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How to Market Your Podcast

Nov 24, 2022

An analysis conducted through Listen Notes shows that there are over 2.9 million podcasts, and 147 million episodes online today.

Your podcast is just one. The only way you can stand out from the crowd and stay ahead of the competition is to market your podcast. Actually, you'll require an effective promotion plan before you begin to launch your podcast to ensure you have the best chances at ramping up your listeners.

In this article will teach you 14 different marketing strategies to help you grow your podcast's audience and make it more successful.

14 Marketing Strategies for Podcasts You Should Try

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Have a good podcast

One of the best ways to attract an increase in listeners for your podcast is to make sure you have a show that's worthwhile to listen to. That's why you should prioritize having in-depth conversations with interesting guests, preferably subject matter experts -- on topics people are interested in.

Alex Birkett, the co-founder of Omniscient Digital and one of the hosts of The Long Game podcast knows this all too well. "I know this will sound trite, but the only method to increase the popularity of a podcast is by having a great podcast to begin with," Birkett says. "You can convince some big-name guest to come on board with them, but if your idea isn't appealing and your guest is awkward, that's going to be a little spike of viewers at most.

Almost all podcasts that have grown from the ground up (excluding The Daily by the NYT, or anything by NPR) have done so predominantly through word of mouth and repetition. So if you've got an interesting idea, and the podcast is genuinely good then you must determine who your audience will be."

However, what is it that makes a podcast great?

Four things that define a good podcast:

  • Valuable. Your listeners benefit from your show. At the end of an episode, they've either acquired new techniques or have gained information, or amused. or both.
  • Attention-grabbing. In the ideal scenario, you would like viewers to watch your episodes from start until the end. For that to happen the content must grab their attention and retain your attention. A boring content can lead to bored people.
  • Unique. Your show shouldn't just simply be a summary of the millions of other podcasts within your field. You can get inspiration from different podcasts, however it's your responsibility to create your own twist or twist. A secret ingredient makes your podcast be noticed.

Know your target audience

It might be difficult to understand and your show may not (and ought not to) be a hit with everyone. If you are trying to produce content for everyone and everyone, then your show will not be unique enough for anyone.

If you want to build an image around your podcast, it's important identify your audience -individuals who are searching for quality content in your niche -- and tailor your podcast content to their needs.

However, identifying your ideal audience isn't magic. You'd have to do a ton of research into factors like

  • Their range of ages
  • Geographic location
  • Education level
  • Interests (of both your listeners and the listeners of your competitors) (of both listeners and competitors).

When you know more about your audience will help you create more engaging material and write better advertising copy.

Christine Brownstein, Chief Marketing Director at Palaleather UK recommends creating a persona template for this. "It could be beneficial if your podcast resonated with everybody However, it's not likely," says Brownstein. "So make an industry-specific document with everything you know about your audience so you can refer to it while writing marketing content. Take measures to acquire all you can about a particular audience so that you are able to create campaigns to reach them using relevant content."

Tell human stories

I'm only just starting to get into podcasts, but one among my favorite podcasts to listen to is The Diary of a CEO hosted by Steven Bartlett. It's because Bartlett tells stories from his own life and his professional life and encourages his guests to share the same stories.

People love stories. When they tune into a podcast, they want to take advice from people that have been in similar situations as they and found a way to resolve their issues.

The people who appear on The Diary of a CEO and I might not have similar experiences However, I am able to identify with some of their stories. It's why I'm sticking around until the very end to learn which benefits of their situations and how I can do the same.

"Using stories to promote podcasts is a fantastic way to get the attention and interest of those you want to reach," says Christiaan Huynen the founder and CEO of DesignBro.

        "People will be more inclined to pay attention to your message when they hear a story. This doesn't need to be big or complicated; it just needs to be an interesting narrative that makes clear that you're the best person to talk to about the subject you're promoting. There's no way to attract everyone's attention, however, those whose interest is attracted by your story are most likely to be interested in the show."    

Launch with at least three episodes

If you've not launched your podcast, you should make sure you have at minimum three episodes prepared to go live on the day you launch. Don't expect your new viewers to tune in to one episode and forget about your podcast. Instead, have a few episodes to keep them engaged in before you begin publishing content according to the frequency you choose for publishing.

Host of Product Marketing Insider, Lawrence Chapman shares this view.

        "When podcasts are launched in our company, Product Marketing Alliance, we have a launch cadence which allows us to start with a minimum of three episodes. We publish them on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube Podcasts."      

Make your podcast available across all the major platforms

If you wish to get viewers to tune in to your podcast, you have to make said podcast available to them no matter which app your listeners use. As Chapman said, the team at Product Marketing Alliance publishes their podcast episodes through Spotify and Apple Podcasts as well as Google Podcasts.

