11 Strategies to Market Your Podcast in 2020
Thinking of starting a podcast? In this blog post, we’ll show you why this can be a great channel to add to your marketing campaigns, and then walk you through 14 of the best strategies to market your podcast for 2020 and beyond.
Why Start a Podcast
According to recent data, there are about 850,000 total active podcasts available across multiple channels and platforms.
Compared to the 31 million channels on YouTube, this positions podcasting as an excellent marketing channel for your business – plus, podcast listeners are reportedly more educated and wealthier, with nearly half of all total podcast listeners being college graduates and earning a net income of $250,000 annually.
What this means for your business is a market that is able to appreciate and recognize your expertise in your niche while also having higher propensity to spend on your products or services.
Though there are far less podcast marketers than there are video marketers, the challenge of growing an engaged and high-converting listenership still stands. So how do you successfully market a podcast in 2020 to help grow your business?
Let’s take a look at these 11 best strategies.
11 Best Strategies to Market Your Podcast in 2020
- Create a dedicated podcast site or page
- Distribute your podcast across as many platforms
- Optimize for SEO
- Repurpose content into videos, images, and blog posts
- Turn podcast episodes into YouTube videos
- Update your email marketing templates
- New podcast? Use the two-week ratings rule
- Mention other businesses and entrepreneurs in your episodes
- Invite more noteworthy guests over time
- Give podcast guests promotional content for their episode
- Get yourself on other people’s podcasts
Create a dedicated podcast site or page
By giving your podcast a home in the digital space, you can curate all your episodes and content in one streamlined place. Your podcast page or site should contain all the important information that interested listeners need to be able to hit Subscribe.
While many podcast listeners use smartphone apps to access episodes, it’s best practice to host your individual episodes together with some show notes that are search engine-optimized. If you use WordPress, you can either find or develop a theme that makes sure your audio content is front and center, like in the example below.
Turn each episode into its own blog post highlighting your audio.
Distribute your podcast across as many platforms
As podcasting has grown in popularity, several podcast platforms have emerged. Some popular podcast streaming services include Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and now even mega music-streaming service Spotify. To make sure you’re reaching as many of your target customers as possible, aim to publish your podcast episodes across as many platforms as possible.
One simple way to do this is using Anchor.fm, which automatically distributes your content to several different platforms all at once.
List of Anchor.fm’s supported podcasting platforms for its one-click distribution feature
Optimize for SEO
Even if people have never heard of your podcast, optimizing your podcast for search engines makes sure you can reach potential audiences who might be looking for content like yours.
The easiest way to optimize for search is optimizing your podcast title and episodes to include keywords your target audience might use when looking for new podcasts or episodes. Sprinkle in specific keywords in your episode descriptions and show notes.
An example of results from search term “small business” on Apple Podcasts
Repurpose content into videos, images, and blog posts
After publishing your podcast episodes, actively promote them across different platforms by repurposing your content. Not only does this let you reach your audience in other channels they frequent, but it also frontloads more content ideas for your marketing calendar.
Here are a few ideas for repurposing podcast episodes:
- Turn notable quotes into quote graphics for social media
- Create a short blog post about a recent podcast topic you published
- Make infographics that highlight main points in your podcast episodes
- Chop full episodes into soundbites and publish them as social media videos
Turn podcast episodes into YouTube videos
We mentioned SEO in the previous few sections, but this step takes your search engine strategy even further. While Google is currently implementing ways to make podcasts easier to find on search, it’s important to note that video is still favored over audio content when a user types in a certain keyword phrase.
So unless the user types in “podcast” in their search query, your podcast might not show up as a search result. One way to make the most of Google’s preference to video: turn your podcasts into videos you upload to YouTube.
Image source: The Verge
Update your email marketing templates
If you’ve already started building your email list, make sure your audience knows about your podcast by updating your email templates to link out to your show.
So even if you send newsletters that aren’t promoting new podcast episodes, you can still promote awareness with a button or dedicated section.
Link to your podcast in your email footers. (Image source: Hook Agency)
New podcast? Use the two-week ratings rule
If you haven’t launched your podcast yet, you have a great chance to reach a wide sea of listeners by getting on Apple Podcasts’ New and Noteworthy section.
To get featured on this page, you need to show Apple your podcast is gaining traction even when it’s brand new – and for Apple, this means getting a ton of downloads and reviews in the first two weeks your podcast goes live.
Here’s how you can get the most downloads and reviews in your first two weeks:
- Upload 4-8 episodes for your podcast launch. This way, users can listen to more than one episode that show off your expertise, boosting your chances to get more subscribers and downloads right away.
- Make every CTA to leave a review on iTunes. You can incentivize your existing audience by offering a freebie or perk if they leave a review once your podcast goes live.
Mention other businesses and entrepreneurs in your episodes
Sometimes you can get a free shoutout from notable people in your niche by talking about them or their brand on your podcast. You can email them or send them a link on their social media accounts to tell them exactly how you used them as an example for your podcast. If they liked what you said, they might just share the episode to their network.
Invite more noteworthy guests over time
As time goes on, you want to invite guests to your podcast who can add high value for listeners. This is a win for everyone: you get access to your guests’ audience when they share their interview to their network, your guest can reach your audience, and listeners can hear from extremely knowledgeable people on your podcast.
Give podcast guests promotional content for their episode
As best practice when doing outreach marketing and getting in front of other people’s audiences, make it as easy as possible for your podcast guests to share their episode.
Share with them your social media posts, image quotes, relevant links to listen, show notes, and even optional copy that they can share to their own email lists or social media.
Get yourself on other people’s podcasts
Aim to get interviewed on other people’s podcasts to broaden your reach and build up your following. These are some things you should prepare when making a pitch to get on someone’s podcast:
- Pitch 1-2 topics you can talk about in your episode. If it’s a similar topic to any episode the host has done before, explain what will make your episode different.
- Promote yourself. Podcast hosts need to know why you’re worth including as a guest. Show them your website, notable features you’ve done, and link to any video or podcasts interviews you’ve already done so they have a feel of how you speak and deliver.
- Make it easy for them to reach out to you. Consider including a link to your calendar or asking for theirs for when you can book your recording session together.
Always include a Leave a Review CTA
As your podcast grows, encourage new listeners to leave a review by mentioning this in each episode. Explain how leaving a review will help your show get discovered by more people who need help in your niche, and even consider incentivizing reviews through a contest or exclusive freebie.
Your Turn
If you’re ready to become one of the top podcasters in your niche to get more leads and sales, look no further than this guide to market your podcast in 2020 and beyond. But remember your content comes first, so focus on producing high-quality episodes before anything else. Once you do, you can rest assured your podcast marketing strategy ROI scales itself.
