7 [Free & Paid] Podcast Marketing Strategies You Can Use Now

Podcasting is still in the middle of its boom which means more listeners are listening to more podcasts. That also means more people are creating more podcasts too, making it harder for yours to be found. What that means is you cannot have a successful podcast without doing some podcast marketing.

On this week’s episode of the Q’d Up Podcast on Podcasting, I discuss 7 free and paid podcast marketing options you can start doing right now to grow your audience. No matter if you have tons of money to spend but need results yesterday or you’re flat broke, these podcast marketing strategies will give you a boost and give you a leg up on your competition.

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Podcast Industry Experts – Growing Your Podcast With Guest Lauren Passell

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Episode transcript:

One of the most exciting things about podcasting is that it’s in the middle of a boom. More people are listening to more podcasts every day. But that also means more people are creating podcasts — literally thousands per day — making it harder for yours to stand out.

Thanks in part to the limited number of categories podcast apps use and the evergrowing list of new podcasts being created, it’s becoming far harder for listeners to find your content. There are apps like GoodPods doing their part to help but it’s likely there are already thousands of podcasts in your main category and likely hundreds within your niche. In most cases, people don’t even know your podcast exists and unless you happen to get on their radar, they likely never will.

So, let’s think a little bit like a listener for a second…

They’re searching for a new podcast about whatever your podcast’s niche is about. They open up their favorite app, type that in the search bar and are faced with a long list of podcasts promising to fill that need.

Is yours at the top? Considering there’s only 1 top spot, it’s pretty unlikely. While having some killer artwork could help catch someone’s eye as they’re scrolling down, that’s a pretty passive solution to the problem.

Instead of being passive and hoping listeners will come to you, you need to go to them and let them know who you are and what you’re about. On this week’s episode of the Q’d Up Podcast on Podcasting, we’re talking about the need for marketing and some things you can start doing today!

Now that you know you need to market, you’re probably left scratching your head on where to start. Because this is still a relatively new medium and every podcast is different, there’s no golden brick road to success. However, there are a ton of options that are both completely free and paid, each with their own pros and cons.

Since the paid options often get results faster, let’s start off with those.

If you want results quickly, you’re going to need to open up your wallet. But by using your money to buy reach, you’ll be able to spread your podcast well outside your sphere of influence.

Though you can do all of these things yourself, I personally advise that you contact an agency like Q’d Up to manage these things for you. As experts with experience behind us, we have a better idea of what’s needed to maximize your money from the start. If you still want to run everything, just allot a few months to testing different strategies and target demographics to hit that sweet spot.

If you’re looking for the cheapest way to get impressions, social media ads are the way to go. With literal billions of people on platforms like Facebook, you can get immediate and impressive reach with just a few clicks of your mouse.

The problem is that only a fraction of the impressions you’re paying for will be podcast listeners in the first place. Even when you get new followers, converting them from social media to a podcast app can be incredibly difficult. But, if you’re looking to build more of a community or you understand your podcast’s growth won’t be your social media’s growth, buying ads on social media can be an effective strategy.

If you want something that’s a little more direct, buying ads on Spotify could be for you. Much like social media, the initial buy-in is relatively low at just $500 and it gets you in front of people that already stream music and are more likely to know about podcasts.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily mean they listen to podcasts. And because Spotify currently doesn’t allow podcasts to buy ads on other podcasts, there’s little you can do to guarantee it.

Furthermore, by buying ads on Spotify, you’re only attracting listeners that are on Spotify. Granted, Spotify is one of the largest podcast platforms right now, but many podcasters don’t necessarily want to be tied down to just a single platform.

If you want to ensure you’re getting seen by podcast listeners, you need to get yourself featured on apps that only do podcasts. Luckily, several podcast listening apps like CastBox and PlayerFM allow you to book a featured placement.

These are often incredibly expensive — many apps start the conversation at thousands of dollars — and they rarely feature any guarantees on the number of impressions or conversion rate you’ll get. Furthermore, these are really designed for networks and agencies primarily, so there can be some difficulties with jargon and knowing exactly what you’re getting unless you’re familiar with those terms and metrics. We can’t forget that just like Spotify ads, you’re restricting your marketing efforts to a single app at a time here as well. All of that can make this paid marketing option a tough pill to swallow initially but there are some pretty big benefits for the adventerous.

Where you get a higher cost and some uncertainty, you get the most focused targeting possible. You get people who definitely listen to podcasts and by placing your ad within your main category, you’re getting in front of the podcast listeners most likely to listen to your podcast. That usually means far better conversion rates than any other paid marketing option, which is really what you’re looking for if you’re spending any money on marketing.

But not everyone has hundreds or thousands of dollars to drop every month on their podcast. That doesn’t mean you can’t market your podcast though.

Podcasters still have access to a lot of great free podcast marketing, if they’re willing to do work for it.

Free doesn’t mean completely free. Instead of exchanging money for reach, you’re exchanging your time and effort to find bunches of smaller opportunities. These options are great for the new podcaster and those working with a small or even non-existent budget.

Though it will take longer to see results and you’ll need to commit even more time in a week to your podcast, the end results are definitely worth it. The listeners you attract in these ways will often be most loyal ones.

One of the great things about podcasts are that they’re often a deep dive into a very specific topic. Whether it’s business culture, parenting, interesting facts about bugs, or a series of scary short stories; you likely had a very particular interest that spawned your podcast.

Lucky for you, millions of other people are just as interested in that thing too. You just need to get in front of those people. Here’s where networking comes in.

Networking isn’t reserved for entrepreneurs and those looking to climb the corporate ladder. Technically, everyone who is active in a group is networking with the other active people in that group simply by talking and sharing ideas. It’s time for you to start networking.

