Digital Marketing Blog

So, you’re feeling pretty excited about getting your podcast launched.

That’s awesome!

You should start podcast marketing to reap its countless benefits and grow your business, especially if you’re an entrepreneur, influencer, mentor, or marketer. 

You know a thing or two about how to make your podcasts popular.

But wait.

Do you have a proper marketing plan to promote your podcast? 

Growing a podcast audience isn’t like a walk in the park. You have to build your fanbase, which isn’t the kind of goal you can achieve in a few weeks. 

How will you create a podcast that resonates? Who is your audience? How are you going to find them? And how will you reach them?

These are pretty basic questions that you have to figure out before you launch a podcast. 

A lot of time, people don’t know how to find and attract their ideal listeners.

As a result, they either fail to attract their targeted audience or end up talking to an audience that has nothing to do with their business. 

This guide will highlight why you must promote a podcast and what strategies you can implement to accomplish this goal. And blog post will identify the top 15 podcast promotion best practices to attract the thousands of the right listeners to your podcast every day. 

The objective here is to give you the creative boost you need to have dedicated listeners like and follow your podcasts and other content. 

Hey, most people start a podcast with almost zero listeners and zero downloads. So, there is no reason to be pessimistic.

Just hang in there and read this guide to make sense out of things. 

Why Promote Your Podcast?

Podcast ad spending is said to surpass $1 billion in 2021. Podcast listenership is drastically increasing in the U.S. and all over the world.  

Whether you’re about to launch your first podcast or an expert with over 100 episodes under your belt, you need to develop a great marketing strategy.

Besides, if you’re passionate about something, your voice will reflect that passion during every episode, and it becomes easier for you to promote yourself. 

But the question is, why you should promote your podcast? 

⭐Related Post: 4 Easy Tactics To Market Your Podcast

Here are the four reasons why you want to promote your podcast: 

1. Impact

While the number of podcasts available to listeners increases, it’s getting harder to get discovered, especially when you’re up against powerful competitors who spend a lot on podcasting.

However, if you have a passion and commitment to deliver great content, there’s nothing that can stop you from creating a powerful impact. 

Your audience will pick your podcast when you share enticing content in a consistent fashion. Nonetheless, you have to promote your podcasts if you want to grow audiences and downloads.

With the right strategies, you would be able to create the right impact. 

2. Influence

Most successful people in business, speakers, mentors, and coaches are good at influencing people and winning customers.

You can be one of them if you master the art of creating valuable podcasts and then putting them in front of the right audience. 

3. Exposure

Today’s consumers simply hate aggressive selling and intrusive content.

When you promote your content the right way without annoying your potential audience, you get valuable exposure for your brand.

Podcasts deliver relevant and informative content in a covenant way.

They lead to genuine engagement with listeners. 

Did you know 65% of listeners are likely to buy a product after learning about an ad during a podcast?

4. Income

Podcasts are going mainstream, and for good reasons.

When you can use your podcast in the right way it can become an endless income stream for your business or brand. 

Are You Ready To Launch Your Podcast? Do These Three Things First:

1. Release Multiple Episodes When First Launching

What happens if you don’t launch with one or a few episodes? Will your podcast be a failure if you release only one episode?

When we talk about a podcast, we refer to the whole series. An entire podcast could be just one episode or fifty. 

Many people don’t know precisely how many episodes they should release when they first launch. While there is no hard and fast rule, it’s better to have multiple podcast episodes to launch with. 

To be more specific, release at least 5-8 episodes, including the one you’re launching with -- this will ensure a steady flow of content for almost about a month. 

Having several episodes at the start will help you focus on growing and marketing your show as you have episodes already recorded and scheduled.

You can observe the response from your audience as you continue to release your content.

However, don’t overwhelm your audience with too many episodes right in the beginning. 

2. Create A Podcast Landing Page 

There are so many podcasts out there.

According to PodcastInsights, there were over 850,000 active podcasts and over 30 million podcast episodes in the first month of 2020.

