Podcast Growth Strategies: How Two Marketers Reached 1,000 Listeners in 30 Days

In a digital environment saturated with repetitive marketing advice, two experienced growth marketers launched a podcast "In Growth We Trust" that quietly turned into a growth experiment in real time.

What began as a creative outlet quickly gained traction—not through luck, but through disciplined experimentation, structured content deployment, and unapologetically tactical moves.

Within 30 days, their show surpassed 1,000 downloads—a tenfold leap from their initial benchmark of 100 downloads. Geographic spread expanded from the UK to audiences in the US and Australia. Rather than pausing to celebrate, they recalibrated their systems and doubled their next milestone.

First 1,000 Downloads using SEO, Paid Promotion, and Cold Email Plans

Three channels were responsible their user acquisition:

• Search Engine Optimization: By targeting high-intent keywords like “startups,” “growth,” and “marketing,” they earned top placement on Spotify, outranking even Y Combinator at times.

• Efficient Paid Advertising: Running low-cost Apple Podcast link ads at $0.10–$0.20 per click helped increase chart visibility and prime organic discovery.

• Direct Cold Outreach: A lean outreach pipeline is in development to reach marketing professionals directly with episode links and tailored messages. “First-time founders write Medium posts. Second-time founders scrape emails.”

Grey Hat Marketing Isn’t a Taboo—It’s a Toolkit

The hosts challenge the myth that startups grow only through product-market fit. Instead, they recognize the role of grey hat tactics, such as:

• Scraping email addresses

• Using strategic low-cost ads to boost perceived engagement

• Algorithmic optimization to manipulate platform discovery

Ramp’s internal "Skunk Works Team," served as a real-world example—testing aggressive growth strategies on TikTok and Reddit. They also pointed to the historical foundations of Airbnb’s growth via Craigslist scraping and referenced the notorious Warrior Forum, once a haven for affiliate scheme tactics.

When a Meme Outperforms Strategy Decks

A LinkedIn meme mocking overconfident young consultants became a breakout moment—earning 3,000 likes and over 500,000 impressions. It also brought in 300 to 400 new followers.

This performance shifted their strategy: they began automating batches of meme-style posts using evergreen visual content. Examples include the KitKat “Take a Break” bench ad, which reliably circulates every few months with strong engagement.

Metadata Magic: The ASMR Accident

An unintentional ice cream break during recording triggered their AI transcription tool to label the segment as ASMR. That keyword entered the episode metadata, unlocking an unexpected discovery channel.

It reinforced the idea that metadata—planned or accidental—plays a role in visibility.

Owning the Feed: Multi-Channel Distribution & Newsletter Strategy

Their supporting newsletter mirrors the tone and efficiency of George Mack’s “Plug.” Every issue features:

• Guest highlights and insights

• Archived or unusual ad examples (e.g. Nivea’s moon-jar design)

• Select memes from startup and marketing culture

Serving as a secondary engagement channel, the newsletter maintains momentum between content drops.

LinkedIn Company Pages Are Quietly Powerful Again

LinkedIn company pages have returned to relevance—particularly when used to repost already-validated viral content. The hosts took cues from Dan Murray’s "Marketing Millennials" approach, creating a branded page that re-shares high-performing visual content.

Their method follows the same path Stephen Bartlett pioneered with Social Chain: lean heavily into trend-driven formats, post daily, and stay niche-specific.

Competitive Intelligence Through Ad Libraries

For these marketers, ad libraries are tactical assets:

• TikTok: Reveals retention data, drop-off moments, and audience behaviors.

• Google Ads Library: Especially useful for nonprofits navigating constraints within the Google Grants ecosystem.

• Facebook Ad Library: Allows campaign longevity analysis, keyword-based discovery, and performance patterning.

Each resource cuts down experimentation cycles by learning from what already works.

Smart Brand Plays: Where Creativity Still Wins

Performance marketing should take the lead at early-stage companies. But creativity still matters—especially when done scrappily.

Notable examples:

• Thursday Dating App: Public street whiteboards amplified on LinkedIn.

• Burger King: Campaigns that reworked McDonald's wrappers into BK messaging.

• Nivea: A cream jar design resembling a moon crescent.

These efforts illustrate that brand storytelling can exist alongside hard conversion strategies.

Hat Tip to Yoann Pavy and Jake Mayell for the insights.

Top Tweets of the day

1/

New AI side hustle just dropped.

Multiple ways to monetize this:

1. Grow your account and then sell it (teenagers do this)

2. Create a course or tutorial on making shock-jock AI videos and sell it on platforms like Gumroad or Udemy.

3. Collaborate with brands to promote a related-AI SaaS.

2/

I love how @tbpn came up with that 10/10 meme (here’s another one) about AI talent being poached from top companies by Zuckerberg that went massively viral.

Memes are the best way to get engagement on social media. Every now and then, you should use a meme to burst outside your social media bubble and make someone laugh.

3/

Signal-to-ratio is high in these 5 bullets. Sunflower Sober is an app to watch out for.

They've figured out distribution + monetization and the TAM of addicts is massive.

Rabbit Holes

1. How to Target Facebook Ads for MLM by Cody Schneider

2. 30+ Incredible Creator Economy Statistics (2025) by Josh Howarth

3. Benjamin Franklin's Content Marketing Strategy In 1732 by Cameron Scully

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4. NotebookLM Guide: Practical Examples (LINK)