Podcasting: How to Promote Your Podcast & Increase Your Reach

December 7, 2022
Contents

The internet age is all about voicing your opinions and letting your mind be heard. And one of the best ways to do that is to make your own podcast. 

With the help of your podcast, you can share your point of view about anything.

A podcast is a digital audio file made available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device.

It is typically available as a series of new installments subscribers can receive automatically. 

Podcasts are mostly hosted by an individual or individuals who lead a conversation, share stories, or report the news. 

Podcasts are hosted on streaming applications such as Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts.

Here are some of the statistics that document the growth of podcasts in recent years from HubSpot:

So, we can see growth in recent years in the podcasting industry, and this will continue to grow. 

Due to this, you can see how promoting your podcast correctly is as important as creating it. 

In this article, we are going to talk about how to promote your podcast so you can get more listeners. 

The Two Pillars of Podcasting

Podcasting has two essential factors which you need to keep in mind while making your podcast. These would be:

Quality Content

It is vital to keep your content informative, catchy, and rare so that you still offer something new and unique to your listeners, even if there are many other podcasters in your genre. 

Both old and new podcasters will opt for the same topic to create their podcast.

So while making your podcast, make sure you share something that makes you stand out from the other podcasters in the same category.

Informative

Your listeners need to acquire something different and new information from your podcast.

Either it could be newfound information or a new, lesser-known exciting fact about your topic, or it could also be something that feeds the curiosity of your listeners.

Rare

Make sure your point of view adds something new to the ongoing conversation, however little it may be. 

Rare content differs for every topic, so start by researching everything in your niche correctly.  

The more you can stand out, the better it will be for your podcast because you are offering something new, different, and unique, making you more memorable and more popular with your target audience in the long run.

Catchy

Your podcast needs to keep listeners hooked and always come back to you for more. 

If you need to figure out their consistency and loyalty to you, try to provide your listeners with better content. 

Research how you can make your stuff better by listening to podcasts similar to yours, study their formats, content, and structure, and design your content accordingly. 

Focus on how you can implement those features into your podcast and thus improve your podcast.

Time

The next most crucial pillar is time. Take your time to research, but also make sure you post regularly. 

Time is a vital factor in many ways. Keep your podcast bite-sized and short, so they do what you want them to do, and ensure that your listener's time is well-spent.

Keep your episodes as short and straightforward as you can. 

Refrain from squeezing a lot of facts into a little time frame, and refrain from bombarding your audience with lengthy information. 

Both of them might overwhelm the listener, and you might lose your listeners' attention. 

Keep the best interests of yourself and your listeners in mind and adjust the length and consistency of your podcasts.

Lay a Strong Foundation Before Beginning to Promote Your Podcast

The key to successful marketing is to lay a solid foundation for your podcast promotion. These are a few points to help you create great podcast episodes that your listeners will relate to:

Be a Unique Voice, but Don’t Hold Back Valuable Content

If your podcast focuses on one area or topic, make sure you have something unique and valuable to say in that area. 

Don't copy someone else's idea and try to pass it off as your own; instead, it would be best if you tried to sound different from everyone else who has the same idea and wants to put it out there for everyone else.

Do Your Research

It can seem overwhelming when you're starting because so many things need attention before creating a podcast or knowing where to begin!

But you must do some research so that when you start creating your podcast, everything has been thought through and planned out ahead of time. 

This will save you time later on down the road when things get busy or stressful while recording episodes of your show!

Have a Plan for Each Episode

Before creating an episode, sit down and figure out what will happen in that particular episode so that things run smoothly from start to finish when it comes down to it during recording time.

Consider how many episodes will be produced in the first several months of your show's life. 

If you have less than ten episodes per month, it may make sense to produce them all at once and then release them over time as new episodes are released. 

If you have more than 10, it's best to release only some of them at a time because listeners may feel overwhelmed by too many updates from their favorite podcasts in one day.

Love Your Topic

If you don't love what you're doing, why would anyone else? 

Don't worry about trying too hard or being too sales-y — focus on enjoyably sharing helpful information, and people will come back for more!

There's nothing better than listening to someone who loves what they do! Love is contagious and will make other people want to come along for the ride! 

When creating your podcast, think about who would enjoy hearing about something that interests them personally or professionally. Think about what makes things exciting or funny so that listeners can relate.

Hook Listeners at the Beginning

The first thing you want to do is hook your audience at the beginning of your show. 

This can be done in many ways and depends on who you're talking to, but you must get people interested in what you have to say from the beginning so they stick around for more.

It's also important not to skip this step because it helps set up everything else that happens later in the show — if there are no hooks, how will people know what they should be listening for?

