Podcast Hosting Techniques

5000 views and no clients or leads... is your podcast working? Views. Subscribers. Download counts. These matter… if you're building a media company or chasing sponsorship deals. But most independent founders and solopreneurs aren't - and in 2026, with more podcasts than ever, the foundation matters more than the metrics. Start with the fundamentals: - What is this podcast, and who is it for? - What problem does it solve for your listener? - What's the positioning - in one paragraph, could you explain why this show, over every other show on the topic? - What strategic purpose does it serve for your business? - What's the long-term potential of the show? And then: What job does this podcast do that other formats can't? Thought leadership positioning? Trust-building at scale? Reframing a misconception your ideal clients hold? Category creation? Audience education? Recruitment? Ecosystem expansion? Most people skip these questions. They invite the biggest names in their network and start publishing episodes before they've thought about the role the podcast is meant to play for their business or brand. Then they check their downloads, feel underwhelmed, and wonder if it's working. The metrics you track should follow the job your podcast is doing. Not the other way around. — I’m Cheryl, a podcast producer and host of EDIT HISTORY (2x winner at the 2025 Asia Podcast Awards). I offer podcast consulting, podcast production, and podcast hosting. 

Over the past 18mo, I’ve been a guest on over 200 podcasts and we’ve gotten more than 500 LIVE attendees every week on my live video podcast, “UnF*ck Your Startup”. Here are 6 things I wish I knew before I started podcasting: 1. Use a Run of Show Have to credit Christopher Merrill with this one. Your audience will have a better experience if you know what you’re going to talk about and stick to segments over pre-determined time slots. Don't wing it. 2. Have a unique point of view OR amazing delivery OR amazing production. You’ll listen to LeBron talk about basketball all day long, no matter what the quality is. Think comedians for amazing delivery - or my favorite, Founders w/ David Senra. For production, think “Serial”. Make sure you have one of the three, or you’re going NOWHERE. 3. Constantly ask “WHY ARE THEY STILL LISTENING?” Your mindset needs to be that you WIN and LOSE attention second-by-second. That mentality shift help you go from a conversation to delivering incredible value. People have infinite options. Make content so good they stick. 4. Get a great mic and lights. Get a decent background. Nobody wants to listen to someone talking from a bedroom. My office is a 10x10 prison cell than John Eley made look sweet with $1k worth of stuff from Home Depot. You can get away with a $200 webcam, but make sure to have good lighting and a great mic. NO ONE wants more Zoom-looking Videos. 5. Try to ladder up guests. Always try to invite people that have 10% more status than your highest status guests. I’m trying to do that more this year. 6. Have incredible patience. Sam Parr told us that it took literally YEARS for them to build their My First Million audience. He said it was terrible. They were BEGGING for subscribes, and have made over 700 episodes. You have to ask yourself … are you really that committed? TAKEAWAY Podcasting isn’t for the faint of heart. If you wouldn’t enjoy it as a hobby, you probably shouldn’t start. Because realistically you’ll be lucky if you get anything out of it. But just like posting on LinkedIn … The real reason to start podcasting ISN’T downloads, leads, or deals. You start to be one day closer to finding your voice. Because in 2025, finding your voice is your one true superpower. P.S. You can binge my "UnF*ck Your Startup” podcast here: https://lnkd.in/gST8sTwQ

