Which Growth Strategy Will Scale Your Podcast in 2026?

Which Growth Strategy Will Scale Your Podcast in 2026

Traci DeForge: [00:00:00] So you’ve got the foundational pieces all in place. You’ve got all of your content. You’re fired up. You’re bringing the right energy to the mic. You’re showing up on other podcasts with like-minded audiences, but yet you might still be hitting that growth barrier or that stagnant level. We have the secret sauce of how to break through that.

Voice Over: This is the Growth Accelerator Podcast. Now your host, Tracy Deforge.

Traci DeForge: Welcome back to the Growth Accelerator Podcast. Today’s episode is all about the growth strategy you need to scale your podcast. We’re going to look at very specific ways that we work with our clients to grow their shows, both organically and strategically through audio ad campaigns and through guest booking, showing up on other shows with like-minded audiences.

So let’s dig in. Let’s start first with setting the stage for the foundational growth. We talk a lot at Produce Your Podcast and on the Growth Accelerator Podcast [00:01:00] about making sure your foundational pieces are in place. What does that look like through the lens of business development? That looks like making sure that your calls to action are in place, making sure that you are using the foundational pieces of content for your show to tie back into visibility, leads, and sales for you and your business.

But an, an organic strategy for podcast discovery often gets overlooked because it is wrapped around the term SEO, but most people think about search engine optimization, they think about Google or showing up on the first page of Google. But did you know that there’s very specific podcast SEO strategies that you need in order for people to find your show?

At Produce Your Podcast, we invest in three separate tech stacks to ensure that your show is found organically, because it’s a whole new world with search out there right now. And most [00:02:00] importantly, if you’re trying to figure out the workaround or how to get discovered in the AI Overviews, you wanna pay attention to this specific tip.

Making sure that your podcast is optimized for podcast-specific SEO includes things such as your show description. Oftentimes when we do podcast audits, we find that people may have launched their show and they set it and forget it. You can utilize up to 3,500 characters in your show description. So that means go for it.

The first 150 to 200 characters, talk about the content and the, what is gonna reach your audience. But then use those remaining characters to put your bio in there, to put topics that you talk about on your show, really high-profile guest names. Make sure your website’s included. Those are things that are gonna really help with people finding your show when they’re searching for very specific topics about what you discuss in your content.[00:03:00]

And then take that strategy and move it all the way through all of your episodes. Yes, that’s important, from the title of your episodes, from the description of your episodes, and really leveraging that show note opportunity, even making sure that you’re using your website to upload your podcast and your podcast show note summaries.

It is something that people often wanna skip, and I know it’s an easy thing to do, but in this case, if you wanna be the person that shows up in AI when someone’s looking or asking a specific question that you address in your podcast content episode, you want to be that person who has that very well strategically placed podcast-specific SEO.

So yes, we hit how to show up in AI Overviews through organic discovery, making sure that all those foundational content pieces are in place for your podcast. But there’s one strategic tip that you do not want to underestimate. [00:04:00] Showing up in AI is a completely different strategy than being found in Google.

I know we’ve mentioned this before, but I think it’s just really important to understand what is it exactly that I mean by that Here’s the breakdown. So when someone is searching in Google, it is y- likely very vertical. Yes, it is keyword-based, but it’s very content specific in terms of the amount of content, let’s say, for example, that’s showing up on your specific website and how it is optimized with keywords.

The interesting difference with an AI overview is that it goes wide across categories, and it lands on who’s showing up the most frequently with the same content. Who is the expert? Who is the thought leader? Who is the person that has the most visibility in their niche or topic? That is you. But what if you aren’t showing up when people are putting their questions into their ChatGPTs?[00:05:00]

Well, we can fix that for you. A really simple, simple strategy is to start showing up and guesting on podcasts that have like-minded and mirrored audiences that are similar to your podcast audience. Why, you ask, is that the strategy? Because it gives you frequency and repetition. If you show up multiple times in the same content space across different platforms on different podcasts, then the AI overview is going to pick up on that algorithm.

