Welcome to Podcast Insider.

I'm Dave Clements, support and media specialist here at Blueberry Podcasting.

And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, director of marketing at Blueberry.

Today, we're talking about something that can make podcasting feel a lot more manageable, and that is planning a full year of podcast growth.

Because growth can feel pretty out of reach when you're reacting episode by episode.

But if you have a plan, that can make it a lot more intentional and obtainable.

So we'll walk you through why planning ahead matters, how to how to define growth for your own show, and how to stay consistent without burning out.

So if you're new to podcasting or trying to level up an existing show, this episode is gonna help you put a clear plan into place.

You're listening to Podcast Insider hosted by Mike Dell, Dave Clements, and Mackenzie Bennett from the Blubrry team, bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks to help you start, grow, and thrive through podcasting with all the support of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting.

Welcome.

Let's dive in.

We have been doing quite a bit of planning at Blueberry ourselves recently, so I think this is, you know, pretty good timing to to have a separate yeah.

Mhmm.

We, we are a tad lax on the planning ahead for Podcast Insider for the rest of the year, but we at least have the first month and a half planned out already.

Mhmm.

So I think that's, you know, that's doing a pretty decent job.

But but at the end of the year, we did discuss kind of at least a handful of topics that we wanted to hit throughout the year.

So you think that's all that's also helpful to, you know, have in the back of your head.

Yeah.

Yeah.

For sure.

When I saw this on our our docket for episodes, I think for a a lot of podcasters, we all look at it and go, growth is like, it's a scary thing.

I imagine it as a big scary thing that is staring at you from, like, the corner of your bedroom, like, when you were a kid.

Mhmm.

Because you're like, I don't know what that actually is.

So you have to take the time and realize, oh, it's just a coat rack that I know is there, and, you know, I just gotta make sense of it.

And so this concept for this episode of planning a year of growth, it doesn't have to be scary.

I think that it's a lot easier than I myself would ever make it out to be.

I mean, I've been doing this for a long time, and I'm still scared of whatever growth is.

Yeah.

I mean, that's definitely understandable.

The first thing that we wanna talk about is essentially defining what growth means for you and your podcast, because it's not gonna be the same for everyone.

That's for sure.

And it's not just meaning more downloads, more listens, a bigger audience, something like that.

It can be so much more than that.

Yeah.

You can really, like, fine tune it.

Some of our examples are just publishing consistently without missing episodes.

I know that's always been a big one for me where I'm like, I am a weekly release podcast.

Mhmm.

And then I will release every single week for about three months.

And then I stop for whatever reason.

And then I come back and, you know, just publishing consistently.

That that can be growth.

Improving the content that you already have.

We've discussed this a couple of times on Podcast Insider.

So go back and listen to those episodes.

You can also build a more engaged audience.

I think that's one of the the hardest things.

So that might be something to really dig into in the future.

Yeah.

And then you can look into monetization and sponsorships, or you can just fix your own workflow.

Like, make something that actually works and is sustainable for you.

Those are just some of the ideas that we have.

Yeah.

Last year, I feel like we actually did a really good job of planning episodes out beforehand, where it was just more along the lines of, like, okay.

We we know what we're gonna talk about.

We have show notes, you know, planned out a little bit.

Now we just need to find the time to record and get that done.

And I think that saved us, like, a lot of headache compared to what it has in the past.

So something just as simple as, you know, we improved the production side on our end, you know, the the preproduction side.

And I really do think that helped.

And I think the other one that you were talking about with building a more engaged audience, that is the hardest one to do.

You're right.

That one is can then that is dedication.

That takes time.

That is not one that you can necessarily rush.

And I think if you try to rush it, you might actually be doing some damage.

Yeah.

Yeah.

For sure.

Because for as as much as you want to build an engaged audience, you could kind of how do I wanna say this the right way?

You could abuse that position, and then it turns into spam instead of actually growing that support.

Yeah.

You could engage with your audience so much that you enraged them, and now you have an enraged engaged audience.

So that's not exactly something you want either.

You know, look around.

Take a good idea of what you think your show is and what you want it to be and what all these things mean for you.

What does growth actually mean to you?

It's the new year.

A lot of people take a fresh look at, you know, their hobbies, their habits, their what they wanna do with their year, and this is definitely something that I think falls in line with that.

Yeah.

