From Big Podcasts to Business Growth: What Most Podcasters Get Wrong

I’ve spent time building some very large podcasts, and I’ve also spent time helping shows that basically did not exist yet. That shift taught me something important.

Big podcast advice does not automatically work for small business podcasts.

That sounds obvious, but a lot of people still miss it. They listen to creator advice built for celebrity brands, massive audiences, and sponsorship-driven shows, then try to apply it to a business podcast that gets 30 downloads and is supposed to help generate leads, build trust, or support sales.

Those are two completely different games.

I recently had the chance to talk through this on an episode of The Power of the Podcast with Josh Troche, and it ended up being one of those conversations where we got into the stuff that actually matters. Not surface-level tactics. Not “just post more clips” advice. The real mechanics behind podcast growth, business ROI, and why so many podcasters get distracted by the wrong metrics.

If you want the full conversation, you can check out the episode here: The Power of the Podcast episode.

Why I stopped thinking like a big-show producer

A lot of my career has been trial and error. No formal media education. No perfectly mapped out path. Just learning by doing, building as I went, and figuring things out in real time.

At one point, I got a very clear preview of what happens when you build something for someone else without building anything for yourself.

I had worked on a major show, put a ton of time into it, and then basically found myself with nothing to show for it overnight. The host still had multiple businesses. The co-host was established in his industry. The guy who had been spending all of his time building the podcast had no real asset of his own.

That was a wake-up call.

It made me realize I loved podcasting, but I needed to build something that had staying power. Something that wasn’t dependent on one show, one personality, or one platform. That’s what pushed me toward building Pursue Podcasting and helping business owners use podcasting intentionally.

And yes, I built the airplane while it was in the air, then jumped out of it.

The biggest mindset shift: from vertical growth to foundational growth

When you work on one big show, you’re mostly trying to grow vertically. You’re focused on making that one brand bigger. Better titles. Better promotion. Better output. Better monetization.

When you start helping multiple smaller businesses launch and grow podcasts, the game changes. Now you’re helping people build the actual foundation.

That means the learning curve gets steep fast.

Instead of trying to optimize one show with a narrow set of opportunities, now I’m looking at multiple clients, multiple industries, multiple business models, and a much wider range of success metrics. I’m not just solving one growth problem anymore. I’m solving a bunch of different ones at the same time.

That forced me to stop being a one-trick pony.

I had built a lot of experience in the fitness space. Great. But then I started working with people in home services, finance, and other niche industries where the old playbook didn’t fit. You can’t just hop on Instagram, find a trending topic, give your two cents, and expect it to work in every category.

In a lot of business niches, that content ecosystem does not even exist in the same way.

So I had to ask better questions:

• What actually makes someone come back to this podcast?
• What does this business want the podcast to do?
• How does success look for this host specifically?
• What is the real business outcome we’re chasing?

Downloads and views are often vanity metrics

This is where a lot of podcasters go wrong.

They decide the podcast is successful only if downloads go up. Or only if clips get views. Or only if YouTube starts pushing their content.

That’s not always useless, but it’s often incomplete.

If all you want is inflated numbers, there are plenty of ways to go chase those. You can pay for attention. You can pay for traffic. You can work with people promising 20,000 downloads a month. But if none of that leads to revenue, qualified leads, authority, or deeper trust with the right audience, then what exactly did you build?

I cannot pay my mortgage with likes and views.

Most business owners can’t either.

That means the real question is not, “How do I get more numbers?”

The real question is, “What is this podcast supposed to do for the business?”

For one client, success might mean more downloads because they have sponsors and promo codes to support. For another, success might mean more inbound leads. For another, it might mean building authority in a niche market. For another, it might mean helping their team get sharper internally.

Same medium. Totally different success metric.

Why chasing algorithms is usually a mistake

One of the most damaging things I see is podcasters abandoning their lane because somebody online told them to “just document” or “post everything everywhere.”

I get the appeal. I really do.

There’s a certain kind of internet advice that makes it sound like volume alone solves everything. Just pump out clips. Chase trends. Talk about whatever is hot. Eventually something will hit.

Sometimes that works if your goal is random reach.

It usually fails if your goal is business growth.

Here’s why. If your podcast is about leadership, sales, fitness, finance, HVAC, or any other niche, and then suddenly you post a politically charged hot take because it’s trending, maybe that one piece pops off. Great. Then what?

What happens when the next episode is back to your normal subject?

The people who clicked for outrage or trend-based curiosity are not coming back for practical niche content. You attracted the wrong audience.