Although these are the three main podcast platforms, you'll want to submit your podcast to lesser-known platforms like:

  • Stitcher
  • Audible
  • TuneIn
  • Deezer
  • Pandora
  • Podchaser
  • Castbox
  • SoundCloud
  • Pocket Casts
  • Overcast
  • iHeartRadio
  • Podbay, etc.

Colin Jeffries, the host of the Rethink Marketing Podcast believes that the more platforms your podcast is available on, the more people will be able to connect with.

"We have been successful at expanding our reach to be in the highest 5% of podcasts all over the world," Jeffries espouses. "For the Rethink Marketing Podcast specifically, we place a strong emphasis on accessibility. Our podcast is on about every podcast platform that we have access to (Apple, Spotify, Google, Podchaser, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, Castbox, etc. And so on.). It allows us to expand our reach and build our overall audience."

Host guests and have huge following

One great method to advertise your podcast is hosting guests with a huge number of followers on social networks. This works because guests and you share the same objective: to get people to listen to the episode.

        "As someone who started and grew two podcasts, my first tip is to host guests with a solid social presence with your target listeners."      

says Alisa Meredith Alisa Meredith, Senior Product Marketing Manager for SemRush.

Will Whitman, the host of the show, CMO Convo, echoes this: "With a few high-profile names in the bag that will leverage their large social media followers to help promote the show, you'll be able to gradually increase the number of listeners you have well. In addition, you'll be able to attract additional big-name guests via word-of-mouth, creating a nice auto-sustaining circle."

In the event that an episode featuring a big-name guest goes live and you want to contact them with a personal message in which you ask them to share the episode across their social media channels. But you have to allow them to send out. Send your recipients:

  • The URL to the episode
  • Snippets of video clips in short form
  • Tweets that are pre-selected
  • Links to your personal tweet to allow them to retweet it.

No matter what you're doing, don't provide your guests a reason not to help you promote your podcast.

Repurpose your podcast content for social media

Social media is a great way to market the podcast as well as interact with your listeners. There's more to marketing your podcast through social media than publishing links for each episode. Below are some strategies you can use social media to increase your podcast listeners:

  • Make use of the episodes you have created to spark a conversation on your Facebook page (or the group) or on Twitter
  • Find the most important points of an episode and convert them into tweets and LinkedIn posts
  • Convert your recorded MP3 files into MOV file for a YouTube video
  • Post teasers of the latest episodes of your podcast using audiograms
  • Use an engaging 30--60 seconds portion of an episode, and then add it into a video with graphics (with captions, obviously)

Alex Birkett explains how the team at Omniscient Digital repurposes The Long Game podcast. "We put a lot of money into the repurposing of content since we have a decent presence in social networks (as do the guests we host). We produce audiograms, videograms tweets, LinkedIn posts, and blog posts from every podcast episode.

      Nothing has been a silver bullet However, over time our company has been growing regularly doing all the above."    

Be sure that your target audience uses those social networks the podcast is promoted on. The goal is to be seen by people who are curious about the topics you are promoting.

Promote on online and forum forums

Forums and online groups are an element of social media. However, they deserve their own section due to their blatant under-appreciation. Platforms such as Quora and Reddit have forums and groups made up of people who're passionate listeners to podcasts. It's just a matter of finding those in your field.

Ilija Sekulov, Marketing and SEO on MailButler.io says,

        "If you run your own podcast in which you speak about technology, say, one way to attract many more listeners is by mentioning the latest technology developments in forums that already have people who are interested in the subject and they'll likely would like to hear what you say in your podcast.      
        A few people feel that with the advent of social media platforms forums don't have the value they used to be. it, but this is not true, there is still a very engaged community on forums that are specialized."      

Create a website or blog for your podcast

If you've created your own podcast to market your company or your courses then you must create a dedicated web page or landing page for the podcast. This is where you show all the episodes you have in order for your listeners to easily locate them. It is possible to host your episodes on the website with an embedded audio playerso that site visitors won't have to navigate to different podcast websites to listen to your podcast.

If you choose to repurpose the episodes as blog posts, you could post them to the site. In so doing you'll be able implement on-page SEO to boost the rankings of your site in organic search.

Jordan Figueredo, the Senior Content Strategist and podcast producer for Online Optimism  Notes,

        "If you are trying to get your podcast noticed, create a website or landing page using your domain name specifically for your podcast. This is essential as you will be able to write blog posts that pertain to your show both in terms of general content and particular episodes, increasing the popularity of your content as well as improving SEO.    
        Blog posts rule the throne of Google and therefore ranking for a keyword related to your podcast as well as links to your website hosting your episodes is an excellent method to advertise your podcast and grow your number of subscribers."      

