Jobs to be Done: The Obscure Marketing Theory That Explains Why Podcasts Grow (& Exactly How to Apply It) | Podcast Listener Psychology

Why do people listen to podcasts? And why do they listen to YOUR podcast (or one like yours)? It turns out, the answers to these questions can be found in a nerdy, obscure marketing concept called Jobs to Be Done Theory.

Jobs to Be Done Theory origins date back to the 1930s, but was more fully developed by Harvard Business School researched Clayton Christiansen—primarily through an iconic case study about milkshakes… and how people don’t buy milkshakes for the obvious reasons you might think.

But JTBD applies to much more than milkshakes. In fact, it applies to every product, service, piece of content—including podcasts—that any of us spend time, money, or attention to consume.

In this episode, we’ll break down how to apply JTBD theory to boost the effectiveness of your marketing by aligning your content, messaging, and packaging with the job your listeners are seeking out a show to do.

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Topics Covered

00:00 Case Study: How Justin “Hires” Different Shows 
02:31 An Introduction to Jobs to Be Done Theory 
08:24 The Importance of Emotional Resonance in Podcasts 
13:06 Assessing Podcast Growth by “Job” 
21:19 Understanding Listener Psychology 
26:12 Understanding Trigger Events 
30:39 Examples of Trigger Events 
35:50 Challenges and Opportunities for Problem Solver Shows 
41:36 Challenges and Opportunities for Pleasure Giver Shows 
45:04 Leveraging Listener Behavior for Show Growth 
51:50 Practical Examples of Podcast Jobs to Be Done

⭐️ Take our 2-minute podcast marketing audit to instantly identify the marketing problems keeping you from growth: https://go.podcastmarketingacademy.com/audit-pmte-sn ⭐️

Resources Mentioned
Clayton Christensen

Ezra Klein
Freakonomics

Ramit Sethi
Dave Ramsey 

Mel Robbins

Joe Rogan

LeVar Burton Reads 

Additional Resources

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Podcast Listener Psychology
Understanding why people listen to podcasts—and why they stop—is an essential aspect of improving the efficiency of your marketing—ie. more growth with less effort.

Listener psychology encompasses everything from understanding attention spans and content preferences to parasocial relationships and listening habits. Most podcast creators focus exclusively on content without considering the baked-in psychology that is hard-wired into their listeners.

The result is unwittingly marketing your show on hard mode. Learn to understand the cognitive biases, emotional triggers, and decision-making patterns that influence how all humans (including me, you, and all your listeners) discover, consume, and share podcast content, you can create shows that not only attract listeners but turn them into dedicated fans who recommend your podcast to others.

About Podcast Marketing Trends Explained
Podcast Marketing Trends Explained is a podcast about data-driven podcast marketing, growth, and monetization. In every episode, we take a peek under the hood of one data point from the Podcast Marketing Trends Report and dig into what it can tell us about how to market our shows better, and grow them faster.

On the show, we'll explore podcast marketing strategies, growth tactics, podcast listener psychology, how to create a better podcast, how to use a podcast to market your products and services and grow your business, and broader marketing trends to help you grow your audience and stay ahead of the competition.

The show is hosted by Jeremy Enns from Podcast Marketing Academy and the Scrappy Podcasting Newsletter, and Justin Jackson from podcast hosting platform Transistor.fm.