Podcasts have evolved beyond entertainment. They can be an invaluable tool to help build credibility in your chosen field. Offering compelling, podcast content can help you build deeper engagement with potential customers.
If you’ve decided to start a podcast to help build your business brand, you’ll need a strong podcast marketing plan. This will help ensure people can find your podcast. Close to four million Australians are downloading podcasts. But there are millions of podcasts they can choose from. How will you make yours stand out?
First, you'll need to decide who you're targeting. You'll also need to consider where you'll publish your podcast. Then you’ll need to think about how you’ll target potential listeners. These factors can help boost your chances of success. Read on to explore podcast marketing and promotion strategies.
Podcasts can help you achieve a range of things for your business. Below we break down some examples.
When developing your podcast marketing plan, think about your specific marketing objectives.
Once you’re clear on your marketing objectives you can choose marketing tactics that consider your audience needs and your business goals.
Our article on how to start a podcast for your business explores things to consider when developing a plan that considers your business goals. If your goals are clear you’re in a much better place to develop campaigns that are focused on achieving clear outcomes.
A targeted marketing plan will help you connect with the right listeners. Consider your launch plan and then strategies for building your audience over time.
Once you’ve recorded your podcast the next step is to make it available for others to access and listen to. You’ll need to consider where you’ll host it. Podcasts can be very large data files. So, exploring specialised podcast hosting solutions can be worthwhile.
There are a range of specialised podcast hosting solutions you can consider. They can also help make your podcast accessible to podcast directories where listeners can find them. Another potential benefit of a specialised podcast hosting solutions is access to data and analytics.
Making your podcast look engaging, as well as sound engaging, is important too.
Compelling design and imagery can help your brand stand out. Consistency matters as well, from your podcast cover art to promotional graphics. This helps people easily recognise your podcast among many others.
Well-crafted teaser copy can help stimulate interest. This is text that can be used to entice people to choose your podcast, acting as a short description or ‘blurb’ telling people what it’s about and why they should listen in simple terms. Use it to describe your podcast content in a way that will connect with your audience and meet your goals.
Adding a link to your podcast on your own website is a quick win. And if you already have users regularly checking out your website, it will help you connect with them in a new way. But to capitalise on audience opportunities at scale, consider which podcast directories can help.
Spotify and YouTube are the services most used to listen to podcasts according to the Infinite Dial 2023 Australia report from Edison Research. But there are many others. Explore which podcast channels could work best for you, based on their reach and the types of listeners they target.
Listing your podcast on a directory can help make it more visible to potential listeners. Research what else is available on these platforms. They can help you consider how to develop your own unique positioning to attract an audience.
Social media can also help you create awareness of your podcast. Again, it’s important to consider your audience – there are many social channels to choose from. Your podcast may also help you drive engagement via your social channels. Here are some things to consider.
You might already have a social media presence when you launch your podcast. If so, it’s worth revisiting your social media strategy to ensure you’re making the most of opportunities.
Partnerships can be a game-changer in your podcast marketing strategy. Collaborating with fellow podcasters for guest appearances or a mutual shoutout can help both parties involved.
Guests can play a pivotal role in expanding your podcast's reach and engagement. Below we explore some ideas to help create engagement via collaborations.
Guests who have their own following may share the episode they feature in, directing their audience to your podcast.
Offer guests content they can easily share on their platforms, like graphics, quotes, or audio snippets.
Sharing insights and establishing your presence in your guests’ online communities may also help you build engagement.
Collaborating with other subject matter experts in topics where you’re aiming to boost your presence and credibility can help benefit from synergies.
Consider partnering with businesses or influencers in your niche. This might form part of a broader influencer marketing strategy for your business. Cross-promotion can result in a win-win situation with both parties able to tap into each other’s audiences.
Your podcast can act as a platform for creating other content you can use to connect with your audience. Below we explore some different content formats to consider.
Consider turning your audio episodes into video content by adding images or visuals. You could also record the podcasts as videos as well as audios when creating them.
You can use written transcripts of your episodes to generate new content assets such as blog posts.
The best parts of your podcast can be used to develop bite-sized content such as social media posts or short videos suitable to share in a wide range of places.
If you’re investing in a podcast for your business, think about how it fits into your overall business content strategy. This can help you maximise your marketing opportunities across all relevant touchpoints.
As you start to connect with new listeners, you’ll want to make sure they keep listening to your next episode. What do you want your listener to do? And what are you offering them that’s of value to them? These questions should be front of mind and can inform ‘calls to action’ into your podcast content. Put simply, a call to action is a statement designed to drive an action.
Interactive giveaways can be a fantastic podcast promotion strategy to create engagement. To encourage listeners, you can offer incentives. These could be merchandise, exclusive content, or shoutouts. Your call to action might be 'leave a review', 'share this podcast' or something else you want the listener to participate in. This approach can help boost engagement. And it can also foster a sense of community among your listeners.
As you continue your podcast you should be able to capture data to help you understand what’s working and what’s not. Analytics tools can help you gain insights you can use to improve.
To help make sure your effort is yielding the results you want, check in on marketing campaign performance regularly. That way you can decide if you want to adjust your strategy for future campaigns or increase focus on things that are working for you.
Podcasts have a growing audience. Tapping into this compelling content format can help grow your brand reach. And if you’re not sure about producing your own content, podcast advertising offers another way to connect with listeners.
To create the right plan for your business, think about podcasts in the context of your overall digital marketing strategy.
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