S4 105. Season 4 Preview and Summer Podcast Marketing Experiences Revealed!
Welcome to a brand-new season of The Podcast Space! In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on:
What you can expect from Season 4 — topics, formats, and epic guests
The behind-the-scenes of my summer growth experiments
What worked, what didn’t, and how you can apply these lessons to your own show
If you’ve ever wondered how to keep momentum during a podcast break or how to adapt your content strategy in a fast-changing online world, this episode will give you both the inspiration and the data to take action.
Chapters:
00:01:00 — Content pillars + what’s new this season
00:04:00 — Dream guest announcement (and reminder not to give up pitching!)
00:06:00 — New formats, tools, and industry shifts to watch
00:08:00 — Growth experiments recap: newsletter, YouTube, guesting, and more
00:14:00 — SEO shifts, AI tools, and website optimization
00:16:00 — Lessons from Podcast Movement & multilingual strategies
00:18:00 — Writing a book? Early market research insights
00:19:30 — Why flexibility is key to podcast growth in 2025
00:20:00 — Wrap-up and call to action
What’s coming in Season 4
This season, I’ll be mixing solo episodes with a few interviews to give you a broader podcasting perspective. Our two core content pillars are content strategy and marketing, so you can expect episodes on monetization, avoiding ROI mistakes, how to make the most of YouTube’s new features, and creative formats that fit busy entrepreneurs.
I’m also thrilled to welcome dream guest Denise Duffield-Thomas, a money mindset coach whose show has been one of my personal favorites for years. It’s a reminder that persistence pays off — this was my third pitch to her team, and it worked. If you’ve been hesitating to reach out to your own dream guests, let this be encouragement not to give up.
Summer Growth Experiments: What Worked and What Didn’t
At the end of Season 3, I promised to test different strategies for keeping the podcast visible during the summer break. Here’s what I tried, and what I learned beyond some experiments I ran with my podcast clients.
Podcast Downloads and Listeners
Without new episodes being published, my audio downloads and unique listeners dropped by about 40% on average. This may sound discouraging, but it’s actually expected when you pause production — auto-downloads stop, and audiences often replace your show with another. Knowing this, I focused instead on ways to maintain visibility through passive and active marketing efforts.
YouTube Core Features
YouTube was a more challenging platform this summer. Because I wasn’t uploading new content regularly, my reach fell significantly — about an 80% decrease compared to normal activity. However, when I experimented with going live alongside meet-up co-hosts before Podcast Movement, I saw an encouraging lift: seven new subscribers in one session. Shorts created from older videos didn’t perform well, mainly because of their outdated quality, but optimizing end cards and playlists helped set up long-term growth.
Newsletter and Cross-Promotion
I tested a “from the archives” section in my weekly newsletter, highlighting past episodes. The results were modest, and the biggest spikes actually came when other newsletters featured my content — for example, PodSqueeze sharing one of my episodes brought noticeable growth. This confirmed how powerful cross-promotion can be when you find the right partners.
Guesting and Workshops
Guesting on other podcasts and teaching through workshops delivered the strongest short-term impact. Running a session with Captivate not only increased podcast downloads but also drove new Instagram engagement. I also experimented with Substack Lives and additional podcast guest appearances, all of which brought fresh listeners into my ecosystem.
Website and SEO (and LLM’s Impact On Organic Traffic)
Like many podcasters, I noticed a shift in traffic patterns due to AI tools like ChatGPT changing search behavior. While my website continued to bring in traffic, some of my best-performing episodes saw a small decline of <3%. To adapt, I optimized pages, created topic playlists, and tightened my SEO strategy to make it easier for new visitors who still want to use Google to subscribe. These are long-term moves, but important ones.
In-Person Events
Attending Podcast Movement reinforced the value of in-person networking. Speaking on stage about multilingual content and its role in partnerships and client growth brought new subscribers on the spot — something digital strategies rarely achieve in the same way.
The summer taught me that no single platform can carry your show. By diversifying — across newsletters, YouTube, guesting, SEO, and live events — you can buffer against dips in downloads and algorithm changes. Your podcast is most powerful when it works alongside your website, email list, and broader content strategy.
This season, I’ll continue testing and sharing strategies to help you future-proof your show, especially as technology and audience behaviors shift rapidly.
Conclusion:
If this episode gave you ideas, share it with a podcasting friend who’s planning their next season. And don’t forget to rate and review The Podcast Space — it helps the show reach more impact-driven creators.
You can also leave a comment on Spotify or connect with me on Instagram @thepodcastspace. I’d love to hear your takeaways.
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ABOUT THE HOST
Hi, I’m Ana Xavier, a multilingual award-winning podcast marketing and content strategist specialized in generating online visibility for women, multilingual, and minority impact-driven business owners.
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