Filmed my first in-person podcast yesterday. It went OK; perhaps half the discussion was good. I've wanted to start a podcast for years, but actually filming one taught me so many lessons that I never would've picked up otherwise. It made me appreciate the Dwarkesh Podcast interviews much more. Some things I learned: 1. The first question is the most important. Find common ground with your guest as quickly as possible; ask a question that you both care about. 2. There is only so much research you can do on a guest from reading their work. Sometimes discovering the most interesting things that they're thinking about requires that you have dinner together first. I'm going to do this with future guests; a discussion before the discussion. 3. Throw out most questions. I spent ~25 hours researching for this interview (it was with Michael Nielsen) but figured out, partway through, that I had scoped out too many questions in too many categories to do any one idea justice. I should've narrowed the entire interview to a single big idea, like Creative Identity or "Why biology doesn't have a strong tradition of theory compared to physics," and so on. We easily could have talked for 1.5+ hours about either of those, but I skipped around too much. 4. Building context is important. In the recent interview between Dwarkesh and Michael Nielsen, Dwarkesh opens with these really nuanced questions about the Michelson-Morley experiment and these seminal experiments in physics. This slowly builds the *context* required for his "big" thesis; namely, how do we recognize scientific progress when we see it? That big, open-ended question will only work if you've already built up this context! Dwarkesh thus goes into the interview with a specific question, but spends a great deal of time first building up the context for it. This is really masterfully done, and I didn't appreciate it before. 5. Many of my questions ended up being too open-ended -- and thus didn't elicit great conversation -- because I hadn't already built up the context. 6. Lights are really, really important. Cameras and microphones are not enough! 7. After the interview ends, take a pause and think about the discussion. Then, as the interviewer, ask your guest if they'd be willing to go back and revisit some ideas. The interview doesn't need to be entirely linear; you can learn from the discussion, end the podcast, and then film more segments afterward to fill in gaps. This often yields the best clips, too, because you're more relaxed and not thinking, "Oh shit, this is a real interview and I need it to go well." The interview has already ended, and now you're just chatting as friends. Many more lessons on equipment, setup, interview prep and note taking, etc. I'll plan to write these up as I begin publishing the interviews. I'm determined to get much better.

So you want a logistics podcast? Cool. Here’s the part nobody tells you. “There’s no straight line from listener to customer.” On CargoRex, we have one of the most comprehensive database of all the podcasters and creators in logistics which amounts to a little over a hundred active voices/publications. Some might see that number and choose to never pick up a mic. That shouldn’t happen. If anything, I want to encourage more people in logistics and supply chain to find their voice. Its not “there are too many podcasts!” It’s that there’s not enough of them willing to do it for the long haul to get better at it while also doing it the right reasons. So if you want to start and avoid being part of the 90% of all podcasts that never make it past 10 episodes, here are some tips: 💡Your ROI at first should be insights from smart people. That’s the only way your audience will give your show a chance in a more competitive attention marketplace. ROI can be learning from customers and building brand trust. Don’t even think about sponsors at this stage, if sponsors are even right for your show at all. Gaining insights from customers to retain and possibly gain new business is THE metric you should care about at this stage. 💡Curiosity beats corporate. A genuinely curious host > scripted talking points. That’s how you get conversations people replay and choose to tune in again. 💡Treat the show as collateral. Episodes power clips, posts, and YouTube search—great for discovery and sales enablement, not just downloads. 💡Budget like a grown-up. A couple hundred bucks an episode can work. Skip the multi-camera circus until the content proves itself. Otherwise the finance team is putting your show on the chopping block before you can ever prove ROI. 💡Your distribution of the show is forever the most challenging aspect. Recording is easy. Finding people to interview is easy. Distribution (social/email/blogs/white papers) is hard and will only get more challenging as our attention spans are pulled in every direction. This is why you need to focus your effort on actual takeaways for the audience, not “three cameras and vibes” as Grace Sharkey 🚛🤖❤️ would say. 💡Measure influence, not vanity. Track meetings booked, pipeline influenced, and content reuse—then decide if you should scale up to more epsiodes. Add “how did you hear about us” to every high intent website form—make it a free text field that’s required so you can measure the show’s impact, or lack there of. As an industry, we’re still only scratching the surface with content in logistics. Don’t let the number of podcasts scare you away! Your voice is unique and in a sea of sameness, using your voice can be a powerful way to stand out. If you want to learn more from two people who actually live and breathe this stuff, check out the latest Everything is Logistics podcast episode where Grace and I break this topic down even more along with other fun logistics topics.

I’ve interviewed nearly 400 startup founders on my podcast. My 6 biggest struggles as a new podcaster in 2014 were: 1. No audience. 2. No clear niche. 3. No editing skills. 4. Lack of confidence. 5. Hard to book guests. 6. Zero revenue and no plan. If you’re a podcaster with the same struggles, here’s my advice: 1. Publish content regularly for a year, even without listeners. 2. Ask for listener feedback to fine-tune content and discover your niche. 3. Master basic podcast editing; done is better than perfect. 4. Put yourself out there and embrace mistakes; it's how you'll improve. 5. Invite lots of guests; expect lots of no's, but some will say yes. 6. Forget about revenue at first - create value, and money will follow. What else do you struggle with? I’ll do my best to offer helpful advice if I can.

