Whether you’re brand new to the world of podcasting or a verified expert, podcast marketing is an ever-changing art form, which means there’s always more to learn.
Even if you’ve been around the proverbial podcasting block (or, pod?) a few times, the landscape is continually evolving, so keeping your finger on the pulse at all times is key to your brand’s success.
Consider this your comprehensive guide to promoting your company or brand’s podcast, but also don’t be afraid to dive deeper into any of the topics below because the possibilities are endless.
Organic podcast marketing
Branding
First things first, congratulations on being a part of your company’s podcasting journey. Whether you’re the face behind the podcast, a writer, producer, or admin support, you’re an essential part of the team helping to reach your company’s overarching goals and establish the brand through this exciting and quickly evolving channel.
While every organization will have slightly different goals associated with the platform, it’s important to view the podcast as an extension of your brand but also a sort of mini brand in itself. Your podcast will ultimately serve to add value to the company as a whole, but it’s also a single entity in itself with its own audience base, topics, themes, and goals.
When building a brand for your company’s podcast, here are some things to keep in mind:
Who will be the face of the podcast?
Depending on the structure of your organization, you’ll likely want to choose a member of your team who is well-versed in the subject matter, well-spoken, and willing to engage in lively discussions that just so happen to be recorded.
The person you end up choosing as your host will ultimately serve as the face of the podcast, so they should also be willing and available to devote time to things like photo shoots, press interviews, and more.
How branded will the podcast be?
While your company’s podcast is meant to serve as an extension of your brand and ultimately drive back to your business goals, you may want to consider just *how* branded the show will be.
We highly recommend keeping your branded podcast authentic and refrain from being overtly sales-oriented. Here are a few reasons why:
- Build trust and credibility: A podcast that focuses solely on sales and promotion may come across as insincere and self-serving. By offering valuable, informative, and non-sales-y content, you can build trust and credibility with your audience. When listeners perceive your podcast as a genuine source of information, they are more likely to consider your brand trustworthy.
- Audience engagement: Engaging and retaining listeners is crucial for the success of your podcast. People tune in to podcasts for entertainment, education, and inspiration, not to be bombarded with sales pitches. An overly sales-oriented approach can drive listeners away and reduce engagement.
- Attract a wider audience: A podcast that offers more than just sales pitches can attract a broader audience. When you provide content that addresses common pain points, answers questions, or entertains, you have the opportunity to reach listeners who may not have initially been interested in your products or services.
Will the podcast be marketed as a separate entity or alongside your company’s products and services?
When it comes time to begin promoting the podcast, it will be important to consider whether your team will market it as a separate brand with a completely separate social media presence, website, blog, etc., or simply as a new addition to the content you’re already creating.
There are benefits and cons to doing it both ways – here’s a brief overview:
Promoting a branded podcast alongside the rest of your company’s products and services:
Benefits:
- Brand synergy: Promoting your podcast alongside your products or services can reinforce your brand identity and values, creating a seamless and cohesive brand experience.
- Cross-promotion: You can leverage your existing customer base and marketing channels to cross-promote the podcast, potentially reaching a larger audience.
- Conversion opportunities: A podcast linked to your products or services can serve as a valuable tool for educating, engaging, and converting potential customers.
Drawbacks:
- Content constraints: Tying the podcast to your company's offerings may limit the range of topics and discussions you can explore, potentially reducing the podcast's appeal to a broader audience.
- Risk of oversaturation: If not executed well, promoting the podcast alongside other products and services could lead to oversaturation and audience fatigue.
Promoting a branded podcast as a separate entity:
Benefits:
- Focused audience: By promoting your podcast separately, you can attract a highly targeted and engaged audience. People who subscribe and listen are likely interested in your podcast's content.
- Content freedom: You have more creative freedom and flexibility to produce content that aligns with your podcast's theme without the constraints of tying it to your company's products or services.
- Unrestricted monetization potential: If your podcast gains a substantial following, you can explore monetization options like sponsorships, ads, or premium content without necessarily diluting your brand.
Drawbacks:
- Limited brand exposure: Promoting a separate podcast might not directly benefit your company's brand recognition, and potential customers may not make the connection between the podcast and your products or services.
