🚀Launching our Launch Series!🚀
Launch your new podcast or new season like a pro
Hi hello! Wil back with more Podcast Marketing Magic! This week, I’m excited to introduce a new series here at PMM — our Launch series! For the next four editions of PMM, we’ll be talking all about how to launch your podcast like a pro.
The launch of a new season is one of the most important moments or your marketing. We want to help make sure you’re putting your best foot forward for your podcast’s growth. Don’t be a Roman Roy. Like — honestly, across the board, don’t be a Roman Roy, but especially when it comes to a launch.
🆕Your launch is more important than you might know
You probably realize that launches are an important moment to find your audience. Lots of people like listening to a podcast right when it starts, and having a big first episode can really help your subsequent marketing. But there’s another key reason your release is so important for your marketing plan: journalists.
Before I worked here at beautiful wonderful amazing Tink Media, my main gig was doing podcast industry journalism. I was writing for sites like Polygon and The AV Club, and I was the managing editor at Discover Pods. I still write about podcasts for my newsletter and my blog, but I’m fortunate enough to do those for joy now and not money.
But here’s the thing about writing for money: there is a huge need for timeliness. Journalists receive dozens of pitch emails from podcasters ever single day. Even if you really love a podcast, your editor will almost always need a reason for why you want to write about that podcast right now. It’s very, very difficult to write a piece on a podcast you just really like. Writers almost always need something news-y as a reason to write about a podcast at all.
Launching a new season or a new series is one of the few times your podcast will have a timely angle to it. Do not squander that valuable timing. It might be one of your only chances to get some placement in the press.
⏳You gotta get good yesterday
Remember in the earlier days of podcasting, when you could take a few episodes to find your footing, tell folks things like, “Stick with it to episode 10!”? I remember biding my time with so many podcasts knowing that they’d get good, and being so thrilled when they did.
Now see how I started this by saying “remember?” That was in the past.
Rip Mufasa you were a real one. Just like audiences having the patience, time, or brainspace to let your podcast get good.
There are too many podcasts that are spectacular from minute one for this to be acceptable to audiences anymore. Fumbling your marketing early on signals haphazardness, messiness, and general unseriousness to your audience. If you want your podcast to be taken seriously, you have to take it seriously — and that has to start before it even drops.
🏘️It’s free real estate
If you don’t have a marketing plan set before your podcast launches, you will have lonely little episodes with no podcast friends to keep them company, by which I mean you’ll be missing out on the free real estate of having promo swaps on those episodes.
You absolutely can and should have promo swaps — where you share a podcast trailer on your episode, and that podcast shares your trailer on an episode of their show — locked and loaded for episode 1.
Many podcasts will want to talk impression numbers and audience demographics when they set up a promo launch, but not all podcasts. Pretty often here at Tink, we’ll set up promo swaps for a set amount of time versus based on impressions, or just have them baked right into the audio. You can always negotiate regardless of your podcast being new.
Promo swaps are one of our favorite ways to help audiences find their new favorite podcast. Having a promo swap set up is a great way to direct a potential audience to your feed right when your podcast starts (or even potentially earlier, as long as your feed is established with your trailer already there).
Don’t waste precious marketing time! Set your podcast up to win from your first episode.
🧚🏻Stick around and learn how we make launches magic
Now that you know why your launch is so important, it’s time to buckle in for the fun part: how. Join us for the next installments of our Launch series, during which we’ll be diving into vital launch metrics, time management during a launch, and more.
Have any specific questions, advice, worries, or successes to share about launching a podcast? Leave a comment and we’ll keep the conversation going!
🎧 From The Desk of Tink
Embarrassing English Education Major confession: I’ve never actually engaged with The Taming of the Shrew in any capacity other than 10 Things I Hate About You and My Fair Lady. That’s one of the main reasons I’m SO thrilled that Play On Podcasts is currently running their audio production of the play! The other main reason I’m thrilled? Play On Podcasts is such a delicious listen — the acting, editing, and sound design is all satisfying. Come join me in listening to this age-old story in a whole new way!
Thank you for reading! Next week, Shreya returns with more magic! ✨
— Wil 🦇