Once your podcast is finalised, it’s time to promote it! With over 30 million podcast episodes out there, it’s important to do anything and everything you can to appeal to the right listeners. We’ve got some top-tips that you can use to stand out.
- Leverage your design
First things first – a catchy name, appealing cover art and good description are simple yet effective ways to attract listeners. Break through the many podcasts out there by leveraging colour, an image that demonstrates your podcast and a name that catches the attention of your audience. Think of the description as your time to shine, and aim to encourage podcast browsers to choose you.
- Know the ‘persona’ of your listeners
It’s important to promote using channels that best align with your target audience. A clever option is to construct a ‘persona’ of your listeners as you start learning more about them. This could be a written document which summarises their lifestyle, social media habits, preferred podcast listening time and other areas of interest. Knowing the persona of your ‘best listeners’ inside and out will come in handy when you start promoting your episodes.
- Leverage feature guests and their audiences
Influencers, influencers, influencers! Whether they’re a body who’s bound to draw attention to your brand, or an expert in the field of one of your topics, don’t forget to leverage their audience! Get feature guests on board with a topic they’re passionate about, film an awesome episode, and promote it on both of your social media accounts. Not only does your audience get excited to listen to a new guest, but their followers are made aware of your podcast which in turn may increase your following, also!
- Adapt your podcast for other platforms
It’s always a good idea to adapt your podcast so that it can be used on other online and traditional platforms. Make sure every episode is transcribed and edited so that it can be turned into social media content or a blog post. You could transfer this content to a flyer or brochure to be handed out at events and meetups. Another idea is an email newsletter which is a simple and direct way to connect with listeners. It also enables you to measure the ‘clicks’ and ‘drop-out rates’ when it comes to subscriptions.
- Giveaways, events and meetups
Going to events and meetups is a great way to spread the word about your podcast. If your content is about fashion, you may find it beneficial to attend a fashion event or forum with flyers and business cards to promote your show. In one of your episodes, you may also wish to provide a ‘giveaway’ to listeners in which you team up with a brand you know your listeners will like. This leads us to our next tip…
- Seek sponsorships and partners
If in doubt, contact brands to partner up with. There’s no harm in sending an email asking a company if they’d be happy to send you some of their products to promote in one of your episodes (assuming that episode’s topic is relevant to what their brand stands for). It’s a great way to build professional relationships with brands who may even decide to sponsor you later on down the track.
- Create value
A simple yet effective tip is to provide genuine value to listeners. Spend time creating high-quality content and igniting real discussion so that a connection can be built between you and your listeners. This two-way bond will benefit you, as well as your listeners who will feel highly valued and remember to stay connected and reference you in the future.
- Promote your podcasts within podcasts
A quick way to promote your podcast is by referring back to old episodes. For instance, you may direct listeners ‘to learn more about money saving, check out episode eight from last month in which we shed light on five awesome tips.’ Not only does this encourage listeners to check out your old episodes, it generates another opportunity for a great review.
- Submit your podcast to multiple directories
Submitting to directories is important, but submitting to the right directories is more important. Around 70% of podcast downloads and listens are made through iTunes, much higher than other directories such as Google Play Music and Stitcher. By submitting your podcast to iTunes, it’s more likely to get spotted by browsers looking for something to download.
- Encourage subscription
Having a ‘call to action’ in each episode is a very easy yet effective way of promoting your podcast. Examples include reminding your listeners to ‘subscribe so you don’t miss an episode,’ ‘like our page on Facebook’ and ‘check out a behind the scenes preview by adding us on Snapchat.’ Once subscribed, it’s more likely that listeners will engage with your podcast regularly and spread their love for it via word of mouth!
- Collect as many reviews as possible
Many listeners rely on reviews to determine whether or not they’ll give your podcast a listen. If you have multiple positive reviews, it promotes listeners to download your show. Reviews also provide organic feedback which you can use to improve your podcast. The way to obtain many reviews is by promoting listeners to leave reviews in the first place. At the end of each episode, encourage listeners to share the podcast or leave a review. Alternatively, you could provide incentives to those listeners that leave reviews such as their automatic entry into a giveaway competition.
- Strive to be on the ‘New and Noteworthy’ iTunes list
The ‘New and Noteworthy’ list on iTunes is the most visible part of iTunes’ podcasts for potential listeners to see. This is seemingly dependent on the number of downloads, reviews and subscriptions within an eight-week period. Your podcast has this eight-week period (notably unconfirmed by iTunes) to make its way on the list before it goes back onto the standard listings.
Listeners will come to you if they want to, if they know you exist and if they can find you. However, going overboard with these tips is annoying and will result in the complete opposite of gaining a following! We want to drive and interest listeners, not overload them with promotion. Take your best shot at generating organic promotion and monitor it as you go. Good luck!
Blogs, articles, website and journals that have been referenced when researching and writing this blog:
- https://www.podcastinsights.com/podcast-statistics/
- https://create.blubrry.com/manual/podcast-promotion/
- https://buffer.com/library/promote-a-podcast
- https://www.podcast.co/reach/promote-your-podcast
- https://castos.com/how-to-promote-a-podcast-2019-guide/
- https://www.thebalancesmb.com/search-engine-optimization-2948419
