Plenty of professionals start a podcast with real energy. They buy the microphone, set up the lighting, post clips every week, and then wonder why the audience stays flat. On a recent episode of the Be-Picked Podcast, Andrew Colsky talked with Anthony Nwaneri, co-founder of Get More Listeners and author of Podcasts Made Simple, about what actually makes a business podcast grow.
The good news: growth does not depend on going viral, being great on camera, or posting clips everywhere. It depends on clarity, and on showing up where listeners already search.
Start With What You Want the Podcast to Do
Anthony's first question for any professional is what they want the podcast to accomplish. Some people want fun conversations. Others want brand awareness. In his experience, the podcasters who get the best leads and sales are the ones who were crystal clear from the start about the business result they wanted.
That clarity comes before any technical decision. Anthony suggests holding off on microphones, video setups and distribution platforms until there is a strategy, so the time and money go into a show designed to drive business results instead of one more content task on the to-do list.
Name the Listener You Want to Reach
The next step is getting specific about your ideal client. Anthony shared the story of a client who had run an interview show about leadership for two years. The show was called Speak Up, and it covered a wide range of leadership topics. She enjoyed it, but it was not growing her reach or her business.
Her work was helping introverted executives improve their communication and executive presence. Once the show's name said exactly that, Anthony says, it started growing and bringing in more leads and clients. The small shift was in the positioning.
Your Podcast Has Two Audiences
Andrew Colsky pointed out a second audience many professionals overlook: AI. AI is not watching your video to see how you look on camera. It reads the transcript, and it draws on that content when people ask it questions.
That is why a podcast is such a strong source of original content. Every conversation produces stories and experiences that only you can share, and those do not appear when someone asks ChatGPT to write a generic article. From one episode you also get social clips, articles, and material that can grow into a book. Anthony added that as AI-generated content fills the internet, a real voice stands out more, and people trust you more deeply when they can connect with how you actually sound.
You Do Not Need to Be on Camera
A common worry is "I'm not good on camera." Anthony's answer is direct: you do not need video to have a successful podcast. He knows professionals who are growing their audiences and their businesses with audio-only shows.
Video adds a separate skill set, he says, plus a layer of self-consciousness about hair, expressions and how you look. Audio lets you focus on how you communicate. And if you talk about your work every day with clients, you already have the core skill a podcast needs.
Andrew Colsky added that small imperfections help. He intentionally leaves in the stumbles and the occasional cough, because real humans do that, and showing a real person is part of how a podcast builds credibility. Anthony agreed: the podcasts that do best are the ones where hosts show up as themselves.
Why Social Media Promotion Rarely Grows a Show
This was the most surprising part of the conversation. Anthony says the clients his company has helped grow their shows do no active promotion once an episode is done: no social posts, no list emails, no reliance on big-name guests.
He and his business partner learned this the hard way. They spent years pushing clients to post clips, with weak results. A mentor challenged them to interview a hundred podcasters about how they were growing. Most of them were promoting clips on social media, and when asked whether it had grown their show, they said no.
Anthony then asked Andrew a question worth asking yourself: when did you last open LinkedIn or Instagram looking for a podcast to listen to? Andrew's answer was that he doesn't go there to look for podcasts. That is the point. People go to social media for other reasons.
How Podcast SEO Works
Listeners find shows by opening Apple Podcasts or Spotify and searching for a topic, such as legal podcasts, accounting podcasts or meditation podcasts. Podcast SEO is the practice of making sure your show appears on page one for those searches.
The approach Anthony describes for his clients:
- Find three keywords your ideal listeners would type into Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
- Add those keywords to your show name.
- Use them in your episode titles.
- Include them in your show notes and the other right places on your podcast.
- Keep making great content for your ideal client, with those keywords in place, episode after episode.
Done consistently, this means the right people keep discovering you when they are already looking for what you talk about.
The Right Listeners Matter More Than Big Numbers
Andrew Colsky made a point that matters for every professional: this is not about going viral. A niche show built for a particular audience should not expect a million downloads a month. But if you can reach 150 of the right people a month, he asked, where else can you get that type of return on investment?
Anthony shared an example of a client with about 500 monthly downloads who, as he recalled, made around $12,000 in additional business, because the right people found her, built trust with her, and came to her already wanting to work with her.
This connects to how Andrew Colsky runs his own business. He says he does not spend a penny on advertising. Instead of chasing clients, he builds credibility that makes clients want to come to him, and the feeling is entirely different when people come to you that way.
Where To Start
If you have a podcast, or are thinking about one, begin with three steps. First, write down the business result you want from the show. Second, describe the exact client you want listening, and make sure your show name says who it is for. Third, choose three phrases that client would type into Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and use them in your show name, episode titles and show notes.
A podcast is one of the strongest ways to build the credibility that brings clients to you, with human listeners and with AI. To see where your credibility stands today, take the free 20-question AQ assessment at be-picked.com/assessment. You will get a score and a report showing your strengths and where to focus first.
Listen to the episode
The Real Reason Most Business Podcasts Never Grow
With Anthony Nwaneri, Co-Founder, Get More Listeners. Watch, listen or read the full transcript.