How to build a profitable podcast.
Just like any other great content, podcasts need to be promoted to gain a following. Here’s how to do it RIGHT!
NOTE - if you want AI to write your podcast assets for you, you can sign up to a Freemium plan to Abney (Podcast AI) here 🤓
Let's welcome our guest writer Clarissa Castillo!
Like all content, a podcast needs to be promoted in order to be successful. Even the best podcast in the world won’t just magically attract a massive following. Before people can start tuning into your episodes while they tidy up the house or telling all their friends about their new favorite show, they need to hear about your podcast somewhere.
These days, that happens largely online. That’s why we’re here to provide some pro tips on how to grow your podcast using digital marketing!
So, what are the best strategies and tips for growing your podcast audience through digital marketing? Keep reading to find out!
This is a must. Not only does a website provide a central place for users to find everything they need related to your podcast, but it also serves as a Homebase for the digital assets that you can share and optimize for search (more on that in Tip 2).
Podcasts are easy to find on all the major platforms, from Spotify to Apple Podcasts and more. So what’s the value of having a website? Well, a website dedicated entirely to your podcast lets you provide users with more information, a clearer picture of your personal brand, and a wider variety of types of content related to your episodes.
Use your podcast’s website to tell users the story of how your podcast got started and why it exists. Include BTS photos or video clips of your recording sessions. Create a store page where you can sell merch related to your podcasts. With a website, you can offer your users a whole range of experiences that aren’t possible on a podcast platform alone.
SEO - search engine optimization - is a cornerstone of digital marketing. Podcasts are a form of content, and that means they can (and should) be optimized for search engines. A website dedicated to your podcast provides a wealth of pages and content to optimize. This brings us to our next tip…
Just like any other type of digital content, podcasts need to be optimized for search engines so that people can find them organically when searching for their next new favorite show.
The search takes a couple of different forms when it comes to podcasts. Podcasts are typically featured on at least one if not all of the major platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, etc. These platforms have built-in search functions that allow users to easily find new podcasts according to the subject, category, network, etc. So, part of your podcast SEO strategy should include optimizing your podcast according to the features of each of the platforms where you choose to host your show.
For example:
However, you should also use SEO outside of the platforms where you host your show. One of the best assets in this regard is your podcast’s website, discussed in Tip 1. Follow the SEO best practices below to optimize your website:
Basically, extend the SEO best practices you are likely already using for your organization’s marketing strategy to your podcast promotion efforts.
Lastly, to optimize your podcast for Google Search you should always publish your episode transcripts somewhere on your website. There are a few reasons why this is important but the most important is that it makes your content more accessible for those who are deaf or hard of hearing. Transcribing your conversation not only allows persons with hearing disabilities the opportunity to consume your content but also gives those who prefer to read the opportunity as well. Surprisingly enough, first-time visitors prefer to read your content before they begin to listen to gauge the quality.
Another benefit of transcribing your podcast conversations is the SEO boost that may come along with it. This allows search engines to read your podcast and potentially show it to searchers who may be looking for your content. A study by This American Life found that publishing their podcast transcriptions helped increase inbound traffic by 4.36% while traffic from organic search increased by nearly 7%.
As always, social media is your best friend when it comes to online promotion. Create a profile for your podcast on the major social media platforms, namely Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn if your podcast is professional in theme. Fill out your profile with a relevant, engaging profile picture, write a clear description that includes hashtags and keywords relevant to your target audience, and use your profile to share interesting content related to your episodes, in addition to promoting new episodes every time they’re released.
Video and soundbite-related content has become a critical factor in the growth of podcasts. Recording your podcasts allows you to cut digestible snippets of conversations and reshare them on social media. To make your life easy, just create all of your design templates beforehand so all you need to do is import the video and audio. The great thing about this strategy is that it’s a relatively low effort! You’re already recording, whether it’s video or strictly audio, so the only step left is to chop it up and press publish on social media!
Here’s a great example of what your design templates can look like for social media.
Finally, don’t forget to format all of your social media content for each of the respective channels like Instagram Reels, TikTok, and YouTube.
Email marketing is still a highly useful promotion tool when done right. Use an existing email list or create a new one based on your organization’s audience, then include links to your podcast episodes and website in your marketing emails. This is another important channel for sharing your podcast and engaging content related to it.
Don’t forget the value of paid ads! If you have the ad spend to spare, putting it into a few well-placed paid ads can be a great investment for your podcast. Align your paid ads strategy with your SEO and other digital marketing efforts to create a seamless, holistic promotion strategy for your show.
The sixth and final tip we have to offer is to use content marketing! Earlier we mentioned you should be transcribing all of your podcast conversations but this time we mean to write a blog post or series of blog posts about topics covered in the podcast. Luckily you’ve already completed the hard work of ideating a topic, now you just need to repurpose it into a blog post.
By creating a blog post around your podcast episode, you give yourself a better shot at ranking within Google Search and you make it easy for those visitors who prefer to read. Additionally, since it’s formatted as a readable blog post you open your podcast up to people who would like to backlink to it or share your content on social media.
Technically, digital marketing only caters to acquiring customers online. But this leaves out the massive audience out in the real, physical world. This is why you need a bridge between the two. A free QR code generator will get users onto your podcast and then digital marketing takes over from there. Most QR code tools provide deep analytics that enable you to retarget the audience that scanned your QR code.
Hopefully, your initial marketing push will win you more than a handful of new listeners, but as with much digital marketing, podcast promotion is an ongoing effort. After all, you can never have too big an audience! Once you’ve launched your promotional strategy, follow the tips below to ensure ongoing success:
Get to know your audience. A podcast is nothing without its listeners, so use your platform to really engage with them. Keep getting to know their interests so that you can not only create original content that caters to them but also promote your podcast in the places where interested listeners are most likely to find you.
Monitor results and make adjustments as needed. Analytics and monitoring are key components of any promotional marketing strategy, and podcasts are no different. Once you’ve begun promoting your podcast, monitor results and use your insights to tweak and improve your efforts.
There you have it - a basic guide on how to grow your podcast with digital marketing. Most podcasts don’t just become an overnight success without any promotion behind them. So you’ll need to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. Luckily, we did most of the thinking for you! And, because a good amount of all the leg work is completed when you press record on your podcast, the rest of your podcast marketing efforts are just repurposing your work.
So, get to it! New listeners await!
