Author: Melinda Emerson
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Whether you’re a veteran podcaster or just getting started, it’s always good to look at new ways to promote your signature podcast. You’ll need to use your podcast to get your brand out there and build your thought leadership. Most importantly, you’ll need to use smart marketing to show why your podcast is something people should be listening and subscribing to. Here are 18 tips to promote your podcast.
#1. Publish episodes on a regular schedule. You must teach your audience when they can expect new content from you. Decide if you are going to publish daily, weekly monthly episodes. To increase podcast downloads, pick a day of the week that you’ll publish. Know that commitment and consistency are the keys to success with a podcast.
#2. Start with an archive of content. On day one of your podcast launch, you should have ten episodes ready to go. You should release all ten on day one, just like Netflix, so that you can give listeners a feel for what the podcast is all about.
#3. Create compelling titles. Your title should always answer a ‘How’ or ‘Why’ question. How to do something or why you need to know/pay attention to something. Craft compelling titles that will draw in the reader or listener to download the episode. Use captivating language that describes the episode and teases its value. You want your podcast to respond to search intent too, incorporate keywords so the title helps people find your website. It will also help people find your content on podcasting platforms.
#4. The pre-launch promotion. Start with an email blast one week in advance and then send another one the day before the launch. The twenty hours before the launch is the most crucial marketing window. This is when you need to promote your brand and make it visible to people who may be interested. Start dripping out content snippets and video clips in stories and posts on social media. You need to pin the tweet or highlight your post and ask your supporters to share your content as much as possible.
#5. Recruit popular guests. When you recruit guests with well-established brands and online reputations, it elevates you to their level. If you recruit a guest who is an influencer with a major following, they will likely share it if they like the interview and how you performed as the host. So do your homework so that you can ask good questions, check your technology in advance, and make sure you are ready at the appointed time so that you come off professional as an interviewer.
#6. Make it easy for others to promote the show. Use promo graphics that highlight your guests. Have your assistant or VA send them the link and graphics to promote the show. If you make it easy to share, then your guests will be far more likely to help you promote the show.
#7. Develop a visual brand for your podcast. The visual branding of your show is important. A consistent branded graphic for your podcast will help keep it top of mind with your listeners, social media followers, and connections. You’ll need a custom graphic featuring your guest with a catchy title when a new episode is released. Use it to highlight the topic, your interview subject’s headshot or book cover, and their social handles. And be sure to provide a link to information on how to access your podcast too.
#8. Use social media strategically. Social media is the easiest place to promote your podcast. Make sure you post online whenever you release a new episode. You can also record your podcast LIVE on Facebook, LinkedIn, or YouTube or give your fans a little taste by sharing short sound bites across your social footprint. You can also use it on Instagram as a direct post or as a story. Your goal is to pique their interest.
#9. Tag your guests on social media. With any blog posts or social promotion, don’t forget to tag the guests when you share them on social media. That’s the easiest way to encourage your guests to help promote the show.
#10. Schedule social posts. Use a social media scheduler such as Buffer or SproutSocial to share the content on different social platforms. Use these applications to help you target different audiences and help to grow your fanbase.
#11. Record each interview on video. Even if your podcast is primarily audio, you should record each interview in video too. Use can use the recording to build a presence and following on YouTube. Then use the video recording to create video clips of short soundbites to drip out some of the content. You can also create video memes or text motion videos of the main points from the interview.
#12. Develop audio promos. You should create at least two audiograms and image quotes per podcast to highlight compelling soundbites from each of your guests. You should add your episode headlines and captions as well.
#13. Leverage email marketing. Each episode should be promoted in your weekly newsletter. Or you can push out an email notification whenever a new episode is published if you don’t have a newsletter. Keep the email simple and focused on the call to action to listen and subscribe. Include links to Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, Omny.FM and any other popular players for your audience so they may listen to it on their preferred platform. This is key since many people will view this on their mobile devices.
#14. Leverage Your Personal LinkedIn Account. Promote each episode with a LinkedIn Post. Remember to tag the guest, and any companies mentioned to increase the potential for engagement and comments.
#15. Repurpose the podcast as a blog post. If you have a regular blog, use your podcast as a blog post. It’s a great way to expose your blog readers to your podcast, making it easy to share through social media.
#16. Find the Facebook group. Find a tribe on Facebook that talks about your podcast topic and join. Listen first, and respond to others with helpful advice. Your goal is to learn more about what people are interested in. You might just find some great potential guests.
#17. Use paid ads. Paying for advertising through social media can also help to boost your podcast downloads and expand your reach. You can choose anything from boosting posts on Facebook for a few days, which is pretty affordable, or you can buy ads featuring a video that will send potential listeners to a landing page for more information and a link to listen. You can also buy FB ads to get featured in people’s newsfeeds and sidebars which will cost a bit more.
#18. Be a guest on another podcast. While this may seem obvious, it does work, especially if you focus on how you can help the podcast host (and not yourself) To Search for podcasts in your genre, start on Podcasts.Apple.com, Podcasts.google.com and Spotify can help you create a contact list of a potential list of podcasts.
How to Pitch Yourself For a Podcast
- Use the subject header strategically. A concise subject header that summarizes your story (ideally in seven words or less) is far more likely to get a response. Try “Great potential podcast interview on XX.” The good news is most podcast hosts are actively looking for great guests.
- Keep your intro brief. If you’re pitching yourself to someone you don’t know, ‘introduce’ yourself with what you know about them and their podcast. Demonstrate that you are a fan, and talk about how you could be a great guest. Close your opening paragraph with how you are also a subject matter expert with something to contribute to the show.
- Be specific about your expertise. Focus on how you can add value for their audience. Too many pitches I’ve seen focus on topics recently covered on the show, why they wrote their book or vague topics that are too generic. Always give three options, but be specific.
- Show ‘em your reach. If you have a following, lead with that. If you have an email with a strong open rate, mention it. Show the podcast host how you can help them grow their audience.
- Demonstrate that you are a good interview. Send links from media interviews or other podcast interviews that you’ve done. Make it as easy as possible for the podcast host to say ‘yes.’
- Follow-up, Follow-up, Follow-up. Your fortune is in your follow-up. Don’t believe one email pitch is enough. Send an email, then make a phone call to remind your target of your email. Mail a book, if you have one. Wait a week send another email or a LinkedIn message. Your goal is too important to get prideful—Chase after it.
Using this advice will help you build your brand and achieve your marketing goals with your podcast, but what will make your show a real success is the quality interviews and engaging subject matter experts. As long as you solve problems for your target audience, you will always have an audience. If you can incorporate a few of these marketing tips, your podcast will have a huge following in no time.
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