Successful marketing doesn’t involve flyers, billboards, and local TV ads. At least not if you want to reach a wide, modern audience! These days, marketing is all about the digital world, where millions of potential customers connect, scroll, explore, click, and interact. And one of the best ways to market? Podcasts.
Roughly 584.1 million people listen to podcasts, and the numbers are growing every day. Reaching podcast listeners through your own show can do wonders for your brand. Not only is it a great marketing strategy because it reaches a wide customer base, but it’s also helpful for other parts of a growing business, too. Think: building authority in your industry, connecting with other experts and potential partners, creating a stronger community, and generating content you can repurpose across other platforms.
In the past, we’ve covered how to record a podcast and even the elements of a good podcast. But today, we’re sharing you a step-by-step guide on how to use podcasts for marketing. We’ll cover what matters, what to avoid, and what to integrate into your own strategy moving forward:
Podcast Marketing Strategies
Establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
When people are looking for a brand to support, they’re usually looking for a mixture of quality and affordability. However, if they can be convinced enough of your value, they’ll pay almost any price for your expertise! Podcasts are a great way to establish yourself as an expert.
Once your target audience understands you’re the ultimate authority in your space based on your quality content, they won’t look anywhere else for information on that specific topic. And, when they need your product or service, they’re going to you! So, ensure that your podcast includes lots of specialized information that proves your value in your niche.
Pro Tip? Your name has a lot of impact on your authority, believe it or not. You can find a little inspiration and learn more about why this matters in our article on podcast name ideas. In short, the name sets clear expectations and signals expertise before a listener ever hits “Play.”
Be authentic.
As much as you want to use expertise to drive your quality content, people don’t want their podcast hosts to be inauthentic people. If you come off too know-it-all, too corporate caricature, or too PR-trained, people will find it hard to connect with what you’re saying (even if you’re super knowledgeable on the subject.)
Just be you! And don’t be afraid to give personal anecdotes and reveal facts about your life. People will love to get to know you, and they’ll be open to hearing about all your expertise once they know you’re honest and trustworthy.
Push your episodes on social media.
If you’re running a successful brand, chances are you’re already on social media platforms. This is a major marketing win, because those social media channels are generally all great places to promote a podcast. Your community is already tuned in, it’s easy to get posts on social pages, and new people can find you effortlessly when your followers share your content.
Use that strategy to your advantage by pushing your podcast channel after each episode drops. And get rid of the mindset that promoting your episodes is “pushy” or “annoying.” Instead, consider how valuable it is, both for your brand and your listeners! They get all the content (for free, mind you), and they never miss an episode.
Don’t forget the show notes.
Think of your podcast show notes as the TL;DR section for your episodes. They provide written summaries, resource links, and outlines that are all unique to each individual episode. That also means you have to write the show notes, but it’s worth the few extra minutes. They make it easier for your listeners to get a quick rundown of what to expect.
In apps like Spotify or Apple, your show notes are the paragraphs you see right under the episode title. And if you push episodes on a blog or website, they typically appear somewhere on the page underneath the “Play” button. Consider show notes like the back of a book: they tell you all the juicy topics without giving too much away.
Upload on a regular schedule.
If you’re inconsistent with your uploading schedule, your followers will never know when they can tune in. And over time, that means they just… won’t. It makes sense, right? What if your favorite show just aired whenever it wanted? You get the point we’re trying to make.
If you want to keep (and gain) listeners from week to week, you need to upload podcast episodes consistently. Just pick one day of the week, put it on your calendar, and always make sure the uploads go out on that specific date. Bonus points if you upload at the same time, too! Subscribers will know when to tune in and it’ll make promotion and SEO easier! (More on that soon.)
Integrate calls to action.
Each episode should include a challenge or call-to-action for your podcast audience. Whether you want them to leave a 5-star review, join your email list, or share your episode, asking them to do something small like this usually produces excellent results! You can offer additional rewards for completing these calls-to-action like receiving a coupon, getting a shoutout in the next episode, or unlocking exclusive content they wouldn’t get otherwise.
If you can build your listenership or your email list, you can stay connected with your audience throughout the whole week. You can email and discuss both the podcast and general information about your business. Ultimately, this can help convert podcast listeners into paying customers. However, keep in mind that this is just scratching the surface on how to monetize a podcast.
Always search engine optimization.
If you don’t know about the power of search engine optimization (SEO), it’s time to learn. SEO improves your show’s visibly across directories like Google, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. By optimizing titles and descriptions for specific topics that people are actively searching for, it helps you gain clicks, views, and rankings.
And here’s a major marketing tip: turn your episodes into blog posts. Search engines can index text, not audio, making written blog posts a goldmine for SEO. They give each episode another chance to show up in search results, reach people who may have never found your podcast otherwise, and keep bringing new listeners to your show long after the episode goes live.
Use it as a training tool.
You already have this high-quality content created, you might as well make it multi-purpose! Rather than just using it for content marketing, use it for training too!
Instead of sitting in front of a PDF manual or boring corporate videos, your employees can listen to practical podcasts that apply directly to your business. It’s a great way to double-dip and make the time recording and producing the podcast well worthwhile.
Engage with listeners to build relationships.
Your targeted audience isn’t just listeners, but hopefully long-time customers or followers. In order to capture this type of loyalty, you need to engage with your listeners. Reply to their comments. Make episodes in response to their questions. Execute giveaways. Give them access to a community Facebook group. And, even host exclusive events for your loyal fans.
