💫 A marketing case study (or: how we made ourselves obsolete) 💫
Plus, 52 weeks of podcast growth
Last year, Tink had the pleasure of working with Whetstone Radio Collective, the audio arm of Whetstone Magazine. We worked on their podcast growth and sometimes supported them with social media ideas. For those who’ve heard Point of Origin or watched High on the Hog, you’ll recognize the name of Whetstone’s founder - the amazing Stephen Satterfield. 🤩 (Yes, this is us flexing).
Whetstone Radio was a DREAM client; they have fantastic content and their team never failed to show up. I’ve yet to meet a client with such an ardent desire to learn about podcast marketing.
This is the story of how, through our creative solutions, we made ourselves obsolete to their marketing.
But, first!
52 Weeks of Podcast Growth
This week’s tip is: Show your 300-word pitch to a friend. Ask them if they understand what your show is about.
It’s a simple one this week. Simple, but not easy. It is easier to show your pitch to someone who’s more likely to be kind to you than a random stranger. Also, this way you can get immediate feedback on what you have so far!
To sum it up, the tips so far are:
Find 10 podcasts that are similar to yours.
Connect with 10 new podcasts on social media.
Join 3 subreddits and/or discords that are relevant to the topic of your podcast.
Write a 150-word pitch for your show.
Time how long you spend on podcast creation and marketing.
Describe your podcast from a friend/listener’s perspective.
Write a 300-word pitch for your show.
Spend 15 minutes writing a new pitch for your show.
Show your 300-word pitch to a friend. Ask them if they understand what your show is about.
👋 Shreya here! I’m curious to know how these tips are working out for you. Try any yet? Are they good, bad, or unbearably difficult? Drop a comment, please!
The challenging case of Whetstone Radio Collective
We’ll share the goals, challenges, solutions, and results of our work with Whetstone Radio. We’re hoping the marketers in the audience will have nuggets of insight to take away and implement for their own work or their clients.
A little about Whetstone Radio Collective (WRC): they currently have 11 podcasts sharing stories that sit at the intersection of food and social justice. Each podcast offers a diverse and niche perspective on the role food plays in topics ranging from climate to stereotypes. 🎧 Listen here.
What they arrived with
When they came to us, Whetstone Radio Collective housed eight original podcasts with diverse hosts. Some of these podcasts had nearly completed production while some were just starting. WRC had just released Setting the Table, while their first show was Climate Cuisine, which had been a success.
Their goals were:
🎯 Grow downloads.
🎯 Get hosts featured on other podcasts.
🎯 Learn about what works and what doesn’t in podcast marketing.
The challenges we faced:
🔴 A client with a limited knowledge of podcasts and the podcast marketing space.
🔴 A catalog of multiple podcasts that spanned different and niche topics.
What we did
Well, first of all, we did a WHOLE lot of research. We listened to new and old episodes and steeped ourselves in the content. When we ardently listened to these podcasts and got to know the hosts, we couldn’t help but really care about the content itself. Marketing became easier after that.
Promo Swaps and Feed Drops
✅ We introduced them to promo swaps and feed drops; from definition to what’s needed in terms of pre-recorded files and scripts.
✅ After hours of listening to a multitude of podcasts, we found those with high alignment, both in content and target audience. The podcasts we collaborated with included Sporkful, Gastropod, and a set of shows from DCP Entertainment.
✅ We made the growing catalog of niche podcasts work in our favor. We pitched all the podcasts on the roster for promo swaps and were able to achieve higher numbers for bigger partners.
✅ We suggested they perform feed drops within their own podcast feeds. For instance, if a show was no longer in production, they could drop an episode of their latest podcast on the older show’s feed.
Matching hosts to other podcasts
🎙️ We matched WRC hosts with podcasts that would be a good fit based on their specific area of expertise. For example: Clarissa Wei, the host of Climate Cuisine, could cover both food and climate. So, we pitched her as a guest on that basis. This is how we landed her an interview at Roots and All - Gardening Podcast.
🎙️ However, we did not want to our niche approach to discount podcasts that took a more general approach towards food. So, we pitched Stephen Satterfield as a guest to these podcasts, especially those with bigger followings. That’s how we got Stephen on our very favorite Food with Mark Bittman.
Regular and candid check-ins
💛 We had weekly 30 minute check-ins with the client. These were concise; focusing only on updates and questions they may have.
💛 We tried to take an educational approach to everything: from definitions of a term to the difference between downloads and listens. The whole time, we were giving them, what we thought was, a peek behind the podcast marketing curtain.
What we and WRC achieved
Our collective efforts paid off. Here are some wonderful things that happened:
✨ In educating them on the basics, we got ours covered.
✨ Their promo swap inventory bloomed and blossomed. It was booked out for 3 months from the date we started our efforts.
✨ Our team showed them that podcasts do have an ROI on earned media and PR efforts. This allowed them to hire someone specifically for this role.
✨ Our training, weaved into our communications with them, helped them train their new hire.
✨ Most importantly, the hard work of the hosts and the message they want to spread reached target audiences beyond their imagination.
Yay, I say!
From the desk of Tink
BEEF is a scripted non-fiction storytelling podcast where business wars meets pop culture, and the award-winning podcast host Bridget Todd is there to spill the juicy details. She tells the stories of legends in their fields and how they tried to stomp out their competition. But it turns out that their enemies were the driving force behind their success, ultimately changing the world as we know it. Get ready for the stories behind notable rivalries in music, wrestling, movies, history, and more.
🌟 More Magic
Sounds Profitable’s Tom Webster writes: what we talk about when we talk about podcasts. Tom shares 5+ questions to gather actual insights on listeners.
Courtney Kocak released the first episode of Podcast Bestie, the podcast, featuring Podnews’ James Cridland.
Eric Nuzum appeared on Podcast Advertising Playbook digging into how “the podcast industry is changing.”
Incredible. Thanks for the transparency.