And if you keep doing that, you end up with a messy brand, confused messaging, and an audience that doesn’t convert.

That is why I keep coming back to the same thing:

Know your success metric, and let that drive the content.

If your goal is to become a tabloid-style commentary show, fine. Go do that. But if your goal is to grow a business, attract clients, and become the go-to expert in your field, stop chasing every rabbit the algorithm throws in front of you.

Business owners care about one thing: is this working?

Another big adjustment for me was learning the difference between a content creator mindset and a business owner mindset.

When I first got deeper into production, I thought in terms of creative upgrades.

• Better thumbnails
• Stronger intros
• More polished titles
• Better tags
• Cleaner packaging

That stuff matters. I still care about it. But business owners usually do not wake up excited about thumbnail optimization.

They want to know:

• Will this help me make more money?
• Will it bring in better opportunities?
• Will it position me as the authority in my field?
• Will it strengthen trust with the right people?

That’s the real sales conversation.

And honestly, I appreciate that. Business owners tend to cut through fluff fast. They are not interested in getting sugarcoated. They recorded the episode. Now they want to know if the podcast is doing its job.

If you’re trying to treat your show like a real marketing asset instead of just a content hobby, that’s exactly the right lens. If you want help building that kind of system, this breakdown of our podcast production and strategy services explains how I approach podcasts for experts, executives, and business owners who want more than vanity growth.

The truth about thumbnails, titles, and production polish

Now let me be clear. I am not saying packaging does not matter.

It absolutely matters.

The problem is when people swing to one extreme or the other.

On one side, you have people putting out thumbnails that look like their 10-year-old niece made them. That’s not good enough.

On the other side, you have people obsessing over tiny details that do not materially change the result, especially when the show is still small. If your podcast is early-stage and getting a handful of downloads, spending six hours moving text around by a few pixels is probably not the best use of your time.

There’s a point of diminishing returns.

At the very top end, yes, that minutiae may matter a lot. Someone like Chris Williamson can justify deep thumbnail iteration because the stakes are massive. Small changes can mean serious money when you’re operating at that level.

For a smaller business podcast, the equation is different.

So my take is pretty simple:

• Do not ignore packaging
• Do not let packaging stop you from publishing
• Get it good enough to represent your brand well
• Then keep moving forward

If the podcast itself is weak, a perfect thumbnail is not going to save it.

Why long-form podcasting builds trust better than short-form clips

I’m not anti-clip. I use clips. I understand the role they play.

But clips are often overrated when it comes to actual business development.

A 30-second clip might get attention. It might get some likes. It might even travel a little bit.

What it usually does not do is create enough trust for someone to hire you.

A 30-minute conversation can.

That’s because long-form content creates context. It allows people to get familiar with how you think, how you speak, what you care about, what your values are, and whether you actually know what you’re talking about.

That’s the know-like-and-trust factor in action.

If someone spends half an hour with you through a podcast, they come away with a much stronger sense of who you are than they ever could from a short clip alone. That matters when they are deciding who to hire, who to talk to, or who to trust with something important.

So yes, use short-form strategically. But do not confuse social reach with relationship depth.

Podcasting is relationship building at scale.

A million-dollar example of podcast ROI that had nothing to do with going viral

One of my favorite examples of podcast ROI came from the HVAC industry.

We produced a three-part series with a well-known HVAC sales expert. The episodes were packed with useful ideas. The company behind the show did something smart with that content. They did not just publish it and move on. They turned the insights into an actual training system for their team.

Instead of another PDF no one would read or another training module people would ignore, they met their team where they already were. Their employees listened to podcasts. So they built training around a podcast format that would actually get consumed.

Then they implemented what they learned.

In a 50-day period, while dealing with lower call volume than the year before, they generated over $1 million in revenue using the training principles taken from that podcast series.

That is a huge reminder that podcast success does not always look like sponsorships, viral clips, or giant audience numbers.

Sometimes success looks like this:

• Better team performance
• Better sales conversations
• Better internal education
• Better business outcomes

If a podcast helps your company produce results like that, it is a success whether or not anyone on the outside thinks it is “big.”

Internal podcasts are more useful than most companies realize

This idea comes up more often than people think.

Not every podcast needs to be public-facing in the traditional sense.

Some businesses can create massive value with internal podcasts. Leadership messages. Training episodes. Cultural alignment. Sales education. Communication that people can actually absorb while they are driving, traveling, or between meetings.

