Mics To Millions: Podcast Growth & Monetization Strategies for Health & Wellness Podcasters
Aug 19, 2026 · 46 min · 11 segments
Stop trying to convert your social media followers into podcast listeners, it rarely works. We are revisiting our conversation with podcast marketing expert Lauren Passell, who shares the free tactics…
Lauren PassellGuest
Sam Brake GuiaHost
So for the next four weeks, I'm going to be doing something a little bit different.
I will be re-releasing some of my episodes from the back catalog of Mics to Millions.
And just to give you a little insight into how I am selecting this, while it might be tempting to go back and look at the most downloaded episodes, instead what I've done is I have gone into Apple Podcast Connect, and I have looked at the retention data.
Now, obviously, my solo episodes are a lot shorter, usually, than my interview episodes, so naturally they have the highest consumption rate.
And I'm gonna start off with one of really my favorite interviews with one of my favorite podcast marketing experts out there.
I picked this one to bring back because Lauren pushed back on the thing that most podcasters assume they need: a big social media presence.
Non-listeners rarely convert into listeners, no matter how many likes a post gets, so that time is often better spent finding what she calls podcast friends, shows with an audience similar to yours, where you can trade 30-second promo swaps for free.
You'll see in my feed actually that I did something similar recently with, uh, Courtney Elmer, and we instead did an episode swap rather than a promo swap.
In this episode I'm sharing with you today, Lauren also broke down exactly how to pitch podcast newsletters and podcast listening apps.
And if you do have a budget to spend, it belongs on ad reads or feed drops with aligned shows, not in social ads.
If you've ever felt stuck on the social media hamster wheel, this one is really going to help you out.
She is the author of Podcaster Newsletter and Podcast Marketing Magic, and writes about podcasts for Lifehacker.
She has spoken about podcast marketing for Radio Boot Camp, South by Southwest, Podcast Movement, PodFest, London Podcast Festival, and more.
She's a judge for the Webbys, Ambies, Signal Awards, and the International Women's Podcast Awards.
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So for the next four weeks, I'm going to be doing something a little bit different.
I will be re-releasing some of my episodes from the back catalog of Mics to Millions.
And just to give you a little insight into how I am selecting this, while it might be tempting to go back and look at the most downloaded episodes, instead what I've done is I have gone into Apple Podcast Connect, and I have looked at the retention data.
Now, obviously, my solo episodes are a lot shorter, usually, than my interview episodes, so naturally they have the highest consumption rate.
And I'm gonna start off with one of really my favorite interviews with one of my favorite podcast marketing experts out there.
I picked this one to bring back because Lauren pushed back on the thing that most podcasters assume they need: a big social media presence.
Non-listeners rarely convert into listeners, no matter how many likes a post gets, so that time is often better spent finding what she calls podcast friends, shows with an audience similar to yours, where you can trade 30-second promo swaps for free.
You'll see in my feed actually that I did something similar recently with, uh, Courtney Elmer, and we instead did an episode swap rather than a promo swap.
In this episode I'm sharing with you today, Lauren also broke down exactly how to pitch podcast newsletters and podcast listening apps.
And if you do have a budget to spend, it belongs on ad reads or feed drops with aligned shows, not in social ads.
If you've ever felt stuck on the social media hamster wheel, this one is really going to help you out.
She is the author of Podcaster Newsletter and Podcast Marketing Magic, and writes about podcasts for Lifehacker.
She has spoken about podcast marketing for Radio Boot Camp, South by Southwest, Podcast Movement, PodFest, London Podcast Festival, and more.
She's a judge for the Webbys, Ambies, Signal Awards, and the International Women's Podcast Awards.
