Episode 314 | Insider Secrets to a Top 100 Podcast | Courtney Elmer

What to Do When Your Podcast Isn’t Converting

Think your podcast should be making you money by now? Here’s why it’s not—and what to do about it. Podcast monetization isn’t a plug-and-play process. If you’re podcasting without an offer, trying to fix one that isn’t converting, or in the process of scaling one that’s converting well, the path to podcast monetization will look different at each stage.

So before we go any further, you need to know that most podcasts never make money—not because they can’t, but because their hosts don’t have the right expectations or a roadmap to get there. But that doesn’t have to be your story.

In part two of this episode series, I’m handing you that roadmap. We’re talking about how to:

• Build trust and authority when you don’t have a business behind the podcast (and don’t plan to).
  
• Use your podcast as a tool to diagnose and fix an offer that isn’t converting as well as you want it to.
  
• Use your podcast to scale an existing offer that’s converting well, so that as your podcast audience grows, your business grows with it.

So if you’re ready to build a podcast that actually drives revenue (without guessing, hoping, or waiting forever to see results) read on.

No Offer Yet? Here’s Where to Focus

If you don’t have an offer or a business (or don’t plan to), then monetizing your podcast is not where your focus needs to be right now—your focus is on building your audience. Why? Because without a business behind the podcast, your audience is the product.

Not your content. Not your passion. Your audience.

If that feels a little uncomfortable, that’s normal. But like Tom Webster writes in The Audience is Listening: “If your goal is to monetize your podcast, then you have to get your head around the fact that the product you are selling is your audience, and your sponsors have a right to know what they are buying.”

Sponsors and affiliates aren’t handing over cash for your clever episode titles or heartfelt intros. They’re buying into the trust you’ve built with your listeners. And we all know that building trust takes time. So if you’re podcasting without an offer or business, your focus right now isn’t on monetization—it’s on growing, and more importantly, knowing your audience.

So right now, your focus needs to shift from “how do I monetize?” to “how do I grow and know my audience?”

• Who are they? How well do I know them, really?
• What do they need? Am I giving them what I think they need? Or am I giving them what they’ve actually asked me for?
• Why are they listening to me instead of the millions of other podcasts out there? 

Most podcasters think they’ve nailed their messaging and positioning, but they haven’t. (If they did, they wouldn’t be struggling to grow their audience or monetize their podcast.)

But without it, your audience won’t see why your podcast is worth their time, and sponsors definitely won’t see why it’s worth their investment. (Need help? Book a podcast audit and let’s chat.)

Without an offer, your podcast’s job is to grow a loyal, engaged audience because that will be your path to podcast monetization. The clearer you are on who your audience is and what they need, the faster you can create content that builds trust. And trust sells.

When Your Offer Isn’t Converting: Use Your Podcast as a Feedback Loop

If you have a business but it’s not growing in the way you’d hoped, this is for you. Maybe you’ve launched a course, opened a coaching program, or created a digital product—but the sales aren’t rolling in. You’ve tried running ads, showing up consistently on social, and creating endless freebies to grow your email list. And now, you’ve turned to podcasting, hoping it’ll grow your audience enough to finally fix your revenue problem.

Here’s the hard truth: a podcast won’t fix a broken offer. If people aren’t buying what you’re selling now, a bigger audience won’t change that—you’ll just have a bigger audience that doesn’t buy.

But a podcast can help you solve the problem when you see it as a feedback loop. 

Because a podcast is an amplifier (meaning it magnifies what’s working and what isn’t), it makes it the perfect tool for identifying gaps in your messaging and offer.

So instead of trying to grow your audience like, yesterday with a podcast, instead look at it as a tool that’s going to help you diagnose where the disconnect is, why your current audience isn’t buying—and what your audience actually wants.

If your offer isn’t converting right now, your podcast’s job is to help you figure out why—and fix it. It won’t bring in instant revenue, but it will give you the clarity you need to build an offer your audience actually wants to buy. And when you get that part right, podcast monetization is inevitable. Every episode you create becomes a step closer to turning listeners into paying clients.

Take Kevin Chemidlin, for example. He thought his audience wanted a program on how to become a better interviewer. But when he used his podcast as a tool to gather insights—sitting down with over 30 members of his audience—they all said the same thing: “We want something to help us grow and monetize our podcasts.” He scrapped his original idea, created a new offer, and the results? Over seven figures in revenue.

