Podcast Marketing Strategy: Here’s How to Promote a Podcast in 2024
Contents
We've looked at advertising your podcast. We did a deep dive into growing your audience. Now, it’s time to learn how to promote your podcast. We’ll be covering techniques and strategies to help you get the word out. If you haven’t already, be sure to read the posts linked above for a rounded view of these nuanced topics.
How to Promote a Podcast: 13 Proven Strategies
When you first start a podcast, it's easy to feel overwhelmed, especially if you aren’t getting the results you want right away. Don’t give up. The strategies shared below will give your podcast every possible opportunity to thrive. Best of all, none of them involve you using a megaphone.
1. Leverage Your Podcast Guests
One of the easiest ways to promote your podcast is to piggyback on your guests’ audiences. Once the podcast episode is live, send an email to your featured guest asking them to share it across their channels.
The more personalized you can make it, the more likely they will be to take action. Take a look at the template we use here at Lower Street for our clients with interview-style shows.
Hi _____, A quick note to let you know that your episode with _____ about _____ has been published to the podcast feed today, and our subscribers are listening right now! We'd really appreciate it if you could share it with your network to help your interview reach as many listeners as possible. To make it easy, here are the things you need: Link to your episode: _____ A short video snippet we created for social: _____ Here's a suggested tweet: _____ Or if you just want to retweet us, here's a link to that: ______ Thanks again for being a part of the podcast, I think our listeners will get a ton of value from the episode. If you have any questions, let me know. Cheers, _____
The main thing to keep in mind here is to make sharing as easy as possible for your guests. And if you don’t see anything on their channels within a few days — follow up! People are busy, but since this is free PR for their brand, the majority of them will be happy to share.
2. Mention Your Podcast in Your Newsletter
Make sure you take advantage of your email marketing list(s). If someone has opted-in to receive your content in their inbox, chances are they’ll be interested in listening to your podcast, too.
You can include a mention of your podcast in your weekly newsletter, but we recommend sending a dedicated message about the show each week. Along with highlighting the value of the latest episode, it should also include a call to action to subscribe to your podcast on whichever platform they typically listen on.
Pro tip: Using SmartLinks makes this super simple. We explain how to go about it in our post on how to grow your podcast audience (linked further up).
3. Engage in Partnerships and Cross-Promotion
As marketers, we know that in order to find new customers, we need to know where our target audience already hangs out and meet them there. The same goes for podcasting.
In this case, your target audience is self-identified audible learners interested in the topic of your podcast. Therefore, one of the best places to influence and connect with them is through their ears with targeted, relevant podcasts.
While paying to advertise your podcast has its place, you can just as easily get by without spending a penny. One way is via cross-promo partnerships with other podcasters.
Find shows with a similar target audience to yours and reach out to them offering a cross-promotion — that is, recommending each other’s podcast to your respective listenerships. This is something that the big podcast networks do all the time — making avid listeners aware of other great shows they might enjoy.
Given that the average podcast listener is subscribed to seven shows, there's no risk of losing your audience by pointing them in the direction of additional good content.
Sending out pre-roll messages recommending each other’s shows is an easy way to yield new listeners. Alternatively, you could offer an episode swap where you both air an episode from the other show on your feed to give your respective audiences a taste of something different.
This is a super effective strategy that all podcasters should be doing more of!
4. Become a Regular Podcast Guest
Shifting from your role as a podcast host to feature as a guest on relevant shows is another way to get in front of other podcast audiences and grow awareness of your show. Similar in theory to cross-promotion, but with some added advantages. It’s an opportunity for you to share your expertise with other audiences and point listeners back to your show.
A certain percentage of them will check you out and subscribe to your show. Plus, appearing on other podcasts is great PR for your business or personal brand.
Finding suitable podcasts and pitching yourself as a guest can be a challenge. I sought the advice of expert Tom Schwab, CEO of Interview Valet, who specializes in booking podcast appearances.
Bigger is not better, it’s just bigger. Better is better. Success comes from targeting the right shows.
The algorithm we use focuses on 4 pillars:
1. The Podcast: Do they share a similar audience and do they have established shows (# of episodes) and a solid base of engaged listeners (ratings and reviews).
2. The Website: Each appearance will give your podcast website a back link, which is vital for search engine optimization (SEO) and helping Google rank your show higher on searches.
3. The Reach: Do they promote the episode on social media and email? How big of a following do they have?
4. Experience with other guests: Do they have similar guests?
Invite people back to your show by name. Too often people refer to “the podcast” or “my new show." You know what you mean but the listener and Google have no idea how to find you.