- Longer ROI timeline: It may take longer to see a return on investment (ROI) from the podcast, as it's not directly linked to your core business offerings.
Social Media
Now that you’ve done some initial branding exercises, let’s get social. It’s no surprise that social media is one of the dominant marketing strategies and it only continues to grow.
HubSpot reported the fastest-growing social media platforms in 2023 with Facebook (69%), YouTube (57%), Instagram (45%), TikTok (33%), Twitter (30%), and LinkedIn (20%).
Anyone can create an account, gather some imagery, and draft regular social media posts, but the question is—are you really connecting with your audience on a deep, emotional level?
It may seem trivial, but every post you share on social media has the power to build the public’s awareness of your brand, which is why a thoughtful yet authentic strategy is key.
Before you click post, we suggest asking yourself:
- Would you want to see this content?
- Would it be valuable to you?
- Would you want to engage with it?
- What next steps would this post encourage you to take?
A lot of the time, this can save you from posting content that will perform poorly or just not hold any substance for your followers.
Even if you’re creating a social media plan for a company that’s selling something that could be considered mundane or every day like insurance, dish soap, or toilet paper, there are ways to connect with your audience on a human level that will help your brand stand out from the crowd.
Here are some tips to keep in mind when drafting your social media plan and daily posts:
Stick to a regular posting cadence
Posting frequency isn’t everything, but it helps with overall engagement and follower retention. In general, try to stick to a cadence of one to five posts per day (depending on the platform) to keep your brand top of mind with your followers without annoying them with too much spam throughout the day.
According to research from the team at Hootsuite, this is how often you should be posting on each platform per week:
- Instagram: 3-7 posts per week
- Facebook: 1-2 posts per day
- Twitter: 1-5 tweets per day
- LinkedIn: 1-5 posts per day
Of course, use this as a rough guideline but always use your discretion because you know your audience best.
Be authentic
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Remember to stay authentic to your brand’s voice, tone, and subject matter.
Try to develop a unique voice for your company’s social media channels so your followers will come to expect a certain kind of content from your accounts and forge an emotional connection with your brand.
In fact, authenticity seems to make all the difference. A study by Stackla found that 88% of consumers consider authenticity important when deciding which brands to support.
Leverage collaborations and other key audiences in your space
If you have a guest on your podcast, be sure to ask them to share the episode on their channels and tag your account to gain exposure and potential new listeners.
To make it as easy as possible, send your guests a media kit after the episode has been published. This can include items like:
- Icons
- Audiograms
- Episode links
- Quote graphics
- Sample social media post copy for various platforms
Create stunning visuals
Stunning visuals (especially on platforms like Instagram) will help draw in new followers and build your brand.
According to the AdEspresso blog, images with a single dominant color, a background, higher light exposure, and a more textured appearance tend to perform best on Instagram.
While you likely have a graphic designer on your team to help you create beautiful graphics and imagery to entice your audience, here are some additional resources to check out to take it up a notch:
If you’re short on time, AI-powered image recognition and generation tools, like Strencil, analyze your podcast episodes and automatically suggest relevant images, which can be customized to fit your branding.
For instance, if your podcast discusses food, AI can generate appealing images of dishes, ingredients, or chefs to accompany your posts.
Here are some other AI platforms we recommend:
- RelayThat: RelayThat is a design automation platform that uses AI to generate multiple design variations based on your input, making it easy to create consistent social media visuals.
- Designify: Designify is an AI-powered graphic design tool that can generate logos, social media posts, and other visuals based on your preferences and inputs.
- Deep Dream Generator: If you're looking for more artistic and surreal images, Deep Dream Generator can transform your photos using neural networks. It's a fun tool for creating unique visuals.
Bonus AI Tool: We also recommend using Sharewizard to create LinkedIn carousels from blog posts. Simply paste your blog article’s URL and have a custom carousel created in seconds.
Incorporate humor into your posts
When it comes to social media, some of the most popular handles are solely meme accounts, and for good reason—they make people laugh and brighten their day, which is a valuable characteristic.
If you can make your followers laugh or smile while boosting your brand’s profile, you’re doing something right.
Infusing humor into your social media schedule is a great way to bring your brand back down to earth and connect with followers on a human-to-human level.