Your podcast isn’t just a platform for talking—it’s a built-in testing ground for your messaging. Every episode gives you real-time data. Are listeners downloading certain topics more than others? Are they engaging with your calls to action? 

Even when there’s no response—no downloads, no clicks, no sales—it’s still valuable feedback. Silence shows you what isn’t working and where you need to adjust.

So if your offer(s) aren't converting like you expected them to yet, use your podcast to help you identify the disconnect and find where your messaging and positioning are off. It won’t be an overnight fix, but it will help you solve the problem faster than it would without a podcast—helping you uncover what your audience really wants and building a podcast that grows your business.

Scaling Your Business? Here’s What You Need to Know Before Starting a Podcast

So you’ve got an established business, and it’s doing well. Your coaching program fills up every launch, your digital product sells, or your courses hit those industry-standard 3% warm traffic and 1% cold traffic benchmarks. You’re scaling, and a podcast feels like the next logical step. After all, you’re no stranger to marketing. You know your ideal client, you’ve got a team in place, and you’re ready to hit record. Cool. But beware: a successful business doesn’t automatically equal a successful podcast.

It’s easy to assume your marketing expertise will naturally translate into podcasting success. But being an expert in your field doesn’t make you an expert in podcasting.

I've been in this industry a long time, and as a judge for The Webby Awards, I’ve had the privilege of seeing the inner workings of some of today’s most-recognized brands and podcasts. And I’ve seen this play out time and time again: industry leaders with thriving businesses, strong teams, and hefty budgets start podcasts without ever asking for advice. They hire an editor, delegate production and marketing to their team, and pay thousands for eye-popping cover art.

And yet—the podcast doesn’t grow.

Why? In most cases, it’s because they failed to survey their market and analyze the competition.

And no, I don’t mean sending a quick Typeform survey to your email list asking, “What would you listen to?” or doing a Google search to check if the podcast name you want is available. I’m talking about a deep dive into what your audience actually wants and where your podcast will stand out in the market.

When that step gets skipped, here’s what happens: six months in, these leaders do one of two things. They either pour obscene amounts of money into marketing a podcast that lacks the differentiation to grab listeners’ attention, or they quiet-quit and tell themselves, “Podcasting just wasn’t for me.” (Harsh? Maybe. True? Absolutely.)

I hear it all the time: “But Courtney, I’ve got a highly unique methodology. No one else teaches this the way I do.” Great. But it’s not me you need to convince. It’s listeners who don’t know you yet and don’t care about your methodology—yet. Not until they’ve hit play, anyway.

If your podcast isn’t engineered to grab their attention before they hit play, they’ll never get far enough to hear your brilliance.

Before starting a podcast (or throwing more money at one that isn’t growing) get help from someone who knows the podcasting industry inside and out. There’s a reason people like Alex Hormozi and Patrick Lencioni have a dedicated podcast strategist on their teams—not just editors, not just producers, and not mid-level marketers trying to add “podcasting” to their resume. I’m talking about a consultant whose sole job is to make their podcast succeed.

And let me be clear: “podcast strategist” is an industry buzzword. Before you hire someone, ask to see their track record of success. What results have their clients achieved after one, two, or three years? Do they have a track record of building podcasts that actually drive revenue, not just downloads? I can count on fewer than one hand the true strategists I’d recommend. 

Want to find out if your podcast is set up for success? Reach out to my team for a recommendation or book your podcast audit and let’s chat about how to turn your show into a powerful driver for your business. 

When you work with the right person, you’re not just saving yourself hours of trial and error—you’re positioning your podcast to actually support the growth of your business and become a powerful amplifier for what you’ve already worked so hard to build. 

Or if you’re just here for the free content, make sure you hit “Follow” for Insider Secrets to a Top 100 Podcast on your favorite podcast app so you can learn how to build a bingeworthy top podcast that converts listeners to clients with every new episode. 

Up Next:

Video podcasting is not the magic growth hack you’ve been sold. In fact, too many podcasters are finding out the hard way that adding video is costing them nothing but time, energy, and listeners. In the next episode, we’ll break down exactly what adding video can and can’t do for your show—and the risks no one’s talking about when you don’t approach it strategically.

We cover AI video editors (spoiler: they’re not a shortcut), which platform is actually best for getting started with video (hint: it’s not YouTube), and why adapting your podcast content for video takes more than flipping your iPhone around and hitting record. 

So if you’re wondering whether video is the next big move for your podcast or another recipe for burnout, don’t miss the next episode.