10 unique ways to promote your podcast
10 unique ways to promote your podcast
You've made the leap and decided to start a podcast - congratulations! Creating a podcast comes with lots of decision-making, from choosing a podcast topic to deciding on the format, episode-length, structure and style.
Once those all-important decisions have been made and your podcast finally comes to life, you can turn your efforts to marketing it!
The podcast market is incredibly saturated, with thousands of different niches and creators. Promoting your podcast will help you to get more listeners and ensure your content reaches far and wide! Let's take a look at some unique ways to promote your podcast.
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How to promote your podcast
1. Harness your guests' audience
As well as enriching your content and providing expert information, hosting a guest speaker on your podcast is a great way to gain new listeners. Fans and subscribers of your guest speaker will tune into your podcast to listen to your guest - and if they like it, they may well stick around.
Bring in guests with a similar niche to your own and encourage them to share the episode with their audience afterwards - you could even provide them with content and assets so that the hard work is done for them. Even better if your guest has a large fanbase!
2. Share your podcast on social media
Social media is one of the best places to promote your podcast for free. For maximum visibility, we'd recommend sharing your podcast across as many platforms as possible. Facebook. Twitter. Instagram. YouTube. TikTok. The list goes on!
If you don't have time to harness the power of every single channel, consider your target audience and which one or two channels will be the most beneficial for your podcast.
3. Speak with journalists to build authority
If you have a podcast, you probably have an area of expertise. And sites like HARO and Terkel are looking for just that - experts. These sites will match you with a journalist who may be looking for expert quotes in your niche, and you could be just the person to help them.
Getting featured in a magazine, newspaper, or blog is a great way to build your authority, develop connections, and reach a wider audience.
4. Listen to what your audience is saying
Your listeners are your biggest motivation, so every podcasting decision you make should be for them. Sites like Mention and Google Alerts help you follow topics related to your podcast on forums such as Reddit or Quora.
Being clued up on what your listeners are saying helps your podcast stay relevant. You can talk about up-to-date topics that your audience is actively engaging in.
5. Host your podcast on multiple platforms
Everyone has a favorite platform for hosting, but bear in mind that your listeners will also have their own favorite platform, which may not necessarily be the same as yours. To increase your audience, it helps to host your podcasts on multiple platforms. Popular podcasting platforms include:
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Apple Podcasts
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Google Podcasts
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Spotify
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Stitcher
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Soundcloud
You can also upload your podcast to YouTube for those who prefer a visual element. Simply record your podcast with video, and remember to optimize your video titles and descriptions to help your video rank higher.
6. Create a website for your podcast
Every reputable podcast is backed up by a website, and it's a great opportunity to showcase more about yourself and your skills. Hire someone to create your website for you or have a go at creating your own; there are plenty of free online themes you can use.
Most importantly, your website should be SEO-friendly. The higher it ranks on Google and other popular search engines, the more your podcast will get noticed. Brush up on Google's rules to make sure you're maximizing your chances of ranking.
You could also upload podcast transcriptions to your website to generate more traffic and improve accessibility.
Find out more about optimizing your podcast for SEO.
7. Cross-promote your podcast
Having a guest speaker is one way to cross-promote your podcast, but if you want to target as many new listeners as possible, try collaborating with other podcast hosts. These can take the form of:
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Paying other podcast hosts of a similar niche to mention your podcast
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Creating an advertisement that can be played on other podcasts
These ads will introduce your podcast to a new targeted audience who may then go on to subscribe.
8. Partner with brands who have a similar audience
Similarly, you can create a mutually beneficial relationship with brands who have a similar audience to you. If your podcast is in the cooking niche, for example, partnering with a cookware brand will help you to reach a new audience who are likely to be interested in your podcast.
Often, the brand will reach out to the podcast host to discuss a partnership. But while that's usually the case, there's nothing stopping you from reaching out to create that partnership yourself.
9. Promote your podcast through newsletters
Email marketing is one of the more traditional forms of marketing - and it's stood the test of time for a reason!
Use a website like MailChimp to send emails to subscribers and check stats, such as how many of your subscribers opened the email, how many link clicks were made and so on. Email marketing is a great way to boost your listenership.
Try sending out a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly newsletter to promote your podcast . But try not to go overboard, as people often unsubscribe if they're receiving too many emails.
10. Get your podcast featured on listings
The more mentions your podcast gets, the better. So try getting your name out there through high-ranking websites. A quick Google search will bring up plenty of 'the best podcasts for...' articles. Simply find the articles ranking highest in your niche and ask the author if yours can be included in the list.
For example, if your podcast specializes in knitting tips, then search for articles along the lines of 'the best knitting podcasts' or 'the best arts and crafts podcasts'. The most popular articles will come up first in your Google search - and while page owners may not always get back to you, it's worth a shot!
There are plenty of ways to promote your podcast and gain new listeners, many of which you don't need a fully-fledged marketing team for.
If you'd like to try transcribing your podcast as a means of promoting it - whether that's as an article on your website, or trimmed down for quotes to share on social media or with journalists - then check out our guide on how to transcribe a podcast.
Written By Katie Garrett and Irina Serdyukovskaya