Podcast Marketing 2024 Ultimate Guide
Grow your podcast audience with these podcast marketing, advertising, and promotional tips.
The information and ideas below were collected from online forums, Facebook groups, Reddit posts, discussions with podcasters, attending podcast conferences, reading books, and more. We hope you find it useful in helping you grow your podcast listening audience.
Content is King
- Create engaging content. Do something that interests you or something you're passionate about. This will keep your enthusiasm high and will prevent you from podfading.
- Ideally create a show on a niche topic. Podcasts with general topics like pop-culture or comedy have a lot of competition so you're better off niching down. The deeper knowledge you have on that topic or the greater access to guests you have in that space will help to determine your podcast success.
- Make sure your content provides value, is informative or is entertaining.
- Increase your publishing frequency. The more episodes you can produce the better. Each episode you produce creates new possibilities of reaching more audience, which leads to more impressions, which leads to more ad revenue. But don't water down your content just to increase your publishing frequency. Always make sure your content will be engaging.
- Consistency pays off. Make sure to publish new episodes on the same day each week or same time each month. Your audience is depending on you and will expect new episodes to drop on those days This builds trust with your listening audience.
- Give it time. Ideally publish 20+ episodes and try to commit to it for at least 6-months. Any less time and you probably won't see results.
- Create the right format for your show and automate. Once you figure out the show format and outline that works best for you, stick to this and batch process. Batch Process! Many podcast pros will record 5-10 episodes during one day.
- Find the right length for your show and stick to this. Don't publish one episode that's 15 minutes in length and another that's over an hour. Your listeners have set aside the right amount of time and don't want any surprises.
- Review which podcast episodes have generated the most downloads and try to make more content like this or have similar type guests.
- Create a catchy intro and outro. But don't make these too long, 10-seconds is plenty long.
- If your show allots for it, create a mailbag segment. Listeners love hearing listeners' questions and of course love the possibility of their question being answered. This segment can increase engagement and gives you a chance to interact with your audience.
- Having popular guests on the show is a great way to increase exposure. Be sure to have the guest promote the episode to their social media following. Even better, create a shareable link and send it to them so they can instantly share it.
- If your podcast is an "interview" type show, do research on your guest and ask really good questions. Nobody wants to hear the same questions that were asked on the previous podcasts they were on. Dig into their background and ask relatable questions. Also don't be afraid to keep digging, like you ask one question and follow-up with what else? Sometimes the juicy stuff won't come out until the 3 pause or break from the same question. Doing research on your guest will please them as they will be excited to answer new questions they've never received before. This is what creates great content.
- And of course your audio quality should be good. Check your sound levels and use a professional microphone that will give you optimal results. You can find pro grade microphones on the market these days for less than $100.
Quick Wins That Really Work
- Spruce up your album art. Think your album art is great? Ask a few of your friends for feedback. There are a ton of resources to help you find a graphic designer to help you design your album art. Check Fiverr, Design Pickle, 99 Designs, Podcast Forums, and other resources.
- Tell your audience to subscribe to your podcast on iTunes. The more people that subscribe to your show, the better you rank on iTunes. It's that simple. Now accumulating reviews on iTunes is helpful in regards to other listeners vetting out your show, but it doesn't help so much with Apple's ranking system. So make sure to focus first on getting subscribers and then reviews.
- To get reviews faster, you could mention a goal for your listeners. Like once we reach 1,000 subscribers, we'll host a live public event in X City. So be sure to subscribe.
- One way to get more reviews is to ask your audience to rate and review your show on iTunes. Select a winner each month from an iTunes review and giveaway a set of headphones, iTunes Gift Card, AirPods, etc. Read a few of your iTunes reviews on air. People will be encouraged to leave their own review to hear it read live on your show.
- Ask your audience to share your show with others. Referrals are still one of the most popular ways people discover new podcasts.
- One more thing you can mention at the end of your episodes is if anyone would like to advertiser or sponsor my/our show, please check out this website link (your listing on Libsyn Ads) or email ad-sales@libsyn.com for more information.