That works because audio is flexible. It fits into real life in a way other communication formats often do not.

If you have a team that is already overloaded with documents, slide decks, and unread training materials, a podcast can be a much better delivery vehicle.

And if it improves even a small percentage of employee performance across the organization, the ROI can be enormous.

What successful people do behind the scenes

People often want to know what big names do differently. I’ve been around enough high-level personalities to say this with confidence:

The most successful people usually are not trying to control every tiny moving part.

That does not mean they are careless. It means they know where their genius lives.

Stone Cold Steve Austin was not sitting there obsessing over audio gear. Mark Bell was not trying to become a podcast producer. Their job was to show up, deliver, be themselves, and focus on their craft.

The operational side was built in a way that let them do that.

The people who tend to move faster and more effectively are the ones who let experts handle their part of the process. They hire specialists. They trust them. They avoid giving unnecessary feedback just to feel involved.

That’s a lesson a lot of podcasters and business owners need.

If you have the right people in place, let them cook.

The 80 percent rule: perfection is often the bottleneck

For me, one of the biggest growth lessons has been learning to accept 80 to 85 percent of what I would personally do if I had unlimited time.

That matters because bottlenecks kill momentum.

If I need every edit, every design, every asset, and every decision to meet my exact personal standard at 100 percent before anything goes out, the machine slows down. Sometimes it stops altogether.

So I’d rather keep moving.

If Monday’s episode flopped, fine. Wednesday’s is next. If a thumbnail was not my favorite, okay. Improve the next one. If an edit was not flawless but it was strong and ready, publish it.

Forward motion matters more than polishing yourself into paralysis.

This is especially important for business podcasts, where consistency tends to beat perfection over time. A solid podcast published regularly will do far more for your authority and pipeline than a “perfect” one that never makes it out the door.

How I’m thinking about AI and the future of podcasting

I use AI. I like AI. I think it is genuinely useful.

But I also think something very human is going to become more valuable as AI spreads everywhere.

The ability to hold a real conversation.

The ability to communicate clearly in person.

The ability to think on your feet, connect with someone face to face, and come across the same way in the room as you do online.

That is going to matter more, not less.

One of the skills I think will separate people going forward is whether they can actually have a good, sustained conversation. That sounds basic, but in a world dominated by short-form content and shrinking attention spans, it is becoming rare.

I love remote podcasting. It is amazing that I can talk with someone across the country and have a real exchange. But I also think in-person communication, speaking, networking, handshakes, live conversations, and authentic connection will become even more powerful because of how much synthetic content is flooding the market.

I do not want someone to hear me on a podcast, meet me in person, and feel like they encountered a completely different person.

So for me, the future is not anti-AI. It is both. Use the tools. Embrace the leverage. But keep sharpening the human skills that the tools cannot replace.

If your podcast needs an ROI, treat it like your number one marketing asset

If I had to give one piece of advice to a business owner, marketer, or executive trying to make podcasting actually work, it would be this:

Focus on the podcast.

That sounds almost too simple, but a lot of people get distracted.

They record an episode, then immediately think of it as raw material for 15 other content pieces. The podcast becomes a content library instead of the primary asset.

There is nothing wrong with repurposing. You should repurpose. But if all your attention goes to the spin-off content and none goes into making the actual podcast stronger, more relevant, and more strategically useful, you are missing the point.

Your podcast should not be treated like leftover content for social media.

Your podcast should be treated like the main engine.

That means:

• Know who it is for
• Know what business result it should support
• Know what a win looks like
• Build episodes intentionally
• Stay consistent long enough to let trust compound

If you do that well, the clips, posts, emails, and other assets become support pieces for something much more valuable.

What I think most podcasters are actually getting wrong

After working on both big shows and smaller business podcasts, here’s the simplest version of it:

• They copy strategies built for people in a completely different situation
• They obsess over views before they define success
• They chase trends that attract the wrong audience
• They focus on clips instead of trust-building
• They overthink packaging and underthink business outcomes
• They try to control everything instead of delegating
• They forget that podcasting is a long game

The fix is not complicated, but it does require clarity.

Know your why.

Know the business purpose.

Know who you’re trying to help.

Then build the podcast around that, not around what some giant influencer says works for everybody.

Because it does not work for everybody.

And that’s okay.

FAQ

If you want to build a podcast that actually supports your business instead of just taking up space on your content calendar, you can learn more at pursuepodcasting.com.

And if you want the full conversation that sparked a lot of this, make sure you check out the episode here: From Big Podcasts to Business Growth.