1. What is Podcast Marketing

Podcast marketing is the act of marketing people, products or services you sell by creating and distributing unique audio content. Podcast marketing has been a popular medium in the last 10 years, especially because it is a way to consume content while in transit.

Podcasts are used in many ways such as entertainment, educational and information. The popularity of the medium has had a boost with the advent of several platforms like Spotify and more recently Buzzsprout.

Creating a successful Podcast channel requires dedication, patience, and strategy. This is especially true if we want the audience to grow with time.

1.1. Why is Podcast Marketing Important

Podcasts are versatile, enlightening and overpowering. One single medium has so much potential which should not be ignored by any marketer out there. Around 3% of marketers make Podcasts.

In 2014, advertisers spent nearly $90 million on in-podcast ads, which became $190 billion in 2016, and now the Podcast ads are expected to take a giant leap in 2021.


Podcasting is a very effective way to promote the business, and here are the reasons explained to add a digital marketing podcast to your marketing strategy:

1.2. Advantages

There are many advantages of placing you bet on building a strong activity on Social media platforms:


Podcast Marketing is an important marketing channel to build a community and establish authority in a certain theme.

1.2.1. Reach new audiences

Podcasts enable you to reach niche audiences that are interested in specific contents. Podcasts are discussion places that work different themes in each session. This diversity in areas and also with different speakers enables you to reach different audiences regularly.

1.2.2. Easy to produce

Podcasts can be made from anywhere, can be done without a studio and are normally produced in live streams, or in a one session take, making it very easy and cheap to produce. Since there is no video involved you will not need any video editing or image processing. Unlike photos and video content, the cost to create Podcasts is extremely low.

Podcasting requires little money to invest, and anyone can do it on any theme. There is no specific need for a script, since it can be made on a live session.

1.2.3. Great Multiply Factor

Nowadays, Podcasts are going mainstream, and since the brand name goes online with the Podcasts on many platforms, it increases the brand’s visibility. There are many tricks and hacks that you can use to enhance your brand’s visibility through Podcasts.

1.2.4. Niche targeting

Podcasts are generally on a specific topic or theme. A business can use podcasts to discuss a sector in which it operates, targeting a specific audience. For example, a cosmetic brand can have a Podcast that discusses Beauty and Wellness themes and connect with audiences or a community around that theme.

1.2.5. Connects with the audience

Most of the Podcasts sound like a conversation. Most people listen to podcasts while driving, running, or walking. Also, a lot of people listen to the Podcast when they are alone. This means that Podcasts have a direct effect because they are broadcasted directly into someone’s ears. Podcasts have conversations, stories and experiences which make you familiar with them. That is why Podcasts can develop deeper connections with their audience.

2. Podcast Marketing

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2.1. Hosting Platforms vs. Aggregators/Distributors

The big podcast platforms are both file hosts and distributors. Normally they want to host your podcasts but you can use them also as an aggregator and submit the RSS feed directly to them. Examples of these are: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, etc.

If you want you can host your podcast on your server and get all episodes pulled from your server using a simple configuration from the RSS feed. This centralized solution enables you to have total control of your episodes, enabling you to change or delete them, and then have all the modifications automatically available through the aggregators. Alternatively you can choose one of the platforms as a master and do the same through the platform’s RSS feed.

Main Podcast Host Platforms

These are the top platforms for podcast hosting, many of them also give a considerable network effect:
Buzzsprout
Captivate
Soundcloud
Transistor
Castos
Podbean
Resonate
Libsyn

As we said above, top Podcast hosting platforms also work as aggregators/ distributors.

2.1.2. Main Podcast Aggregators

Podcast aggregators, also called podcatchers, are websites or simple apps that play podcasts. This is different from the Podcast platform that hosts and promotes your podcast. There are dozens of these apps that, once linked to your podcast channel, enable its users to get automatic notifications of new episodes.

Here’s a quick list of 10 of the more popular ones:

Spotify
Pocket casts
Overcast
Google Podcasts
Castro
Acast
Downcast
Podcast Republic
Stitcher
Himalaya
Luminary
Castbox
Podcast Addict
Podcast subreddit
PodcastLand (your podcast is automatically listed here if it’s in iTunes)
TuneIn
Bello Collective

2.2. Plan before you start

To establish a good Video Marketing strategy you need first to focus on several areas that need to be developed.

