50% of households regularly listen to podcasts.
They have quickly become one of the go-to forms of entertainment for the average consumer, entrepreneurs, and everyone in between.
And starting a podcast is simpler than ever. You just plug in a mic, hit record, and start talking.
However, getting to Joe Rogan’s status or even a fraction of his success is no walk in the park.
You’ll need to be serious about growing your podcast if you want to have a large fan base and generate revenue from it.
How do you do this? Through proper marketing.
Today I’m going to teach you how to grow a podcast through proven marketing techniques you can start using today.
Step 1: Start building a blog
Build it and they will come.
This is the motto of companies and entrepreneurs that take advantage of the magical pill that is content marketing.
Imagine having all of your listeners come to you organically without lifting a finger.
That’s possible when you produce high quality content that people love to read.
In fact, 82% of marketers who blog see a positive ROI from all of their inbound marketing efforts.
As viewers enjoy your blog, they will then naturally come to your podcast as a result.
Presuming you already have a website on a platform like WordPress or Wix, let’s jump into how to write great content to market a podcast.
Otherwise, I recommend reading my previous article on website costs to learn more about publishing your own.
Researching keywords as easy as 1, 2, 3
Not too long ago in 2017, 79% of all desktop traffic came from Google.
That’s why it’s more important than ever that you optimize your blog posts to get more organic traffic.
You don’t have to be an SEO wizard with a giant white beard to find great search terms, either.
There are plenty of free tools you can take advantage of like Keyword Shitter.
Yep, that’s its real name. It will literally sh*t out keywords related to ideas you give it.
Type in any phrase or word and hit the “Shit Keywords!” button to start.
Hit the “Stop job” button if you want the tool to stop working and feel free to download the results via the blue “Download” button.
Now, where do these keywords need to be? In a few places that you can remember like the back of your hand. They include:
- The title of a blog post
- Within the URL
- A few times throughout the body
- As the file name and alt text of images
- In header tags, like H1, H2, and H3
It’s that simple! Don’t make it harder than it is.
However, don’t stuff keywords in hopes that you will gain more organic traffic. You won’t. Google is smarter than that and will swat you down like a fly.
I recommend you read my previous posts on SEO to learn more about optimizing content for search engines, as well:
- The Definite Guide to SEO Writing
- On Page SEO Checklist That Will Skyrocket Your Rankings to The First Page
- Don’t Do Any SEO Until You Know These Top 7 SEO Best Practices
Additionally you can use my SEO services.
Implement your podcast within blog posts
You never want to be overly promotional. Readers can see right through that and it doesn’t help grow a podcast.
Instead, what you want to do is naturally and sparingly mention your podcast in articles.
A call to action like “Listen to me speak about this topic on my latest podcast episode here” is more than enough.
It’s also smart to add an email opt-in form to your blog, so you can begin collecting emails over time. You can then promote your podcast to these subscribers, further increasing your overall reach.
This can also be achieved with a simple embed link from the platforms I’ll be mentioning later.
At the same time, you want to link back to your blog posts from podcast episodes if they touch on the same topic.
That helps drive traffic to both channels in the case that users only find you through one.
Step 2: Upload to every damn website there is
What websites have you uploaded your podcast to?
Whatever number you said isn’t enough!
There are so many platforms available for you to get in front of a larger audience and you might not be taking advantage of them.
If you really want to use your podcast as a marketing tool, omnichannel is key.
Here are some of the best websites to upload podcasts.
Blubrry
Blubrry integrates directly with WordPress, which is perfect if you take my advice and begin blogging. (You are going to, right?)
You will gain access to unlimited storage and bandwidth, meaning that there’s no ceiling to how large your podcast can grow.
This platform also offers all of the statistics you need to know about your show, from traffic sources to listener locations and more.
So in the case that somebody talks smack about your podcast, you can take a visit to their house. Kidding, of course. Don’t do that.
Nonetheless, their unique WordPress plugin includes SEO settings, a subscription tool, and other features to make your life easier as a podcaster.
Lastly, Blubrry also will help you get a WordPress website up and running, removing most of the hassle that webmasters usually face.
Buzzsprout
Buzzsprout is an all-in-one solution for podcasters to manage their episodes, migrate from other platforms, market themselves, and more.
They have an intuitive dashboard that is easy on the eyes and simple to navigate.
Podcast files are automatically optimized upon upload, improving their file size and quality, as well. Buzzsprout also helps podcasters get listed on iTunes, Stitcher, and other websites to help save them time.
Libsyn
Libsyn is one of the oldest podcasting platforms and was started back in 2004.
Today they offer affordable and high quality podcast hosting for as little as $5 per month. Instead of buying that extra Starbucks coffee, why not try out their service instead?
They’ve delivered over seven billion downloads in 2017, and users gain access to unlimited bandwidth and growing storage space.
