Creating a brand new podcast and launching it takes a lot of your time and effort. Not to mention the inhibitions and nervousness that tag along while promoting it.

Even though podcasts are 1428 times less competitive than blogging, they still are fairly competitive. You need to stand out amongst the 1,000,000 other podcasts and 30 million podcast episodes.

So then what do you do? Just create great podcast content and wait for it to gain traction? Of course not!

Creating and launching your podcast is just the first part of the equation. The success of your podcast will be majorly determined by how well you promote it. With the right streaming platform and the best podcast marketing plan in place, you can rise above others in the podcasting world pretty quickly.

So read on to find out about the best marketing strategies for your podcast, especially if it is a brand new one.

All the strategies mentioned here have been tried and tested by the leaders in the podcast industry, and the best way to go about it is to try every strategy out and see what works best for your podcast. A few of them might even change your podcasting journey for good.

So keep an open mind and remember to take action now!

But first…

Before you start marketing your podcast, it is really important to take a step back and look at it from your audience’s point of view.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is your target audience too broad or too narrow?
• Are you targeting the right people?
• Are you solving a problem or improving their lives in some way?
• Are you offering something unique and valuable?
• Have you integrated your brand voice, your opinions and your expertise into your podcasts?
• And lastly, do you have the patience to produce good-quality podcasts and wait at least a few months to see the results?

If you are struggling with any of these, then it is important that you first improve the quality of your podcast, change your mindset, and then start marketing it.

1. Optimize your podcast for iTunes

When it comes to podcast streaming services, iTunes holds the major listening share of 70%. It is one of the best marketing channels for your new podcast not only because of its popularity but also because it doubles as a search engine.

Like when I tried searching for “Online marketing” in the iTunes search bar, I got a complete list of podcasts that have been optimized for this keyword. So this way, your audience is going to come to you.

So the first and foremost thing you must do is submit your podcast to iTunes if you haven’t already. Then, just like any other search engine, you can start optimizing your podcast for the keywords that you wanna target.

But the coolest thing about iTunes is their “New & Noteworthy” section. This is an excellent way for budding podcasters to grab all the attention from their target audience. There are other categories as well, but this one’s the best bet for new podcast owners.

The factors that affect your rankings on iTunes can be:

• Number of plays or downloads
• Subscriber growth
• Show feed which is optimized for the right keywords
• Reviews

Also, did you know that podcasts are mostly judged based on their descriptions and episode titles? These are based on the findings of a 2020 survey by The Podcast Host.

So, optimize your title and show feed for the right keywords, upload good-quality podcasts consistently, and try out the other marketing strategies mentioned in this post. Doing these can help you grab your spot in the coveted “New & Noteworthy” section!

2. Create shareable media

Did you know that social media is the most common way through which people hear about a new podcast?

So, as a new podcast owner, you must use social media to your advantage. There are a dozen different ways of promoting your podcast on social media.

According to a survey on Americans listening to podcasts, 62% of people are more likely to share your podcast if it is available in the form of audio or text snippets. Hence, the first step is to create shareable media which will act as sneak-peeks to your podcast. When your audience comes across these, they will be intrigued and would wanna check out your podcast.

Here are a few types of shareable elements that you can create for each of your podcast episodes:

• Quote images – Grab an interesting quote from your episode and create an image with this quote on it. You can do this easily using free tools like Canva.
• Teasers – These can be small audio or video clips from your episode that will instantly induce curiosity in the minds of your audience. The best time to share these teasers is just before the release of your episode as this will create some hype around it.
• Social media status updates in text or video formats – Before or on the day of the episode release, create posts on social media either in text+image formats (would work great for Facebook) or in video formats (use as stories for your Instagram). Do not blindly promote your links. Instead, narrate a story, be helpful, state what problem are you trying to solve for your audience through your podcast. Just this one step can fetch you immense benefits, especially if you have a great social media following.

Share these on all kinds of social platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. Do not forget communities and groups such as SubReddits, Quora QnAs, LinkedIn groups, and Facebook groups.

3. Repurpose your podcast into YouTube videos

Repurposing your podcasts into Youtube videos is not a new concept. Many famous podcasters are doing this already, like this super-popular podcast by Neil Patel and Eric Siu:

But as a new podcast owner, you might have some objections about starting a Youtube channel during the initial stages of your podcast. Let me tell you that there is no point in putting this off for a later time. Because the earlier you start, the sooner will you gain followers. Everyone has to start somewhere. So create a Youtube channel and start uploading your podcasts now.

