Two Decades of Podcasting Insight

In 2011, Gary Takacs joined my four-week Podcasting A to Z course with an idea for a podcast specifically designed to serve dentists. Gary was certainly not new to his profession at the time. He had started his own dental practice management consulting firm in 1989 after spending the 1980s learning his craft with two larger consulting organizations. His marketing model consisted primarily of writing articles for dental publications and speaking at conferences around the country. Then he discov...

For the past 32 weeks, I have been committed to publishing a new episode of The Cliff Ravenscraft Show every Monday and a new episode of Podcast Answer Man every Friday. I made that commitment because I believed strongly in the value of consistency, and because bringing Podcast Answer Man back was part of a larger strategy to restore visibility, reconnect with the podcasting industry, get back on stages, and create new relationships and business opportunities. That strategy has worked. Podcast...

For more than twenty years, people have asked me two questions about podcasting more than almost any others: “How do I launch a podcast?” “How do I grow my audience?” Those can be useful questions, but neither one appears on my list of the five questions you must be able to answer if your goal is to generate clients through your show. Do not ask, “How do I grow my podcast?” until you can clearly answer what the growth is intended to produce, for whom, and why they would eventually pay you. ...

In 2016, I helped a student launch a podcast through my four-week Podcasting A to Z program. For this story, I call him Bill. Bill was 62 years old at the time. He wanted to create a library of leadership content that people could access on their own schedule. He also wanted to build a more virtual business that was less dependent on his physical presence with clients. At a deeper level, he hoped this new way of working would give him and his wife more time together and greater freedom to cho...

There may be a podcast you’ve listened to for years—someone who has taught you, encouraged you, entertained you, or helped you make decisions that changed your life. But have you ever actually told them? I’ve been listening to podcasts since the summer of 2005. Over those twenty years, I’ve listened to thousands of episodes from countless creators. Yet when I honestly thought about how often I’ve personally reached out to tell one of those creators about the impact they’ve had on my life, the ...

What happens when your work has evolved, but the market still associates you with an earlier version of your professional identity? In this episode, I explore how to use the content you create to intentionally change what people know you for, especially when your current work is profitable enough to keep postponing the work you most want to become known for. This episode was inspired by a powerful question that someone brought to a hot seat in one of my mastermind groups. This entrepreneur al...

Many people begin podcasting with the goal of launching a show and growing an audience. But after observing thousands of podcasting journeys over the past two decades, I have become convinced that the podcast itself is rarely the true desired outcome. What people really want is what they hope the podcast will help them experience. That might include more fulfilling work, meaningful income, greater freedom, stronger professional relationships, increased influence, thought leadership, or a creat...

Does every podcaster need to be on YouTube? That is the question I’m answering in this episode of Podcast Answer Man. A recent LinkedIn post, sent to me by my friend Stuart Crane, talked about YouTube’s latest podcast-focused features and the growing amount of podcast consumption happening on YouTube. The post suggested that the future of podcasting is not audio-first or video-first, but audience-first. There is a lot in that statement that I agree with. YouTube clearly wants to be seen as a...

Last week, while attending a social media conference in Lima, Ohio, I heard a speaker recommend something I had never seriously considered before: Submit your podcast to IMDb. The idea was that IMDb has become a highly trusted source that AI tools and search engines often reference when gathering information about people. If that's true, having an accurate IMDb profile and podcast listing could influence what people learn about you when they search your name. That immediately made me curious. S...

I recently came across a LinkedIn post that made a strong case for podcast hosts getting to the point more quickly. The idea was simple: if your episode could be ten minutes, don’t stretch it into forty-five. Respect your listener’s time. Say the thing. And honestly, I get it. If I’m reading a book, listening to an audiobook, or sitting in a conference room while someone gives a presentation, I usually appreciate clarity, structure, and a clear point. I don’t want unnecessary repetition. I do...

Welcome to episode 500 of Podcast Answer Man. This milestone episode gave me an opportunity to reflect on what podcasting has meant to me over the past two decades, how the podcasting space has changed, and why I still believe so deeply in the power of this medium. There is no shortage of commentary today about whether podcasting is growing, shrinking, oversaturated, being disrupted by AI, replaced by YouTube, or simply no longer worth the effort. I understand why people ask those questions. I...

In this episode, I share the thinking behind my new live streaming and video content strategy. For the past several months, I’ve been very clear that Podcast Answer Man is an audio-only podcast, and that is still true. I remain a strong advocate for creating audio content that is designed first and foremost for the person who will listen later, away from the screen, in the flow of their real life. At the same time, I’ve always loved video and live streaming. In fact, I used to host “Live Show ...

