Podcasting Marketing Strategy summary

All top podcasts have one thing in common – they have engaged audiences. What is engagement, you ask? Simple. It means folks share your content and talk to each other about your show. 

But here’s where things get trickier. With so much listener data out there, it’s hard to figure out what the numbers are telling you. In this blink, we’ll be looking at how you can start engaging your audience.

Right – you’ve got your podcast up and running. That’s the most important step, but there’s still a long way to go. What you need now is a fanbase. But how do you translate your idea into a large and loyal audience of eager listeners?  

Let’s talk about discoverability, or how easy it is for folks to find you. Discovery depends on factors like keywords and search engine optimization. If a person searches for your topic, you want to show up near the top of their list. For that to happen, you’ll need a good web page. 

How fast can you grow? How do you get more than a trickle of new listeners? Are keywords and a web presence really enough? Of course not. To really build your audience, you have to take things to the next level. 

Let’s talk about branding. The start of your show needs to make a good impression. The title, artwork, and a polished audio introduction will give a professional feel that will act like the cover of a book. It should be clear what the show is about from the get-go. Any audio element should be to-the-point so as not to sound monotonous to returning listeners.

So you have a great concept, you know what format would be perfect for providing value to your listeners, and you have guests lined up who will help you grow your audience. So far, so good. Now it’s time to make sure your show sounds great. In this blink, we’ll show you how.

Getting the right sound for your show isn’t exactly rocket science, but there are a lot of choices to make. The trick is to pick the setup that works for you rather than a generic one-size-fits-all solution. This takes a bit of analysis, and a willingness to splash out on quality tech if you can. 

You have your podcast all planned out. Maybe you have two hosts with great chemistry. You have some recordings, and have started putting them together.  

Is everything on message and applicable to what you set out to create for your listeners? What about that topic that went nowhere? Or that dud interview?

Where does your podcast live? In your podcast app, right? But where is it coming from when you click on it?

You need an RSS feed, and you also need web space to which to upload your files. You can host your own files, but this can get expensive due to bandwidth limitations. If a 30MB file is downloaded thousands of times, it can quickly add up, leading to unexpected bills from your provider.

Time, as they say, is money. When you’ve put so much effort into your podcast and you’re giving your audience consistent value, they’ll keep coming back again and again. That means it’s easy to make money out of your show, right?

Well, it depends. Not all podcasts are monetized, and money isn’t always the ultimate goal. That said, there are always overheads. Equipment, hosting, websites – everything you need to keep your podcast running has a price. In this blink, we’ll wrap things up by looking at how you can cover your investment and generate revenue.