You may start by recording videos of your podcast episodes. It’s fine if you don’t have the right gear to record videos. You can always change the audio mp3 into video format and upload it on Youtube along with an apt image. You can also make use of stock videos. Do not forget to add an enticing, benefit-driven title and thumbnail to your videos.

Another thing you must do is to create and upload short 2 to 5 minute clips of your podcasts. Long videos can seem intimidating for people who are not familiar with your brand as compared to shorter clips which will seem more approachable.

Repurposing your podcast as Youtube videos also has massive SEO benefits apart from other benefits like increased brand awareness and podcast subscribers.

4. Transcribe your podcast and add it as show notes on your website

Firstly, it is good to have a place on your website to add your podcast show notes. Transcribing your podcast and adding it to the show notes can be really good for SEO of your site, especially if your transcript has competitive keywords and their long-tail variations.

You may go one step further and have a dedicated landing page for your podcast and drive traffic to it from various sources like paid ads. Landing pages will make your podcast look more professional and also help with search engine rankings.

If you have guests over, then optimize your transcripts for person name + “interview”. This will get the eyes of your guest’s followers.

5. Try cross-promotions with brands and influencers

You can reach out to your favourite brands or influencers and ask them to share your podcast with their viewers. In return, you will have to mention these brands and promote them in your podcasts. It is always good to reach out to the brands or influencers whose audience matches with your target audience in some way.

Most of these brands and influencers would be more than willing to collaborate with you for cross-promotions. This is because stats say 54% of podcast consumers are more likely to consider the brands they hear advertised on podcasts.

Imagine the kind of following you will get for your brand new podcast just by collaborating with 2 to 3 such brands or influencers.

This is such an easy way to gain popularity and following for your podcast. But it is also important to do it right. Only promote the brands which you genuinely believe in, your audience can always figure out if you are doing otherwise.

6. Invite guests on your podcasts & go as a guest on other podcasts

Inviting prominent people from your industry is the oldest trick in the book used by many famous podcasters.

Reach out to authors and other experts from your industry and many would be willing to come as a guest on your podcast. These people will share your podcast links or other shareable forms like quotes or images on their social media. You can also ask them to share your podcast with their email lists.

The next best thing you can do is be a guest on other podcasts. This again gives a lot of exposure to your podcast and your brand. It also increases your industry authority.

Both these tricks are super-powerful as they help you gain an entirely new set of audience.

The best places to find such opportunities are the iTunes listing page and communities like the r/PodcastGuest Exchange subreddit. Make use of Amazon book listings to find authors who would be willing to come as guests for your podcast.

7. Host contests and giveaways

It is difficult to get reviews for a brand new podcast. But hosting contests and giveaways can get you a considerable amount of reviews within a very little time.

Take a look at this contest help by Upviral’s podcast:

Source

This podcast was able to rank in iTunes within 10 days by running this contest!

You too can start hosting contests and giveaways as soon as you start gaining some followers through the other marketing strategies. As an entry to your giveaway, you can request your audience to review your podcast on iTunes. This can be really helpful if you are eyeing the New & Noteworthy section of iTunes.

Try to give away something relevant and useful to your audience instead of random goodies and gift cards. This will attract the right people to your podcast and all the reviews you get in return will be genuine.

8. Build an email list

According to a report by the Direct Marketing Association, email yields the highest ROI (3800%) amongst all other marketing channels. Such is the power of email marketing. And you guessed it right, we can make use of this to market our brand new podcast as well.

In fact, building a good email community is the key to any successful podcast marketing campaign and almost all successful podcasters own an email list. If you are not doing this already, then you probably are losing out on a lot of subscribers.

Lure your listeners to your email list by bribing them with exclusive preview clips and sneak-peeks of your podcast episodes and interviews.

You can also send out exclusive details about the upcoming episodes or about the guest appearances to your email list.

A useful tip here would be to A/B test your emails so that you know what resonates best with your audience.

9. Do not forget the CTAs

People are more likely to do something when they are specifically asked to do it. Yes, I am talking about CTAs of course! You have it in your blog posts, your email newsletters, your Youtube videos, then why leave this one out for podcasts.

So, always ask your listeners to share, subscribe and review your podcasts at the end of every episode.

Your CTAs can be of other kinds too like asking them to sign up for your email newsletter or directing them to your lead generation page.

Also, sprinkle some “Subscribe to my podcast” CTAs in your website and emails as well.

To conclude

Now, you have a list of all the best marketing strategies for your new podcast. I hope this gives you the confidence to create more and more amazing content and work towards getting the right attention that your podcast deserves.

Do let us know if you have any other podcast marketing strategies to share!