🤹♀️ 4.5 things everyone wants to know about podcast marketing 🪄
🤸♀️Podcast marketing: let's have some fun. 🌈
At Tink, Lauren and Arielle conduct Podcast Therapy sessions: quick fire consultations which focus on the podcasts’ most immediate goals and how to accomplish them. Podcast marketing (basically promotion and growth of the show) reigns supreme in these conversations. We dug into our notes to find and answer the nine podcast marketing questions commonly asked during these sessions. Nine podcast marketing questions commonly asked during these sessions is too long for one newsletter. So we’re sharing 4.5 now and you’ll get the rest next week.
Stats from last week:
Subscribers: 1,654
Views: 2,125
Open rate: 57%
Click rate: 22%
🥇 If you take one thing from this newsletter 🥇
In podcasting, collaboration is more valuable than competition. There are more than 4 million podcasts in the world. Even as everyone and their uncle seems to have a podcast, this industry does a wondrous thing: it makes space for one more. So when you’re thinking about growing your podcast, think collaboration and not competition.
Now, let’s get to it!
What’s your best advice for growing a show from nothing? (Can’t set up promo / feed swaps because you don’t have an audience yet.)
If you’re starting from nothing, that means you’re new and shiny – make buzz-building your biggest strategy!
Newsletter writers (like Lauren and Shreya) love what’s new and shiny. Email newsletters and ask for inclusion, find writers who cover podcasts (google podcast write-ups and track down the author) and pitch yourself.
The apps will also care that you’re new. Make sure to apply using all the forms. (Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and Spotify.)
Find a show that aligns perfectly and ask them to drop your first episode into their feed on the day your show launches. In return, you will drop an episode of their show into your feed at the end of your first season (or at a time in the future when you will probably have real numbers to work with.)
You can also ask people nicely if they will shout out your show on their podcasts. If you have a newsletter or some other access to an audience, use that to barter. (You could mention the show in your newsletter or on social media.) This is why it comes in handy to become friendly with podcasters BEFORE you ask them for something. If you’re a fan of someone who is well-aligned with your work, tell them now. Make a new friend!
What should I prioritize if I have limited time?
We recognize that many podcasters have day jobs and so, have limited time to dedicate to podcasting and even less time to dedicate to marketing. Here’s our suggested prioritization order for those podcasters:
Make a list of 50 podcasts that you’d like to work with for opportunities like promo swaps, feed drops, and social media shoutouts.
Spend time on Twitter and/or Instagram (or wherever the community for your niche is) on a regular basis to engage with and even promote content by fellow podcasters or other creators in your niche’s community.
Subscribe to podcasting newsletters like Podcast the Newsletter, Earbuds Podcast Collective, Inside Podcasting, and Sounds Profitable to keep yourself updated with what’s happening in the industry. Apart from Sounds Profitable, which is a newsletter about podcast adtech, you can also pitch your shows to these newsletters. Bonus: subscribe to newsletters from your niche, too! They could also be a great outlet for reaching more of your potential audience.
What are some examples of podcasts that did a good job announcing their launch?
If you want to see who does it right, look up Wondery and Lemonada shows. When they launch a show, if you subscribe to any other shows in their network, you'll know it. They drop episodes of new shows on EVERYTHING. Sure, they have a lot to work with. But it’s a good idea to take notes on what they do.
Evan Stern of Vanishing Postcards was able to get promo swaps for every episode of his first season. This took a lot of research and outreach on his side. He made genuine relationships with people he wanted to work with.
One of the best launches I’ve seen was This Is Dating. That show was everywhere. Missing Pages also had a very nice rollout.
Finally, the best example I can think of is Proud Stutter. Maya Chupkov had a Podcast Therapy session with us after she had published a few episodes and she did everything we told her to. She pitched herself to newsletters and was all over the place, including in James Cridland’s Podnews. All at the same time, too! Which made her show unignorable. She often pitched herself to speak at conferences. She made a big splash with smart work; by reaching out to the right people and selling herself well.
Should I be on [insert social media platform here]?
Alright so this is a pretty common one. Let’s just start by setting one important expectation here -> social media followers are not equal to listeners. While social media presence is important, we often find ourselves having to reiterate to podcasters that the number of followers does not translate to the number of listeners. With that out of the way…
YES! You should be on social media. But start with one platform and take it from there. When it comes to picking which platform - honestly, choose this based on what you enjoy the most. If you enjoy sharing information and engaging through text, Twitter is the place to be. If you prefer creating videos, TikTok could be for you. Or, if you love a bit of both, Instagram it is!
What should we be doing on [insert social media platform here]?
As to what you should be doing there, it’s quite simple - engage authentically. Start by resharing and reposting fellow podcasters whose work you resonate with. One of the worst things you can do for your podcast is to mindlessly plug in your show everywhere; this is an instant turn off. If you’re able to share other creators’ work do that instead. And if you share your podcast when the time and context is right, you’re more likely to see the positive impact.
Next week on PMM, we continue telling you how to start building social media presence, what kind of shows to work with, and what to do if you had $5000 for marketing. We’ll cover 4.5 more questions we usually get.
🪄 More Magic 🪄
🗃 From the Desk of Tink ✏️
We’re working with and loving A Matter of Degrees, a climate change podcast about getting over our guilt and actually doing something by being curious. Hosts Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson share stories about the powerful forces behind climate change — and the tools we have to fix it. What’s more? The podcast even tells tales of folks who are doing this right and what we can learn from them.
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thanks for great info