And I would definitely, like, don't get overwhelmed and go, oh, I have to do, like, all five of these things that we've mentioned.

Like, pick one Yeah.

And let that be the focus for your year because you can't do everything all at once and enjoy podcasting.

We're gonna talk about it a little bit later.

But, you know, burnout, that's that's a huge thing.

And you can burn yourself out right here at the start just defining what growth is for you for the year.

Yeah.

Exactly.

That's that's perfect into our next one, which is break the year into manageable phases.

I've really, in the past two or three years, started to think about the year, like, professionally and personally in the quarters.

You know, the January 1, March 31 into, into summer, and then the the end of summer into fall, and then the winter.

And it has helped me immensely.

It just allows you to focus on certain things for perhaps that quarter or that month or, you know, two months, ninety days, whatever it is that you wanna think about it without pressure for, like, the entire year.

But also, it's, like, kind of motivating because you're like, okay.

I said I was gonna do this in 2026, and I was gonna do it in quarter one.

So, like Yeah.

Let's get it done in quarter one.

Yeah.

To pull the curtain back a little bit, that's what we've been doing at Blueberry is going, okay.

From a marketing perspective and even in, like, a development perspective, how how do we break things up into the these manageable chunks?

And we we've kind of been focusing on, you know, topics.

Like, what are the topics that we wanna communicate?

What are the projects that need to be improved the most?

And you can look at your podcast very much the same way.

And, again, the the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.

Definitely.

And, I mean, I know I kinda like, I just took two weeks off at the end of the year.

I always know I need to get the most important stuff that I need to do done by Thanksgiving because I'm done for the rest of the year.

Like, I am wrapping things up.

I am not starting anything new.

I am literally just going off of, like, a checklist of this has gotta be done and and go from there.

There is nothing being added to it.

So the seasons of your life, definitely take part.

That's a really good point too because I've I've run into that in doing shows where you have these plans, and then you go, oh, shoot.

Holidays exist.

Yeah.

And then it's like, well, how do you prepare for those?

Do you batch record?

Do you just go, hey.

We're taking a break.

Again, that's part of your phases in growth.

You know?

Because maybe you do take a break this year, and you figure out, oh, well, maybe that didn't work as well as I wanted it to.

Mhmm.

And then next year, part of your growth plan can be, well, I'm in a batch record, or maybe I just release a little bit less.

Like, again, ebb and flow.

You'll figure it out.

You'll figure it out, and and you're not gonna figure it all out in the first year, the first six months.

Nothing like that.

Yeah.

And even if you do three months later, you're gonna be like, that was useless.

This is so much better.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So things are constantly evolving.

The next one that we wanted to talk about was planned content with purpose.

This is kinda what I was saying earlier of we have the first month and a half planned out.

Mhmm.

I I generally try to work in about six to eight weeks, and then I come back so that I'm not doing everything for the entire year at once because things change.

News breaks about stuff in podcasting.

You know, people's habits, trends, that type of stuff you have to factor in.

So you you identify a few core themes and topics that that you might wanna stick with, and then, that that kinda helps your brain settle, I think.

Yeah.

And then being able to find, like, the evergreen content.

I mean, it really depends on what your show is.

But, you know, if if it's January now, it's gonna be really hard to plan for July because, like Mackenzie said, you know, things things can change.

But, also, because things change, is it going to be relevant in July when you're thinking about it now?

Again, I think I think Mackenzie's got a point here.

Don't plan too far out, but do those themes.

And then drill down into those specific content ideas, you know, the per episode things.

You can drill down into those as you get closer.

So, like, six to eight weeks out, most things aren't gonna shift too much in that time depending on what your show is about.

Unless you're doing a daily show, and then I don't know how you do that.

Oh, I like, I can't scary.

The daily show people are, like, a whole other type of podcaster.

I could not imagine.

But No.

You like, yeah.

You guys have immense dedication and have to have, like, some type of system set up.

You know?

There's Yeah.

There is a method to that madness, and I say madness, very seriously.

Yeah.

For sure.

And then also, leave room for being creative.

I think that that's always been one of my biggest struggles is that's why I can't plan too far out because sometimes I'm just like, I don't really feel like covering that topic.

I've mentioned it a few times here on this show.

You know, I've done a pod culture podcast for years.

And I used to lay out the full year based on what movies were coming out.

And then it'd get closer, and then a movie would come out.

And I'm like, I am not interested in seeing that movie whatsoever.