Here are some examples of big-name brands doing this well, and engaging with other brands in some friendly banter:
Don’t be afraid to try new things
As we’ve mentioned, social media is ever-evolving, and no one knows which emerging platforms will eventually become the new Facebook or Instagram.
Being an early adopter is always beneficial because you can build a large following before others hop on the bandwagon. Try to stay on top of up-and-coming platforms like Clubhouse or Caffeine because you never know what’s going to blow up.
Make use of free templates to stay organized
Many online brands and services offer free templates to make social media a breeze for your team. Here are some examples:
- SproutSocial social media calendar
- Crello social media templates for podcasters
- Adobe podcast cover art templates
Contests and giveaways
Creating a social media contest for your branded podcast can be a highly effective way to engage your audience, increase brand awareness, and grow your podcast's listenership.
There are various types of social media contests you can run. Some popular options for a branded podcast include:
- Comment-to-Enter: Participants leave comments on your social media post to enter the contest;
- Hashtag challenge: Encourage users to create content related to your podcast using a specific hashtag;
- Trivia or quiz: Test your audience's knowledge about your podcast's episodes or topics;
- User-Generated Content contest: Ask participants to create content, such as memes, artwork, or short videos, inspired by your podcast;
- Referral contest: Encourage listeners to refer friends to your podcast, with rewards for the most referrals.
Building a community
A big component of social media marketing is building a sense of community around your show and networking with other like-minded industry creatives.
Forging connections with other people who are operating within your subject matter realm will help foster collaborations, grow your network, and ultimately spread the word organically.
Although the world of marketing is mainly online today, we’re all still human at the end of the day, and there’s inherent value in fostering real-world relationships.
Here are some ideas for building key connections in your space and rallying a greater sense of community around your company’s podcast:
- Online forums: Participate in online forums, social media groups, and communities relevant to your podcast's niche. Share valuable insights, answer questions, and subtly promote your podcast when relevant. Avoid spamming, and focus on providing genuine value.
- Live Events and webinars: Organize live podcast recording sessions, webinars, or virtual events where listeners can interact with hosts and guests in real-time. These events can foster a strong sense of community.
- Engage with listeners: When you receive comments, reviews, or messages from listeners, engage with them respectfully. Show appreciation for their support and address any concerns or questions.
- Create and nurture industry connections: Share and support the work of others who are operating in your company’s space.
- Participate in industry events: Attend industry conferences, webinars, and networking events related to your podcast's subject matter and share with like-minded people on social media. This is a great way to meet potential podcast guests, listeners, and collaborators.
Content Marketing
In addition to social media, there are plenty of other forms of content to test out to continue building your community, engaging your followers, and positioning your brand as an expert in the space.
Here are some ideas to experiment with as you continue expanding your podcasting platform:
Tip: If you’re interested in learning from the pros, check out our expert roundup where we asked top marketing agencies: What’s your biggest piece of advice for brands looking to invest in content marketing?
Video
Recent statistics reveal that 43% of monthly podcast listeners have enjoyed podcast content on YouTube within the past year.
Whether you actually want to create a video podcast or just highlight snippets of your show post-production, YouTube currently boasts 2 billion logged-in users and only continues to grow, encapsulating a huge untapped market.
Here are some more reasons why podcasters are leveraging YouTube in their content marketing mix:
Expand your audience:
As discussed, the second largest social media platform, YouTube, serves as a gateway to a massive audience of potential fans. Additionally nearly a third (32%) of Americans prefer listening to podcasts with video — increasing to 46% among podcast listeners who listened to a podcast within the last month.
Video is more conducive to social media:
Autoplay videos without sound are a common feature in social media feeds, meaning social media platforms are optimized for video content rather than audio. Short video snippets or highlights from your podcast can be shared on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, attracting attention, generating engagement, and driving traffic back to your full podcast episodes.
Enhance SEO:
Videos often perform well in search engine rankings. You can optimize video titles, descriptions, tags, and closed captions to improve SEO and increase visibility.
Audiograms
An audiogram is a short video clip or image with an audio waveform overlaid, typically accompanied by captions or subtitles with relevant branding, and is designed to be shared across social media and websites.
Audiograms capture the essence of the podcast episode, highlighting interesting or intriguing moments, quotes, or soundbites to generate interest and entice people to listen to the full episode.