Define clear goals and dates

As with all content marketing types, the first step is to set your content goals and audience. Video content tends to be more expensive to produce and needs to be especially tailored for the actions you seek.

As always, it is always a good idea to select a niche theme first so that you reduce complexity, execution time and risk. You will also need to have a clear idea of the audience because that defines the contents and how they will be distributed.

Study your competition well

Before choosing the platforms you will use you need to research where your competition is working on. Just choose your direct competitors and watch their activity on their main social media channels. One way to start is always to checkout their website for social links.
Make sure you take into account the different geographic regions, certain platforms might not don’t work so well depending on the countries.

Research tools and services

One common mistake of entrepreneurs is to start from zero. We are not in the beginning of the social media era, there are lots of tools out there that can automate, analyze and improve your performance. Make sure you talk with experienced marketers to know what they’re using since they have the experience.

Differentiate yourself from the competition

Your content strategy study should have defined your audience and what they are looking to solve their problems. You have an excellent opportunity to create something different that catches the attention of your competitors' network. This can be done by presenting differentiated content, different formats, different communication strategy, different channels, or even by using engaging new formats for displaying the information.

Another way to differentiate yourself from the competition is by studying new ways to distribute your content. Make sure you study alternative channels such as cross content in different platforms, partnerships with other networks, and so on.

Monitor and optimize your content

Use tools to analyze the reach of your podcast and to check how that can be improved. Optimization can easily reward you with multiple times your current views.

Let’s focus on the Marketing side and give you the best ways you can promote and grow a Podcast channel.

2.3. How to get started?

There are many methods to market a podcast. In his section we will focus on the most important methods to promote and distribute your podcast:







2.3.1. Promote in Social Media
Social media is the ideal platform to market your podcast. Social Media has audiences so it is a great medium to introduce your podcast to new subscribers as well as engage your community.

The following are some great content types to publish on social media:

A. Promote speaker’s photos
Promote speaker’s photos on post with their activity and speciality or Company name

B. Promote an audiogram
Promote a small and engaging excerpt from your podcast with a small video with an engaging and informative static image.

C. Share a quote or question
Spark reader’s attention with an engaging quote or a question regarding the podcast theme.

2.3.2. Community Growth
Best way to grow your podcast audience is to leverage existing communities within social networks. Here are some great methods to do that:

Post on Facebook Groups
Post on Slack Groups
Share messages on Meetups or Events
Post on LinkedIn Groups
Post on Quora or Disqus themes
Post on reddit Groups
Post on Discord Groups
Post on Clubhouse
Comment on influencers social posts

2.3.3. Podcast Website
Another great method to grow your community is to set up your own website dedicated to the Podcast main theme. Don’t create a website for the podcast since that function is very well performed by the platforms.

Creating your own website allows you to create articles and share free content that is subject to registration for the Podcast. Please refer to the Blog Content Marketing of this guide to know more.

2.3.4. Newsletters from Partners
Strike a partnership with brands or organizations that have a large member community with a newsletter channel. Offer them visibility on the Podcast, inviting for example their CEO and ask them to share the Podcast in their newsletter. This kind of promotion may achieve a large audience to grow your Podcast network.




2.3.5. Podcast SEO
Good Search Engine Optimization practices, like using the right keywords, tags and using an engaging and competitive title and description can boost the visibility of your content and rank higher on search platforms.
Investing in SEO can increase the chances of people discovering your series or specific episodes when they search for relevant topics.
For example, when you podcast an episode about Digital Transformation, for each episode that has the right SEO you have an optimized entry point in Google that goes directly to the specific podcast and to the channel itself, inducing more users to subscribe to it.

Here is a list of fields you should pay attention to optimize your Podcast for Search Engines:

Podcast Title: Choose a creative but also self-explanatory title if possible.
Podcast Description: Your podcast description is a short paragraph that gives audiences an overview about what your podcast is. Use a couple of relevant keywords in the description paragraph. Put yourself in the listener position and give him the content that he likes.
Episode Description: As the Podcast description, use a couple of keywords and spark his attention with a question or an engaging problem to discuss.
Episode Titles: Use a Catchy name for your episode titles, one that makes users click on the episode. Add a relevant keyword to get more visibility with Search Engines.
Transcriptions: Transcriptions are parts of the written form of your podcast, word for word. They are awesome for SEO booster since they can contain several areas/themes of your Podcast. You can also add tags/descriptions to the transcriptions to help with search engine optimization.



