In the exact same way as any business endeavor, creating a successful podcast is all about settling on a niche, creating the product and the promoting it successfully – and to the right people.
Typically, you will not have the necessary funds for top promotion at the outset, but you should make it a goal to eventually accrue them. By the time you do, you could find that having already broadcasted your podcast for a while will have allowed you to hone your niche, meaning you will have a better product to present to potential listeners by the time you have the funds to really start promoting your podcast.
Or it could be that you have the funds right at the start. Podcasting isn’t just for individuals. In fact, it is often done by companies – usually ecommerce companies – and hosted on their site.
These companies are in pretty enviable position, in that the goods they sell already suggest a niche and an area of expertise, and the customers visiting the site already gives them a listener base right from the off.
For example, Plurawl are a company specializing in Spanish T-shirts and prints reflecting American Latino culture and aimed at American Latino communities. Accordingly, they have started a Latino podcast, one with a listener base, a clear niche and expertise on the part of the presenters. Promotion is therefore more effective.
The Importance of a Promotion Strategy
However, even for companies in this enviable position, a proper promotion strategy cannot be neglected. Podcasting has been a phenomenon on our digital airwaves for some time now, and there are tried-and-true promotion strategies new podcasters can defer to. A proper promotion strategy is the way to consolidate podcast success, or to find it in the first place.
But what does podcast promotion involve? It shares a lot in common with digital marketing, in that much of the promotion is online. Podcasts are only digital (they are not normally broadcasted on the radio) and so any potential listener is also likely to be a fairly active internet user. So podcast promotion strategies are normally in line with other forms of digital marketing.
As always though, a clear idea of who the listeners are and what they are interested in cannot be dispensed with.
Podcast Promotion Strategies
Here follows some podcast promotion strategies you can follow right from the start:
Get Visual
Podcasts arean audio-only format, but any marketing for them is going to be primarily visual. Yes, excerpts from the podcast, jingles and audio information can be conveyed as part of the video, but you are going to require a solidgraphic design to promote your podcast.
Use Specific Targeting
One of the great benefits of digital marketing is that it can be specifically targeted to different internet users. This is necessary because there needs to be a way of narrowing down the billions of people the internet allows you to connect with. On social media sites, you can target users of specific age groups, interest fields, and behaviors.
Employ SEO
Any ad that has text can be optimized for SEO. This means picking the right keywords for your audience. Specifically, this means representing what are known as pain points, specific things the audience might need help with or wants in order to help them solve a problem. If your podcast can help these people answer those problems, then this should be reflected in the SEO keywords.
Promotion is something every podcast needs to do in order to grow. Luckily, as time goes on, marketing can be continually polished in line with what your podcasts specifically offers.