This will not only make your podcast more popular, but it’ll also increase your sales! Once customers believe that you’re an expert who is authentic and caring, they’ll pay whatever price to make sure you’re the only one they turn to for your service. Your podcast creates more value for the customer and more opportunities to connect with you!
Track your analytics.
This is a relatively new marketing tool, and it’s definitely worth putting your energy towards. Podcast analytics essentially measure and analyze data about everything from your audience size and listening behavior to episode performance and completion rate. In simple terms, it’s who’s listening, how long they’re listening for, and how well each episode does over time.
And honestly, it can tell you a LOT. Without it, you probably have no idea who’s clicking off your episode halfway through, whether you’re more popular among men or women, or if your engagement is steadily going up over time. Low effort but big reward.
Upload across all streaming apps.
Lastly, cast your net wide! To do that, make sure your podcast is widely distributed across multiple popular platforms. No one is going to download a new app just to listen to you! (Not yet, anyway.) So, make sure you reach your customer by meeting them where they already are. Here are the most popular apps your podcast should be on:
Using a podcast to market your business is a great way to increase brand awareness and sales!
Should You Start a Podcast or Advertise on One?
Starting a podcast and advertising a podcast both have unique pros and cons. And truthfully, if you’re brand new to marketing, those differences can matter. A lot. Let’s start with the basics.
The truth is that podcasts can take months to take off, so you may have a steady period where only a handful of people are regularly tuning in. If you plan to turn your podcast into a business and continue to invest in other strategies for marketing your brand, that may not be a super huge deal! But if you want to get some promo out fast, then we definitely recommend you advertise on a podcast. Ads read by the host you choose to advertise with generally do pretty well because listeners already trust them.
Next, think about authority. When you start and host your own show, you’re building up authority, turning your voice and opinions into trusted assets, and sharing your own expertise. Not only does this establish you as a brand, but it also gives your brand a voice, a name, and a foundation. On that same note, monetization isn’t instantaneous. You need a dedicated group of listeners to actually trust what you’re saying before they invest. When you advertise on a podcast, that information lives on that episode for, well, forever. Anyone who listens to the show, whether now or in two years, will hear about your brand and your products. However, a lot of people tend to skip through ad breaks, so keep this in mind, too.
Ultimately, there’s no universal right or wrong here. If you want to build your brand from the ground up, creating a show may be the best move. But if you’re simply looking to garner a little extra attention, then ads can be the way to go.
How Much Does Podcast Marketing Cost?
The cost of podcast marketing varies considerably depending on the production. Are you building your own media asset? Are you investing into someone else’s audience? Do you plan to create a high-quality podcast complete with lights, studio equipment, microphones, and equipment? These are the things you have to think about!
If you’re DIY-ing your podcast, expect to pay anywhere from $100-$1,000 upfront depending on the type of equipment and environment you’re investing in. From there, it generally costs $15-$50 per month to keep up with editing software and hosting.
If you’re recording your episodes but getting someone to edit and put everything together, expect to pay anywhere from $50-$2,500 per episode depending on how involved the freelancer is. This can include services like noise reduction, intros and outros, simple cuts for awkward silences, sound design, Multicam angles, creating show notes, and uploading.
If you’re joining a full-service agency, prices tend to be a little steeper at $1,500-12,000 per month. This is the full package: editing video and audio, creating show notes, publishing, distributing the episodes across socials, SEO, analytics, target research, host coordination, and finding interviews. If you plan to really optimize your brand and use your podcast as a business asset, it’s totally worth considering.
Ads on the other hand differ significantly from creating your own podcast in terms of cost. Recent data shows that, depending on the time of the ad, the host’s typical audience size, the placement timing, and the format of the ad, advertising generally costs $15 to $50 CPM. CPM stands for Cost Per Mille, which means the cost per 1,000 downloads. Audience niche can also affect the CPMs, with audiences like business and technology commanding premium rates while entertainment and comedy shows have lower CPMs.
How to Measure Podcast Marketing Results
You’re putting all this work into marketing your podcast, so you should know what’s actually paying off. Downloads are an obvious place to start, but they don’t tell the whole story. Look at your episode completion rate, too. If people consistently stick around until the end, that’s a pretty good sign your content is keeping them interested.
You can also track results from the specific ways you promote your show. If you share promo codes, for example, keep an eye on how many listeners actually use them. The same goes for links in your show notes, email sign-ups, website traffic, and other calls-to-action.
Attribution can help you connect these dots. Ask new customers or subscribers how they found you, use trackable links when promoting episodes, and compare spikes in traffic or conversions with your release schedule. Over time, you’ll get a much clearer picture of which episodes, platforms, and marketing efforts are actually bringing new listeners into your world.
Use Podcasts for Marketing and Your Future Self Will Thank You
We hope these podcast marketing strategies will help you launch your company to the next level. Remember to stay authentic, provide quality content, and to be mindful of the technical side of things. If you’re not sure about all the ins-and-outs of equipment, SEO, and other podcasts best practices, head to Dear Media! We’ve got the information you need to make this podcast a success!
And if you want some inspiration? Tune into the hosts across the Dear Media network, where you can find 100 top-rated pop culture, entertainment, and lifestyle podcasts hosted by today’s most-talked-about celebrities and creators.
Leave a Reply