Marketing Tactics
- Mention keywords or guest names first in episode titles. These perform better in Apple's Podcast keyword search results. For instance Tim Cook with Apple - Episode 50 is a lot better than Episode 50 - Tim Cook with Apple.
- Try tweaking your keywords in your podcast title. Make sure to use specific keywords or phrases you want to capture in iTunes. But note these keywords or phrases shouldn't be too broad or too specific. Ideally somewhere right in the middle. You could use a keyword planner tool like Google's that will tell you how many monthly impressions a specific keyword or phrase has.
- Include one or two specific keywords in your podcast title that you want new listeners in iTunes to capture from search results. The key here is 1-2 keywords, don't over do it. You should instantly see a lift from this within one week.
- Another trick here is to see what other related keywords iTunes suggests you search for at the bottom of the search query and use these in your episode titles too. Or a pro trick would be to actually create content in new episodes that captures these new suggested keywords.
- Make sure to include ALL of your episodes in iTunes. Helps you get discovered and generates more downloads across your full back catalog.
- Make sure you add your podcast to Google Play. It takes just a few minutes to sign up and it's becoming more important as Google is now indexing episodes right in search results. So when you have your podcast added to Google Play, your episodes will show right up in search results like this.
- Write great episode titles and headlines that will attract new listeners. For instance: Top Hacks by Podcast Pros to Grow Your Listening Audience will outperform Great Ways to Grow Your Listener Base.
- Mention your podcast name and website link in the signature area of your emails and posts.
- Publish your episodes to all major podcast platforms including iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Stitcher.
- Repurpose your audio on your YouTube Channel. The goal is to get your content everywhere.
- Have TikTok influencers promote your podcast. Host a prize contest for which TikTok influencer can bring over the most listeners each month?
- Get some business cards printed with your podcast information on them. Leave these in public bathrooms, doctor's waiting rooms, mall cafeteria tables, windshields of cars in parking lots, public bathrooms, etc. Get the word out!
- Implement an Apple Smart Banner on your podcast website. It's surprisingly simple just add the following tag in your site's <head>: <meta name="apple-itunes-app" content="app-id=XXXXXXXXXX"> Where XXXXXXXXXX is your show's unique numerical ID.
- Use a tool called SmarterQueue to help schedule posts so you can spend less time trying to come up with content on the spot. This tool also saves you time when it comes to promoting via social media.
- Claim your podcast on Podcoin. You will be featured in the "Bonus" section of their app, getting you in front of new listeners!
- Make sure your podcast shows up in Google search results. Optimize your podcast and podcast episodes for SEO and Google search page rank. Learn More. Google recently updated search results for Android users that allows users to listen and subscribe to podcasts right within search results. This is a great way for you to get discovered from Google search results. Learn More
Paid Advertising Works
- Advertise on Overcast. Our friend David Kadavy went into great detail on how this works in his blog post.
- Promote your podcast on Facebook. Choose an audience that matches your target listener base and run a test campaign.
- Advertise on Google Adwords. Find cheap keywords or phrases that relate to your show and perform a campaign on these.
- Run ads and target groups and people on LinkedIn that may be interested in your content.
- Advertise on billboards! Yes, billboards. People that see billboards are commuting to and from work each day. Great audience to get your podcast in front of. We love using blip which offers an affordable solution. For just $20/day you get 527 blips/day!
- Grow your audience by having similar podcasts recommend your show to their audience. Learn More
- Purchase banner ads on Listen Notes. This can be an effective way to get your podcast out to new listeners as this platform focuses on podcast content
- Also there are some free ways to promote your show on Listen Notes. After you claim your show, you can post classified ads and they'll tweet out a written interview you do with them. You can find out more from bullet #6.
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Ask Others
- Reach out to Facebook groups and hit up the moderators. Ask them if they would be interested in being a guest on your show. More than likely they will take you up on the offer. After the episode airs, see if they would be so kind to share it with their Facebook group. Works like a charm!
