So you’ve just come up with the perfect podcast idea. Only — you’ve never made a podcast before, and to make matters worse, you don’t have an audience (yet).
It’s certainly easier to start a podcast with a pre-existing audience, but that doesn’t mean starting from the ground floor is impossible. Mike Duncan and Aaron Mahnke were virtually unknown figures, and today are respected podcast hosts with well-established shows.
If you’re thinking about podcasting without an established audience, this guide can help you get started successfully. It covers everything you need to launch your podcast and provides tips and tricks for growing your audience.
- How Can I Start a Podcast with No Audience?
- How Can I Start Recording Podcast Episodes?
- How Can I Optimize My Podcast’s Online Presence?
- How Do I Grow My Podcast Audience?
- The Bottom Line on Starting a Podcast with No Audience
How Can I Start a Podcast with No Audience?
It can take anywhere from 6 to 18+ months to grow a podcast to 1,000 listeners. Your mileage will vary depending on a variety of factors, including the size of your potential audience, so before jumping in feet-first, you’ll need to start with the basics.
This means you need to ask yourself:
How Do I Choose My Podcast Topic or Niche?
You probably already have an idea about your podcast topic and format. The real question is, is it a good idea? And would there be people to listen to your show?
To answer these questions, you’ll have to ask a few more:
- How many similar podcasts can you find? How big are they compared to other podcasts, and how many downloads do they average?
- What’s the scope of these competing podcasts? What do they miss that your podcast could cover?
- What is the market saying about your podcast topic? You can use social listening tools or simple searches on Twitter and Facebook to get a basic idea.
- What kinds of people are interested in your topic and niche? Topics should be broad (think ‘fitness’ or ‘horror’), while niches should be smaller subjects within the topic (like ‘muscle development’ or ‘scary folk stories’).
Once you validate your topic and niche (and once you confirm your podcast offers something unique), it will be time to dig into the meat and potatoes — designing a listener persona.
The Art and Science of Listener Personas
A listener persona is a detailed ‘personification’ of a typical listener of your show, similar to an “Ideal Customer Profile” in business. It will help you identify exactly who you’re creating content for so you can design artwork, intro music, and podcast topics that suit their fancy.
Listener personas are powerful tools for marketing, promotion, and monetization. Since you’ll have a good idea of where they’ll live online, you know where, when, and how to present yourself to your potential audience.
Not sure how to get started with this? Here’s a template you can use to build listener personas in Google Sheets:
| Category | Details |
Demographics | |
| Age | [Age range] |
| Gender | [Gender identity] |
| Location | [Geographic location/setting] |
| Occupation | [Job title/industry] |
| Income Level | [Income bracket] |
| Education | [Educational background] |
Listening Habits | |
| Primary Listening Time | [e.g., Morning commute, during exercise] |
| Average Listen Duration | [Hours per week] |
| Preferred Device | [e.g., Smartphone, smart speaker] |
| Listening Platform | [e.g., Spotify, Apple Podcasts] |
| Multitasking Behavior | [What they do while listening] |
Content Preferences | |
| Favorite Genres | [Top 3 podcast categories] |
| Episode Length | [Preferred duration] |
| Content Format | [e.g., Interview, narrative, solo] |
Psychographics | |
| Primary Motivations | [Why they would listen to your podcast] |
| Pain Points | [Challenges your podcast might solve] |
| Goals | [Listening aspirations] |
| Personal Values | [Core beliefs and principles] |
| Personal Interests | [Hobbies and activities] |
Social Behavior | |
| Social Media Preference | [Platforms and engagement level] |
| Podcast Discovery | [How they find new podcasts] |
| Content Sharing | [How they share episodes] |
You can have more than one listener persona for a podcast, but it’s best to stick with just two or fewer. This allows you to develop specific strategies for your audience.
Because if your podcast is for everyone, it’s technically designed for no one.
How Can I Start Recording Podcast Episodes?
At this point, you should know who you’re talking to, what you’re talking about, and how often you’ll publish an episode. Now it’s time to actually record your podcast.
With the right equipment, this should be relatively simple.
If you’re unfamiliar with podcast production, you can use this section to brush up on the basics. You could also just delegate production to a professional team if you don’t want to mess around with the technical complexities of the recording process.
Pssst — already have what you need to get started? Skip down to section three below.
Pick Your Essential Podcast Equipment
A microphone, laptop, and internet connection are typically all you need to get started with podcasting. You may want to pick up a few podcast accessories (such as tripods or shock mounts) depending on your recording environment.
Other common podcast equipment includes:
- Podcast mixers or audio interfaces
- Audio or video editing tools
- Podcast hosting platforms (more on these later)
If you don’t want to purchase your equipment separately, you could always opt for a podcast equipment bundle. You could also purchase equipment kits, which were specifically designed to level up specific hardware.
Get the rest of the details in our ultimate guide to podcast equipment.
Set Up Your Podcast Studio
If you have access to a room with power and WiFi, you’re halfway done with your podcast studio. Carpets and rugs can help to dampen unwanted room tones, and you can hang curtains or acoustic treatments to optimize your audio further.
You may not need anything extra for audio-only shows, however, a good microphone and editing platform will go a long way. It’s video productions that may need extra TLC, like a green-screened background, better lighting, or acoustic treatments.
Will you have to record in a suboptimal space? You can read our guide to handling reflections and reverb.
Learn Basic Podcast Editing Techniques
The way you choose to edit your podcast should align with your audience’s expectations. This might mean making heavy edits to audiovisual content, or simply adding a catchy theme song to the beginning and end of your show.
