Podcast listeners have always based their listening decisions on a small number of key touchpoints.
Most prominently, your show title, cover art, and episode titles.
In most places a listener encounters a show, these are the only data points a potential listener has available to determine whether or not a show or episode is interesting, relevant, and worth their time.
And so they make use of them, ignoring and passing over shows that might be objectively better in favour of those with more attractive packaging.
Obviously, this is a problem for us as creators.
Unfortunately, there's never been an easy way to know whether our packaging is limiting our growth... until last year that is.
In 2024, Spotify rolled out a new podcast discovery dashboard with a full visual representation of the listener acquisition funnel.
On the surface, this might seem to be just another confusing (perhaps even useless) chart to try and make sense of.
But when you know how to interpret the data, you'll find a treasure trove of actionable information to help you improve your show and your marketing.
Among other things, Spotify's dashboard allows us to pinpoint issues with our show that might be stifling our growth on all platforms.
Plus, when we look at the data from shows that Spotify promotes heavily through its algorithm, we can begin to decipher some clues as to how we can put it to use for our shows as well.
In this episode of Podcast Marketing Trends Explained, Justin and I dig into Spotify's conversion rate data, as well as the benchmarks you can—and should—measure your show against.
If you want my personal feedback on how to improve your own conversion rate data to attract more listeners to your show, check out my Zap Micro Audits.
In these ultra-affordable audits, I'll start the timer and then pack as much of my best, juiciest, growth-generating advice as I can before the buzzer rings.
Stay Scrappy,
On Monday, I announced a handful of changes I'm making in my business, starting in 2026, as I work towards my goals of building a business with:
$500k in profit
Lean 1-2 person full-time team (including me)
Limit calls to 2 days a week
4-day workweek as the default
Not reliant on launches or sales calls
3 Months (12 weeks) off every year for surfing, cycling, snowboarding, climbing, and motorcycling adventures (split throughout the year)
You can find the full post updating my master plan and breaking down the thinking behind the strategy here.
But if you'd prefer the TL;DR version, here's what I'm working toward in 2026:
Narrow my positioning further to helping expertise-based business owners generate $30k/mo. Specifically by developing Infinity Loop podcast-centric ecosystems.
Become more prolific with a ruthlessly narrow focus. Increase my output of offers, workshops, and content, with a hyper-narrow focus on expertise-based business owners.
Rebrand the PMA Membership, double the price, and put a hard cap on member count. The current name doesn’t reflect either the value or experience of what is, in reality, a highly personalized mentorship space with a lot of individual attention from me. This will be remedied in 2026, and the goal is to turn this into a $250k revenue stream with a hard cap of 50 active members. In addition to the cap, members who are not active regularly over the duration of their membership will not have the option to renew, providing space for new, hungry members who will make the most of it.
Default to “No” to all external requests & obligations. Unless there is an ultra-compelling reason, say no to all partnerships, collaborations, and projects that follow other people’s timelines and deadlines. They’re a distraction from the work that matters, and my business doesn’t need them.
Reduce my podcast audit capacity and increase the price. In 2024 ,I burnt myself out doing 53 podcast audits, charging $3,000 each. In 2025, I did 26 audits at $4,500 each. In 2026, I’ll further reduce the number of audits to 15 at a price (for now) of $5,000. Ultimately, I want to reduce my audit capacity to 8/year at a price of $10k.
Double down on the Craft. Average work is a waste of my time, my clients' time, and the audience's time. Instead, we’ll double down on creating truly exceptional content that gets the attention and trust of the right people.
Publicly Launch Overdrive coaching program. In 2025, I introduced a new coaching tier where I work with my clients directly to elevate their podcasting Craft by working with them hands on to develop their best episodes ever. For one episode each month, we identify themes, design the episode structures, sequencing and arcs, and identify questions, stories, and metaphors to incorporate. Then, I’ll provide a monthly post-mortem with notes on their execution. This is the most fun work I've done in my career yet and I'm excited to build this offering out further.
Launch Logic-Based Offers. A new training based on my work with my clients around how to design offers that sell themselves based on their obvious “internal logic” rather than persuasion or pressure.
Launch The Mechanics of Thought Leadership. A new training breaking down the path and practice of becoming a thought leader that changes the course of your niche or industry over a 10+ year period. Ambitious, long-term, anti-hype, not for hacks or wannabes. I’ve got it all mapped out and planned for release mid-2026.
Pour fuel on the fire via paid advertising. With the business generating a significant amount of excess profit, I want to reinvest significantly in advertising this year, specifically by hiring an ad manager so I don’t have to manage the ad creative myself.
Write and release at least two books on podcasting. One, on how to engineer word-of-mouth growth via your show design is already in progress. Another, on the mechanics of podcasting, is more or less wireframed.
Develop a highly exclusive, premium pricing business. My plan is to work with ~500 clients over the next 30 years. This narrow focus will allow me to develop deeper expertise in my specific niche than anyone else, leading to predictable, almost guaranteed results and zero alternative, interchangeable competitors. The result: I can be highly selective about who I work with and demand significant prices while delivering exceptional results.
If this matches where you're looking to go and you'd like my help in getting there faster, hit reply with the words "Master plan" and I'll share some details about how I can help.
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