Step 3: Begin collaborating with other podcasters
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
This ancient proverb heavily applies to business.
Partnerships in an industry often lead to the most success. Two brains are better than one, as they say.
When two businesses come together, they have double the resources, skills, and power to fast track each other’s growth.
This is why you should highly consider joining up with other podcasters to place yourself in front of other relevant audiences.
Try using Twitter to network with podcasters by completing the following steps.
Step #1 – Search for podcasters to work with
Head over to Twitter and use the search bar to find podcasters in your industry. Use keywords like:
- Your industry + “podcast”
- Your industry + “podcaster”
- Your industry + “podcast host”
This will help you find podcasters that you can collaborate with, and the key is to locate their email.
Many individuals will have a contact email in the bio of their account, or you can find it on their website.
I recommend creating a spreadsheet or using a tool like OneNote to stay organized. Keep all of the emails you find, along with other information about their business and podcast.
Step #2 – Send a pitch they can’t refuse
Now you need to take these emails and pitch a collaboration. The keys to successful cold emailing consist of:
- Personalizing every message and never copy-pasting templates
- Researching the prospect and understanding their business
- Following up several times until you receive an answer
- Targeting relevant partnerships
With this being said, a great cold email would look like this:
Hey John,
I followed you on Twitter recently, and checked out your podcast. Great episode on social media consulting!
I run a podcast called The Business Corner and I cover similar topics if you want to check it out at www.example.com. I’d love to hear your opinion, and I also think we could make a great collaboration interviewing each other on our shows.
Would this be something you’re interested in?
Warm regards,
Bob
It’s personalized, tailored, casual, and you can tell that time was put into it. Customizing your emails like this will greatly improve open and response rates.
If you haven’t read my guide on cold emailing, read that here, too. It includes templates, strategies, and tools you don’t want to miss out on.
Step #3 – Hop on a discovery call
The goal of this approach is to get on the phone or Skype and talk about working together.
Propose to prospects which you get on the phone that you would like to interview them in exchange for an interview on their podcast.
Mention how it will help them grow and gain more exposure. If you have certain stats to flex like high average monthly downloads, use that as social proof.
Go over topic ideas, and dig deeper into who they are as a person.
You want to make sure you two can have a good relationship over the long term, continually appearing on one another’s shows.
Once you do start landing partnerships, organize them and make sure to stay in touch. Networking is key here.
Are podcasts profitable?
Get that money, baby.
Podcasts are an effective way to generate more revenue for your business and can do so in several different ways.
Let’s touch on the first way: driving leads.
If you’re a service provider, you know that keeping your pipeline full is no easy task.
You constantly have to be emailing, calling, networking, and advertising to stay afloat.
However, podcast marketing makes that a breeze. With enough momentum, they will attract leads to your business and organically get you clients.
Isn’t that that the dream? Imagine not having to cold call or email to get new work!
Secondly, podcasts can bring in some serious coin via sponsorships.
Since we’re talking about Joe Rogan today, let’s not skip over that man makes up to $75,000 per episode!
Let’s do some math.
If he releases a new episode every day, which he does, that’s over $27 million in earnings. Don’t you want money like that?
Of course, you do. And that’s also why you need to apply what you learned today to get your podcast growing faster than the speed of light.
Are podcasts good for business?
Absolutely! All forms of content marketing are essential for any modern business at this point.
Consumers read up to five pieces of content before contacting a sales rep, for example.
They want to be able to trust your brand, grow with it, and learn things along the way.
Producing content like podcasts also shows that your an active brand and not a ghost town.
Podcasts are also heavily repurposable, meaning that it’s easy to take an episode and format it into a video, blog posts, infographic, etc.
There are heaps of platforms you can upload episodes to expand your reach in the snap of a finger, too.
I also recommend looking at content marketing as producing assets.
These podcast episodes will be on the internet forever. They will continue to generate traffic and leads for your company without any extra energy.
You can’t say that about PPC or the latest advertising fad.
Wrapping up podcast marketing
Marketing a podcast can be a tough task.
However, there are some proven techniques you can use to grow your brand quickly.
The first of which is to begin using content marketing.
Create a blog, and produce interesting, valuable, and practical articles. These should be tailored towards your exact target audience, so you only attract the most relevant users to your site.
Promote these on social media, via an email list, and funnel users toward the podcast, whether it’s on your site or a separate platform.
Next, ensure that you have all of your bases covered and upload to all of the major podcasting websites. These include Soundcloud, YouTube, Blurbrry, Libsyn, and Buzzsprout.
Some of these services may cost a slight monthly fee, but when you consider the ROI of how it will market your podcast, it’s a no-brainer.
Last but not least, we suggest that you build partnerships with other podcasters. Interview each other, sponsor one another’s shows, and find unique ways to collaborate. This helps both of you grow, and you add a new person to your network.
Contact me to learn about my marketing consulting services that will help grow your podcast faster.