Have a “How/Where to Listen” Page on Your Podcast Website

The next step is creating a "how/where to listen" page on your podcast website, where people can find out how to subscribe and listen. 

This will help you focus on building an audience for your podcast by giving them something they can use in their lives rather than just another in their inbox.

Having a "how/where to listen" page on your website will help people learn more about your podcast and how they can listen if they haven't already heard of it yet (or even if they haven't heard of podcasts)! 

The goal here is to ensure that as many people as possible know about your show and how they can tune in when it comes out.

Go Deep

Investing time in planning and building your podcast is important, but so is investing time in creating content worth listening to. 

The best podcasts take listeners on a journey that's engaging, thought-provoking, and entertaining. 

You can't just talk about something and expect people to care - they have to feel connected with it and understand why they should care too!

Focus On Quality

You want people to listen to your podcast because they like what you say. 

But the quality of your content is equally important, if not more so, than quantity, when establishing your authority in your field.

So focus on producing high-quality content that is relevant and engaging for your listeners and audience members. 

You'll quickly see the results of all your hard work pay off through increased engagement, downloads, and even revenue from sponsorships/advertising opportunities!

Many podcasters think that editing means cutting out bad words or phrases from their audio files. 

Instead, editing is about polishing every piece of audio at least once throughout the process until it meets professional standards (i.e., has no background noise). This takes time and patience.

Be Timely

Your content needs to be in line with your audience's current interests, meaning you have to create it within the time frame when people are most interested in what you offer.

Maintain regularity in posting your podcasts. 

Consistency is the key. Keep your audience from waiting for too long for the next episode.

Set a publishing schedule and stick to it. If you inform your listeners that you will publish every Friday at 9 am, you must do that without fail. 

Invest in Audio Equipment

Investing in quality audio equipment will help your listeners hear every word clearly and easily understand what you're saying.

It is best if you have proper audio equipment to enhance your podcast's audio quality. 

Go for the best audio possible you can provide within your budget. Content is great, but if the listener struggles to understand, they will move on. 

So, good equipment goes a long way. Also, invest in good audio software like Audacity.

Utilize Growth Tactics You Can Measure

You don't want to spend all your time promoting your podcast without seeing any results. 

So, make sure you use metrics like downloads and email subscribers as a guide for how well your efforts are paying off.

Podcast Marketing Strategies for 2022

Publish at Strategic Times

It is imperative to publish your podcast at strategic times. 

If you're new to the world of podcasts, start by monitoring podcasts similar to yours and note the time when they publish. 

Keep a close watch on your podcast analytics to determine when people listen to your episode. If you can find the trend within your audience, try to exploit it to your benefit.

Usually, the best time to publish or upload your podcast is early morning, seemingly around 5 am – 6 am, because if you do so, the podcast platform will most likely place your podcast on your listener's profile or feed for the same day. 

Posting in the morning ensures that there will be less time difference between your posting and the appearance of the podcast in the feeds. 

Podcast directories keep on refreshing and updating their RSS feeds. So, the earlier you post your podcast, the sooner your selected directory will publish it. 

Also, early morning could work well for you if your listeners are in a different time zone than yours because it could be the peak listening hours for your international audience. 

It is best if you fit your podcast idea with the vibe of the specific weekday. 

You can choose a Monday or weekday to publish your inspiring podcast rather than weekends because Mondays are when you need the most motivation to return to your workplace after a good weekend. 

Similarly, choose Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday to post comedy or a light-hearted topic. 

Release at Least Three Episodes on Launch Day

Before launching your podcast at the supposed time, make sure you have at least three episodes ready to go on-air simultaneously. 

This allows your audience to binge-listen to what you have to communicate and return for more. 

If you don't have a few episodes for new listeners to go through, there's a fair and fat chance of them losing interest and forgetting about your content. 

Network With Other Podcasters

To promote your podcast well, you must be open to new ideas, trends, and techniques.  

The best way to be in touch with the recent trends of your genre is by joining a community of other podcasters with a similar genre. 

They will help you when needed, offer you support, and discuss new and innovative ways to promote your podcasts. 

Investing your time and ideas and being loyal to a community can become one of your best resources. 

Here are a few communities that will help you to interact with other podcasters and learn how to boost your podcast marketing:

Be a Guest and Invite a Guest

Collaborating with other podcasters is a great way to introduce your content to more and more listeners. 

Likewise, introducing exciting and relevant guests to your show creates more engaging and interactive episodes and provides a broader perspective and more engaging content for your audience. 

Inform them about when the episode will go on-air and build hype and speculation around your collaboration. 

Make sure to work with other podcasts within your niche and have a similar audience to yours. 

Record a tagline with your guest

If you have ever heard a celebrity appear on a radio show, you would know how they introduce themselves in an enthusiastic and quirky manner.

