You work hard to produce your podcast. You strategize, invest in the right equipment, carve out the time, and hone your skills. So it’s frustrating to get such limited results. Could a better promotion strategy be the answer?
Try These 5 Podcast Promotion Tips
If a tree falls in the forest, but nobody is around to hear, does it make a sound?
If you record a dozen episodes of a podcast and hit the “publish” button, but nobody listens, do you really have a podcast at all?
Unless you’re using it as a purely creative outlet and you don’t care what happens once you record an episode, the success of your podcast is directly dependent on listeners. How many listeners you need depends on your objectives, but you need some in order to generate any meaningful results.
Recording your podcast is the fun part. It’s where you bring creativity and energy. But promotion is arguably the most important element. And in this article, we’re going to walk you through some of our favorite podcast promotion tips for building a bigger audience.
- Make Sure Your Content is Up to Snuff
While this article is focused on promotional tactics, we would be remiss not to briefly touch on the importance of content. Because if you’re going to invest a ton of time and resources into promoting your podcast, it needs to be something that people will find valuable.
You don’t need the best podcast in the world, but it should have intriguing subject matter, good quality (audio), and personality. If you create a podcast that’s high in quality, subject matter, and personality, the right promotional strategy will be like pouring gasoline over white hot embers. It’s going to explode.
- Get Clear on Your Audience
Generalist podcasts rarely work. (Ironically, The Joe Rogan Experience, which is the most popular podcast in the world, is a generalist podcast. But that’s the exception and not the rule.) In order to launch a highly successful podcast, you need to find a specific subject or niche and focus your energy. And that means getting clear on who your audience is.
When recording a podcast, you have to focus on one specific person and talk to him or her. The more you drill down and speak to a single target listener, the better your content will be and the easier it becomes to promote your content.
Successful digital advertising and marketing is predicated on targeting the right people. If you know that your ideal listener is a college educated female between the ages of 25 and 32 who is in a serious relationship, your promotional strategy is going to be much better than if you’re just targeting young women. (Get clear!)
- Leverage Social Media
Social media is your best promotional avenue for reaching people. In the early stages of growing your podcast, you should promote it on your personal profiles. Friends, family, and coworkers are the people who are most likely to listen to your first few episodes. Don’t run from this – embrace it!
- Invest in Targeted Advertising
In many senses, podcasting is pay to play. While it’s technically free to start a podcast, if you want to generate meaningful traction with your first few episodes, a targeted podcast advertising strategy is a must. Combined with organic methods like social media and word of mouth, paid advertising will dramatically improve your visibility with the right people.
- Use Social Proof
Once you’ve put out your first few episodes and you have some experience under your belt, social proof can be used to amplify your promotional strategy.
Use social proof everywhere you can. Whether it’s sharing the number of episodes, the number of listeners, quotes and testimonials from listeners, or an endorsement from a popular influencer in your niche, any and all social proof enhances the credibility of your podcast.
Give Your Podcast the Nudge it Needs
A successful podcast combines quality content and strategic promotion to connect the content to the right people. Now’s the time to begin thinking about specific ways in which you can promote your podcast to get it in front of more of the right listeners. The exact strategy you use will depend on factors that are specific to your needs and objectives. However, you can use this article as an overarching guide to nurture your approach and nudge your podcast in the direction it needs to go.
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