The Early Indicators That Your Podcast Will Succeed

Look out for these if you’re wondering if you’re growing

Growing a podcast is hard.

And in those early days, it feels like you’re talking to a ghost town.

I’ve been there.

But there are signs in those early days that you’re on the right track. That you’re building something meaningful. That your podcast will be as popular and well-loved as you think it deserves to be.

Here are the signs I looked for that told my wife and I’s podcast would become as successful as it is now.

Someone Tells You in Person That They Listen

I was back in my hometown getting coffee. The woman behind the counter was a few years below me in school so I was going to say hi. But before I could, she went, “I listen to your podcast!”

Cue my brain breaking.

I was so surprised that I became very awkward with a lot of “Oh really?? Thanks! Um…” Turns out I can’t take a compliment.

But my awkwardness aside, I went home and told my wife/cohost. We were both stunned. We were at 20,000 downloads at the time and this had never happened before.

But it was one more hint that we were on to a winner. Because she wasn’t being polite, it wasn’t an “Oh I’ve listened to your podcast before”. It was a “I’m currently listening and enjoying it.” Eep. We were on to something.

Someone Starts a Group Chat About Your Podcast

I couldn’t believe it when this message came in.

A woman got in touch through Instagram during our second season to say she was loving the podcast. Which in itself is a good sign.

She went on to say that she’d convinced a couple of her co-workers to listen. That’s another great sign.

Then she told us they have a group chat to discuss episodes as they get released! Holy sh*t.

That’s the network effect. The more people who listen to your podcast, the better it gets. It means people will tell their friends about your podcast, which is the best marketing there is.

There’s a reason podcasters end episodes by asking you to tell a friend about the podcast. Because if you tell a friend to listen and you can listen and discuss together, it improves the value of the podcast without the podcast host doing any more work.

If you know that people are telling their friends, you’re on the right track.

You Have One True Fan

A true fan is someone who LOVES what you do.

They listen to new episodes the day they come out. They buy new merch the day it’s released. They like all your posts on social media.

Wondering if you already have a true fan? If one person comes to mind who is all over your socials commenting, liking, and maybe even messaging, then you’re on to a winner.

My podcast’s biggest fan has been with us for two years now. We opened up donations, and she made the first one. We started selling merch, and she made the first order. We started a Patreon, and she was among the first to sign up.

Why wasn’t she the first onto Patreon? Because by then, we’d found more true fans who were excited to be there.

If you get one true fan who’s loving what you do early on, that’s a sign that more fans will follow.

Your Numbers Are Speeding Up

I was recently on a call with Nick Loper from the Side Hustle Show. I mentioned that I crossed 100k downloads a little while back, and he told me something interesting. He said it usually takes the same length of time to go from 0–100k downloads as it does to go from 100k-1 million downloads.

That broke my brain.

Then I remembered that growth is often exponential online. I ran some numbers on our podcast to check this. It took our podcast three months to hit its first 1k downloads. But it was only nine months before it hit 5k downloads.

If growth was linear, it should have taken 15 months to get to 5k downloads. And that exponential kept going.

Growth is slow at first. Hang in there. It’s hard to believe in exponential growth, but you can get hints that it’s happening and then trust the process.

Your Friends Message to Say They’ve Listened and Liked It

Getting your friends and family to listen to your podcast is the biggest challenge in podcasting.

I never bugged my friends to listen. I’d just tell them about what we were up to on the podcast and I’d get a lukewarm reply of, “Oh. Cool.” It was a tough crowd to crack. But I kept talking about it because I was excited, and it would always be in my mind.

Then, one day, my phone beeped.

It was a friend who’d told me straight up, “I don’t listen to friend’s podcasts because I find it too awkward”. He messaged saying, “Guess who’s got two thumbs and is now your biggest fan??? This guy!”.

Woah. It was a change of pace, but after me always chatting about it he’d decided to give it a go and ended up loving it.

Your friends are your toughest audience. If you can get them on side, you’re onto a winner. But don’t force it. Just keep talking about your podcast in conversation because you’re excited about it.

Keep on Keeping on

The early days of podcasting are tough. You have a few listeners, which may just be your mum and granny. You’re enjoying making it but worried it won’t go how you dreamed it would.

But keep on keeping on. Look out for these early signs you’re on the right track. Don’t get jaded that you don’t have 1000s of fans. Celebrate every positive interaction, and take it as a good sign of things to come.

How I Can Help You

1) ​The Template Vault ​– Learn how to grow your podcast on autopilot. Get fill-in-the-blank templates to set up your podcast’s foundation for growth, success, and making money.

2) ​Work with me 1:1​ – I am an experienced podcast coach, and I want to help you master your podcast marketing. Check out my full list of services and discover how we can work together.

3) ​Recommended Tools​​ – These are the tools I use to grow my podcast. I focus on tools that improve quality and save time.