As a podcaster ready to build your listenership, this piece is intended for you. We’ll be letting you in on creative ways to promote your podcast. This time, it will be out-of-the-box ideas that can skyrocket your numbers. We are sure you are not looking for one-click growth, but one that keeps growing with every episode.
What we’ve realized is that despite podcasts growing in popularity in the past few years, many podcasters are still in the dark on proven and effective ways to promote their podcasts.
You may have promoted a website, a blog, or even a business, but when it comes to promoting a podcast, know that it’s a different ball game.
If you landed on this blog post, then we are sure you must come across scores of strategies and ways to promote your podcast. Of course, there’s a lot of information out there on the topic but are they good enough to help you generate the results you are hoping for?
It’s time to grow out of the euphoria and exhilarating feeling of starting a podcast, that’s if you intend to grow and see your podcast thriving.
1. Paid Advertising
It may seem like something from the 90s, but it sure works. Let’s hope you have a bit of budget, then you can employ advertising to promote your podcast.
We are not just talking about social media promotion, but even offline. There are loads of places where you can place an advert for your podcast show; social media, local magazines, local radio shows, newsletters, and many others.
You should also look out for podcasters that are doing great and pay them for a shout-out on their shows.
2. Get The Best Guests
If your podcasts involve interviewing guests, then you have a gold mine in your hands. Be on the lookout for guests that can drive the traffic. We are not just talking about celebrities, athletes, or politicians.
It starts with the first or second guests, your pedigree will start to speak for you. Your audience wants to listen to distinguished personalities in your subject area.
Take the conversation to a personal and engaging level, one that keeps your audience looking forward to the next episode. It’s about turning your audience to your brand ambassadors, you’ll see them spreading the good news about your podcast.
3. Tell Everyone You Come Across
Nothing beats the good old word of mouth marketing. Look for a passive or active way of chipping in your podcast during a conversation. You need to sound convincing as possible without coming off as aggressive.
At your next visit to the Farmer’s Market; ask your seller what they have been listening to, tell them about your podcast.
If you find yourself at the parents’ meeting at your kid’s school, let everyone know you produce your own podcast and are badass at it (don’t use the word badass, though).
4. Take Full Advantage of SEO
Before or even after recording every episode of a podcast, you need to carry out keyword research. There’s a need to know what information people are looking for especially in your target area.
Answer all of their queries in your podcast just be providing answers. Employ these keywords in your episode titles and description. This will help you reach more listeners who are inputting these search queries in search engines.
By leveraging on search engine optimization, you will be winning yourself a lot of loyal listeners.
PS: I think SEO should not determine your podcast topic, you should rather conduct keyword research around your topic.
5. Email Marketing To Your Rescue
Do people still read their emails? Yes, most people do and you should send them email often. You have to build an email list if you don’t have one yet. Immediately you publish a new podcast, send out an email informing your subscribers. This should include everyone already listening to your podcast, and prospective listeners.
You may not know, but no other platform has the reach of email. What of Facebook, while Facebook has 2.2 billion active billion users, email users are about 4.48 billion users and it is still expected to grow.
This is more reason why you need to pay attention to your email marketing as one of the ways to promote your podcast.
6. Run a Transcript Blog
You are not a blogger but a podcaster taking advantage of the SEO leverage that blogs have.
Of course, your preferred medium is voice, but when it comes to appearing in search engine results, texts are superior. That’s why you may have to run a transcript blog alongside your podcast.
This will make your podcast shareable on social media, and you know what effect that can have on your podcast traffic.
7. Optimize Your Podcast For Voice Search
Voice search is booming and it will even become bigger in the future. Start by positioning your podcast for the boom.
There’s no better place to learn about Voice Search than from Brian Dean, he dwelt extensively on optimizing for voice search in one of his blog posts.
Know that voice search is faster than typing and people love that speed. Ensure your podcast has all it takes to appear on voice search results.
