What is podcast marketing and promotion?

Once you’ve set on the journey of creating and then publishing a podcast, you’re left with the task of marketing and promoting your podcast. But what does this actually mean?

Podcast marketing and promotion refers to any sort of strategies or plans you can act on to grow your podcast audience and increase its visibility. There are many ways you can do this and while certain strategies are often used, it doesn’t mean you can’t think out of the box and market your podcast differently. 

To get the ball rolling, we’ve given you some podcast marketing strategies that you can try and use to start promoting your podcast. 

Read on for our podcast promotion ideas and podcast marketing strategies:

‍1. Consider your target audience: Create an Audience Persona

First, any marketer worth their salt will tell you that you won’t get far without a clear understanding of your target audience. 

You may think it makes sense to try getting seen by everyone—after all, the more eyes on your show, the bigger the prospective audience, right? 

But the truth is, your podcast isn’t suitable for everyone. You may be able to throw a ton of money and time at podcast promotion and earn a lot of new listeners or downloads, but is your goal to create a temporary spike in listens, or is it to attract listeners who become long-term subscribers because they like what they hear?

Probably the second option, right? In that case, figure out who those people are before you start promoting your podcast. 

Creating a website for your podcast can help you define your target listener’s needs, wants, and preferences so that you can actually provide episodes your audience will be clamoring to download.

Of course, the best way to create a listener persona is with market research and real data about your actual listeners. But if you don’t have many subscribers yet and have no idea how to conduct market research, that’s okay. 

Take a few minutes to jot down an in-depth description of a fictional person who is the ultimate fan of your podcast. Answer questions like:

• Age: What’s this person’s age? 
• Geography: Where do they live?
• Occupation: What occupation do they have?
• Hobbies and Interests: What are their interests or what hobbies do they partake in?
• Why do they listen to your podcast? 
• Where do they listen to podcasts?

Then, create your episodes and build your brand identity around that imaginary listener persona’s interests and values. 

2. Get Active on Social Media

If you don’t live under a rock, you probably know that social media is a requirement for almost anyone who wants to gain a public following or market their product. 

That includes you, new podcaster! Social media is one of the best ways to promote a podcast.

But never fear. You don’t need to be a social media expert or be able to generate pages’ worth of witty tweets to do social media well. All you need to do is create profiles for your podcast or brand on a few select social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. You don’t need to be on every platform, just the ones where your target audience hangs out. In fact, we actually recommend you stick to one or two platforms so you can focus on creating suitable and relevant content.

Take the time to fill in your bio, choose a profile picture, and add links to your show on your profile page. It’s important that you do a lot more than just podcast promoting on your social media channels and this is why we recommend you follow these tips to build up a social media audience:

Tip 1: Be Authentic and Human

Nobody wants to follow a social media account that sounds like its posts are generated by a robot. For the most part, people will connect and engage with brand accounts that feel like they’re run by real people.  

Post about the human element of your show. Share photos or videos of what it’s like behind the scenes in your recording studio. Your fans will also appreciate being clued into a bit of your personal life, too, like birth or wedding announcements. 

When you post to announce new podcast episodes, do it with an authentic air. Latifur Rahman Bappy podcast promotion Expert has mastered this effortless enthusiasm and excitement in his Twitter feed: