How to Market a Podcast

WHAT’S THIS EPISODE ABOUT?

You’ve worked your tail off to create amazing content for your audience!

You know you have an awesome show.
You know how much work you’ve put into it.
You know that it’ll be just what your audience needs!

But how do you tell them?

How will your audience know where to find you?
What your show is about?
When it’ll air new episodes?
What amazing guests are upcoming?

It’s simple…

You have to tell them!

Let’s talk about some of the ways you can market your podcast, promote your show, and even how to grow and monetize your podcast- Regardless of your audience size!!

1. Content Teasers

Content teasers are exactly what they sound like:
Ways to get your audience interested and curious about your content.

You want to people saying, “Ohhh…I want to know more about that!”

Here is a great resource to look into more podcast marketing tools:
5 Best Podcast Marketing Tools

If you’d like to go more into the best marketing practice for your podcast, please check out that post. Its sole purpose was to talk about podcast marketing.

But today I just wanted to show you some examples of the podcast marketing that’s worked for me – as a podcast content creator AND consumer of lots of podcasts!

Soundbites

Short clips of audio that show a small preview of your podcast episode to current & potential listeners. A great way to give people a taste of your podcast and get them interested in what your show is about.

BuzzSprout

**This is an affiliate link. If you’d like to try BuzzSprout.com as the hosting site for your podcast, your 1st 90 days with them is 100% FREE! How awesome is that?
- Reasons I Like BuzzSprout’s Sound Bites:
  - Can create directly in BuzzSprout
  - Imports episode info into the video
  - Sound Bites are saved on the BuzzSprout account online
Headliner
- Reasons I Like Headliner’s Sound Bites:
  - Flexibility to change video image
  - Custom “wave” files to match brand colors
  - Can create up to 10 min. clips of audio

BuzzSprout Sound Bite

Headliner Sound Bite

Graphics

These are the promotional materials you’ll use to market your podcast. I really like to get creative here and try new things ALL THE TIME! But if you find something that works well for you right outta the gate, stick with what your audience resonates with most.

Graphics also give you the opportunity to brand yourself and your show. People start to recognize colors, fonts, and symbols and associate them with your brand. (Nike’s Swoosh or Target’s Logo? I recognize them from miles away on the highway!)

Canva.com

I use Canva.com for many things when it comes to online marketing for my podcast and my business, but creating material for my podcast is one of my favorites!
- You can create images for:
  - Episodes
  - Guest interviews
  - Pinterest Images
  - Quoting important parts of the episode
  - Announcements
  - Teasing Future Content
  - And so much more!

Here are some examples:

How to Market a Podcast
Basic Podcast Launch Plan
The Proffitt Podcast

Videos

You’re a podcaster. You didn’t sign up to do videos, right?

If you wanted to make videos all of the time, you woulda gone down the YouTube route. I get it. It may not be your favorite. But it’s still important these days.

People not only connect with our voices, but they want to see our faces and know that we’re actual human beings. Just think for a second about some of the brands you follow. Do you connect more with the ones you see on a regular basis? (You’re nodding your head “Yes”, right?)

Of course, you do. It’s the same with a podcast!

I’m not saying you have to commit to going LIVE on social media every single day, but one impromptu video every once in a while can help you create even deeper connections with your audience.

You can create these videos on:

Facebook Live
Instastories
YouTube
Wherever your listeners are hanging out!

Some things you can talk about are:

Behind the scenes
Clips of interviews in the process
The editing process
What’s new on the podcast (Just once a week!)

Here are some examples:

(Click on the video to watch)

2. Survey Your Audience

Always be familiar with what your audience wants to hear.
It’ll keep them coming back for more every single week.

What topics do they want to hear about?
What episodes are their favorite?
How can you add more of that to your show?

What’s the easiest way to survey your audience?

Polls on social media
- Instagram Stories
- Facebook Posts/Videos
Google Forms
- Create a survey and send it to your listeners a few times a year to get a pulse on what they want.

3. Practice Your Elevator Pitch

Imagine you’re at a dinner party.
Friends & family members know that you’ve recently started a podcast. (Or that you’re thinking about it at the very least.)

What are the questions they’d ask you about your podcast?

What’s the name of your show?
What’s it about?
Who’s it for?
When do new episodes come out?
How can it help me?
Why should I listen?

All of these are questions I got asked the first months of my show. Sometimes I could answer them on the spot. Other times, I felt like a complete idiot.

The questions on the surface look SO simple.
But if you don’t have the answers to these, you’ll have a tough time marketing your show.

Craft your ELEVATOR PITCH so a 4th grader can understand.

If you can explain your podcast to a 10-year old and they fully understand what your podcast is about…SUCCESS!

If not, go back to the drawing board.
Something isn’t clear.
Maybe it’s your wording.
It could be the order of your message.

4. Monetization Strategies

We’re going to dive deeper into monetization strategies in future episodes, but for now…be sure to grab this FREE guide on 5 Ways to Make Money Podcasting in the Resource Library!

5. Growth Strategies

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to growing your podcast. As someone who likes to try many different approaches, my best advice is to try something new at least once a quarter.

You’d be surprised how one strategy can work better than all of the other ones…COMBINED!

Another episode dedicated to Podcast Growth is coming in the near future, but for now…here are a few ways to get your podcast in front of more people.

Guest Appearances on Other Podcasts
- See if you can link to your podcast on their website or within the show notes
- Seek out other shows with an audience similar to yours
Guest Posting on Large Publications
- Don’t be afraid to GO BIG!
- Again, try to link directly back to your show
- Try organizations like (Depending on your industry, of course):
  - Inc.com
  - Wired.com
  - Entrepreneur.com