The growth is astonishing if we looked at the number of active podcasts (500,000) in February 2018. 

Do you think it would be easy to cut through the noise?

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get heard. Creating a podcast landing page is one of the ways to navigate through the competition. 

When done right, here is what an intentional landing page will produce: 

• Dedicated landing pages are ideal for generating a list of email addresses from people who want to listen to you or do business with you. Some people even publish a landing page before launching the podcast to build an audience ahead of time, which is what we did. 

• While many people use different streaming services to host podcasts, having a landing page will establish a home for your podcasts, making it easier for your audience to find the relevant information. 

• Creating a landing page is an excellent way to encourage engagement. This tactic works great whether you want to promote a podcast or get social media shares. 

An effective podcast landing page offers engaging headlines, visuals, copy, and strong call-to-actions (CTAs). 

Here is the landing page we created for our All The Way Up podcast to give you an idea of what a podcast landing page can look like. 

3. Hire An Editing Team Or Producer 

The next important thing is to have an outstanding editing team or producer.

These days, it’s not hard to build a great production team that can help you produce incredible marketing assets.

Since it’s critical to standout out, you need something better than an average podcast. 

So, hire an editing team and assign roles to determine who will be responsible for producing, editing, promoting, and creating the content that goes along with the podcast itself. 

Post-production audio podcast episodes can be time-consuming and frustrating.

But it doesn’t need to be that way. Simply outsource your whole podcast production to professional audio producers. 

How To Promote A Podcast

Let’s get back to our primary question: how to promote a podcast. 

Here are 15 proven marketing strategies that will answer this question: 

1. Leverage Existing Assets 

If you’re just starting podcast marketing, you can employ your existing online assets such as social media and website to create a buzz around your podcast launch.

You don’t have to create dedicated social media profiles or a website. If you’re an entrepreneur, influencer, or mentor, you’re likely to have some kind of presence and following on different social platforms. 

Share images, videos, soundbites, or anything you can think of to engage your followers on social. Social media platforms allow users to convey their message in a fun and creative way.

So, make sure to stretch your imagination when creating promotional content on social.  

Need examples? 

Share an update talking about your upcoming podcast and when its first episode will be live. You can feature the iTunes URL through Facebook or Twitter posts.

Another example is to create images using free tools like Canva and share them as standalone posts featuring your iTunes link.

Creating short sound bite clips on Soundcloud and then sharing it on Twitter is also helpful. 

People who are already connected with your brand will surely be interested in your podcasts. So, start with them. Leverage that existing audience and then scale up from there. 

2. Transcribe Podcast Audio 

Recording a podcast and publishing are two basic and essential things to do.

However, you can do one more thing to amplify your efforts. Transcribe your podcast to make things easier for those who just want to skim over your transcript before playing or downloading it. 

The internet is a massive world where all kinds of people exist. You should be doing everything in your capacity to facilitate your audience and market your content. 

For example, a transcript can be valuable for anyone who wants or needs to consume content in that way. 

Wondering how much it would cost to transcribe audio?

Fortunately, some various tools and services can get this job done in a cost-efficient manner?

Utilize services like searchie.io, Fiverr, or Rev.com, where you can transcribe audio at a rate as low as $1/minute. 

A common practice is to offer a full transcript of an entire show.

However, you can just pull out a few critical parts of the transcript and include them in the show notes page, where you can add links and lead capture forms.

Besides, providing a transcript of a podcast is also beneficial from an SEO perspective. 

🔥🔥Pro Tip 🔥🔥 Right now my favorite and most used tool by far is Searchie! I have all of my coaching and training calls uploaded into Searchie and they automatically transcribe the video for me so it's fully searchable! 

The best part of all is I then can embed that video anywhere or send a link to my clients to review our calls! They absolutely love it!  Check it out if this sounds cool to you!

3. Convert Into A YouTube Video

⭐Related Article: How much does YouTube advertising cost?

I just love how the internet enables people to convert a single piece of content into so many different forms. 

