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As a pro podcaster, you know that the work doesn’t stop once you’ve finished the content.
After all, what’s the use in creating top-notch podcast content if it’s not going to reach the right ears?
To ensure your podcast gets the buzz it deserves, you’ll need to implement an effective distribution strategy to get the word out.
But don’t worry, building out a distribution strategy doesn’t need to be as complicated as it seems. By leaning on new tools and planning things out ahead of time, you can simplify the workflow to make it as seamless as possible.
Before we jump into it, let’s start with the obvious question:
What is podcast distribution?
Podcast distribution refers to publishing podcast content to various online platforms and directories to reach a wider audience.
Firstly you’ll want to sign up with a podcast hosting service. That’s where pro podcasters, brands, and agencies store, distribute, and manage their podcast audio files online.
Then you’ll want to submit your podcast to the top podcast directories in the game – like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. Luckily, you only have to do this step once when you drop your first episode or a trailer to tease the show.
Once you’ve uploaded your first episode or trailer to the directories, the platforms will take it from there and automatically pick up each new episode you drop using your RSS feed.
When building out your podcast distribution workflow, you’ll not only want to ensure that this process runs smoothly but also all the promotional efforts to follow. Since after all, submitting your show to listening apps is only the first step to tapping into your desired listener base.
Now that you’ve got the definitions down, keep reading for our top 6 tips to create a winning podcast distribution strategy.
1. Keep all of your assets in one place
Being organized from the get-go will make the process of creating and scaling your podcast much easier.
A key part of the planning phase is making sure you’ve collected all of your podcast assets and organized them into one easy-to-access place prior to publishing. We recommend using content management systems like ClickUp or Asana.
Having a central area that the entire team can access makes distribution easy. The review process is streamlined and something your entire team can do together.
This also ensures that if you ever need assets from previous episodes, you can easily refer back. Remember assets include everything connected to the episode – the script, show questions, raw files, edited audio, bonus clips, artwork, social assets, promotional collateral, etc.
2. Develop promotional materials
One of the worst things you can do is allow your podcast to live in a silo. To maximize your discoverability and reach, you’ll want to create an array of promotional materials to get the word out.
The best way to make sure your episodes get the traction they deserve is to develop promotional assets before each episode is released. Promotion comes in many forms but some of the assets you can invest in include:
Publication features
Podcast websites like Podnews or other sites operating within your niche might feature you if it’s the launch of a new show or season, or if you feature a high-profile guest. Features are a great way to get in front of new audiences and establish your credibility within the podcast space.
Social media posts
Social media is a powerful tool for podcast promotion – after all, 24% of podcast listeners find new shows on social platforms.
With 5.17 billion users in 2024, social media represents a massive opportunity for podcasters looking to increase their audience. There are quite a few ways to spruce up your podcast’s social media presence, but some of the most common (and effective) posts include:
- Audiograms: A podcast audiogram is an image that's converted into a video and layered with other elements on top, such as a waveform and/or transcriptions. Audiograms stand out when scrolling and are easy to generate when you use tools like Headliner.
- Images: An oldie but a goodie, images are always a go-to. For instance, tweets with images performed 150% better in terms of retweets than tweets without images.
- Videos: If you’re doing a video podcast, we suggest taking some of the best parts and cutting them down into bite-sized teasers. Behind-the-scenes content and bonus clips work just as well. You can even start releasing these before the episode or series airs to create anticipation.
- Carousels: With carousels, you can show multiple images, videos, or a mix of both within a single, swipe-through post. We suggest using these to enumerate
Newsletters
There’s no better way to speak directly to your audience (outside of your podcast) than newsletters. Delivered straight to their inbox, you can speak directly to your fans. Update them on topics from previous episodes, tell them what they can expect in the coming series, and share bonus content that didn’t make the final cut.
A standout example is Ramli John’s "Marketing Powerups" newsletter. The newsletter perfectly complements his podcast episodes by summarizing key takeaways and pairing them with a downloadable resource, enriching the listener's experience. Whether it's sparking interest in the latest episode or providing deeper insights post-listening, newsletters like these serve a dual purpose.
Lastly, whatever your promotion mix looks like, we suggest using tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule social posts ahead of time and create a content calendar to keep you (or your team) on track.
3. Pick your times and dates wisely
Choosing the right time to release your podcast is an important step in the launch process.
Before hitting “post” or “share,” it’s important to dive into listener data. For example, check out which dates listeners are tuning in most. What time are they listening? To optimize your posting schedule, it’s important to reach your listeners when it’s most convenient for them.
Finding this data may seem complicated, but platforms like CoHost give you access to analytics that tell you when and where your audience is listening.