If you're creating your podcast directly in HTML you can use the following tags and attributes:
The page's H1 title
Some of the page's subheadings including H2, H3, H4, etc.
The ALT attribute of any images
The page's meta description
The page's TITLE tag, if different than the page's H1
Use three or four "tags/keywords" scattered throughout the description, but don't sacrifice readability




2.3.6. Sponsor Ads
Paid ads are very valuable for podcast marketing with the total podcast advertising market crossing the $1 billion mark in 2021. It is believed that 60% of podcast listeners have subscribed via a podcast ad.

Podcast ads are usually bought from the mainstream social platforms. It is a good method to experiment with 2 or 3 ads in each podcast until you can tweak the ad to reach an optimum CPC rate. Checkout the Social Content Marketing section to know more.

Alternatively you can also advertise on Podcast Apps like Spotify or PodcastAdict. These apps normally give you an estimate of your ad returns, namely the ads impressions, clicks, reach, and app subscriptions. Later on you will get complete ad statistics to control your success rate.

These Apps normally let you position your ads to special targets including, location, gender, age, interests, categories, fan size, and input device.

Podcast Guest or Episode Swaps
One method that is mostly used in YouTube is to invite another Vloger for your episode and then participate in his. There is two methods you can try if you have the right partner:

Swap Podcast Moderator
Participate in a partner’s Podcast and then ask him to participate in yours.
Swap an Episode
Swap the whole episode between the your an other podcast channel making sure you promote the invitation well enough

2.3.7. Submit to podcatchers and aggregators
Podcatchers are simple apps that play podcasts. This is different from the Podcast platform that hosts and promotes your podcast. There are dozens of these apps and once they are linked to your podcast channel its users can get automatic notifications of new episodes.
Here’s a quick list of 10 of the more popular ones:
Spotify
Pocket casts
Overcast
Google Podcasts
Castro
Acast
Downcast
Podcast Republic
Stitcher
Himalaya
Luminary
Castbox


Podcast Addict
Podcast subreddit
PodcastLand (your podcast is automatically listed here if it’s in iTunes)
TuneIn
Bello Collective




Aggregator, news aggregator or feed readers, are simple software that uses a web feed to retrieve syndicated web content. This software works with the RSS format to redistribute the link of your podcast or other page. Aggregator normally are windows apps, mobile apps or web-based apps. Here are the most used ones:
Doppler Radio is a podcast aggregator, allowing you to subscribe to RSS feeds which supply downloadable files.

FeedDemon is a commercial RSS and news feed reader offering direct access to your NewsGator account in addition to other feeds, and unique ways to organize your content.

HappyFish, a free RSS Reader & Podcast Client

iTunes is a really popular, free podcatcher. You can organize and play your music collection and all your podcasts through one program. If you have an iPod, it will sync your podcasts for on-the-go listening.

RSS Radio is a shareware RSS reader with built-in podcast playing functionality and web browser, making viewing show notes or reading blogs a snap. Integrates with iTunes, Windows Media Player and jRiver Media Center.

Aggregators for Macs
iTunes is a really popular, free podcatcher. You can organize and play your music collection and all your podcasts through one program. If you have an iPod, it will sync your podcasts for on-the-go listening.

NetNewsWire A commercial RSS news reader for Mac OS X with a familiar three-paned interface similar to Apple Mail. Many features including integration with many of your favourite programs (Spotlight, Address Book, iCal, iPhoto, Growl, Twitterific and more).

NewsFire “RSS web feeds and podcasting are hot technologies, and NewsFire is even hotter. Packed with features, blindingly simple to use, and ground-breakingly elegant, NewsFire is the ultimate RSS experience for the Mac.”

Newslife “Your news life is all the time you spend surfing the web following up on world events, your favorite blogs, checking sports scores and so on. NewsLife lets you take control of this and streamline your web viewing to save your valuable time and make the whole experience more fun and rewarding.”
Web-Based and Cross-Platform
loglines is a FREE online service for searching, subscribing, creating and sharing news feeds, blogs and rich web content. With Bloglines, there is no software to download or install — simply register as a new user and you can instantly begin accessing your account any time, from any computer or mobile device.”
 .
Google Reader is a free web-based feed reader that requires no download or installation. The interface is intuitive, and familiar to users of Gmail and Google’s other services.

Juice is another free cross-platform podcatcher, supporting multiple languages and media players.