Podcasts seem like they don’t belong on YouTube because your episodes are in audio format. Luckily, YouTube has turned out to be an excellent platform for sharing your podcasts and reaching more people. 

YouTube has over 2 billion logged-in viewers in a month. It is one of the leading platforms for people who just want to listen to the audio.

So, if you’re going to reach a huge, active user base, don’t miss out on Youtube. 

A study from the University of Florida reveals that YouTube is a top destination for podcast consumption and outsmart many popular platforms like iTunes, Spotify, and Google Play Music.

Make sure to syndicate your podcast and get yourself heard by millions. 

This also helps you begin to build a presence on social media networks where you can gain a loyal following.

Also, you can cut clips of the video and use it to promote your podcast on other social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. 

4. Use Paid Advertising

We can’t overlook the significance of advertising - where there is an audience...there’s advertising. 

While podcasts have become one of the most popular channels for consumers to obtain valuable information, it’s hard to advertise and get the right people’s attention.

The good news is that podcast listeners pay attention to ads promoting podcasts. 

The key is to connect with the right audience.

For example, if your audience is only females, there’s no point in creating advertisements directed to male consumers.

In other words, don’t show your ads where they don’t belong. 

To get the most of your ad spend, you have to investigate the audience fit. Nonetheless, don’t adhere too strictly to a category. People often have a variety of interests.

For instance, an entrepreneur can be interested in a fitness or comedy podcast.

Your message will lose its importance if you’re not talking to the right people, at the right place, and at the right time. 

Besides, your message must align with your key audience. 

It’s only possible when you identify people who could be interested in what you’re offering.

To be more precise, all of the messaging has to align and speak to your audience in the right way, or you will never get your message across the way you intended to. 

So, when creating ads to promote your podcasts, be sure to identify the right audience.

Platforms like Facebook and Google give you a wealth of targeting options to find the right people on the web. 

5. Cross-Promote Across Social Media

Cross-promotion is an effective way to build an audience for your podcasts. It’s a marketing tactic that applies in various ways. 

One aspect of cross-promotion is to share your content across platforms from blogs and websites to social media. 

Another aspect is building partnerships and having other podcasters share your content on their channels and vice versa. 

For example, if you have a blog, you may reach out to other podcasters and ask them to do a content swap to share content related to your show. Which now allows you to reach entirely new audiences. 

We can take Jenna Kutcher’s strategy as an excellent example of podcast cross-promotion.

She shares her podcast content across her website and social media in the form of a blog. She has hired someone on her team whose sole responsibility is to cross-promote products based on her subscribers’ preferences. 

Creating lookalike audiences and remarketing your content is also a great strategy. 

Platforms like Facebook allow you to build and target lookalike audiences for remarketing your content to people who have shown their interest in your business in the past.

For example, your past website and social media visitors. 

6. Do Outreach

Before the internet, businesses would cold-call customers and prospects to sell their products or services.

Nowadays, a single click can send your message to millions of people across the globe. 

For example, you can send a single email to get in touch with vital people to your business.

However, email isn’t the only way to reach out to your people. 

If you don’t have an outreach strategy, just start notifying people through email, Facebook messages, cold calls, IG DM’s, or any other medium you could have to let people know about your podcast. 

Before you launch the podcast, build an outreach list that could include social media followers, blog readers, product users, fans, etc.

Don’t send emails or messages to anybody.

Again, you need to spot your audience on different platforms. 

7. Submit To Podcast Aggregators And Directories

If you’ve created your podcast and only have a few listeners, it’s time to get more. 

Distribute your podcast to other places where people are looking for new podcasts.

Many podcast directories can help you distribute your content and get a lot more listeners.

If you want to get found easily, make sure to submit to directories. Because producing great content is half the battle, the real success comes when you get yourself heard by people who matter. 

With your content listed on the right platforms, you can access audiences that may never have found you otherwise.

If you’re not sure where to submit your podcast, here is a list to consider: 

• iTunes

• Google Podcast

• Spotify 

• TuneIn

• SoundCloud 

• Podcastpedia 

Options are endless, but I want you to use the right platform that can produce maximum results.