—Tom Schwab, CEO of Interview Valet
5. Use Your Superpower to Amp up Your Podcast Promotion Efforts
The team at Pacific Content often talks about using your superpower to market your podcast. In many cases, this is an overlooked approach that could have a big impact on your podcast’s growth.
Is your product a web app with thousands of users? How can you include a mention of your podcast in your UI and get in front of a huge audience right away?
Are you a business with multiple physical locations? When Trader Joe’s put up notices at all their stores to make their customers aware of their new podcast, they grew a large subscriber base very quickly.
Are you a business with multiple offices and hundreds or thousands of employees? Encourage all your employees to listen and subscribe to the show — that’s a big audience straight off the bat. Can you have all your employees include a link to the show in their email signatures or send a link to their clients directly? That’s a lot of potential reach.
Get your salespeople to mention it to prospects or work with your partners and cross-promote the show with them.
Whatever your business is, identify your superpower and make the most of it. If you’re making a podcast that represents your brand authentically — and does it well — then you should be shouting about it from the rooftops, using every available channel.
6. Ask Listeners to Leave a Review and Share Your Podcast
Until recently, 5-star reviews didn’t affect your visibility in Apple Podcasts and other directories.
But now that the New and Noteworthy and What's Hot sections of the Apple Podcast directory are back, it's definitely worth asking your listeners for ratings and reviews. This is how to promote your show on iTunes in a simple but effective way.
Beyond that, the reviews act as great social proof and give you an opportunity to learn what your audience likes about your show so that you can do more of it — and fix things that inspire bad reviews. Hopefully, you won't get too many of those, but when you do, make sure you learn from them.
A simple call to action at the end of your show will work. For even greater impact, consider holding a competition with some giveaways to some (or all) of the people who leave reviews. (Who doesn't love some podcast swag?)
7. Take Advantage of PR and Earned Media
Traditional PR is a world of its own and not something I’m going to delve into too deeply here. But when used properly, it can provide a huge boost to your audience and attract your ideal podcast listeners.
There are a number of ways you can pitch your show to get various forms of PR exposure. They can include:
Relevant industry publications and newsletters.
Traditional publications and news sites.
Other podcasts (covered above).
Press releases and blog posts.
Events and speaking opportunities.
Influencer collaborations.
Curator features within podcast apps.
‘Best of’ roundup blog posts.
Be Included in Curator Features Within Podcast Apps
According to the respondents of the 2019 Jacobs Media Techsurvey, 17% of podcast discovery is driven by promotion on Apple Podcasts. With the other 78% being a mix of word-of-mouth and online discovery. So, while getting featured by Apple (and other curators) isn’t the be-all and end-all, it can certainly have a big impact on your podcast’s reach.
Dan Misener reported on the effect of being featured in the Australian Apple Podcast storefront. It catapulted his show from around 100th position in the “Personal Journals” category to 3rd (in the Australian charts). That’s a big leap.
How do you get featured in Apple’s Flowcase (as Apple refers to the featured spots at the top of their app)?
It’s all about really great content. As with all the strategies in this guide, concentrate on making a show that delivers as much value to your listeners as possible. Curators on the big platforms like Spotify, Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Overcast, and so on will only consider featuring content pitched to them that stands out from the sea of other shows out there.
Kris Lawson, producer and host of Building a Unicorn, has commented on the impact that being featured in Pocket Casts had on the growth of his shows. He has some advice for making a solid pitch for your podcast:
Every app has different types of shows which work best for their audience and they’re likely to feature content that fits with that crowd. Also, if your show is branded well with great artwork that stands out it’s much more likely to be in the running for a feature.
—Kris Lawson, host of Building a Unicorn
Dan Misener recommends that you think about the following when looking to pitch your show to other curators and aggregators:
Is my show or episode actually worth promoting? What makes it notable, timely or special? To whom? What’s the hook?
How can I demonstrate that I’m invested in making my show a success on this platform?
Visually, how will my show stand out from the rest?
Can I create custom artwork that doesn’t simply repurpose my existing show artwork?
—Dan Misener, producer of Grownups Read Things They Wrote as Kids and Head of Audience Development, Pacific Content
Get Featured in a ‘Best of’ Roundup Blog Post
A quick Google search will likely yield a number of ‘Top X podcasts’ for whatever niche topic your podcast covers.
Reach out and pitch your show to be included in those blog posts. It’s a relatively easy win, and it's also a great piece of link-building for your podcast's SEO.
8. Make Launch Day Count With 3-5 Episodes
Do you know what frustrates listeners more than bad content? Really great content that’s all by itself. Putting together your first podcast episode will take some doing, and you’ll be excited to share it right away.
I hear you but don’t hit publish until you have at least three episodes in the bag. Five is better, but three will do. Publishing 3-5 episodes right out of the gate has some significant benefits.
