How to grow your audience when you don't have a large following

A few days ago, I received an email from someone who is friends with many of the people I’m friends with, yet we have never met in person.  He said he’d love to chat at some point about a variety of subjects, particularly online platform development.

This man lives a couple of hours from me, but it just so happened that I was going to be in his city yesterday, so I suggested we meet for coffee while I was local.  The conversation went great.  We chatted for two hours in a local coffee shop and discussed all kinds of aspects of online business and the nature of building a message-based platform.

He’s in an early phase of building his platform, but he’s already experienced a healthy amount of success, and I told him that his teachable spirit combined with his consistency is going to serve him extremely well as he continues to build what he’s been working on.  But even with his initial success, he asked me a question that’s relevant for all online entrepreneurs, particularly those who don’t yet have a large following.

How can you grow your audience and build momentum that leads to audience growth?

Because that’s such a relevant question for us all, and because that’s a question I receive regularly, I thought it might be practical for me to share the advice I gave this new friend.  I’m certain that if you combine this advice with consistency and receive it with a teachable spirit, it will help you develop your audience as well.

One more thing I’ll mention before digging into the specifics.  There are multiple ways to build an online audience.  You can pay to develop an advertising strategy if that’s something you have the budget for.  You can also utilize social media to build your brand if that’s something you feel comfortable with.  But since I don’t do either of those things to build an audience, you’ll notice that the suggestions I’m about to offer don’t utilize either of those approaches.

1.  Start with writing simple titles for your shows, episodes, and blog posts.

I am such a huge fan of using simple titles for what we create, not because I’m a boring person, but because they legitimately work.  Simple titles make your content discoverable for the average user.  When you create titles for your shows, episodes, and blog posts, you need to imagine what your ideal clients are going to be searching for.  Title your content what you think they’re going to be typing in the search bar.

My most downloaded podcast is my show, “The Chapter-A-Day Audio Bible.”  When people search for an Audio Bible to listen to, it’s often one of the first show recommended by Apple Podcasts and Spotify.  The title of the show includes the terms most people are typing into the search bar when they’re looking for a show like mine.

In fact, just last week, I was at a graduation brunch that was hosted by the university I teach for.  While I was loading up my plate with eggs and sausage, a graduating senior stopped me in my tracks and said, “You’re never going to guess what just happened to me!  I was out jogging and wanted to listen to a particular passage of Scripture on the run.  I did a search for an Audio Bible podcast, started listening, and then realized you were the one hosting the show!”

She was amazed when she realized she personally knew the host of the show, but I wasn’t surprised by this at all because it happens all the time, not just with my podcasts, but with my blog posts and other content.  Simple titles make my content discoverable, and that inevitably leads to audience growth.

2.  Suggest an audience swap with a similar platform.

People who have been in the process of building their online platforms for a while understand the value of reaching new people.  It’s something we all learn to value, and it makes sense to continue to focus on it.

In the early days of building a platform, you’re not likely to have a large following unless you’re a celebrity of some kind.  One of the fastest ways to accelerate the growth of your audience is to borrow someone else’s audience.  You can accomplish that with an audience swap.  Some people might not be willing to do something like this, but plenty of people will say yes to the idea.

If you have a podcast, offer to play one of their episodes on your feed with the understanding that they’ll do the same for you.  You can also guest post on each other’s blogs or offer promos and lead magnets to each other’s email lists.  There are lots of opportunities for collaboration in this realm.  

You can even incorporate affiliate commissions into your audience swap.  I recently had a friend ask to promote one of my courses to her audience in exchange for a 50% affiliate commission.  I was more than happy to do that.  Likewise, I have also promoted her courses to my audience.

3.  Do a lot of guest appearances on podcasts and YouTube.

One of the most effective ways to build an audience with guest appearances on podcasts and YouTube channels.  When you appear on someone else’s show, that positions you and your content as authoritative to their audience, and the likelihood of your audience growing as a result (especially if you utilize a lead-magnet that brings people back to your website and encourages them to join your email list), is very high.

If I was just starting the process of building my online platform, this is an approach that would receive a considerable amount of my time.  I would try to get on as many shows as I could, potentially as many as five per week.  This is a proven approach to build an audience and one I would highly recommend.

4.  Make sure you stay consistent with your own brand as well.  Publish weekly.  Develop your tribe.

As much as we may love thinking through various promotional tactics, we need to stay consistent with our own brand.  If we only publish content when we feel inspired to do so, we won’t gain momentum.  Publish weekly, if not more frequently.  And as people reach out to you, respond to your messages promptly.

Dedicate the same time every week to developing and publishing content for your platform.  Make it part of your weekly rhythm.  I manage two online platforms, and I block off time on Sunday evenings for one and Tuesday evenings for the other.  The net result has been the consistent creation of content and the growth of my audience as they’ve come to look forward to the content I’m creating for them each week.

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Building an audience isn’t impossible, even if you’re just starting out.  It’s honestly not that difficult either, particularly if the content you’re creating meets needs, solves problems, and is delivered in a professional manner.

Give these suggestions a try and let me know how they work for you.  As always, I can be reached at [email protected].

© John Stange, 2025