Insider Secrets to a Top 100 Podcast with Courtney Elmer | Podcasting Strategy for Business Growth

Think your podcast doesn’t need to solve a problem? In this episode, fellow podcast host and wine educator Kristi Mayfield shares how uncovering the problems her listeners cared about turned her “just for fun” show into a Top 100 podcast that’s now positioned to drive real revenue—and how you can do the same.

We’re breaking down how to find the problems your show solves, why they don’t have to be deep or life-changing to hook listen...

It’s great to hear “I love your podcast!” from friends and fans — but let’s face it, we BOTH know that this kind of feedback won’t tell you why new listeners stop listening after one episode (or worse, why they aren’t hitting play to begin with).

That’s why Jay Nachlis, VP at Coleman Insights (the research powerhouse behind some of today’s most listened-to shows), joins me back inside this episode to share the surprising patterns be...

Most podcasters rely on feedback from listeners and fans to figure out whether their podcast is good—and it’s costing them hundreds (even thousands) of potential new listeners who decide within seconds if your show is worth their time.

In this episode, Jay Nachlis, VP at Coleman Insights, joins me to reveal why this kind of surface-level feedback gives you a false sense of success, the blind spots that make new listeners tune out in...

Ever finished an interview and thought, “Well, that sucked”? Your audience felt that too — and one boring, rambling guest can make even your most loyal listeners question if they should ever hit play on your show again. But when your guests deliver specific strategies and bold takes they can’t get anywhere else, listeners finish the episode, tell a friend, and trust you more with every listen.

We're breaking down why “good on p...

You’ve done everything the podcasting experts say to do: publish weekly, stay consistent, share on social. Maybe you’ve even changed your cover art, rewritten your description, or tested a new format. But the listens STILL aren’t coming (and you’re low-key resenting how much time you’ve spent talking to an empty room.)

Most podcasters think it’s a marketing problem. But more often, it’s messaging — starting with your episode titles....

If you’re tired of posting content to social media trying to grow your podcast only to get four likes and no new downloads—the problem isn’t the algorithm. The problem is that you’re expecting social to drive podcast growth instead of letting your podcast drive your social strategy.

That's because social isn’t where people go to discover your podcast. It’s where they decide if they trust you enough to listen to your show in the...

If you’ve ever thought, “My content’s so good—so why aren’t more people listening?”  the problem might not be your content at all. It might be what your podcast is saying about you before people ever hit play (and what you’re saying once they do). Because even if your episodes are packed with value, if your show doesn’t clearly signal why people should pick your show out of hundreds of others they could listen to, the right listene...

You’ve been told to make your podcast content “valuable,” but no one ever tells you what that actually means. So you default to teaching step-by-step—hoping that if you give away enough value for free, your inbox will be flooded with messages from people asking how to work with you. But that’s not how it works. Because listeners won’t hire you if they feel like they already got everything they came for. 

So where’s the line between ...

Most podcasters treat email like a checkbox: “Sent the episode to my list—done.” But if that’s your whole strategy, it’s why no one's clicking. In this episode, email marketing legend and Do This Not That podcast host Jay Schwedelson is back to break down what it actually takes to use email to drive real podcast growth.

You’ll learn why the first two words of your subject line decide whether your email gets opened, the one stat...

Still think LinkedIn is just for job seekers or recruiter pitches? Think again. It’s one of the last platforms where organic reach actually works—and it might be one of the fastest ways to get new listeners to your podcast every week.

In this episode, Jay Schwedelson breaks down the exact LinkedIn strategy he's used to help grow Do This, Not That into a Top 10 marketing podcast in the U.S., with over 390 episodes and 2,000+ glo...

If you’ve ever asked yourself, “Where in my episode should I put my call to action?” — this one’s for you. Because even if your CTA is perfectly worded, it won’t drive action if it’s in the wrong spot or the listener payoff isn’t clear.

And if your audience isn’t taking the next step, you’re not just missing out on listener engagement—it’s a hidden leak in your lead flow, costing you potential clients and revenue you don’t even real...

You KNOW you should give a call to action in every podcast episode. But every time you sit down to record, your brain short-circuits — should you tell them to follow the show? Join your list? Download the freebie? Book a call? Support your sponsor? Buy your thing? Say too much and you sound desperate. Say too little and you miss your chance to turn listeners into leads.

In this episode, I’m breaking down the real reason CTAs feel aw...

You’re showing up. You’re publishing every week. So why does it still feel like no one’s listening?

That’s the question Conrad—documentary filmmaker and host of The First Responder Wellness Podcast—was asking when he came to me for help. He's nearly 80 episodes in and reaching first responders across the country… but getting no reviews, no shares, and not enough listener engagement to know if the podcast is actually helping any...

Downloads are the most unreliable metric for measuring a podcast’s true success. The problem? Most podcasters still rely solely on them to decide if their show is “working.” 

In this episode, find out why the podcasting metrics that matter most aren’t the ones at the top of your dashboard, and learn to decode what these five key data points say about your show's growth. If you’re ready to make sense of your numbers and finally ...

Spotify just rolled out a new feature called “Plays” that shows your episode play counts publicly inside their app. But this move isn’t about helping creators. It’s about algorithmically manipulating what used to be a level playing field—and it benefits Spotify, not you.

Worse? It distracts you from the metrics that actually show if your podcast is working. And for independent, niche hosts, this one visible number will breed unhealt...

Quick—nothing’s batched and an episode’s due tomorrow. What do you do? Panic? Procrastinate? Skip it and hope no one notices? Sure, you could ghost your audience—but what does that really cost you? Authority. Credibility. The listener trust you’ve worked so hard to build. 

That’s why in this episode, I’m giving you 8 plug-and-play ideas you can use anytime your production schedule falls apart and you’re about to spiral into “I’m fai...

It’s the day before your episode goes live—and you still have to outline it, record it, edit it, and get it all done before 6:00 am tomorrow morning when your listeners will be looking for it. You tell yourself you work better under pressure, but this pace is unsustainable. It drains your energy, kills your creativity, and honestly? It makes you hate your podcast.

In this episode, I’m answering a listener’s question about finding ti...

You’ve probably Googled it. You’ve definitely heard five different answers from five different podcast “experts.” But how long should your episodes be? That depends entirely on your listener—and in this episode, I’m showing you how to figure out your perfect episode length using real data from your show.

You’ll learn the two metrics that matter most (and exactly where to find them), how to run a simple 10-episode audit to calculate ...

Most podcasters want more revenue from their podcast—but few have a plan for getting there. 

In this episode, Danielle Hayden (reformed corporate CFO and founder of Kickstart Accounting) is back to break down the numbers side of podcast growth. If you’ve ever wondered how to track conversions from your podcast, how to budget for your show, or how to confidently decide where to invest, this episode gives you the strategy most podcast...