For example, this is how the k-pop boy band BTS introduced themselves-"2! 3! Bang-tan, hello! We are BTS. Hear us talking about our new album only on Radio Disney UK". 

You can ask your podcast guests to do the same. These make great teasers without revealing the episode's content, especially if your guests are well-known to your audience.  

Let Your Guests Know When Their Podcast Episode Is Live

Make sure to email your audience when an episode goes live. 

This is vital as it helps promote your episodes and make your show look professional.  

You can begin by providing a link to their interview and let them know you are tagging them on all your official social media platforms where you can, and thank them for their time and effort in doing the interview.

In the end, request them if they are comfortable enough and won't mind sharing their episode to draw the attention of their listeners too and get more listens on your podcasts. 

Submit to Podcast Aggregators and Directories

A podcast aggregator, also called a podcatcher, is an app that plays podcasts. Some of the most well-known aggregators are

  • Google Play
  • Spotify
  • TuneIn
  • iHeartRadio
  • SoundCloud
  • Podbay
  • Portail
  • Apple podcasts

Create accounts and submit your RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication) to every podcast directory so that all the new episodes will automatically be published to each platform. 

This will introduce you to new audiences as they browse their preferred listening app for new shows to listen to. 

Get Media Exposure With HARO

HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is a service that helps journalists to communicate with authoritative sources. 

By signing up on the platform as a source, media persons or media outlets will reach out to you when they have questions or need comments for articles, TV, or radio. 

They'll quote your content and promote links to your site in exchange.

Promote Relevant Podcasts

There will always be other podcasters probably who have audiences and create content similar to yours. 

Get in touch with those creators and ask to set up cross-promotion techniques. You mention them in your content, and they do the same with you, as simple as that. 

Begin reaching out to podcasts with similar content and audiences of the same size as yours. Let them help you, and you help them in turn.

Prompt Your Listeners to Subscribe, Share and Leave Reviews

Always request your listeners to subscribe, share, and review your podcast at the beginning and end of each episode. 

The best way to position these calls to action is to be authentic instead of forcing them.  

Let your authenticity and hard work speak for you, and let them explain the growth of your podcast. 

Hacking Word-Of-Mouth Recommendations

First, find the right places to spread your message. Find possible places where you can interact with your audience.  

Attend research conferences, meet-ups, or local events in your area that are related to your podcast. 

By doing so, when you reach there, make a plan and make the most of the event. 

Speak your heart out by talking to the event's attendees and speakers. Remember to mention your content on your podcast and how it is related to the reason you're attending the event.

Add Value to Online Communities, Especially on Social Media

There are always thousands of discussions going over every topic under the sun. 

This also includes the topic on which you have based your podcast. So, make sure you give your audience data that they can use in their conversations and thus introduce them to more enthusiastic listeners about the same topic. 

Start with being a part of the ongoing discussion without promoting your show. Try to fit in, and don't hold back vital data you have. 

And when you establish yourself as a part of the community, find the right time to talk about the podcast.

Customize Posts to Each Social Media Channel

The needs of every social media platform are different. People expect different types of content on various platforms. 

Therefore, posting identical social media posts on every platform would be foolish. Customize them so they're attractive everywhere. 

This is where repurposing comes in handy. You can repurpose catchy and attention-grabbing excerpts from your podcasts as little teasers on Youtube. 

You can use the cover art of your podcast to post it on your social media. You can use the audiograms as Youtube shorts and Instagram reels. 

You can customize your posts accordingly and have good know-how about which will work well on which platform and create hype for your podcast.

Run Giveaways on Social Media

Giveaways are great tools to build and thank an audience, even if you only give away a little.  

Create a giveaway event where the winner receives something related to your brand. 

To enter the giveaway, let the people entering your giveaways earn entries by following and sharing your brand and podcasts.

Convert Your Podcast Into a YouTube Video

Great podcast marketing makes your show available in more places and on as many platforms as possible. 

Receive double the exposure from the episodes by repurposing its content for YouTube. The easiest way to upload a podcast to YouTube is to convert the MP3 audio file into an MP4 format. 

Or you can record yourself on a camera while making the podcast. 

Include show notes and links to your website and subscribe links to other listening platforms and social channels in the description. 

Another way that requires more equipment is recording video and audio content as you produce an episode. 

Rather than having a still image on the screen, viewers will see the host talking live as they watch if your podcast has guests over or you have a co-host.

Cut That YouTube Video Into Clips

By repurposing a full episode into a video, try to go back and create shorter 1-3 minute bite-sized audio and video clips. 

This captivates the attention of the viewers who watch your videos and listeners who listen to your podcast. 