There are a lot of great options for quality podcast editing tools to choose from:
Each of these plans comes with its own benefits and drawbacks, so it’s a good idea to get a free trial of a few different ones before making a final decision.
There are plenty of places to learn the nuts and bolts of podcast editing, from software guides to free YouTube tutorials. You could also simply outsource your work to a professional editing team so you spend less time learning editing techniques and more time creating new episodes.
Selecting the Right Podcast Hosting Platform
A podcast host can help you syndicate content to the apps and directories your listeners are already using. They can also help you store past episodes or content so you don’t have to worry about overloading Google Drive.
You can read our complete guide to podcast hosting platforms for a detailed breakdown covering popular podcast hosts. However, you can also start with the most popular options:
💡 Related: Choosing a Podcast Hosting Platform
How Can I Optimize My Podcast’s Online Presence?
If you want your podcast to be easily discoverable online, you need to focus on boosting visibility.
There are a few easy ways to do this at scale:
- Product syndication. As mentioned, apps and directories like Apple Podcasts and Spotify can serve your content to a much wider audience.
- Up your social media game. You should be posting (at minimum) three times per week to your social media platforms of choice. For example, you could repurpose content with audiograms and highlights or post behind-the-scenes photos of you and your guests.
- Optimize for SEO. This means using the right keywords and optimization strategies to help searchers find your content. For example, you might embed your podcasts with text-based transcripts so searchers can easily find what they’re looking for.
How Do I Grow My Podcast Audience?
Now that you’ve established a production rhythm, you can spend more time building up your audience.
Here are some suggestions to help you do just that:
Upgrade to Video Podcasting
A whopping two in five podcast listeners (or 43%) prefer podcasts with video compared to audio-only shows. This number is only expected to grow over the years, which means if you want a bigger audience, it may be time to embrace video content.
There are many other reasons to upgrade your podcast to video, from greater audience engagement to more monetization opportunities. Just keep in mind you may need additional equipment to get started, including video cameras, editing software, background equipment, and similar tools.
💡Related: Ultimate Guide to Video Podcasting
Learn How to Read Your Podcast Metrics
Growing your podcast is both an art and a science, which includes learning how to read your podcast metrics.
The best podcast hosting platforms offer detailed breakdowns of watch time, downloads, and more. These allow you to make more informed decisions about which episodes are performing and what kinds of content do best on your show.
Keep in mind:
- Your podcast stats don’t always show completely accurate listener numbers. Although many platforms use IAB-certified stats, measurements of ‘listeners’ are technically measurements of devices (AKA computers, tablets, or mobile phones using a specific IP address).
- You need to discern useful statistics from red herrings. For example, it might be helpful to know where listeners start dropping off, but less helpful to know what device types listeners are using.
- You shouldn’t prioritize downloads over total users (or vice versa). As many as a third of podcast listeners listen to less than half of their downloads, and many podcast hosts and distribution services inadvertently over and underestimate audiences.
If you want to learn more about interpreting podcast metrics, you can refer to this guide covering IAB-certified statistics.
Promote Your Podcast in the Right Places
It’s not enough to focus on creating great content; you also need to tell the world about it. This means leaning into podcast promotion with music, artwork, and social media and then finding opportunities to get your target community engaged.
First things first: you need to produce the right assets. The following chart can help you brainstorm the bare-bones basics for your show:
| Asset Type | Description | Format Requirements |
| Cover Artwork | Main podcast artwork for directories | 3000x3000px JPG/PNG |
| Episode Artwork | Individual episode thumbnails | 1400x1400px JPG/PNG |
| Theme Music | Opening and closing music | MP3/WAV (high quality) |
| Sound Effects | Transition sounds and audio elements | MP3/WAV |
| Episode Description | Compelling show summary with keywords | Text (300-600 characters) |
| Show Notes | Detailed episode content and links | HTML/Text |
| Social Media Graphics | Promotional images and quote cards | 1080x1080px JPG/PNG |
| Audiogram | Audio clip with waveform visualization | MP4/MOV |
| Transcripts | Written version of episode content | Text/PDF |
| Press Kit | Media assets and show information | PDF/ZIP |
| Podcast Trailer | Short promotional video | MP4 (30-60 seconds) |
Next, you’ll need to start thinking about presence. Where do you want to show up online?
You should focus on at least three different areas in the beginning:
- A podcast website. Most podcast hosts offer basic web pages for free. Podpage is a great resource for a custom look. WordPress and Wix also offer free accounts.
- Social media accounts. You need at least one to get the word out about your show, although at least two accounts (Instagram, LinkedIn, or X) will be helpful for building an audience and buzz.
- Pitch your show. This could be done by creating an audio or video ad, or just by networking with other podcasters in your space. That way, you can build stronger relationships with podcasters in your ecosystem and eventually become a guest on a similar show.
There are other tactics you can use depending on your comfort level. For example, you could send cold emails to prospects who fit your listener persona. You could also host guests and leverage interview clips to generate buzz.
Once you’ve got the basics down, you could try paid ads, polls, surveys, contests, and promotions. Remember: there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ promotion strategy — only the one that makes sense for your brand.
The Bottom Line on Starting a Podcast with No Audience
Starting a new podcast can be downright intimidating, and kicking off without an audience could feel overwhelming (if not a little disheartening). But following best practices will set you up for success so you can grow your audience alongside your episode count.
Of course, you don’t need to juggle every aspect of podcasting alone — there are plenty of platforms that can help you put editing, hosting, and promoting on autopilot. You can even delegate your growth to a professionally-trained team for handling marketing assets, video production, optimization audits, and more.
Learn more about how The Podcast Consultant can help to grow your podcast.