In order to rank your website's podcast on the SERPs, optimize it around the keywords people use to find your podcast. Incorporate that keyword into the search results:

  • Tag for title
  • H1 Title
  • Subheadings (H2, H3, H4, etc. )
  • Meta description
  • Body of the content (naturally)

Make use of SEO to improve your podcast's organic rankings

While you're optimizing the website of your podcast for search and optimization, make sure to also optimize the podcast itself. Like a site making a podcast search engine friendly, optimizing it for the SERPs have many aspects to do with keyword placement.

"Approaching your podcast by using classic SEO techniques, like vital keywords, can help your podcast stand out on search engines and will help you reach new audiences," Fernando Lopez, Marketing Director at Circuit says.

        "While it's tempting to add keywords to the title of your podcast, don't! The title you choose should be brief cute, sweet, and imaginative instead of a keyword-stuffed awkward or generic phrase. Concentrate your search engine optimization efforts on the titles of your episodes and descriptions , not your episode titles. It will be simpler to integrate keywords naturally and give your podcast some vital search engine juice".    

Appear on other podcasts as an invited guest

Being a guest on another podcast within your area is an excellent way to expand your audience as well as cross-promote your show. The only thing you need to do is find appropriate podcasts and present yourself to them.

"One of the most efficient strategies that hosts have to increase listeners' attention is to appear on relevant podcasts within your field as guests," says Jakub Zajicek, co-founder, and CMO at Speak On Podcasts.

        "This strategy accomplishes way more than just growing the podcast audience. Hosts of podcasts around the world appear on other cool shows to create their personal brands, network with other hosts, and have a bigger impact in general."    

You can find other relevant podcasts on:

  • Facebook groups, such as Podcasters' Support Group along with Podcast Movement
  • Subreddits, like r/PodcastGuestExchange
  • Radio Guest List newsletter
  • Listen Notes
  • Podchaser

When you discover someone's podcast you'd like to a guest on, send them a personalized pitch explaining the reasons you'd be a good guest and what topics you'd like to discuss. If possible, ask the host if you can include your podcast in the discussion. In return, you'll promote your podcast on their show to your audience.

Try email marketing

It is an effective opportunity to connect with your audience. After an individual has signed up to your mailing list and you get to learn what their preferences stem from their email engagement. Recognizing patterns in their engagement will help you to create podcasts that appeal to them, leading to more listens and subscribing for your show.

You can also send your subscribers updates about your podcast, for instance whenever you release an episode or you need their opinion about a guest or topic or guest, as well as weekly or monthly roundups of podcast episodes.

Lisa Richards, creator, and CEO of Candida Diet is a proponent of the virtues of email marketing:

        "Research indicates that using email marketing for podcasts can yield up to 40 times more than the amount of ROI that you would get from marketing your podcast through Facebook and Twitter.    
        By using email marketing, you'll be able to keep your listeners interested between podcast episodes. You'll also be able to provide more information to each episode and to the brand as a whole, by elaborating on the topic of the show and providing further background and even providing updates on the subject since the show's episode airs."    

Promote older posts

When you're publishing more podcast content It's not difficult to become hooked on promoting only the latest episodes. But if you've been running your show for some time it's a good idea to periodically advertise your old episodes too.

Natalia Brzezinska, Marketing and Outreach Manager at PhotoAiD understands this.

        "One significant aspect about podcasts is that they're usually evergreen content. Therefore, when marketing them, it is important to not just focus on latest episodes, but also those that were released a few years ago. I'm betting that many people from the target market haven't listened to your older episodes, or are even aware that they existed!"    

Leverage influencer marketing

The data gathered from Influencer Marketing Hub showed that Influencer marketing campaigns earn $5.78 in revenue for every one dollar invested. With stats like this working with an influencer in order to advertise your podcast can be worth the effort.

"Focus on developing connections with influential people within your industry who will like to endorse or even review your podcast," advises Gauri Manglik, the founder and chief executive officer at Instrumentl. "If they like the content they listen to, they may recommend it to their friends as well. If those listeners then subscribe to your podcast, they may turn into long-term users."

For influencer marketing to be successful, you'll need to find an influencer with a huge following that aligns with your target audience. Reach out to them and create a beneficial and mutually beneficial alliance in order to help promote your podcast.

When you meet someone who's willing to endorse your podcast, you'll be required to compensate them in a certain way: monetary or free products or an announcement in your podcast. Each influencer will have their own rules, so it's up to you agree with them.

Promote your podcast today

Promoting podcasts is tough job. And oftentimes, it's a time-consuming, trial-and-error process. It's necessary to try a variety of podcast marketing strategies in order to find the most effective mix for your show.

However, remember that no amount of money will help to improve the quality of your podcast. So if you're just starting your podcast, you should focus on creating high-quality content with interesting guests. After that, you'll be able to begin testing other types of advertising.