What is a Podcast? – A podcast is an audio program that you can subscribe to and listen to anywhere, anytime. Podcasts are innovative and interactive methods to stay updated on the latest happenings and trends while increasing your knowledge about your favorite topics.
Some common features of podcasts include:
- Length: one-minute snippet to an in-depth interview
- Frequency: daily, weekly, monthly
- Format: solo to multi-person
- Topic: ANYTHING
However, podcast marketing, and reaching out to the right podcast audience can be quite challenging – So, for anyone who wants to learn how to promote a podcast, here’s a list of 10 amazing ideas that can help:
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10 Brilliant Podcast Marketing Strategies
Podcasting helps connect with different audiences, some of which can also become potential clients or customers! But podcasting is only effective if it has listeners, and applying the right podcast marketing strategy can make your podcast a success.
So let’s get right into it!
#1. Alert Your Audiences with Emails
Whenever you upload a new episode, alert your list of audiences via email – this is among the easiest methods to direct audiences to your podcast.
You can email your list every time you upload a new episode, or when there is a special guest on the show or the interview is particularly outstanding.
Other strategies include alerting audiences about recent episodes via weekly or monthly emails.
#2. Create Audiograms of Episode Highlights
Audiograms are shareable audio clips of the podcast – a stationary image transformed into a video and developed especially for social media. Research shows that audiograms can help generate five times the traffic as compared to a simple static image!
Some tools you can use to create audiograms include Audiogram and Headliner, and they have a few free options.
#3. Use Social Media and Instant Messaging
Edit your podcast to isolate the most important information and quotes and share them on the social media platforms you use the most. A useful suggestion is to create the following number of items to feature on your social media per episode: three image quotes, two audiograms, and two thumbnails.
With a reasonably minor budget, you can also engage social media influencers to help spread the word about your podcast on their media channels.
Apart from the internet, you can also reach out to your podcast audience via text messages. Since the majority of people listen to podcasts on their smartphones, you can send alerts of new shows and ask for shares via text messaging marketing.
Moreover, you can offer incentives to those who share the podcast on their own media channels – offer a prize that resonates with your listeners. Ultimately, you’ll cultivate a personalized community of loyal fans that regularly share your podcasts. Value their input and feedback, and keep them engaged between shows.
#4. Motivate Guests to Share the Podcast
With so many podcasts going on, it’s vital that your content is unique and good enough for guests to want to share the episode on their channels and media, and that too with ease. The main idea is to be as personalized and creative as you possibly can.
Here are a few pointers to applying this podcast marketing strategy:
- Give the guest a heads-up before the interview is published with a personalized email that includes some pre-written language that can be easily inserted into your content queue along with social shares.
- Prior to interviewing them, ask if they would like to promote something and mold the interview to include it.
- Ask smart questions that differ from what has previously been asked to the guest.
#5. Become a Guest Yourself
The best and most organic method to promote your podcast and reach out to new listeners is to find similar shows and feature as a guest. Listen to Notes (Google for podcasts) and Podchaser are amazing tools for this, featuring useful lists and categories.
Begin by writing a personalized pitch highlighting your experience and expertise and why you should be a guest on the show. You can also outline the topics you would like to discuss to help the host prepare for the interview.
#6. Interact with a Live Audience
Public speaking helps make a strong impression and visibly boosts your podcast. Look for local events and pitch yourself as a prospective speaker, or organize an event yourself! You can give a speech, conduct a workshop, or moderate a panel about a topic of interest.
#7. Approach Newsletters
Isolate and keep track of all relevant newsletters, since they can not only help promote your podcast but are also a good source of prospective guests. Start with industry newsletter aggregators such as MultiBriefs and SmartBrief.
Familiarize yourself with the kind of content the newsletters typically include and send related episodes to the editor or writer for consideration in their upcoming issue.
#8. Convert the Podcast into an Article
You can significantly increase the outreach of your podcast by featuring it as a guest post/article on a website with an audience similar to yours. Or you can post it directly on your website. This is helpful because articles are more easily shared and linked as compared to full, word-for-word transcripts.
To convert your episode into an interesting article, isolate the best pieces of information, including some motivational quotes, and build the entire thing into a comprehensive account.
#9. Distribute Business Cards
Another good podcast marketing strategy is to develop business cards. Moreover, include a QR code that opens your podcast website or plays it directly. This might seem old school, but printed material is a strong physical reminder.
#10. Be Open to Reviews
And the last but in no way the least podcast marketing tactic is being open to reviews. Ask listeners to rate and review your podcasts, some of which you can also acknowledge on air. This keeps listeners involved and encourages them to participate.
Final Thoughts
If you’re just beginning to promote your podcast, simply use three to five of the above-mentioned tactics and apply them consistently for the next six months. You can begin with those you feel are the easiest or most appealing and then include the others in your workflow.
Keep tracking your results and you’ll soon acquire more listeners!