A question came up while I was preparing for my podcasting workshop at Social Media Marketing World: Does the world really need another podcast? It is a fair question. There are already millions of podcasts out there. Many industries feel crowded. A lot of topics have already been covered. AI has made it easier than ever to create average content. And with so much short-form video competing for attention, it is understandable that someone might wonder whether starting a podcast is still worth ...

In this episode, I recorded while out for a walk using a small wired lavalier recorder clipped to my shirt. It was not a studio setup. It was not polished. It was not carefully produced. And that is exactly the point. The recorder I used for this episode is the TASCAM DR-10L PRO - https://amzn.to/4d9vEHd In a world where AI is making it easier than ever for content to sound clean, refined, and professional, I believe genuine presence is becoming more valuable than polish. For those of us who ar...

I missed an episode last week. It was the first time since recommitting to a weekly publishing schedule for Podcast Answer Man that I failed to release an episode on Friday morning at 12:01 a.m. And you know what? The world is still spinning. In this episode, I talk through what happened, why I made the conscious decision to miss the week, and how I’m thinking about consistency, commitment, grace, and returning to the microphone when life is full. I recorded this episode from an Airbnb in Bowl...

This episode came from a pattern I’ve seen over and over again. So many people come to me asking for audience growth strategies. They’ve been podcasting for a while, they feel like they’ve hit a plateau, and they believe the answer is getting in front of more people. In this episode, I challenge that assumption. I share my own experience of going from a tiny audience to tens of thousands of listeners almost overnight, and what that actually felt like behind the scenes. I talk about the pressu...

In this episode, I share something I’ve been seeing over and over again in conversations with people who are on the verge of launching a podcast. There’s this belief that you need to have everything figured out before you’re allowed to speak, teach, or share your voice. I challenge that idea directly. I talk about the fear of not being experienced enough, not having the right credentials, or not feeling confident yet, and I explain why none of those things are actually required to begin. ...

Over the years, I’ve told my origin story in podcasting many times. I’ve shared how I got started, how things grew, and how this work eventually became my full-time career. But what you’ve almost never heard is this story told alongside Stephanie. Recently, Stephanie and I were invited to be guests on the Our Family Invests podcast with Mike Neubauer. And after the conversation, we both agreed. This was our favorite interview we’ve ever done together. In this conversation, you’ll hear h...

In this episode, I’m sharing a conversation with Heather Bayer who was one of the first people in her industry to launch a podcast. She didn’t wait for permission. She made a decision about who she was and who she was there to serve. More than a decade later, she’s still showing up every single week. She now has over 650 episodes, a global audience and a business built through relationships that started with her voice. What stands out to me most about Heather’s journey is how she though...

In this conversation, I sat down with Jason Cabassi, someone I had the privilege of helping launch into podcasting back in 2011. Since then, Jason has gone on to produce more than a thousand episodes and build an entire podcast network centered around the shows he loves. We talked about how it all started with a fan podcast for The Walking Dead, the unexpected opportunities that followed, and how a simple curiosity-driven approach opened doors to interviews, live events, and long-term creativ...

In today’s episode, I’m sharing a replay of a conversation I had two years ago with Alex Freeman on the UpFlip podcast. When that interview first aired, it quickly became one of the most significant entry points into my world. For several months afterward, people were reaching out to me saying they had discovered my work through that interview. Many told me they had listened to the episode multiple times, taken notes on it, journaled about it, and even meditated on the ideas we discussed. As ...

In this episode, I share one of the most important lessons I’ve learned from more than twenty years of podcasting and content creation. Success in this space, more often than not, comes down to two simple things: getting started and staying in the game longer than everyone else. I talk about how my own definition of success has evolved over the years. I’ve learned to pay attention to resonance and relationships. Are the right people connecting with the message? Are deeper conversations and me...

Have you ever felt like your podcast is a grind? You’ve been showing up consistently. Publishing episodes every week. Doing everything people say you should do. And yet, after months or even years, it feels like nothing is really changing. You keep telling yourself: “Once my audience gets bigger, everything will change.” More listeners. More opportunities. More success. But after helping thousands of podcasters over the past two decades, I’ve discovered something that may su...

In this episode of Podcast Answer Man, I talk about a milestone moment that I never thought I’d see so soon. For the first time in history, audio podcasting has surpassed AM/FM talk radio as the most popular way Americans consume spoken-word audio. This episode is part industry insight, part personal reflection, and part behind-the-scenes look at what I’ve been building lately. I also share several important updates related to podcasting tools, events, and opportunities for creators. Podca...