One year ago today, January 1, 2022, the Marketing Podcast Network had 13 shows and had just completed a 12,000 download month. But it was just our second month of existence. I knew the concept of aggregating the reach and impressions of multiple niche marketing programs made sense for advertisers. And that meant it made sense for our creators who wished to monetize their shows.

One year later, we are offering up over 40 shows, built a modest but healthy list of advertisers and offer almost 50,000 impressions/insertions for them to take advantage of. We’ve executed in-show host-read ads, dynamic pre-recorded host-read ads, and standard programmatic purchases to the likes of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, Basecamp, Storyblok, Reach Influencers, and beyond.

And, perhaps most important for my original purpose for launching MPN, we have consistently paid each of our ad network hosts quarterly revenue shares. Granted, we’re still young and small, so no one is quitting their day job to revel in podcast money. But aside from the occasional one-off sponsorship, I’m fairly certain the consistent revenue MPN has paid each of our hosts is more money than they’d ever received for their shows before.

We feature both ad network participating shows and thought leadership type programs that opt out of the ad network. All shows have benefitted nicely from the ecosystem that is MPN. More than half of our active shows showed double-, triple- or even greater organic growth in downloads by year’s end, thanks to the built-in cross-promotions and community support of the MPN creators.

Overall, MPN’s monthly download totals grew 16.1% through 2022. Our top growth shows were:

My goal was to help my fellow podcasters monetize their content and build a community of like-minded creators to support one another in our growth. And I’d say for 2022: Mission accomplished.

Our Big Audacious Goals for 2023

Year one of the Marketing Podcast Network was successful in laying a foundation for future growth. The success we had gives me great confidence that 2023 will be a phenomenal year for our community of creators, our advertisers and our audiences. Here are the goals I have set for us for the new year. Some of them are “stretch” goals, if you will. But I’m confident what we offer our hosts, our advertisers, our partners and our listeners is still important, needed and offers great opportunity.

Make MPN Studios a Podcast Production Player

Perhaps our best kept secret (largely because it’s new) is the existence and availability of MPN Studios. We offer perhaps the most economical podcast production service in the industry. For a mere $500 per month, you can have a weekly podcast produced (that’s $100-$125 per episode) by professional audio engineers, get an AI-generated transcript of each episode. Our gold plan includes basic video episode editing and production, show notes and human-edited transcription for just $750 per month.

We have to get the word out. The popularity of this product alone could holistically change the future of MPN.

Double the number of podcasts

We enter 2023 with 39 broadcasting shows, with three on board, but in development and not publishing yet. By year’s end, I hope to have 80.

Double our available inventory

Because we aim to serve shows of all sizes and status (new vs. existing, etc.), we can’t count on doubling our downloads and inventory just by doubling the number of shows. So we must strike a balance between adding young, new shows (with lower numbers of downloads and available inventory) with more established podcasts (with higher numbers of downloads and available inventory). We will never turn away from helping new shows get off the ground. But we can’t dilute our revenue share for the sake of numbers, either.

Grow Top-Line Revenue

It’s no secret that MPN is a side-hustle for me, personally. But it has all the potential to become so much more. By creating more inventory and getting the word out that MPN Studios has incredible pricing for podcast production and other services, we can’t help but make more money as a business. Doing it in a profitable way while ultimately serving our creators, advertisers, customers and audiences is the challenging part. But if our other goals fall in line, there’s nowhere to go but up, financially.

Add five vendor partner podcasts

For companies that market to marketers, but also have podcasts, we offer a vendor membership that provides hosting, access to the community, and more importantly, a place on our roster of the world’s most trusted marketing podcasts. So you software vendors, agencies and other service providers with shows, let’s talk.

Expand our Content Footprint

This is perhaps my most exciting goal for the new year. Among our hosts, we have dozens of bloggers, video content creators, live streamers, online course providers, webinar speakers and beyond. My vision for MPN is to become at least a great aggregator of the smart marketing content our creators offer beyond their podcasts. And perhaps even open that content curation and platform to others who are not hosts on MPN. I’ll have more to share on this as the ideas evolve, but look for MarketingPodcasts.net to become more than just a place to get the latest audio content for smart marketers.

Become More Visible in the Podcast Industry

For MPN to sustain growth, it must built and maintain credibility in the marketplace. In 2023, we need to focus energies on making sure that MPN is a part of the conversation across the podcast industry as a viable opportunity for creators, advertisers and other partners. Our first tactical objective here is to become an official Sounds Profitable partner. We hope to both attend and even exhibit at podcast events and conferences in 2023 as well.

Much of this is dependent on revenue, of course. But if we don’t way we want it to happen, we’ll forget to try. So there it is.

How You Can Help MPN Grow

Most of those reading this missive already know their role in MPN’s success in 2023. And we thank you, profusely, for being a part of what we’re building.

If you are an MPN host already, keep creating great content, supporting your fellow MPN creators, and serve our advertisers well. If you aren’t an MPN host but have a show that is related in some way to marketing, reach out and let’s see if we can help you grow.

If you are podcaster whose show doesn’t really touch on marketing, but you need help making your show sound better for a great price, check out MPN Studios production offering.

If you represent a business or brand that markets to marketers, we would love to talk to you about a partnership to get your message to our collective audiences. See what we have of offer in our advertising options and media kit. If you also have a podcast and want it to be associated with a trusted collective of marketing thought leaders and shows, check out our Vendor Plan and let’s talk about how we can help your podcast grow!

And if you just love learning more about marketing, subscribe to one or more of our fantastic shows on MPN. You can find everything from programs about branding to advertising to growing an agency to SEO and influencer marketing on our network. See our roster of shows to find your favorites.

We’re excited for 2023. We’re glad you’re along for the journey.

Happy New Year!