Consistently using audiograms as part of your podcast content marketing strategy helps establish a recognizable visual identity for your brand. By incorporating your logo, colors, and overall branding into the audiograms, you create a cohesive and visually consistent presence across different platforms.
Behind-the-scenes (BTS) content
People generally love to see what’s going on behind the curtain in a given industry or creative space, and BTS footage can make for some really engaging social media fodder.
If you work in a visual space like art or even fitness, try filming some BTS scenes and sharing them with your followers for a sneak peek into your world.
If monetization is a key part of your goal, you can also offer BTS premium content for paid subscribers or patrons.
E-books, whitepapers, and guides
Amp up your online presence and position your brand as one of the leaders in your space by offering free content like blog posts, e-books, whitepapers, and guides consistently.
A great example of this approach is author Tim Ferris, who famously repurposed over 200 podcast interviews into an extensive eBook called "The Tools of Titans" for his audience to enjoy.
This will help establish your company as one of the expert voices in your area and give your community another chance to engage with your brand.
Content like e-books and guides can also come in handy as you can offer them for free as an incentive for people to join your mailing list or rate and review the podcast.
Public Relations
When developing your marketing strategy, don’t forget to include some good old-fashioned public relations tactics. If you have the budget, it can be helpful to hire a PR agency to target certain geographical areas where you may not have as many organic connections to help secure media coverage.
Here are a few tried-and-true PR tactics that we love:
Speaking engagements
Speaking engagements can serve as a fun way for your team to connect with the community and spread your company’s message.
Look into upcoming conferences or panel discussions happening in your area or online and see if you can join in.
Guest writing
In the same vein, contributing regularly to a magazine, blog, or publication with an established reader base can help your company gain exposure to the community.
You can write guest pieces for blogs or pitch op-eds to publications. Remember to pick companies that get you in front of your target audience and whose name helps establish your brand as a thought leader.
Link swaps
Link swaps are a great way to put your podcast in front of potential listeners, help boost your SEO, and create connections in your industry.
Link swaps can help you reach a wider audience by exposing your podcast to the followers and listeners of other podcasts or websites. When you exchange links with complementary podcasts or websites, you tap into their existing audience, potentially gaining new subscribers and listeners.
Additionally, building relationships with other podcasters or website owners through link swaps can lead to collaboration opportunities.
You may find opportunities to guest on each other's shows or participate in joint marketing efforts, which can help promote your podcast even further.
Lastly, link swaps can improve your podcast's search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines like Google consider backlinks (links from other websites to yours) as a ranking factor.
When reputable websites link to your podcast, it can boost your website's authority and improve your search engine rankings, making it easier for people to discover your podcast through online searches.
Paid Podcast Marketing
Now that we’ve covered all things related to organic marketing, let’s move on to paid strategies.
There are plenty of paid tactics you can try without breaking the bank, but if you have the budget to go big, then we say YOPO—you only podcast once—and it’s always worth investing a little more to make a big splash.
Here are some of the fundamentals of paid podcast marketing and how to get started with each:
Social Media Ads
Paid social media ads are campaigns you’d generally see on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. This tactic is great for raising awareness and getting the word out there about your brand’s podcast because it can help to increase your exposure, depending on your ad spend.
Some of the pros of this tactic are that social media ads are more cost-effective and beneficial in terms of raising your podcast’s profile. It’s also not an overly saturated market for podcast ads so you’d have a chance to potentially get a leg up on the competition.
Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to play with more extensive targeting parameters to ensure you’re reaching the right potential listeners.
However, you won’t see many conversions from social media ads to podcast listeners.
This is because apps like Facebook and Instagram are not audio-first platforms, so for people to click through to your podcast, they would have to leave the app they’re currently on.
Google Ads
Google Ads are similar to social ads, except they’re on the Google platform and are slightly more effective for raising awareness about your podcast.
With Google Ads, you’ll be able to reach a wider audience and benefit from their specific targeting parameters.
This tactic is also cost-effective, and you’ll gain access to data on the kind of searches people are conducting when they click on your ads, which can provide great insight into your overall marketing strategy.