I made mistakes when I started podcasting. Many of them are on this list. My lesson was to build with intention, edit with care and publish with purpose. 7 Podcasting Pitfalls (and how to avoid them) 1. No Clear Purpose If you can’t clearly say why your podcast exists, your listener will feel it. Confusion shows up fast, and it costs attention. 2. Chasing Downloads Instead of Connection Early numbers are tempting. But growth without resonance rarely lasts. One connected listener beats a hundred passive ones. 3. Inconsistent Publishing Random releases break trust. Consistency matters less in frequency and more in reliability. 4. Too Much Talking, Not Enough Listening Rambling, over-explaining, or filling every silence pushes people away. Space is part of good storytelling. 5. Ignoring Sound Quality Listeners forgive imperfect ideas before they forgive poor audio. Clean sound signals care. 6. No Clear Episode Structure Hitting record without a plan leaves the listener lost. A simple arc creates momentum and keeps people listening. 7. Forgetting the Listener Journey Episodes are not standalone moments. They are chapters. When there is no direction, there is no reason to return.

I hear this all the time: “I want to start a podcast.” I know the excitement. I’ve been there. About five years ago, I started a podcast with 70+ episodes over two years, all while earning my degree. Each episode required about 8 hours of work — prepping, interviewing, editing, promoting… the full production. It was a massive undertaking. So what was my ROI? 🤝 Meaningful connections 🎤 Better speaking + interviewing skills 💼 A solid credibility marker (especially as a student on the hunt for a job) But here’s the truth: I didn’t earn a cent from it. And yet, there's still this assumption that podcasting is an obvious revenue driver. So when founders or thought-leaders tell me they want to start one, I always ask: 👉 What ROI are you expecting, and is a podcast actually the best way to get there? Here’s something often overlooked: Podcasting is saturated AF. Millions of shows exist, and less than 1% make meaningful revenue. If you’re doing it for your business, you need a clear purpose and a strategy. Otherwise, it becomes a time sink, not a growth channel. Another consideration: Tracking impact is incredibly hard. Even if your podcast does help you get clients, partnerships, or opportunities, it’s almost impossible to tie those results back to a specific episode (especially without expensive tracking tools). Podcasting rarely gives you clean “you posted this → this happened” data, and trying to track it properly becomes its own resource-heavy task. So you end up pouring time, money, and energy into a channel where: 1️⃣ The market is crowded 2️⃣ The ROI is murky 3️⃣ The workload is way heavier than people expect Meanwhile, there are faster, lighter ways to build brand, trust, and visibility, and in my experience, they’re far more likely to show up in your bottom line in a measurable way. In the same amount of time it takes to produce one podcast episode, you could: • Write 2–3 LinkedIn posts • Film and edit 3 short thought-leadership videos • Be a guest on someone else’s podcast • Write a guest article or publication piece All of these can create real impact, without the multi-hour production cycle of a weekly show. 💸 ⏳ Podcasting is powerful. Start a podcast if you have a clear niche, a real market gap, a solid strategy, and an audience that actually listens to podcasts — not because “everyone else is doing it.” #startups #smallbusiness #podcasting #nonprofit #businessstrategy #marketing

If a podcast is becoming your primary B2B content engine in 2026 (or you’re debating starting one)… the bar is a lot higher than it used to be. I sat down with Tom Hunt - CEO of Fame - and he shared one of the most practical breakdowns I’ve heard on what separates podcasts that compound… from the ones that slowly fade out. Here are 6 takeaways worth stealing: 1️⃣ Your positioning needs a niche + an edge. Niche = who it’s for. Edge = why a listener tells a friend. Most shows have one… not both. Broad disappears. Your niche probably needs to be narrower than you think. 2️⃣ Guest strategy is your fastest path to early ROI. If leadership wants impact in ~6 months, audience growth alone won’t get you there. Strategic guests can - customers, prospects, partners - not to pitch, but to build relationships that turn into pipeline while the audience compounds. 3️⃣ Know the early green flags. Month 1: people outside your company say they like it. Months 2–6: downloads growing ~5–10% MoM + listen time increasing. Holy grail: someone writes “podcast” in attribution. 4️⃣ “Best of” lists are a discoverability cheat code. Thousands rank on Google - and LLMs pull from them when recommending shows. The payoff compounds long after the outreach work is done. 5️⃣ The host can make - or kill - a podcast. The instinct is often the CEO or most technical expert. Tom looks for: • Availability (consistency beats seniority) • SME depth + genuine curiosity • Strong conversational skills Sometimes the best host isn’t the most senior person - it’s the one who asks the questions listeners actually care about. 6️⃣ Sequencing matters more than most teams realize. Tom’s order: build organic social → build email → then launch the podcast. I did it the opposite way - and I completely understand why he recommends this. Podcasting is one of the hardest channels to grow… but one of the deepest relationship builders once momentum kicks in. We go deeper on resourcing, positioning mistakes, and showing business impact while audience growth compounds. Full episode is live on Growth Activated - I’ll drop the link in the comments. Curious: 👉 If you have a podcast (or want one), what’s been hardest - positioning, guests, consistency, or distribution? #MarketingLeadership #B2BMarketing #Podcasting #GrowthActivated

