Podcast ROI Tracker
Podcast ROI: Is Your Show Actually Growing Your Business? is something a lot of podcast hosts avoid asking because honestly, the answer can be uncomfortable. In this video, I dig into what real return on investment looks like for business podcasters and how to know if your show is actually doing its job.
A lot of creators pour time, energy, and money into their podcast and then have no clear way to measure whether it is working. I walk through the metrics that actually matter, the ones that go beyond download numbers, and share a practical way to think about whether your show is converting listeners into leads, clients, or opportunities.
If you have ever sat back and wondered whether your podcast is worth the effort, this one is for you.
Free Podcast ROI Tracker:
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00:00 Podcast ROI: is your show working?
01:45 Why downloads are the wrong metric
04:10 The four business ROI signals
05:00 Signal 1: Inbound mentions
06:20 Signal 2: Quality of inbound leads
07:40 Signal 3: Relationship doors opening
09:00 Signal 4: Content leverage
10:15 Four diagnostic questions
11:30 Three reasons your show isn't growing
12:00 Free Podcast ROI Tracker
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SPEAKERS
Chris Hall-Franzkowiak
Chris Hall-Franzkowiak 00:00
If you have ever sat at your desk wondering if your podcast has ever actually done anything for your business, you're not alone. You're posting episodes, people are listening, but you genuinely cannot tell if any of this is turning into clients, inquiries, leads, or anything that will actually move the needle for your business. And the really frustrating thing is that nobody really talks about this, honestly. They'll tell you that downloads are the most important thing, and get lots and lots of downloads, but it's not actually growing your business. There's no straightforward answer given to the question that actually matters the most. Is this working? That is what this video is all about. Here's the problem: most businesses are told to track downloads, so they do. They may have about 200 downloads per episode after 12 months, but they don't know, is this any good? What does it actually mean? Is it good or bad for where I am now? And they're not able to connect it to their actual business revenue, so they either keep going and hoping that it's all great, or they quit, and both of these decisions are being made without the right kind of information. Downloads are not a business metric, they are a vanity metric. They tell you how many times a file was requested, and that's it. They do not tell you whether your content is reaching the right people, whether any of those people are taking action, or whether it's feeding your business. What I'm going to go through today is a different framework, one that is not based around media metrics, but actual business outcomes. By the end of this video, you will have a clear idea of whether your podcast is working, what to do if it's not, and where to focus your energy going forwards. I've been producing podcasts for about 10 years now, and I've seen shows with between 50 and 100 downloads, earning six figures from their podcast within a year, compared to shows that have 1000s of downloads but are generating nothing. The difference was never the numbers, but whether the right people are listening, and whether those people are moved to actually do something. That is the lens that we want to look at this through today. So, why aren't downloads the wrong thing to measure? So, let's start with the reframe, because it's important that we go through this before we get into the framework. When people say that their show is not growing, what they tend to mean is that their downloads aren't growing fast enough. They come about because people get caught up in things like the number of social media views that you get being the most important thing when they're not. This is not the world of advertising, where you are paid for the number of ears that you reach. That is not your business model, particularly at the beginning. You are not selling ad slots to make money from your podcast. You are trying to build relationships with your audience, build authority, and create a pipeline that brings these people to your business. So, the first thing you need to do is mentally separate the two different things. There is the performance of your show as a piece of media, and there is the performance of your show as a business tool. They are both related, but they are not the same. You can have both, but the second is the most important thing for your business. As an example, a finance company that deals with mergers and acquisitions that I launched and produced the podcast with had consistently downloads of no more than 200 per episode across their first year. They were asking me if this is any good, and my question was, what has come out of those listeners, and what had come out across that first year was deals worth six figures. They had earned over 100k from the podcast directly. They were having leads from companies, or they were valued over 5 million, and in that year they had secured a sponsor, which was helping them to pay for the podcast as well. So, no more than 200 downloads, but that show was definitely a success. So, right metric, wrong metric. You've really got to keep that distinction in your head as you go through the lifetime of your podcast. Okay, so here is the framework. I'm going to give you four different signals to look out for. They do not all need to be firing to know that your podcast is working, but if none of them are happening, then that definitely tells you something too. Signal number one: inbound mentions this is people that are telling you that they found you through the podcast or that they have listened to it in contexts that are outside of the podcast itself, so it could be a sales call where someone says, "Oh, I've been listening to your show for a while, a DM from someone who listened to a specific episode and wanted to reach out, a comment on your YouTube videos, where someone says, "Oh, this is brilliant, this really, this is really helpful, or something like an email or a DM, where they say that your podcast came up when they were searching for this particular topic. These mentions are amazing. They are proof that your content is reaching the right people, and that those people are willing to take action from it, so start tracking these mentions. Do it right from the beginning of your show. Do it in a notes app on your phone, a Canva page, just something where you can copy and paste or track these messages to put it all in one place, so you can look back at it and see how many people are reaching out to you. In this way, and at the end of each month, look at that list, and if that list is growing, the show is working. Signal number two, the quality of inbound leads, not the quantity, but the quality. If you're doing your podcast and you are a professional service-based business, then your podcast should be there to help pre-qualify leads. It tells people what you're