Viewers can easily watch these videos, get an idea about what your podcast is about, and decide to listen to your other videos and podcast.

Tease Episodes With Audiograms

An audiogram is a podcast marketing technique to promote your audio content visually. 

It consists of an image, a sound wave, and an audio track. It may also include subtitles. 

This helps attract more users who expect video content from you, apart from your podcast and know that you upload video clips related to your podcast on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Optimize Your Podcast Website for Search

Creating a website for your podcast is important. Every time you upload a new episode, which is made available to every listening app, create a new post on your website. 

The post should have an embedded player, transcriptions, and show notes to make the most significant impact. 

When you create a page, make sure it's optimized around a keyword people search for to find that kind of content, and the best way to do so is by optimizing your website and your podcast for search engines.

Audio SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is used to help audio-specific content rank for search terms on Google. 

The goal is to get audio content to show up on Google's first Search Engine Results Page for particular keywords. 

Google realizes the need for audio SEOs. Starting in mid-2019, it began scanning audio files for relevance, making it more convenient for podcasts and content marketing, thus making audio crawling possible.

Create a Dedicated Podcast Landing Page

Make sure to create a landing page for potential listeners to explore. 

The landing page should focus on getting people to listen to your show. Load it with information to help them make that decision, such as:

  • Description of your show.
  • Purpose of your show
  • Positive testimonials/quotes from listeners or influential people about your show.
  • Links to the recent episodes.
  • Buttons to subscribe to your podcast wherever it is listed.

Add Links to Your Email Signature

Add links in your email signature to places people can download or listen to your podcast. 

It would help if you also tried including a link or two to your most popular or listened-to episodes. 

This one-time easy setup makes a good impact even though it is less effective than social media.

Purchase Paid Ads

Paid ads are great ways to collect traffic by communicating with your target audience. There are two ways to go about this:

  • Purchase ads that link to your podcast's landing page. 
  • Purchase ads that link to individual episodes. 

Some of the best ways to do so are using Facebook and Google ads. 

Facebook ads are shown to people whose interests align with your target. Through Facebook Ads, you can get many targeted listeners for your show if you set up your campaigns correctly.

And this can lead to loyal listeners who will leave reviews and tell their friends about the show.

Google AdWords is simple. You buy ads on Google for terms people search, like your podcast's main topic. When searchers click on an ad, they are taken to your podcast website.

Leverage Influencer Marketing

It is the method of using influential people to promote your podcast to new audiences. 

You need to find someone with a following that also happens to be your target audience, and you reach out to them and build a mutual and consensual partnership to promote your podcast in exchange for perks or a certain amount. 

This technique requires some reciprocity and agreement. Therefore, you may have to give them a shout-out on your show, free products, or some monetary compensation. 

Every influencer has their own choice, so be ready for what they can demand from you.

Don’t Forget About the Back Catalog

Your back catalog is full of exciting content and the perfect way to attract new subscribers. 

Remember to add a recap of your previous podcast to make it easier for old listeners to catch up and provide new ones with context, so they feel included. 

Furthermore, consider linking to them in the show notes to make it easy for the listener to find them.

FAQs: How to Promote Your Podcast

How do I promote my podcast in 2022?

To promote your podcast in 2022, you need to do the following things:

  • Choose Your Platforms Strategically. 
  • Build Out Your Profile.
  • Create Valuable Content. 
  • Create a Social Media Content Calendar. 
  • Engage with Your Audience. 
  • Promote Your Podcast.

How do I get people to promote my podcast?

You can get people to promote your podcast by doing the following.

  • Encourage reviews from your listeners
  • Share your podcast on social media
  • Repurpose your podcast as a YouTube video
  • Prepare three or more episodes for your podcast launch
  • Host a contest to get reviews and subscribers
  • Enroll in HARO
  • Buy paid ads.

How can I promote my podcast without social media?

You can use word of mouth or ask your collaborators and fellow podcasters whom you mentioned in your podcast to tell and spread awareness about your podcast.

How do I promote my podcast with ads?

You can use Facebook ads or Google AdWords to promote your podcast using ads.

What is the best platform to advertise a podcast?

The top Platforms for Promoting a Podcast are Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, YouTube, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, Libsyn, and Buzzsprout. 

Conclusion: How to Promote Your Podcast

The podcast scene is at a point in time when there is an incredible level of content available for people to consume. 

This article focuses on leveraging the power of podcast marketing strategies to get yourself heard and promote your show. 

Most people fail to acknowledge that promoting a podcast is as important as making the podcast. 

But both of them require an equal level of hard work and patience. Given above are a few ways in which you can promote your podcast and how to make it engaging, be it content creation or promotion.

Written By
Ankita

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