It is a very simple and very well-executed strategy if done correctly But here’s what you really need to understand. Showing up on podcasts with like-minded audiences isn’t necessarily the easiest thing to have happen. Yes, you can hire a, a virtual assistant or you can use some of the technology that’s out there that, that is coordinating [00:06:00] guests and hosts.

But what you really want to do if this is the way that you wanna show up as that thought leader, as that industry expert, is you really want to utilize an agency or an individual who is specifically trained in getting you aligned with the right target audience and the right podcast. Another myth buster that you might be interested in hearing is that the biggest audiences are not necessarily the solution to implementing this strategy.

If you are very specific and highly targeted in the audience that you reach by the podcast that you show up on, you’re actually more likely to get more conversions. You’re actually more likely to get people to gravitate and discover your show, and then you’re obviously then, as a result, gonna grow your visibility through AI.

You’re gonna grow your visibility through like-minded audiences, but you’re also going to have the opportunity to take someone who is already listening to a [00:07:00] podcast, and then who is already listening to a podcast about your subject matter, and introduce them to your podcast. So what is gonna happen?

They’re gonna be more likely to then go and check out your podcast because it’s something they’re already interested in, and that doesn’t need thousands and thousands and thousands of downloads in order to make that happen. That just needs the right kind of audience and the right kind of downloads to make that happen.

So you’ve got the foundational pieces all in place. You’ve got all of your content. You’re fired up. You’re bringing the right energy to the mic. You’re showing up on other podcasts with like-minded audiences But yet you might still be hitting that growth barrier or that stagnant level. We have the secret sauce of how to break through that, and it’s done with very strategically placed audio ad campaigns.

Because it’s gonna give you the opportunity to amplify your voice. It’s going to give you the opportunity to get visibility in places that you may [00:08:00] never have even anticipated you could get visibility. And no, this isn’t like your meta ads or your Facebook, Instagram. It’s not a digital campaign strategy that works in the way that those campaigns work.

This is a campaign that is 100% dedicated to your podcast and introducing your podcast on platforms to brand-new audiences. But the secret trick is, is that behind the media player where these audio ads run, is connected directly to your RSS feed. So you get the front-facing opportunity of being in front of an audience that’s searching online for your specific kind of content, and then the magic of the back end is gonna connect directly to your RSS feed.

So you get the visibility of being included in the ads that are placed in [00:09:00] like-minded audiences and strategic places for your podcast. And then you get the benefit of that ad once that person plays and expresses interest in that ad, then they get directed directly to your podcast, your podcast content, and your specific podcast episode.

It is such a win-win that I really don’t understand why everyone isn’t doing it. One thing that I know for sure is that growth does not happen by accident We have talked about some time-tested, proven, get a return on your investment ways to scale your podcast today. But at the same time, I can also understand that these types of integrations can feel very overwhelming.

So I encourage you to go to produceyourpodcast.com and just really dig into our website, and here’s why. You are going to find blogs that are going [00:10:00] to take deeper dives into all the things that I talked about today. You’re gonna see our work page with shows that implement these strategies that we talked about today.

And if you wanna even just experience other podcast episodes from the Growth Accelerator that go even deeper on some of the topics that we talked about, we’ve got the five growth checklist episode. We’ve got some really good case study episodes with Jenn Trepeck of Salad with a Side of Fries and, uh, Rances Savas with The Uplifters, who have all had tremendous success in their own independent podcasts utilizing these strategies to grow their visibility, their leads, their sales, publish books, all of the things.

So you’re not out there having to do this alone. Check out produceyourpodcast.com. Check out other episodes of the Growth Accelerator podcast, or just simply connect with us and set up a call with our team because we are here to help you.

Voice Over: Congratulations. You’re on your [00:11:00] way to turning your business or company’s podcast into a thriving lead generation and marketing force.

Connect with us and schedule a meeting with our team at produceyourpodcast.com. Launch or grow your podcast and start generating more visibility, leads, and sales for your business today.

Traci DeForge: Let’s get started