about, potentially tells people how much your services are and who you actually work with as well. So these people would have listened to enough of your episodes to know that you were the right fit for them, so that when they do reach out, that conversation starts and is so much better than having nothing. There's far less back and forth between you and that potential client, and you should be able to see higher conversion rates as well. If people are arriving onto those calls already aligned with you and what you do, then your podcast is doing its job. Signal number three: relationship doors opening. This one is so underrated and very rarely talked about, and is amazing for early podcasters, in particular. A podcast is one of the best business development tools that exists, and not just for reaching the audience, but for you to be able to set up relationships with people that are going to help grow your business. Every guest that you have on to your podcast is someone that you should be thinking of as a potential collaborator, a potential client, a potential peer in your industry that is going to help to grow your business because of those relationships that you are building through the podcast. Those relationships are where opportunities can come up. That finance show I mentioned did this amazingly well, and their guests were definitely a huge part of where that six figure business came through their podcast. So, if your podcast is leading to those meaningful relationships, track them. That is a measurable thing that is helping to grow your business. So, track any guests you've had on, have any opportunities come through them within three six months of them appearing on the podcast. Signal number four: content leverage. How much is your podcast feeding the rest of your business? So, one episode should be able to feed all of your social media channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts. You should be able to have an email newsletter going out, the episodes being embedded into your website with a blog for each episode, so that is helping build a massive SEO profile for you too. When you are on those sales calls, it is also a resource that you can send them to to say here's a load of stuff, or here's a particular video or episode where I talk about that question, so go and have a look, so track how much secondary content you are actually creating from your podcast episodes, and if the answer is none or very limited, then that is a problem that you do need to fix and have a massive opportunity for, but if your podcast is feeding your social and website ecosystem, then that is a business output from the podcast that is easily overlooked, but should be tracked. Now, I want you to give a way to actually be able to assess where you honestly are in all of this. I'm going to ask you four questions, answer them very honestly, and by the end of it, you'll know if your podcast is working, stalling, or not working at all. Question one: In the last 90 days, how many people have mentioned your podcast in a real-world context? If the answer is zero, that doesn't necessarily mean that your podcast is not working, but it might mean that the audience is not the right one yet, or that the content within them is not landing enough to make the reaction that you want from it. Question number two, can you trace a business outcome that led directly from the podcast in the last six months? Could be one client, one collaboration, one opportunity, anything that has come through the podcast, and if you genuinely cannot think of one, then that is really important information. Question three is, your content getting sharper over time, not necessarily more professional, but sharper. Are you getting better about talking about your specific angle? Are you getting clearer on who you are making all of this for? And if the answer is yes, then you are on the right path. If every episode feels like you are still kind of working out the basics, then that is definitely something that you need to think about and address. Question number four, are you still showing up? Because a podcast that shows up consistently will always outperform an inconsistently released podcast, and if you are starting to be inconsistent, then that is something that has to be addressed. If you're at the point where you are posting episodes sporadically, then that is the first thing, before anything else, that you need to correct and get back into that consistent habit, so go through those four questions, and if you answered yes to at least three of those, then your podcast is in a healthy place, even if your downloads are modest. If you answered no to two or more of those, I want to tell you what to do next. So this is the part where lots. Of people will just skip over it and say just be consistent, that is not enough. If you are not seeing any business signals from your podcast after the first six months, then there is a problem that needs to be addressed, and there are likely three causes. Cause number one, wrong audience. Your show might be attracting 1000s of listeners who will never be buyers. This happens when the topic of the show might be too general, or that the people who are there are not really in that taking action buying mode, or when you are not specific enough about who you are there for. The fix of this is your positioning, not changing the topic necessarily, but getting clearer on who it is that you are there to try and get to move the needle and buy something from your business. Cause number two, there's no clear path from listener to conversation. You might be doing absolutely everything right in the content, it's amazing, they absolutely love it, but there is no clear way to go from the episode to you and your business and where to buy something. This is where your CTAs come in, and they need to be crystal clear, simple, and just one per episode. Do not overcomplicate with lots, because that will confuse, and again, just with no obvious way to go from listener to conversation. If there's too many, no action will be taken. Cause number three: not enough distribution. Posting to your podcast feed is a minimum that is not a distribution strategy on its own. If your podcast is not being shared, not being clipped and put on socials, not being added to YouTube, not being part of your email list, not going onto your website, you are limiting your reach to the people who have subscribed to the podcast alone, and that will not grow your podcast, fix that distribution before you change anything about the content. So, I've put together a one-page podcast ROI tracker that goes through everything that we've discussed in this video. It has the four business signals, the diagnostic questions, and a simple monthly review template that you can use to keep yourself honest. It's totally free, and the link is in the description below. So, if you've been producing episodes with no clear way to assess whether it's working, that document will help you track it over the next 90 days to assess how your show is going. That's all for now, and I will see you next week.
12:15
Bye.
