How Listener Location Data Can Unlock Podcast Growth Opportunities

Welcome to Podcasting Q&A.

Brought to you by the People at Buzzsprout.

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I'm your host, Kara Pasetti,

and I'm bringing you the best tips and strategies

to keep you podcasting with confidence.

If this is your first time joining us for Podcasting Q&A,

first, I want to say hello and welcome.

I want to share just how it works.

Every episode starts with a question from a podcaster like you.

If there's something that you're stuck on

and you just can't figure out on your own,

go ahead and click the send us a text link in the show notes

and send your question to me.

I'd love to answer this on a future episode.

Today we're answering a listener question,

and it reads, how can I use listener location stats

for my podcast?

Location stats tend to be underutilized and overlooked.

Outside of being just a super cool listener metric,

these stats can actually unlock some really powerful

opportunities for your podcast.

So today, I want to walk through three practical ways

that you can use this information.

First, you can use listener location stats

to attract better sponsorships.

So when you pay attention to your listener location metrics,

the conversation with potential sponsors

tends to go a little differently.

Instead of letting them know that you're getting

1,000 downloads every 30 days,

you can let them know that 60% of your listeners

are actually coming from a specific area.

The appeal of these stats can be way more valuable

for a local business.

This works especially well if your audience

tends to cluster in specific areas

or you have a niche audience that's tied to a certain region.

Using this metric is also really helpful

if you're a smaller podcast or you're just getting started.

Maybe you're not seeing 1,000 downloads every 30 days.

Use these location stats instead to work for you

and to build a sponsorship relationship.

For example, say you are a fashion podcast

and you're going through your location stats

and you happen to see that you have a cluster of listeners

that are tuning in in Austin, Texas.

They're loyal to your podcast.

They tend to come from that same area.

And so through a quick search, you find out

that there's actually a local fashion boutique

that is pretty popular and maybe on the main strip

in Austin, Texas.

Well, what if you reached out to them and you let them know?

I have hundreds of listeners that are tuning in

from your area.

Is there some sort of sponsorship that we can work out?

So running a sponsored ad on your podcast

with your hundreds of listeners

who will generate foot traffic into their owner's store

actually becomes really compelling.

So that's one way that these listener location stats

can really help you to not only have the confidence

to approach somebody and even ask for the sponsorship,

but also it gives you creative ideas

and creative ways of making sure that these businesses

know that your podcast is the right place

to be sharing about what they offer.

So moving on from a monetization standpoint,

I also want to share how listener stats can help you

when you are planning a live event or a meetup.

Listener location data can tell you where

to show up in real life.

If you notice that a big cluster of listeners

are consistently showing up in a certain city,

that may be the perfect place.

You could host a meetup, you could do a live recording

or even attend an event where your audience already is.

This is such a fun and creative way

of connecting you with your audience.

Even if the location stats are not creating enough evidence

to give you the confidence to purchase a plane ticket

to this city, you can still use that data

to put the idea out there.

Maybe you want to do an in-person meetup

and so you add a call to action into your episodes,

letting your listeners know what you're thinking

and where you're thinking of hosting it

and ask for some listener feedback and engagement.

They can engage with you through fan mail or email

or even on your social media channels

and see what the response is.

If you're getting a lot of engagement

and your listeners are really excited

about you possibly coming to their area,

then that will help you to decide

where is that best place to host a meetup.

We actually did this recently through Buzzsprout.

We were hosting a Buzzsprout meetup for our team

and the Buzzcast team actually put it out there

on their podcast to let listeners know

they could see that a lot of our listeners

from Buzzcast were tuning in from a certain city.

And when we were planning our team meetup,

we decided to also have a podcaster meetup in that city

and it was a great success.

A lot of podcasters showed up

and so using that location data

and putting it out there,

seeing how your listeners interact

and engaging their response

can really help you to, again, build that confidence

to move forward and plan that in person meetup

or whatever it is that you are planning

so that you can connect with your listeners.

All right, so if you have reached this part of the episode

and you're thinking, well, this is not helpful

because I'm really not in need of any new sponsors

and I'm really not trying to plan a meetup at this time.

So how can I use location stats?

Our third use of location stats

might just be what you are looking for.

And this one is so underrated.

Your list of their location stats

can actually inspire new, hyper relevant content

for new episodes.

If you have a lot of listeners in a specific region,

you can actually tailor your content to their interest.

You can do this by highlighting local stores, trends

or even challenges that are going on

and are specific to what is happening

in that culture or area.

Another move that might catch your guests off guard

but that would be one to remember

is to actually bring on a guest from that specific area.

Think about it from your listeners perspective.

You're listening to your favorite podcast,

the content is relevant and it's actually even

a little bit relevant to your area

and then all of the sudden somebody who is well known

from your region appears on the next episode.

To me, that just screams intentionality from you

as the podcaster and it really communicates

that you care for your listeners

and you really want to connect with them.

Another super easy way to implement this

is to create a specific episode for a city

that you're seeing that cluster of listeners.

You can even begin the episode by saying,

I saw a lot of you are tuning in from Miami.

So today, this episode is for you.

That kind of specificity builds connection fast.

I want to share a little pro tip

when it comes to reading those location stats

and kind of how to interpret them.

So in Buzzsprow and probably many other podcast hosts,

you can set the parameters to view your location stats

based on your last episode.

Checking the latest episode location stats

every time you release a new episode

so within the first seven days

will actually give you a picture

of where your current listeners are tuning in from.

For podcasting Q&A, for example, when I ran this,

it looks like we have a lot of listeners

that are tuning in from Melbourne, Victoria,

Los Angeles, California, and Columbus, Ohio.

So hey guys, and thank you for tuning in.

I'm so glad to know where you are located.

If you have questions about your location stats

or how to use them for your podcast,

reach out to us on the podcast or success team

by emailing support at Buzzsprow.com

or you can submit any question

using the fan mail link in our description.

Be sure to join us every Monday to kickstart your week.

Thank you so much for listening.

And as always, keep podcasting.

Thank you so much.

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