According to statistics from August 2022, the podcast shelf is saturated with 2,000,000 podcasts and 48,000,000 episodes.
How can you be sure that your podcast will be recognized if you’re included it in your marketing strategy? Let’s get started and know about the five best ways to grow your podcast’s audience.
What constitutes a successful Podcast?
Success criteria for podcasts “Breaking through” might signify several things depending on your goals. Accessibility and stats like downloads are crucial if you want to use your podcast to expand your audience. However, if you want to change how people see your brand, you may watch for changes in engagement and follow-up research.
The standards for a profitable podcast are lower than you may expect. Analytics showed that just 123 downloads place your program among the top 50% of podcasts. When you reach 2,900 downloads, you are among the top 10%.
Listenership is the main objective, according to Brian Swarth, head of marketing for podcasts at Cadence13, Pineapple Street Studios, and 2400Sports, three podcast studios owned by audio giant Audacy. Success in the Apple charts is another helpful statistic both internally and with commercial partners, in addition to downloads. Swarth stated that although the chart methodology is still somewhat mysterious, he thinks velocity—the pace at which people follow and listen to your show—is more important than mere volume for chart success.
Additionally, he checks to determine if the podcast is a component of a larger discussion.
Your podcast now has 123 downloads, Placing it in the top 50% of all podcasts. When you reach 2,900 downloads, you are among the top 10%.
The fact that everyone I know is talking about our 70 over 70 podcasts and that media outlets have been enthusiastically covering it makes it a breakthrough, in addition to the fact that it was well-received from a listenership standpoint.
Experimental Podcast stories
In March 2019, Jered Martin, co-founder, and COO of OnePitch, a SaaS platform for public relations, debuted his program, Coffee With A Journalist.
Over the following two years, it increased from 5,000 to over 40,000 downloads. Martin advertised the podcast where PR, marketing, and communications experts were most likely to be found. Many of our visitors and those who interact with journalists use Twitter, according to Martin.
Success in the Apple charts, in addition to downloads, is a helpful statistic both internally and with commercial partners.
“At first, we executed unsuccessful advertising efforts. Our reach was constrained by our modest resources. We had traffic, but it wasn’t turning into customers,” he said. When he saw that people were looking for guests, he switched to organic methods, including SEO, which was successful. Reach was increased by tagging visitors with large followings and by publishing in LinkedIn groups for a particular industry.
OnePitch began sending out a newsletter in year two to advertise new episodes and promote potential visitors, which all helped to increase interest. Giving a more comprehensive perspective “makes it simple for individuals to say yes or no to listening,” according to Martin.
The executive producer of Discovery Matters and worldwide social media manager for Cytiva, a leader in the health sciences industry, Andrea Kilin also discovered that traditional strategies like sponsored social initially failed. How to deal with word-of-mouth was reconsidered by her and her staff. The team capitalized on Cytiva’s robust corporate culture by asking its hundreds of employees to share new episodes and assist in sourcing guests, which helped to create positive momentum.
The podcast, according to Kilin, is an expression of our curiosity. It demonstrates the importance of what we do. The podcast has a dedicated and active internal Microsoft Teams channel, which saves staff members from being inundated with additional emails.
Success for Stacey Simms, host of the Diabetes Connections podcast, is determined by the difference she makes in the lives of people with Type 1 diabetes rather than by financial gains. Simms concentrated on events as well as social media groups, threads, and hashtags to promote the performance.
She advises against repeatedly posting episodes to these communities. Instead, be genuine in your engagement, learn the ground rules of each group, respond to queries, and then, when appropriate, mention that you’ve done an episode on that subject. Simms predicted that when your program gains popularity, “other individuals may even draw attention to it.”
5 methods to increase your Podcast audience
Here are five classic methods along with example tactics. Each one includes the degree of investment ($=low, $$$=high) and the expected outcome.
1. Let the concept sell itself
Finding a content need gap for an audience will take care of the marketing. What are the listeners interested in learning? You may make a guess or, as podcast host and educator Will Francis advises, use platforms for audience research like Reddit, Buzzsumo, Google Trends, and Answer the Public.
The show’s name is one important early marketing choice because it takes some effort to appear in search results and directories. It is simpler to locate a podcast with a unique name.
Other strategies can include developing a trailer, growing an email list for organic pushes, and repackaging information like quotations and infographics.
Results: A very valuable audience that is likely to develop modestly ($)
2. To spend money on it
The fastest but most expensive method might involve media spending with sponsored podcast advertisements. Swarth believes that this will complement other strategies. He frequently observes higher paid ad conversion with greater awareness. Paid advertising is seen on several stations. Examples from a training session I recently attended for the American Marketing Association included:
- Overcast: Text advertisements
- LinkedIn ads: Outlining what people will learn
- Spotify audio ads: 30-second preview
- Instagram: Teaser video for your upcoming episode
- Reddit: Sponsored post in a relevant niche subreddit
- Twitter: Sponsored tweet targeted at fans of a comparable, established show
Results: A big following was quickly cultivated; ongoing work will be expensive.
3. Stand where the ears are
More and more platforms and programs are providing opportunities for other shows to collaborate with them. You may connect with other podcasts for appearances through groups like r/PodcastGuestExchange on Reddit, and the majority of podcast networks provide promotion strategies. For instance, the features offered by the sponsored ads on PocketCast cost $2,000 for a week’s worth of use.
Results: Medium-sized audience, perhaps very engaged, lower dollar conversion
4. Go where the subject is
This marketing approach appeals to passion. If your program is about technology, respond to a Quora question. Create material for TikTok or sponsored content in a music newsletter if it’s music. Additionally, the marketing and/or distribution of podcasts via YouTube is growing.
Bigger audience with more active viewers ($)
Outcome: High-quality audience, likely slow to build ($$)
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5. Third-party influence
indirect actions A strategy with third-party endorsement is praise. After winning the award for the best regional podcast in a local journal, and every time I’m cited in the media as an “expert” on migrating to the country, Cidiot numbers start to rise.
Cytiva’s Kilin intends to spread the word about the program through giveaways with listeners in addition to rallying the company’s staff behind it.
The high-quality audience, maybe sluggish to grow ($$)
Conclusion
The best solution for promoting the majority of new podcasts will be a unique mix of the aforementioned tactics. Numerous low-cost strategies and some higher-cost expenditures have many advantages, but it’s the careful orchestration of the appropriate ones over time that will help your show become successful.