According to John Lee Dumas, founder and host of the uber-successful Entrepreneur On Fire, releasing a minimum of three episodes on launch day and then spending the first week asking your audience to download all three and leave a rating and review is a surefire way to get featured on Apple Podcasts new and noteworthy section.
And he should know. EOF was ranked the #1 business podcast for an incredible 8 weeks straight after launching. Once that happens, John says, momentum will take over, and your podcast will continue to climb higher and higher in the rankings.
In addition to your launch day cache, make sure you have another 2-4 episodes ready to go. This means you’ll have the first few weeks (depending on your posting schedule) covered.
With your next publishing date a while off, you’ll have time to come up with more podcast content ideas. While you're at it, find out the best day to publish a podcast.
9. Repurpose Your Podcast Content
Repurposing podcast content is hands down, one of the best ways to get the word out. These are some examples of ways to mix things up and extend the life of every podcast episode. Take a look at our post (linked above) for more ideas, as well as how to go about executing each of them.
Audiograms
Quote graphics
Blog posts
Show notes
Infographics
10. Promote Your Podcast on Social Media
While it’s helpful to understand exactly how to promote your podcast on social media, be careful not to spread your efforts too wide. There's no doubt that it's a great digital marketing tool, but the scattershot approach rarely yields results.
A better, not to mention less time-consuming, way is to pick a couple of platforms that suit your content and where you know your audience hangs out. That may require some initial digging, but the effort will be worth it.
For example, if your target audience is mainly active on LinkedIn, then that's the only social media platform you need to concern yourself with when you publish a new episode.
With this approach, your social media posts will reach the people they will most likely resonate with. Instead of radio silence, you’ll receive positive feedback in the form of likes, comments, and shares.
If you have the budget, paid ads are worth considering if you're in a hurry to see your podcast at the top of the charts. As Hubspot points out, it offers "Speed to market, campaign sustainability, and good old-fashioned message frequency."
11. Optimize Your Podcast SEO
Search engine optimization matters. When you add keywords to your podcast title, description, and episode titles, you improve your chances of ranking higher in search engine results. Which in turn increases discoverability and attracts new listeners.
Start by researching relevant keywords related to your podcast topic using tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush, and then incorporate them naturally throughout your podcast real estate.
Along with the places mentioned above, you can also include relevant keywords in your show notes and on your podcast website (if you have one).
Submitting to podcast directories and aggregators like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts is essential for reaching a broader audience. Make sure you optimize your podcast profile on these platforms by adding the keywords you've identified in relevant places (title, description, and category selections, etc.).
12. Convert Your Podcast Audio for YouTube
Converting your audio for YouTube is another effective podcast marketing tactic. By leveraging YouTube's massive user base and search capabilities, you can tap into a new audience segment and enhance your podcast's visibility.
Our post on how to start a podcast on YouTube explains exactly how to do that. We've also included a number of options to choose from depending on the resources you have available.
Once uploaded, remember to optimize your YouTube video for search by including keywords in the title, tags, description, etc. Additionally, consider adding timestamps to highlight key moments or topics discussed in your podcast, as this will help with accessibility and improve user experience.
13. Embrace the Art of the Zen Hustle
Nowadays, everyone and their Grandma is hustling. Hustling to make ends meet, to be heard, to make their pipe dreams a reality. To make someday today.
While there’s nothing wrong with that, it implies a sense of urgency that can have an adverse effect on your podcast goals. Podcasting (like most online endeavors) is a long game.
Accept the fact that this is going to take a while. Rather than feel frustrated by the lack of immediate results, think of the process as a fun road trip and enjoy the journey.
One definite no-no is getting hung up on analytics early on. Podcast tracking is important, obviously, but it’s easy to get mired in the numbers. Use analytics purely as a gauge to see what’s working and adjust your content accordingly.
Resist the urge to constantly check how many downloads, shares, comments, etc., your fledgling podcast has had. You’ll just drive yourself crazy. You also run the risk of giving up too soon. Embrace the art of the Zen hustle and have fun creating a truly great podcast.
What’s Next for Your Podcast Marketing Strategy?
Remember, while paid media is a great way to promote your podcast to new ears, there are plenty of other ways to achieve the same goal without blowing your marketing budget. Spend some time going through the strategies mentioned above, and before long, you’ll see that needle moving.
Here at Lower Street, we’ve done and seen just about everything when it comes to promotion techniques, and we’re always keeping our ears to the ground for new ones. If you’re short on time or expertise, the easiest way to get your podcast out there is to enlist the help of our podcast promotion service.
Reach out today to find out more. We're always in the market for a good chinwag.
