Podcasting is more popular now than ever before. If you don’t believe me, here’s some interesting statistics.
- As of April 2020, there are over 1,000,000 podcasts and over 30,000,000 episodes.
- 50% of all homes listen to podcasts (That’s over 60 million).
- 68 million people listen to podcasts on a weekly basis.
- On average, a listener will subscribe to at least 6 new shows in a week and will listen to 7 different shows in a given week.
Yes, that is a ton of podcasts, but the good news is that people are listening and are continually looking for fresh, new content. There’s an audience hungry for what you have to say. You just have to know who you’re looking for.
Before you start spinning your marketing and promotion wheels, there is one crucial investigative piece you have to follow through on…
Define your audience!
Who are they? What do they like? What are they listening to? If you think you’re going to create a podcast and just throw it out into the world hoping it will stick, you’re going to be really disappointed. You have to be intentional with who you’re trying to reach.
Find out what they’re interested in, where they hang out (Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Facebook community groups) and engage with them to develop trust and meaningful conversations. Then they will be willing to hear what you have to say and be more inclined to listen when you do start plugging your podcast.
Here’s some other marketing ideas you can leverage right away to start promoting your podcast.
- Use Your Friends & Family
Your biggest advocates are going to the ones closest to you and the people most willing to initially help spread the word, so use them! Get them to share your podcast on their social media networks. You never know what kind of reach your podcast can have with the right shares by some of your most trusted supporters.
- Leverage Social Media
Speaking of social media, create a content plan where you can commit to doing regular posts like pre-promoting the episodes a few days before launch, then posting multiple times again once it’s live in an effort to keep your podcast top of mind and active in everybody’s feed.
Remember to use the right media in your posts as well. For example, Instagram is going to be much more image heavy with less text, while Linkedin or Facebook can be more copy heavy and descriptive. Remember to utilize all the different mediums as well. Use stories, quotes, pictures and footage of the recording as well as audiograms (short audio snippets you can create from the episode). Create a 10-15 second audio clip and upload it to Soundcloud then post it on Twitter as an example.
Another easy way to get more visibility and increase your reach is to leverage your guest’s social media platform. You’ve already got this great relationship with them. Use their network to build trust with their audience and gain new followers.
Don’t dismiss your analytics and reporting as well. Use it to determine where your traffic is coming from and the demographics of your audience to get a better understanding of who’s actually listening.
The thing to remember is to keep posting!
- Get in the directories
Don’t just stick to the big boys (Apple, Spotify), but make sure you’re in every podcasting directory that makes sense. This also includes Google Podcasts, Stitcher and TuneIn. There’s other directories that are not as well-known like, BluBrry, iPodder, Podchaser and a slew of others that are worth looking into. To add yourself to most of these directories all you need is your RSS feed.
Your goal is to be accessible for everyone regardless of what app they use or what device they’re on. The last thing you want to do is tell somebody to go check out your show and they can’t find you. Everybody consumes content differently.
- Partner with a brand
Remember the phrase, “I scratch your back, you scratch mine?” Here’s another tried and true content marketing tactic. Partner with a brand that aligns with your show’s content and see if you mention their brand on your show will they in return help promote you in their marketing channels? Initiating this dialogue could be as simple as sending an email or making a quick phone call.
- Be a guest on other podcasts
Find a handful of other podcasts that align with your content and vision and start a dialogue with them. Make sure you communicate to them the value and expertise that you can bring as a guest on their show and the problem you want to solve for their listeners. Then go be amazing on the episode and listeners will be inclined to seek you out.
- Use Email Marketing
Create a dialogue between you and your listeners through your email list. One of the most effective ways to do this is by creating a lead magnet to entice listeners to take action. This could be a free tool or ebook related to your podcast topic or a specific episode. Include a call to action in your show notes and create a landing page to drive people to sign-up with an email gate to deliver the content once they sign-up. Email marketing services like ConvertKit have a free account option to help you get started.
Start growing your email list and use them to help spread the word by asking for reviews, posting about the podcast on their social outlets and community groups. You could even create a contest or a giveaway to increase participation.
- Transcribe Your Audio
Transcriptions of your podcast episodes provide an excellent way to optimize SEO for your site and improve your search rankings. Luckily, we know of a great tool that can help you transcribe your podcast episodes quickly and for FREE! It’s called Fusebox and this powerful player is simple to use, encourages binge listening and can help convert your listeners into subscribers. Check it out.
Podcasting is great fun, but it also takes a lot of work, but we’re in this together, committed to helping you grow and find the right audience, so you can be successful. There’s a lot of competition out there and everybody is vying for attention, but with the right effort, you really can stand apart in the crowd and before long, people are going to take notice and start listening.