For example, Steve Olsher’s podcast directory is a great platform to secure your listing and take your podcast to the next level with great ease. 

You can ensure placement on a first-come, first-served basis. To be clear, these directories don’t host your podcast. 

8. Be A Guest On Other Podcasts

There are so many successful entrepreneurs, speakers, and influencers who attend a podcast as guests.

Landing a guest podcast interview is a great way to establish yourself as an authority in your industry. 

Guest podcasting gives you a chance to speak directly to new audiences. The best thing: you’ll reap all the upside of a podcast’s exposure. 

This approach is advantageous when you have your podcast to promote. Even if you don’t want to promote a podcast, guest podcasting can produce great results for your brand. 

Think of those celebrities that go to talk shows to promote their films. Politicians love to make guest appearances just to promote their agenda. 

However, you should be a guest on podcasts in your niche. 

Another way to do this is to invite guests, specifically find people who have a robust social following within your industry. 

You can ask them to help promote your podcast, and the final results could be astonishing. The exposure goes both ways, so it’s a win-win situation for everyone. 

If you want your guests to share your content, you need to develop a different plan. Something that your guests aren’t expecting. 

For instance, make them talk about their passions and interests, and they will love to share your podcast. It’s boring to talk about the same old things in every podcast. 

9. Optimize For Web Search And SEO

If your goal is to promote your podcasts, you must care about the SEO elements.

Most people don’t understand how SEO works in the case of podcasts. I used to get a lot of questions from podcasters about SEO. 

Optimizing your content with keywords is an example of getting your show to appear in search results. 

You have to get your podcast in front of those who don't know you yet or don’t know where to look for your content. 

Most of your people head to Google and other search engines to find your exciting content.

For example, if you’re a business coach, your audience might be using keywords like ‘10 marketing podcasts to listen to.’ 

One of the things you need to do is optimize your podcasts for those keywords your audience might be using. 

Here are some valuable techniques to improve the visibility of your podcasts: 

• Claim your podcast on Google Podcasts Manager 

• Research podcast keywords 

• Improve your online presence with social media 

• Transcribe your episodes 

• Repurpose your content (See tip#3)

10. Create A Newsletter

Email newsletters can add depth to your podcast and strengthen direct connections with your audience. 

An email newsletter is a two-way connection that allows your audience to leave feedback on your shows, ultimately improving your future episodes. 

With an email, you catch your listeners when they are most likely to engage in a specific call to action.

It becomes easier for your audience to visit your website by just clicking on a link rather than remembering and typing in your website URL. 

Your newsletter subscribers may fall into two main categories: 

1. Engaged fans:

They already know you, like your content, and are happy to have direct contact with you.

Sending out a newsletter is an excellent way to tell them about your production process, new ideas for your upcoming episodes, and reiterate what you shared in episode notes. 

2. People who need a nudge to recall your brand:

Some of your fans need a reminder to remember your podcast.

They also want to listen to you.

A good newsletter will only bring them closer to you and your show. Delight them with an exciting explanation of a new episode. 

11. Find Partners And Affiliates

Partners and affiliates play a crucial role when it comes to content marketing.

The most successful brands focus on building relationships with like-minded businesses in their industry. Before you start finding partners, learn how the reciprocity principle works. 

It’s a two-way strategy.

For instance, you mention a brand in your podcast; they might just mention you back. From that point, you can take further steps to convert those initial mentions into a profitable relationship. 

When you mention a brand in an episode, you can just reach out to them afterward and let them know about this.

A well-written email is enough to get started. 

You can also partner with affiliate marketers who promote different products on podcasts. This way, you can monetize your podcasts. An ideal way to find affiliate partners for your podcast is via an affiliate network. 

12. Use Influencer Marketing

⭐Related Post: How influencer marketing has changed the game

Influencer marketing is one of the best content marketing techniques used by many businesses across industries.

It’s a practice of using influencers to achieve your marketing goals.