Podcast Advertising Platforms
The podcasting world is home to a plethora of advertising platforms specifically geared towards podcasters and other audio-first mediums. Here are some of our favorites:
- Podcast Addict is the podcast app specifically tailored for Androids and not offered to Apple users Podcast Addict campaigns last one month in total, leaving podcasters with two options for ads:
- A homepage ad (around $2,000)
- A category-specific ad (ranges from $150 to 450)
Podcast Addict uses banner-style ads, which pull information from your RSS feed (i.e., your podcast’s name, icon, and description) so you won’t have to create or provide assets for the ad.
One downside to this platform is that it doesn’t offer any targeting parameters other than category ads.
- Castbox is a popular podcast listening, discovery, and advertising tool that will work with you directly to run ads. With Castbox, you’ll have the opportunity to specify your campaign by location, but other than that, there are no other specific targeting parameters available. The base rate for a campaign is $2,000.
Similar to Podcast Addict, each campaign lasts one month and uses banner-style ads so you won’t have to provide the team with any assets.
- Overcast is an Apple-specific ad platform, which prevents Android users from joining. With Overcast, podcasters also have two options for ads:
- A homepage ad (around $2,000)
- Episode-specific ads ($250 to $1,200)
Ad prices range based on the popularity of the category, so the hotter the topic, the higher the cost.
Other than category campaigns, Overcast doesn’t provide any targeting parameters, but similar to the other platforms, they will pull information from your RSS feed so you won’t need to provide them with extra materials.
- Spotify Advertising allows you to create an audio ad that’s up to 30 seconds in length and has a minimum ad spend of $250.
Unlike the other platforms, Spotify offers a more robust set of targeting parameters including:
- Age
- Gender
- Location
- Interests
- Real-time context
The duration of the campaign is up to you, but you’ll need to provide the visuals to go along with the ad, which can simply be your cover art or episode-specific artwork.
Contests/Giveaways
The main goal of a contest or giveaway is typically to encourage the participants to rate and review your podcast on their favorite listening app (which ultimately increases your chances of landing a spot in the top charts).
Some ideas for potential prizes include:
- Company products/services
- Consumer products (AirPods, Apple Watch, etc.)
- Subscriptions (MasterClass)
- Gift Cards
- Trips
Measurement
When it’s all said and done, how will you know if all these fancy marketing tactics are doing the trick? This is where measurement and analytics come in clutch.
Here are some measurement tools to keep in mind when tracking your marketing progress:
Listening app analytics:
Whether you use Apple or Spotify as your listening app, you will have access to some analytics data through this platform including episode performance, engagement levels, and ratings and reviews.
Hosting platform analytics:
These platforms serve as hosts and repositories for a podcast's media files. They automatically update podcast directories, like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, whenever fresh content is published through an RSS feed link. Often these sites include data like downloads and unique listeners, device used, subscriber count, and more.
Third-party podcast analytics tools:
Third-party providers or hosting/distribution platforms, like CoHost, serve as a centralized hub that monitors and analyzes podcast performance via various crucial metrics, including episode downloads, listener engagement, retention rates, B2B Analytics, and audience demographics insights.
When it comes to third-party tools, there are both free and paid options, so regardless of your budget, you can still monitor performance.
It's only natural to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment in producing and publishing your episodes. Yet, when it comes to achieving specific goals such as brand awareness or lead generation, an objective viewpoint becomes indispensable.
This is where the power of metrics steps in – they offer undeniable evidence of whether your time and energy have been wisely spent, help you fine-tune your podcast content and style, and guide broader marketing and branding decisions.
Are you ready to get in front of your target audience?
Podcast marketing is a dynamic and powerful tool that should not be overlooked by any forward-thinking company.
As we've explored in this guide, it offers a unique avenue to connect with your target audience, build brand loyalty, and ultimately drive business growth.
By understanding the key strategies, best practices, and creative approaches outlined here, your company can harness the potential of podcasting to reach new heights in the digital landscape.
Embracing this medium can be a game-changer for your marketing efforts, allowing you to engage, inform, and entertain your audience in a way that few other platforms can match.
So, don't wait any longer—start planning your podcast marketing strategy today and watch your company's influence and success soar in the exciting world of audio content.
If you’re interested in taking your branded podcast’s marketing to the next level, reach out to our team!
