Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Jeremy Enns & Justin Jackson
Listen to Recent Episodes
The Obscure Marketing Theory That Explains Why Podcasts Grow (& Why Most Marketing Fails) | Podcast Listener Psychology
Mar 26 2025 • 58 mins
Why do people listen to podcasts? And why do they listen to YOUR podcast (or one like yours)? It turns out, the answers to these questions can be found in a nerdy, obscure marketing concept called Jobs to Be Done Theory.
Jobs to Be Done Theory origins date back to the 1930s, but was more fully developed by Harvard Business School researched Clayton Christiansen—primarily through an iconic case study about milkshakes… and how people don’t buy milkshakes for the obvious reasons you might think.
But JTBD applies to much more than milkshakes. In fact, it applies to every product, service, piece of content—including podcasts—that any of us spend time, money, or attention to consume.
In this episode, we’ll break down how to apply JTBD theory to boost the effectiveness of your marketing by aligning your content, messaging, and packaging with the job your listeners are seeking out a show to do.
📊 What did you think of this episode? Click to cast your vote:🤩 Nailed It!🙂 Solid🥱 Meh😒 Do better
Topics Covered
00:00 Case Study: How Justin “Hires” Different Shows 02:31 An Introduction to Jobs to Be Done Theory 08:24 The Importance of Emotional Resonance in Podcasts 13:06 Assessing Podcast Growth by “Job” 21:19 Understanding Listener Psychology 26:12 Understanding Trigger Events 30:39 Examples of Trigger Events 35:50 Challenges and Opportunities for Problem Solver Shows 41:36 Challenges and Opportunities for Pleasure Giver Shows 45:04 Leveraging Listener Behavior for Show Growth 51:50 Practical Examples of Podcast Jobs to Be Done
⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: https://go.podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit-pmte-sn ⭐️
Resources MentionedClayton Christensen
Ezra Klein Freakonomics
Ramit Sethi Dave Ramsey
Mel Robbins
Joe Rogan
LeVar Burton Reads
Additional Resources
Subscribe to Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Check out the Podcast Marketing Trends 2024 Report
Subscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter
Try Transistor.fm for free for 14 days
✍️ Leave your feedback for the show: http://podcastmarketingtrends.com/feedback
Podcast Listener Psychology Understanding why people listen to podcasts—and why they stop—is an essential aspect of improving the efficiency of your marketing—ie. more growth with less effort.
Listener psychology encompasses everything from understanding attention spans and content preferences to parasocial relationships and listening habits. Most podcast creators focus exclusively on content without considering the baked-in psychology that is hard-wired into their listeners.
The result is unwittingly marketing your show on hard mode. Learn to understand the cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and decision-making patterns that influence how all humans (including me, you, and all your listeners) discover, consume, and share podcast content, you can create shows that not only attract listeners but turn them into dedicated fans who recommend your podcast to others.
About Podcast Marketing Trends ExplainedPodcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.
The Cheapest (& Most Expensive) Ways to Grow Your Show Via Paid Advertising | Podcast Promotion
Mar 19 2025 • 52 mins
Its easy to imagine that if you just had a budget to put toward paid podcast advertising, all your marketing problems would be solved. But is that really true? Anyone who’s ever done any advertising will quickly tell you its one of the most gruelling, creatively challenging marketing practices on the planet—one where you have to be ok with burning a large amount of cash up front to figure out what (if anything works). That said if you approach it with a bit of savvy… paid advertising can be a sneaky smart way to grow.
📊 What did you think of this episode? Click to cast your vote:🤩 Nailed It!🙂 Solid🥱 Meh😒 Do better
Topics Covered
00:00 Does advertising actually work? 01:39 Our personal experience with advertising 08:35 Understanding advertising metrics 11:24 Podcast advertising platforms & methods 22:22 Real vs fake listeners 25:00 Advertising pitfalls to watch out for 25:39 Best practices for podcast ads 25:56 Crafting effective ads 29:16 Retargeting strategies 32:33 Multi-touchpoint ad campaings 34:37 Advanced advertising techniques 44:21 How we’d allocate a $10k budget
⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: https://go.podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit-pmte-sn ⭐️
Resources MentionedJay Clouse's The LabCorey Haines and SwipeFilesKattie Laur and Pod the NorthTerry O'Reilly and the podcast "Under the Influence"
Additional Resources
Subscribe to Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Check out the Podcast Marketing Trends 2024 Report
Subscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter
Try Transistor.fm for free for 14 days
✍️ Leave your feedback for the show: http://podcastmarketingtrends.com/feedback
About Podcast Marketing Trends ExplainedPodcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.
The Hidden Dynamics That Make Growing a Podcast Different From Any Other Content Channel | Podcast Listener Psychology
Mar 12 2025 • 52 mins
Beneath the surface of every creative medium is a hidden code. Like DNA, this code dictates the constraints and possibilities of what’s possible within that platform. Like any platform, podcasting has its own code. The problem is most creators don’t understand the unique platform dynamics, constraints, and psychology baked into the medium… which makes it hard—if not impossible—to grow. Fortunately, once you’re able to decipher the code—of podcasting or any other platform—you unlock your potential for growth and ROI.
Topics Covered
00:00 Understanding podcast’s platform dynamics 01:58 Listener bandwidth 05:57 The data on podcast consumption 08:29 Platform constraints & listener psychology 15:37 The pros & cons of podcasting’s built-in intertia 22:13 Host-led vs concept-led growth 25:46 What do listeners expect from podcasting? 35:22 Are long podcasts actually better? 45:03 Our picks for best “podcasts”
📊 What did you think of this episode? Click to cast your vote:🤩 Nailed It!🙂 Solid🥱 Meh😒 Do better
⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: https://go.podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit-pmte-sn ⭐️
Resources MentionedPocket Casts Money for Couples Podcast by Ramit Sethi Jay Clouse and his Creator Science Show Conversations with Tyler by Tyler CowenProfessor G Podcast by Scott Galloway Three Books Podcast Ologies PodcastGood One: A Podcast About Jokes How I Write by David PerellMaking Sense by Sam Harris
Additional Resources
Subscribe to Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Check out the Podcast Marketing Trends 2024 Report
Subscribe to the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter
Try Transistor.fm for free for 14 days
✍️ Leave your feedback for the show: http://podcastmarketingtrends.com/feedback
About Podcast AnalyticsWhile podcast analytics might appear to be stuck in the stone age compared to platforms like YouTube, Google Analytics, and many social media platforms, there's a lot creators can learn about how to improve their shows and their marketing... if you know where to look.
Beyond podcast downloads, metrics like listen time, consumption rate, Spotify's podcast discovery dashboard, and more give us clues about the issues facing your show—and often tell you exactly how to navigate them. Which mean understanding your podcast analytics & metrics, and how they compare to industry benchmarks is an essential skill for marketing and growing your podcast.
About Podcast Marketing Trends ExplainedPodcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.
On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.
The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.