- Invite guests in your niche that are not super popular or celebrity status. They will do a better job promoting the episode on their social channels than a popular celebrity. This will lead to more exposure for you. Make it easy for them by tweeting it out and mentioning them within the tweet.
- Be a guest on similar type podcasts. This is one of the best ways to drive new listeners to your show. With you being an industry knowledge expert and bringing this information over.
- Find people that are experts in your field. This content will be instantly engaging.
- Give your audience 1-2 post-roll calls-to-action. The key here is to make the call-to-action super easy to remember. This can be done by sending them to a memorable URL or having them text a short code to a number that will instantly send them information.
- Ask your audience what topics, guests, or show ideas would interest them.
- Visit online places where your audience goes. Find web forums, online hangouts, Facebook groups, subreddits, and get involved here. Join these communities and build trust.
- Find podcasts similar to yours and ask the host if they would be open to cross promoting each others' shows. Find similar podcasts to promote your podcast. You can also try using Libsyn Ads to facilitate this.
- Run RSS drops on other shows! What is this? This is when you place an episode of your podcast on another podcast feed. Choose a show similar to yours and see if they're willing to swap RSS drops. Great effective way to help other listeners discover your podcast.
- Ask to be featured on Pocket Casts. Pocket Casts has a featured section that will get your podcast in front of thousands of new listeners.
Utilize Social Media Marketing
- Engage with your audience or community on all social channels. This includes your Facebook page, your Facebook timeline, your Facebook story, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and more.
- Create a Facebook group that allows you to interact with your audience.
- Create a Twitter account that gives you an outlet to share things you're doing and also interesting things going on in your space. Share the audio of the episode on a Twitter card.
- Follow similar shows or people/businesses in your space on Twitter. Retweet their content. Make sure your Twitter profile has your podcast info and link.
- Post a screenshot of each episode to your Instagram feed. Then link to your podcast from your profile.
- Create engaging video snippets of your episodes and post these on your social media channels including Instagram and LinkedIn.
- Create an audiogram (animated waveform visually representing your audio clip) and post this to your social channels.
- Share small audio clips of your podcast episodes. Overcast has a great clip sharing feature to help you with this.
- Use a service like Chartable to post one easy link to your episode(s). Chartable figures out what podcast player they're using and will route them to it. And it also tracks all the clicks and downloads that result from your post.
Build out your Personal Brand and Website
- Create a home (website) where new listeners can find you. Most probably won't discover you from a podcast app/player, they will find out about you from a web search or referral from a friend. This means it's important to have multiple sources of content or repurpose your content for audio, a blog/episode show notes on your site, and even a video you can place on YouTube. The more exposure you have across multiple channels, the better chances new people will discover you.
- Create show notes for each episode on your website. Why? Google is now displaying your show notes information on their Google Podcast player page. Example 1: Google Player taken from Show Notes Page, Example 2: Google Player taken from Show Notes Page, Example 3: Google Player taken from Show Notes Page. So it makes even more sense to start creating show notes for your episodes as new listeners/users will find your podcast in Google search results based on related key words and search phrases.
- Post detailed episode show note pages on your website. This is great for SEO and great for attracting new subscribers.
- Be sure to mention how advertisers and sponsors can advertise on your show. Ideally in your show notes give them a link to your Libsyn Ads listing so they can get in touch with us!
Other Ideas
- Attend conferences and trade shows that relate to your podcast. Bring a stack of business cards to hand out as your network and meet people. You even could go so far as to renting out your own booth or being a sponsor of the conference.
- Run contests or giveaways for people that leave a review, subscribe or call-in. You could give away podcast swag or mention their review on air.
- Attend local meetups or events in your niche to raise awareness of your show.
- Join a podcast network that specializes in your content niche.
- Submit press releases to local media sources. Local newspapers and TV networks love to feature stories like this. The space is new and hip and they want to cover it.