StoryTrust Media

Most content you create has an expiration date. A LinkedIn post lasts 48 hours. An Instagram reel gets buried in days. But that podcast episode you recorded fourteen months ago? Someone found it today. And it might be the first impression they ever have of you. In this episode we dig into one of the most underappreciated advantages podcasting has over every other form of content marketing: the fac...

There was a moment in Jon's podcasting journey where something shifted. He stopped thinking of his show as something he did and started thinking of it as something he built. That one mindset shift changed everything about how he planned it, recorded it, promoted it, and measured whether it was working. In this episode he breaks down five specific ways that treating your podcast like a product rath...

Every podcaster has an episode they've been avoiding. A story they haven't told, an opinion they've been softening, a failure they'd rather not revisit. In this episode Jon makes the case that whatever that episode is, it's almost certainly the most powerful content you haven't yet created. And he gives you five specific ways to find it, face it, and finally hit record. Drawing on Brene Brown's re...

Your best future client might already be listening to your podcast. They've been in your audience for months, they trust how you think, and they're quietly on the edge of reaching out. In this episode Jon gives you five specific ways to speak directly to that person and help them cross the line, without making the rest of your audience feel like they stumbled into a sales presentation. The strateg...

Most coaches and consultants treat their podcast like a content play. Something that builds awareness over time and hopefully leads to some business eventually. But the podcasters who are actually growing their practices treat every single episode like a deliberate step in a lead generation system. In this episode Jon breaks down five specific strategies that separate a podcast that generates lead...

If your podcast disappeared tomorrow, would your audience notice? That question is the real trust test. In this episode Jon moves past the download obsession that drives most podcasting decisions and into the three metrics that actually tell you whether your show is building the kind of trust that leads to real business results. The first metric is completion rate, what radio has always called tim...

Your podcast is a sales tool whether you're treating it like one or not. Every episode is either moving someone closer to working with you or doing nothing. In this episode Jon draws on Content Marketing Institute research showing that 74 percent of B2B buyers consume at least five pieces of content from a vendor before making contact, and makes the case that your podcast episodes are doing that w...

Every successful podcast has a valley. A stretch of early episodes with embarrassingly low numbers, no reviews, and the creeping feeling that the whole thing is a waste of time. In this episode Jon shares the real download numbers from a client who now runs a successful podcast that's actually generated business: four, seven, eleven, nine, thirteen, seventeen, twelve. Those were the first seven ep...

Perfectionism in podcasting isn't a high standard. It's fear with better branding. In this episode Jon makes the case that waiting until your show feels polished enough to promote is one of the most expensive mistakes a podcaster can make, not because imperfect shows don't matter but because the feedback you need to improve can only come from real listeners engaging with real episodes. The episode...

Here's a hard truth that most podcasters never hear. You can have the best podcast in the world and still have nobody listening. Because quality and discovery are completely separate problems, and improving one does absolutely nothing to solve the other. In this episode Jon breaks down exactly why a great episode doesn't automatically attract listeners and what actually drives discovery. The episo...

There's one objection to starting a podcast that Jon genuinely respects. Not the gear concerns, not the time concerns, but this one: I'm not sure I can stay consistent. Because consistency isn't just a growth strategy in podcasting. It's a trust signal. Showing up every week tells your audience something about your character that no single great episode ever could. This episode explores what consi...

Content block is one of the most common reasons podcasters slow down or quit entirely. But Jon makes the case in this episode that running out of ideas is almost never actually what's happening. What's really happening is a loss of confidence in the ideas you already have. The things that feel obvious to you are revelations to someone encountering your niche for the first time. That gap is your en...

If you've ever wondered whether to invest your content creation energy in a blog or a podcast, this episode settles it with clarity and a little science. Jon shares the story of a client who blogged for over six years without generating a single client and then got a client from their podcast within a few months of launching. The difference comes down to one fundamental truth: written content tell...

Most podcasters measure the wrong things. Downloads feel good to look at but they tell you almost nothing about whether your show is actually building the trust that drives real business results. In this episode John breaks down the real difference between reach and trust, why they are two completely separate metrics, and why a show with 100 devoted listeners can outperform one with 100,000 passiv...

There is no shortage of podcasting advice on the internet. YouTube videos, blog posts, influencer courses all promising to help you grow your show. And a lot of it is garbage. In this episode, Jon calls out three specific pieces of conventional podcasting wisdom that are not just unhelpful but actively working against the people who follow them. If you've been consuming a lot of podcasting content...

Here's the lie most of the podcasting internet is selling you: you need a bigger audience. More downloads, more subscribers, more reach. And so you pour time and money into SEO, paid ads, and social sharing trying to drag new listeners in. But what if more listeners isn't actually the problem? In this episode, Jon makes a counterintuitive but data-backed case that for most podcasters, the real iss...

Even if your podcast never grew a single new listener, it would still be worth doing. Because every episode you record is a public speaking rep. And if you're intentional about it, your podcast can accelerate your growth as a communicator faster than almost anything else. In this episode, Jon shares three specific, practical ways to use your podcast to become a more confident, more credible public...

You book a guest, record a great conversation, send them the Spotify link when the episode drops, and never speak again. Sound familiar? Most podcasters treat their guests as one time content contributors and miss one of the biggest growth opportunities available to them. In this episode, Jon breaks down five specific ways to maximize every guest relationship before, during, and long after the rec...

More is not better in podcasting. More points, more tactics, more information packed into a single episode does not equal more value for your listener. It usually equals less. In this episode, n uses a basketball analogy to make the case that trying to do too much is one of the most common and most damaging mistakes podcasters make, and that the episodes people actually remember are almost always...

How are you doing today? How's the weather? Tell me a little about yourself. These questions are killing your podcast. Not dramatically, not all at once, but quietly, one disengaged listener at a time. In this episode, Jon makes a direct case for why the questions you ask as a podcast host are one of the most powerful tools you have for building trust with your audience, and why most hosts are was...

You might have a thousand downloads on your latest episode and feel great about that number. But if 900 of those listeners are gone within the first two minutes, what does that number actually mean? In this episode, Jon tackles one of the most common and most damaging mistakes podcasters make: a long, self promotional intro that delays the value your audience came for. The first 60 seconds of your...

It seems like the right move. You bring a guest on, you spend a few minutes listing their TED Talks, their books, their awards, their credentials. You're establishing their authority so your audience trusts them, right? Wrong. In this episode, Jon shares the story of a client who had a highly produced, well-booked podcast with one glaring problem: she was flattering her guests so much that she was...

There's a difference between an interview and a conversation, and it's not just semantic. An interview is transactional: the host asks, the guest answers, repeat until time runs out. A conversation is something different entirely. The host adds value, reacts genuinely, tells stories, and yes, sometimes pushes back. In this episode, Jon breaks down why the best podcast episodes feel like conversati...

Most podcasters obsess over their intro and their content, then completely fall apart at the end. The outro becomes a rambling, cliche filled stumble toward silence. 'Take care everyone.' 'See you next time.' 'Okay, bye.' It's painful to listen to, and it leaves your audience with a weak final impression of an otherwise solid episode. In this episode, Jon makes the case for why your outro deserves...

Last week Jon made the case for skipping the small talk and getting straight to the value in guest interviews. Not everyone agreed. In this episode, he addresses the pushback head on and does something a lot of podcasters aren't willing to do: admit there's nuance. If you've ever felt torn between keeping things authentic and making sure your audience stays engaged, this episode is for you. There...