Yeah.

I'm gonna do something else.

So, yeah, give yourself room, but also think ahead.

And I I think everything just kind of weaves together.

There's usually some clearing in the chaos, and, that's that's generally true with podcasting as well.

The last one that we'll talk about today to kinda wrap all of this up is focus on a few growth strategies.

So that means trying to grow everywhere at once is gonna lead you to that burnout that Dave was warning you about.

Choose one or two and go from there.

Yeah.

So, again, this is just gonna depend on what your show is about.

Maybe you wanna do some guest appearances.

You wanna improve your SEO and your show notes.

Maybe you wanna start a newsletter or get that newsletter growing.

Like, just just pick some things that are manageable and hone in on those.

And don't obsess too much over making sure that it's done perfectly.

I think that's another key thing that that we could talk about here is, I I think sometimes we put too much weight on ourselves to make sure that it's done perfect the first time, or is it growing fast enough?

So keep those in mind.

Like, give yourself some grace and be patient with yourself.

Because while this may be a year long plan, if it doesn't happen in a year, that's fine.

You're the person that's in charge.

Now, obviously, if you are not the person in charge, in this case, Mackenzie is our director of marketing, and the podcast falls under that.

So, you know, if Mackenzie's like, this has to happen in a year, and we don't you know, if we miss that target, well, you know, then we've got an answer to Mackenzie.

But Mackenzie's also part of the team.

So I think you get what I'm saying.

Right?

I do understand what you're saying.

And a podcast is generally a group effort, and it's the what's that phrase?

Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

And that don't get me wrong.

That is a very true statement for many situations.

But your podcast, at the end of the day, if plans change for the betterment of yourself and which will probably include the podcast in that, then go that direction.

You know?

Things change.

Focus on what you can and and just try to move forward.

That's I think that's the most important thing.

Yeah.

And, I mean, I think the bottom line for for this entire episode and I feel like I tend to be labor points way more than I should.

But just know that podcast growth is about you.

It's not about, you know, chasing trends or having instant results.

You really just build habits and systems and content that support your goals as they change.

We try to give a little bit of structure, but the biggest takeaway is just slow down, give yourself grace, and know that everything's gonna be okay.

Yeah.

You know, the tracking progress for your podcast is important.

We're never gonna not say that, you know, that's something you shouldn't really take a look at.

One of our main offerings as a podcast host is podcast statistics.

Like, we Right.

We do see the importance of them, and we know the value that they hold.

But it's also not worth it enough to obsess over them to where it is detrimental to yourself.

You know, obsessing over something to the point of you only care about the feeling of that obsession and not Mhmm.

Putting your efforts and mental capacity towards actually reaching that goal, you're gonna not enjoy your podcast as much.

And we want you to be having a good time.

Yeah.

For sure.

We're we're in the social age.

Like, we are watching all of these very curated lifestyles and and things like that on social media, on television, on, in the things that we just consume all the time.

And we do see people that obsess over their numbers, and if they dip more than they should or or whatever.

I've seen people just get into a big panic, and it's not worth it.

It's not worth it because then you're you're you're not having fun.

You're not wanting to push toward more growth, really.

You're just you wanna get that I don't know if it's dopamine or serotonin, but you need you need that hit because, oh, good.

I hit, you know, my my golden number in my stats.

Mhmm.

Just don't forget to have fun.

You don't have to conform to all of the the social media trends and things that are that are out there right now.

And sometimes we just need reminded of that.

It's a very good mindset for the beginning of the year.

Yeah.

Planning growth is, is all up to you, but we just hope that we can help you make it more achievable.

Fully what we've provided here, even if some of it is belabored, welcome to me being on the show now.

Hopefully, this all works as a guide for you, and we're excited for your 2026 and the years that you continue to podcast.

Plan ahead now, and you're gonna be less frustrated later.

Absolutely.

It's gonna look different for every show, every podcaster, every host.

But the important thing is, you know, just stick with a plan that you actually want to work on.

And if you need tools, there's a lot of them over at blueberry.com.

So tools, resources, and you can even talk to myself or Mike over at support.

So go over to blueberry.com for that.

Thanks everyone for listening to Podcast Insider.

We'll see you next time.

Thanks for joining us.

Come back next week.

And in the meantime, head to podcastinsider.com for more information, to subscribe, share, and read our show notes.

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Visit blueberry.com.

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