Users of Mozilla Thunderbird should know that not only can you manage all your email accounts, but you can keep up to date with all your RSS feeds and newsgroups, all through one free program.

PodNova: “Your place to find podcasts, videoblogs and stay informed on your favourite blogs. With PodNova you can subscribe, listen, view, read and maintain your feeds online.”


2.3.8. Repurpose Content
You can do Cross Content between different media platforms or even repurpose your content as other media with different content. Here are some of the things you can do to expand the reach of your Podcast content:

Republish on Youtube as a Video
An audio track can be added to a static video or slide presentation with some tools and a smart video editor. This way you can turn your podcast session into a video , helping to feed a new channel and tapping into new audiences

Transcribe Podcast
You can transcript the full or partial part of the podcast episode and create a written article to post on a blog. This content will be great for SEO visibility and for reaching new audiences. These contents can also feed a newsletter.
Extract short audio clips
Upload short audio clips to Soundcloud or other platforms and then share them on social networks like Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.


2.4. Tips and Ideas
There are many more ideas and tips that can help you to get more visibility and more engagement with your podcast. Here are some:
Release 2 or 3 Episodes on day one
In order to start with a bang and with some credibility, it is a good idea to release 2 or 3 episodes on day one so that people have a good reason to subscribe.
Publish at strategic times
Sometimes, a simple tweak can help grow your audience. That tweak normally is called timing. Try different hours of the day to discover the maximum visibility.
Prompt your listeners to subscribe, share, and leave reviews
It is very important to have a call to actions during and at the end of each episode. This reminds users to subscribe, share, like and comment, increasing the visibility of your channel.
Try to refer to older episodes
Mention older episodes on your podcast making known that you have a link to them on the description of the Podcast.
Cross Promote Your Podcast
There is no better method to reach new listeners than to invite other podcasters to talk in your own show. Normally each podcaster announces their invitee to their audience in advance and this way you can get their community to watch your own podcast. Later on you can do the same to his podcast. Be a guest and invite a guest.

Partnerships & Sponsorships
Once you have a good quantity of episodes you can establish partnerships with companies that operate with products or services in areas that match your audience. Having a podcast or a per-episode sponsor or partner is a good idea.
Convert your podcast into a YouTube video
Converting your podcast in an excellent form of tapping into the video marketing, not only for youtube but also on other social platforms. You can easily convert your audio with a simple video editing tool, adding your own static presentation photo or, alternatively, you can video record your podcast in zoom, quicktime or OBS (free software) and then use the video as a main source, extracting the audio from it.

Make a Schedule
Having a consistent schedule is key to having a successful podcast. Making your audience know that your content is published regularly is a step to achieve a consistent growth trajectory without losing listeners and creating a strong dependency.
Posts each episode to social media channel
Announce your podcast in social media channels, preferably 3 times: a 1-day and a 4-hour announcement and a later wrap up post mentioning your next theme/speaker.
Tease episodes with audiograms
An audiogram normally consists of visual art, an animated sound wave and an audio track. This is the perfect recipe to promote a podcast on social networks.
Optimize your podcast website for search
Don’t forget to use title, description, tags and categories so that your podcast is optimized for Google and other search engines.
Create a dedicated podcast landing page
Creating your own website allows you to create articles and share free content that is subject to the registration for the Podcast.

Start an email newsletter
Start a podcast newsletter by asking users to register in the podcast through your website. You can use the opt-in email address to promote your podcast sessions to your subscribers. You can send a podcast newsletter every time you publish a new episode, and later you can also send a roundup that promotes multiple episodes. You can choose an email marketing tool to automate those newsletters and manage registrations.
Purchase paid ads
Paying ads can expand the reach to new markets and audiences of your podcast. This can be very effective especially when you have a very special guest or an engaging theme (polemic, trendy issue, etc). Apad ads can also be a quick way to check if a certain target audience (age, sector, region) can be a good bet for your marketing efforts.
Leverage influencer marketing
Networking with influencers can be a first step to invite them to participate as guests in your podcast. Some of them might require you to pay a fee, but overall it is a good way to increase the brand awareness of your channel with a few “stars”.
Register or Advertise on podcast apps
Try to register in the top podcast aggregators. These websites and apps can read your podcast from your RSS feed from your site/platform and channel the podcast to its users, enabling them to get automatic notifications of new episodes.



4. Conclusion