Maybe your audience plugs in more when you release early in the morning on their commute to work. This is the case for a podcast like The Daily, where listeners are trying to get a quick morning summary of the world’s breaking headlines.
On the flip side, a majority of listeners who tune into thriller, crime, or mystery-themed podcasts, like to do so at night.
However, if you’re just starting and don’t have this listener data available, you can go by general guidelines. Then, once you collect a more active listener base, you can tailor these times to best suit them.
Best practice is to publish new episodes on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday morning at 5:30am Eastern Time.
Regardless of the distribution date you choose, it’s important to be regular and consistent with your posting schedule. Let your audience know when they can expect to hear from you next and where, so they can build your show into their daily, weekly, or bi-weekly routine.
4. Prep your guests
If your podcast features guests, you’ll want to include them in your distribution workflow.
To help maximize your reach and discoverability, you’ll want to make it as easy as possible for guests to share your podcast and drive their network to the episode.
Remember those promotional materials you created? You’ll want to include those images, audiograms, videos, etc; in your guest prep. If you can make personalized graphics, that’s even better.
On top of that. you’ll want to include some sample social copy to make the process even more seamless.
Share these assets using Dropbox or Google Drive so guests can market with ready-to-go materials. Remember to always share the pending live link of the episode with your featured guest.
5. Automate redundant processes with AI
Over the past couple of years, AI has undoubtedly made a considerable mark on the podcast industry with AI-driven podcasting reaching 45 million Americans each month. On top of that, AI-powered podcasts have experienced a staggering 500% growth in the past year.
But what part can AI play in the podcast distribution workflow exactly?
The most common way AI can help here is through content repurposing.
Rated among marketers as the second most effective content marketing tactic for driving traffic and generating leads, repurposing podcast content means transforming your podcast episodes into various other formats, such as blog posts, videos, social media snippets, infographics, and more.
Rather than creating entirely new content from scratch, repurposing allows you to leverage your existing podcast episodes in different ways, extending their lifespan, potentially attracting new listeners, and of course, saving time.
Here are a few examples of how AI can help:
Social media posts
AI tools can distill transcripts to create short, punchy captions tailored to specific social media platforms, offering efficiencies, consistency, scalability, and enhanced audience engagement.
On top of that, AI can generate visually appealing graphics or videos based on these extracted elements, ensuring that the created content is informative and visually engaging.
Blog posts
Podcasters can now use AI tools to streamline converting podcast content into well-crafted blog articles. Podcast transcripts are analyzed and transformed into structured blog post outlines, complete with key points, sections, and coherent storylines.
From there, you can expand these outlines into full-fledged blog posts, providing valuable insights, analysis, and narratives from the original podcast discussions.
You can use AI to help speed up the process here too, but we suggest injecting a personal touch by adding your own insights, anecdotes, or examples to make the blog post more engaging and reflective of your unique perspective.
Reports and whitepapers
AI offers podcasters a powerful tool to repurpose podcast content into informative whitepapers at scale. Podcast transcripts are analyzed and synthesized into structured whitepaper outlines, highlighting key insights, data points, and strategic recommendations derived from the podcast.
As we mentioned above, you’ll want to feed AI tools detailed prompts and expand on their inputs to ensure the content is accurate and reflective of your podcast’s brand.
CoHost Tip: To learn more about AI in the podcast workflow, check out our blog where we dive into 5 ways you can use AI to repurpose your podcast content.
6. Make data-driven decisions
Now that you’ve distributed and promoted your show, it’s time to measure to see if your strategy is working.
Use your podcast analytics software to compare your top-performing episodes with your latest releases.
These data points help you see how your podcast episodes evolve over time by comparing their performance based on the content, guests, day it was released, etc.
Make sure you have a tracking sheet that allows you to track all your episodes that can be updated over time. This type of data will be invaluable as you make decisions about future show themes, guests, release dates, and what your new season should tweak or change.
CoHost Tip: Validating your podcast marketing efforts isn’t always straightforward. To help eliminate the guesswork and empower you to make data-driven decisions, we teamed up with our friends at Headliner to compile our top 5 ways to see if your podcast marketing is really working.
Reach the right eyes (and ears)
There you have it – our 6 tips for creating a winning podcast distribution strategy!
Overall, building a winning podcast distribution workflow requires careful planning and execution. By keeping all assets organized in one accessible location, developing diverse promotional materials, and strategically timing releases, you set the stage for success.
Additionally, prepping guests, automating redundant processes with AI, and making data-driven decisions ensure efficiency and effectiveness in reaching your target audience.
To learn more about CoHost and how we can help streamline your podcast distribution efforts, reach out to our team!
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