How I got 70M podcast downloads

Hey, There are over 2.4 million podcasts worldwide. The top 1% of podcasts get 35k downloads per episode. Here are the 9 steps I followed to grow mine to 70M+ downloads: 1. It Takes Time to Compound In my first year, I was spending 6 hours per week on my podcasts (while running my business). After a year, I only had 9 downloads a day. That’s it. After the second year, it jumped to 30 downloads a day. The third year is when things really started to take off. That's when I learned that it typically takes about 3 years to make anything work whether it's growing an audience or a business. Focus on perfecting your format and learning! 2. Grow Through Other Podcasts Collaborate with other podcasters. Get on other podcasts within your niche. Use tools like Guestio  or Chartable to find relevant podcasts in your niche. We recently just did a podcast impression trade with a large podcast that gets about 6M monthly downloads for about 600k impressions and we saw a bump in downloads. We're hoping to do more of these in the near future. 3. Advertise On Other podcasts I have friends that spend six-to-seven figures every year on advertising. If you don't want to spend money, build partnerships with other podcasts instead: 1. Find similarly sized podcasts in your niche 2. Reach out to them to collaborate 4. Stay Consistent. Podcasting is a long-term game. We now have over 3500 episodes lifetime. I’ve made it a priority to record a podcast (whether I’m sick or travelling). This is what it takes to be successful. 5. Stay Focused. Avoid changing the format of the show. Each podcast of mine has a specific format: Marketing School: 4-5 minutes of bite-sized insights Leveling Up: Founder interviews Creators of Web3: Reacting to the world of web3 Focus on a format. 6. Be Uniquely You Don't get too distracted by too many channels initially. Whether it's TikTok, LinkedIn, etc. — each one has its audience. Focus on one channel in the beginning. You can repurpose content for other platforms later. 7. Repurpose after you perfect your format With the rise of short-form video, podcasting actually has a discoverability outlet now. Chop up your video podcasts into bite-sized pieces for Shorts, Reels, and TikTok. Then watch your views moon. 8. Optimize for the Unsolicited Response Rate When you’re starting, don’t optimize for downloads/views. Look for people commenting on your content. Carefully note down their feedback. Learn from it. They're worth their weight in gold because they keep you going. 9. Collaborate with others Collaboration can mean partnering with other podcasts for cross-promotion or getting guests that have a big audience. Content creation doesn't have to be a single-player game. For example, both Marketing School and Creators of Web3 have co-hosts who are respected in their field. It leads to interesting banter and back and forth. More importantly, these have become long-term friendships. At Single Grain, we're leveling up our capabilities to stay on top of trends so we can continue to push innovative marketing that drives more traffic and conversions. [Feel free to book a chat to get a free marketing plan here](. -Eric To make sure you keep getting these emails, please add eric@singlegrain.com to your address book or whitelist us. Want out of the loop? [Unsubscribe](. Our postal address: 2121 Biscayne Blvd #1184 Miami, FL 33137