In promoting a podcast, you can connect with influencers who have an audience that overlaps yours or has a similar interest. 

You can reach out to other brands, podcasters, or industry leaders to start a collaboration.

When influencers talk about your podcasts or a product with their audiences, it dramatically exposes your brand.

People listen to what their favorite celebrities talk about.

13. Ask Listeners To Like, Share, And Subscribe

When we use word engagement, sometimes it feels like a buzzword.

As a podcaster, engagement is vital to your show’s growth. It’s important to understand that engagement means interactions with you. 

Since people like to be led, you have to ask your listeners to interact.

Don’t leave them to guess.

If you want your audience to get in touch or visit your website, ask them to do so. 

Podcasts are the quickest way to engage with your listeners.

To improve the overall experience, spoon-feed them.

Make it easy for them to follow you or explore your products. But don’t forget to ask your listeners to subscribe, listen, and share your content. 

These are some of the ways to boost engagement. But people will not engage if they don’t know how. If you want your listeners to reach out to you, tell them how they can do it. 

If your podcasts are long, disperse your CTA at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end.

In short, keep things simple and ask your listeners to interact. 

14. Run Fun Contests

Running contests where your listeners can have a chance to win prizes in exchange for completing a specific action will be an excellent promotional strategy for your podcasts.

You can ask your listeners to share your podcast or leave an iTunes review to enter the contest. 

Andy Frisella and his #75hard Challenge is a great example for you to get some inspiration. 

The #75HARD Challenge is a popular fitness is something he challeged all of his podcast listeners to do and it took off and opened him up to a ton of new audiences of people that he can now market to.  

This challenge is so main stream that it opened him up to the mass majority of people, and when you are a lifestyle entrepreneur it is great to appeal to the masses. 

The participants have to follow some strict rules involving diet and workout. As a reward, participants improve their self-confidence and get in shape. 

The challenge has become one of the top fitness challenges in the world. As a result, Andy has become an extremely successful podcast host and entrepreneur. 

15. Leverage Your Guests’ Audience

Create specific content for your guest’s audience that speaks directly to them.

You could easily create graphics and share them on the web and social media. 

Your audience and guest will love to share your podcast with their network if you produce great content that excites them.

Your guests or audience are likely to have a network of people who share the same interest. This shared interest is something you need to focus on. 

Again, we can use Andy Frisella as an example. 

🔥🔥Pro Tip 🔥🔥 I was in a Clubhouse App Room speaking and Zach Babcock dropped this bomb!

When your guest comes on the podcast.  Just before you turn the recording on.  Tell them that the only requirement that you have for being a guest on the podcast  is that they share on their social channels which immediately increases the exposure, the episodes audience and rankings! 

The psychology around this was that by the guest committing to promote on this recording they will actually follow through with the process and do it (since they said they would directly to you)

This is something i'm adding in for ALL of my future recordings!!!!  How about you?

Track Data That's Relevant

Once you go through this whole podcast promotion process, you’ll know more about your audience’s interests and learn how to serve their wants and needs better.

Remember, don’t forget to track your performance and results.

The internet provides you with a variety of tools to generate valuable insights and data.

So, be consistent in tracking your successes and failures so that you improve down the road. 

It's important to take note of what works well and what doesn't work at all. Tracking the failures can help you prevent fires in the future and save you money and effort down the road.

Final thoughts 

Podcast promotion can be a trial and error process. Implement these strategies until you find the right marketing mix or what works for your show. 

It takes consistent and dedicated efforts to get yourself heard by millions. 

Valuable content and perseverance are two keys to success. While you apply these marketing tactics, be sure to deliver high-quality content in your podcasts. 

Since we are talking about podcasts, it's only fair that I tell you about my podcast that I just launched.

The podcast series discusses the true successes, personal battles, and harsh realities that entrepreneurs face throughout their journeys.

We interview people like the director of Speed, Conditioning and Performance for the 2009 World Champion NY Yankees, Jesse Eker from Steve Harv's company, Suzanne Evans, and many more.