tip that I have for you, Toni, is you need to stay front of mind. So you know, in the summer your mom is really busy.

(07:47):
So, I don’t know what you’re doing, but if you’re doing one podcast a week and it’s 20 minutes long, I want you to cut it into two small podcasts a week that are 10 minutes.

Because I want you to pop up more often, but be shorter so that this mom can digest these episodes in a smaller amount of time and get a win more often.

(08:10):
If you’re doing one 30 minute episode a week, cut it into two 15 minute episodes. Even if you wanna record one 30 minute episode, split it in half, and air Monday and Tuesday, that’s fine.

But the secret here is to stay front of mind and to keep pinging her, ping, I’m here.

(08:25):
I have a solution to your summer. I have a solution for your crazy kids. So, that’s really what you wanna focus on to drive traffic during these summer months.

(08:35):
So, let’s recap. Number one, you’re gonna redo market research. You’re gonna find the number one through number 10 main problems that she’s experiencing when it comes to the summer and her children.

Number two, you’re gonna create a tailored content plan to solve those problems for your podcast, for those months.

(08:52):
Number three, you’re gonna focus on shorter, more frequent episodes to stay front of mind. Guys, this works for any of you that have dry months.

If you talk to college kids and then they go, it goes black in whatever the summer or spring break, same thing.

(09:09):
If you’re talking to corporate professionals and you know that November, December go black because they’re not at their corporate job or whatever it is.

If you’re talking to people who want to meal prep and meal plan, and then they stop listening in September, October, November, December because they don’t wanna get in shape.

(09:31):
You’ve got to think about the pain points that are happening for them, that are pulling them away from your podcast.

And you’ve gotta solve them and you need to stay front of mind and you don’t have to do it forever. You just have to do it through that season to get back to your busy season.

(09:45):
Hope this blessed you, hoped this helped you. I think this was a really great question. Thank you, Toni, for submitting it. And friend, if you have a question for me, I want you to head to stefaniegas.com/contact.

(09:57):
Leave me your question on our Speak Pipe recording. You can do it from your phone, from your pod. You can do it on the go. I would love to hear from you. What are you struggling with? Where are you stuck?

(10:07):
What is a pain point that you’re experiencing when it comes to getting clarity or scaling your podcast or starting your podcast or bringing your faith into your business? What is it that you need? Record it, let me answer it.

(10:19):
I would love to help you through any problem that you’re having stefaniegass.com/contact. Pray this blesses you big.

I can’t wait to see you back here real soon for more amazing content on the show. God bless you. Big hugs. See you soon.