We analyzed the data of the 100+ podcast episodes we produced in 2024. This 1 simple action gave a HUGE lift to unique reach. (But most marketers skip it.)   Most B2B podcasts miss a big opportunity to maximize GUEST REPOSTS. This year we produced over 100 podcast episodes for our clients. These episodes powered a stream of nearly 1,000 written posts, video clips, and guest reposts that went out across Linkedin. We track engagement on every post (including reposts) to measure total impact. Here’s what we found: → GUEST REPOSTS increased total engagement by 25% on avg → GUEST REPOSTS increased unique engagers by 60% on avg Reposts accounted for a big bump in total exposure, and an even bigger bump in UNIQUE exposure (net new audience). The results were even more dramatic for the outliers. For one client, reposts drove UP TO 80% of their net new engagers. (i.e. they nearly doubled their audience.) The problem is… Getting people to repost is like pulling teeth. Here are the 5 things we do to make reposting feel effortless for guests: 1. Ask what matters to them During the podcast prep call, ask questions that will help you produce content that the guest will want to repost. Ex: → “What’s the most important for your marketing and messaging right now?” → “Are there key messages you’d like us to weave into our conversation?” 2. Set expectations early During the same call, get guest buy-in to ensure reposting is on their radar. Ex: → “We’d love it if you could repost the content. Would you be up for that?” 3. Remind them of next steps When wrapping up the podcast recording, clarify what’s next. We’ll usually say… → “We’ll edit and send the episode for your review in a few weeks.” → “Then we’ll cut some clips and send a few to you.” → “We’ll let you know over email when they’re posted so you can repost.” 4. Make them look good As you create clips for your content, focus on showcasing the guest in the best light. Then cut clips for the guest tailored on their priorities from their answers to #1. You could opt for clips with or without your branding. But some guests, especially bigger names, will prefer the unbranded versions. 5. Make reposting effortless Send your guest an email with the edited clips and ask them to repost. Bonus points if you can write a caption or post for them so it's an easy copy/paste. Most guests will gladly repost what you give them because it’ll be quality content they didn’t have to create themselves. TAKEAWAY Distribution is 90% of the game. If you have a podcast and you’re not tapping into your guests’ audiences, you’re likely missing out on a goldmine. But getting guests to repost is not easy or automatic. Your team needs to put very conscious effort into making sure it happens. 👋 I’m on a mission to master LinkedIn strategy for B2B execs. I publish my findings weekly. Follow + learn with me in public.

When I started hosting my podcast, I thought the biggest value would come from asking good questions. I was wrong. The real learning came from listening , again and again across dozens of conversations with leaders, founders, and educators. Here are a few lessons that stayed with me: 1. The most experienced leaders don’t rush to sound smart They pause. They think. And they’re comfortable saying, “It depends.” That restraint is usually backed by years of seeing things go wrong. 2. Real insight shows up after the polished answers The most meaningful moments often come after the formal response when people share what didn’t work, what surprised them, or what they’d do differently today. 3. Everyone is solving a people problem, not a technology one No matter the role or institution, conversations always circle back to trust, clarity, and alignment. Technology is just the tool around it. 4. Good leadership is quieter than it looks online The leaders making the biggest impact rarely talk about disruption. They talk about responsibility, consistency, and decisions that hold up over time. 5. Listening regularly changes how you build Hosting these conversations made me more deliberate as a founder. Less reactive. More thoughtful. More aware of second-order effects. The podcast didn’t just give me a platform. It gave me perspective. And that’s something I carry into how I lead and build every day.