A question worth sitting with: where do people actually find podcasts these days? Because the place your podcast lives and the place people discover it stopped being the same place a while ago, and if you don’t know that, your launch plan might be pointed at completely the wrong spot.

I go through where people say they’re really discovering shows now, and it’s probably not where you’d guess, and definitely not just Apple and Spotify. This matters because if your whole plan is to upload your audio, cross your fingers and hope the right people stumble across it, I’m sorry to say it, but that plan doesn’t work anymore.

This isn’t me telling you to give up on audio, it’s the exact opposite, and I explain why the finding and the trusting are two completely different jobs that need two completely different things from you. I also get into why the clips you make aren’t an afterthought at all, and the one thing a happy listener can do for you that’s worth more than any ad.

Have a listen, then go and do the little task I set at the end, because the answer you get might change how you show up. New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Something a bit strange, and both halves of it are true. Your podcast is going to be the most trusted thing you make, and it’s going to be the worst at getting anyone to actually click or do something in the moment. Most people read that second bit as a problem. I read it completely differently.

There’s research behind this, thousands of people surveyed, looking at trust across every kind of content people consume, and audio podcasts came out somewhere that genuinely surprised me. In this episode I tell you where, and then I explain why the very thing that makes your podcast look weak on paper is the thing doing all your selling for you.

I get into where your listener actually is when she’s hearing you, why she can’t act in that moment even if she wants to, and how to tell your podcast is working when the numbers look flat. I also give you one question to ask on your next enquiry call that your analytics will never answer for you.

If you’ve ever looked at your download stats and felt a bit deflated, this is the one to press play on. New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

There’s a number doing the rounds in the podcast world right now, and most people who sell what I sell would keep very quiet about it. I’m going to do the opposite and put it right in front of you.

Loads of listeners say they’d be less likely to carry on with a podcast they love if they found out it had AI voices in it. I sell an AI voice product, so you’d think that would be bad news for me. This episode is me telling you exactly what I think that number is really measuring, and why it isn’t the thing everyone assumes it is.

I get into who those listeners actually are, why audio people feel differently about this than video people, and the one word buried in the research that changes the whole meaning of it once you spot it. I also tell you exactly where my own line is on using AI, and it might not be where you’d expect.

Have a listen and then come and tell me what you think, because this one’s a proper debate and I genuinely want to know. New Pod Shot every weekday.

Find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

You’ve got a number in your head, haven’t you. The number of listeners that would finally make your podcast feel worth doing. Have a think about what it is before you carry on reading.

Wherever it came from, I’d put money on it being borrowed from shows with big budgets, big teams and a ten year head start, and it’s almost certainly far bigger than it needs to be. This episode is about where that number really came from, why it’s talking you out of starting before you’ve recorded a single word, and what a normal podcast audience actually looks like once you take away the show-off numbers you see on social media.

I go through the figures on what most podcasts genuinely get, and then I do the little bit of maths that changes how the whole thing feels, the one that works out how many listeners you actually need when you’re selling something worth thousands rather than selling advertising. It’s a much smaller number than the one you’ve been carrying around, and by the end I want you to have worked out your real one.

It’ll take you five minutes, which is about what it costs me to record one of these. New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

There's a number I'm going to share with you in this episode that is, honestly, keeping me in business. It's a bit uncomfortable to say out loud.

Of all the podcasts launched in the first half of this year, a huge proportion had already stopped within six months. The wider picture is worse than that, and I take you through both sets of figures, including how many of the six million shows being tracked are still publishing anything at all.

But I'm not sharing it to frighten you, because every one of those was somebody who had the idea, bought the mic, made the artwork and pressed record. They weren't lazy and they weren't rubbish at it. In this episode I explain what actually got them, why it's the best possible news for you, and what happens to the people who try to come back to a show they've let go quiet.

I also tell you the one thing I'd change about how you design your show before you launch it, and it's the opposite of what most people do.

Then there's something to think about today about your worst week, and what it tells you about the format you should really be starting with.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Join the waitlist for my new challenge starting in September

Can I tell you the four places people actually listen to podcasts? It's the same four every single time, and every one of them means the woman listening to you cannot write a single thing down.

New research this year surveyed over 5,000 people on where podcast listening actually happens, and once you know the answer it changes how you record. In this episode I go through what those four situations are, why they're the reason audio still beats everywhere else you're posting, and the things you've been assuming your listener can do that she genuinely can't.

I also cover what to do with a number so it survives, why you should say the name of the thing rather than pointing at a link, how to build an ask that doesn't need her hands, and a trick I use on you in nearly every episode without you noticing.

Then there's something to think about today. It takes about ten seconds and it'll change the next episode you make.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Join the waitlist for my new challenge starting in September

Join the waitlist for my challenge starting in September

Somebody has told you the podcast market is saturated. Maybe you've told yourself. There are four million podcasts already, so what would be the point.

That four million number is real, and it's also doing an enormous amount of lying. In this episode I take you through the real figures, because a registered podcast and a running podcast are two completely different things, and almost nobody tells you the second half of that sentence. I've also broken it down for business podcasts specifically, which is the category your show would sit in, and the number that comes out of that is the one I'd like you to hear.

I explain why saturated is a feeling rather than a fact, why the bubble you're posting in has skewed your sense of how many people are really doing this, and the one thing about audio that means it still outperforms everywhere else you're showing up.

Then there's a two minute job to do in Apple or Spotify that will show you the real size of the pool you'd be swimming in. I'd be surprised if it's more than three.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

What actually kills a podcast? After ten years of producing other people's shows, I can tell you it's almost never the thing you're worried about.

I'm a fortnight into recording a daily podcast episode, and I've just changed how I'm making it. Not because it stopped working, but because I sat down and looked at my calendar and saw what was coming. In this episode I explain what I've changed, why batch recording is what I recommend to every client in my agency, and the exact number of episodes I'm going to record in one sitting to stay far enough ahead.

I also tell you why I'm not switching to batching permanently, even though it would be easier, and the one thing that makes a podcast stop that has nothing to do with running out of things to say.

Then there's something I want you to do today with your calendar. It takes about two minutes and it'll show you the exact date your buffer has to exist by.

New Pod Shot every weekday. Come and find me on Instagram and TikTok: @lynsaymakeswaves

Join the waitlist for my challenge starting September!