This can be as simple as joining a Facebook group, subreddit, or local meetup group about the topic central to your podcast. If you have a Star Wars podcast, look at joining groups that love Star Wars — it’s the exact people you’re trying to reach anyway.

The positive here is that this should be something you’re passionate about, so it shouldn’t be a big stretch for you to want to talk about it. And because it’s a relatively passive activity — in other words, one that can be done freely when you have some time — it’s not very difficult to do.

But that passivity is also one of its negatives. Since you shouldn’t be joining groups just to spam your podcast around, it’s going to take time to make a bit of a name for yourself within those groups and earn trust. That’s when you’ll really start to convert people to listeners.

However, that too is one of this podcast marketing method’s weak points. There’s no telling how many people within a group listen to podcasts. That means it’s unclear exactly what your return on that time will be in any given group. The positive spin on that is that the people you do convert should be your most die-hard fans and will be more willing to share your podcast, exponentially expanding your reach organically.

Newsletters and reviews might just be the most underrated and often-forgotten podcast marketing option available to independent podcasters. That means you should be using that to your advantage by pitching your podcast the right way.

We recently had Lauren Passell — the creator of Podcast Marketing Magic and Podcast: The Newsletter — on our sister podcast, Podcast Industry Experts. You can find the link to that episode in the show notes, on our website, or search for Podcast Industry Experts on the podcast app of your choice.

We talked to Lauren specifically about newsletters; from how you should pitch, to the amazing stats her own newsletter generates. It was an eye-opening conversation that only further proved the value this type of outreach can have while being completely free.

All you have to do is create a good pitch and send it off. Yep, that’s it . . . an email, that’s all. Of course, there’s definitely more to it than that but with a little time spent on a well-crafted pitch to the person you’re emailing, you can get in front of podcast listeners actively looking for new podcasts to listen to. Even among the paid podcast marketing options we discussed, few put you in front of that group.

But if it was only positives, these reviewers and curators would be overloaded with pitches. Though newsletters and reviewers get you in front of podcast listeners, that doesn’t guarantee they’re interested in what you’ve got. The effectiveness of any newsletter or review has more to do with the audience they bring in. If these curators typically only cover true-crime podcasts, your Dungeons and Dragons podcast might not get a ton of listeners by being featured.

It’s an easy enough problem to solve, however. You just have to pay attention to who you’re pitching to and choose the ones that make sense for your podcast. But with a limited number of people putting out these newsletters and reviews, you can quickly run out of people to pitch to. That really just means you need to spend the bulk of your time making your pitch absolutely amazing so you have a better shot at getting featured on the few you do contact.

Appearing on podcasts is one of my favorite marketing tips. It can be one of the most effective things you do and can quickly grow an audience if you do it right and get just a little lucky.

As the host of a podcast, you should be at least a little bit charismatic and comfortable talking on a microphone to an audience. And since we’re trying to solve the problem of getting people to know you and your podcast exist, why not just appear on another podcast?

There are plenty of podcasts out there interviewing people. Because their podcast content revolves around the guests they have, the hosts of these types of podcasts are constantly looking for new and interesting guests. If you have any special insights or are a professional within your niche, you’re likely a great prospect for interview podcasts.

Just like newsletters, it can be as simple as creating a pitch and sending it to podcast hosts. But to have the best shot at getting a reply back and actually seeing results from your appearance, you have to do your homework first.

Like the rest of these free podcast marketing ideas, this is where the difficulty comes in. In order to not pay any money, you need to research a ton of podcasts to find a few that do interviews, cover relevant topics, and have an audience worth going after. While there are likely a lot of podcasts that check all three of those boxes, it’s up to you to find them and contact them with a pitch so good they can’t help but get you on immediately.

The great thing is that you’re getting in front of podcast listeners already interested in what your podcast is about. And depending on how much you narrow down your criteria, you can get as specific or as broad as you want when targeting listeners. And because it’s you talking, listeners already know what they’re getting, so they’re more likely to stick around for the long haul.

Last is the good, old fashioned promo swap. Just like it sounds, you’re connecting with another podcast to put a little ad on each others’ podcasts. You get some promotion from their podcast and they get some from yours.

Now, a lot of people hesitate right there believing that means you’re sending audience members away but that’s not necessarily true. Unlike a lot of other mediums, podcast listeners will listen to multiple podcasts within a category at the same time. Whether it’s small differences in format or the host’s voice, or the podcasts cover the same broad topic but tend to focus in different areas; podcast listeners aren’t afraid to really take a deep dive on something they like.

That’s great news, unless you have a bad podcast. Doing a promo swap doesn’t necessarily mean you’re sending listeners away, but if your podcast is weak in production and/or content, you very well could be pushing them to another podcast. But I’m going to assume you’ve already focusing on those areas. If not, that’s going to be a far more pressing problem than any marketing efforts we’re discussing today.

There are real problems with promo swaps, however. The biggest one is that as you start to deal with podcasts more popular than your own, you’ll run into fewer willing to do a promo swap with you for free. It puts a bit of a cap on what you can do but it’s still an incredibly easy and effective way of getting your amazing content in front of more people, who might help spread the word even further.

Podcast marketing doesn’t have to take a ton of time, effort, or money to do properly. But it does take a commitment to actually doing it. If you put the same amount of time and money into promoting your podcast as you do creating it, you’ll be growing your audience in no time.

As always, get out there and create something amazing. And if there’s something that worked for you, hit me up at MatthewS_Pod on Twitter or reach out to us via our website. Oh, and don’t forget to head over to the Q’d Up Audio twitter profile to sign up for our newsletter where we give even more helpful podcast tips and tricks.