Lately I’ve been thinking more about podcasting as a way of building my brand. The issue I currently face is time allocation, and making sure I am not overdoing it as I’m very focused on building my blog as a main platform. Regardless, I wanted to create YouTube videos of interviews that I could extract the audio from and put into podcasting episodes. Podcasting and YouTubing could allow me to tap into new markets, so I definitely think it’s worth my time to take action in.

Specifically, I’ve been studying more on podcasting. Last time I was at the Traffic & Conversion Summit I received some AMAZING podcasting tips from Pat Flynn (which you can find here). This has led me to study more of his material on webinars, blogs, and more. I wanted to share three effective podcast marketing strategies that Pat Flynn and other top podcasters mention to increase your downloads.

Update: I have also put these tips into video format. Hope you enjoy!

3 Podcast Marketing Strategies to Increase Your Downloads – How to Market a Podcast

1. Guest Podcasting

A lot of people think social media is a strong way of acquiring new users to your brand. However, for podcasting, social media is better for people who already know of your show. It’s a great way to get the word out of new episodes you may have to your existing users. People usually follow your account after they know they will be updated with new episodes.

It’s a lot easier to capture new users who are active podcast listeners to begin with. To capture these people, something you should focus on is guest podcasting. This method requires you to get on other podcasts as a guest. You’re spreading your expertise on other people’s shows.

Guest podcasting taps into a subset of people who are ALREADY listening to the podcast. By using this method, you’re receiving an endorsement from another podcaster and getting notice from their audience. Whoever you would collaborate with already has an audience who trusts them, and if the host is promoting you they’re going to check you out. You’re essentially finding people proven to be interested in the kinds of things you’re talking about.

How to Find Podcasts to Guest Podcast On:

To find podcasts to go into, try visiting the desktop version of iTunes. Two different methods include:

Checking “Listeners Also Subscribed to”

You can check this section for your own podcast or podcasts you are similar to. This way, you’ll find related podcasts that may be interested in your material.

Visiting the category page of your relevant category

When you visit the category page, you can look within your sector to find relevant podcasts as well. For example, if you’re a health and wellness podcaster you can visit the “Health” category by clicking in to the right side of iTunes:

Once you click into these categories, don’t start with top podcasts. Look at “New & Noteworthy” and “What’s Hot”. These podcasts are more likely to be within your realm of reach, and you know they are being talked about so they are worth tapping into!

How to Reach Out

With whomever you reach out to, it’s a good idea to research their show and see what you like about it. Let the podcaster know you love the show and call out specific reasons why you appreciate it. Then, provide value. Let the podcaster know you specialize in A, and you’d love to come onto their show and talk about B to provide value for their audience.

It doesn’t matter who you are. Everyone has the ability to add value! We all have our unique backstories and perspectives that make our knowledge specialized.

If a podcast doesn’t normally conduct interviews, it might be beneficial to reach out to the owner regardless. The worst thing that can happen is a simple “no”, while there’s tons of upside!

2. Messaging Admins of Groups

Another great method is messaging admins of groups. These groups can be found on Facebook, Meetups.com, LinkedIn, and more.

Go into the search bar and look for relevant groups. If you’re in the Mental Health space, message admins of these groups and see if you can offer X advice.

Find the admins of the group by clicking in the group and checking its information:

Click into the personal pages of the admin and message them. Let the admins know that you have a podcast talking about Y and that you would love to feature them about what they think the #1 question their group has or what their #1 best piece of advice about Z is. When you get the audio clip of them talking about the topic, you can insert that into your podcast episode and talk before and after the clip. Essentially you make the admin of the group the hero of the story, and they will most likely share your finished episode into their group as they’re being highlighted as a feature. In one episode, you can even feature 5-10 people to tackle more cross-promotion!

3. Pay the Podcast Owners to Boost Their Organic Marketing of Your Feature

Once you get that collaboration via guest posting, another method of getting more traffic is having the podcast owner use paid ads to advertise the post even more. You give the owner a $50 or so to ‘boost’ the post. For example, if I were featured on another podcast talking about digital nomads or financial freedom, I may pay them a $100 marketing budget to boost that episode. That way you make sure your post is getting sufficient reach from their audience!

Conclusion

These 3 effective podcast marketing strategies can really change the game for you and increase your download number. Churning out content is important, but I find those other means of promotion can really push you to that next level. A lot of content marketing is about cross collaboration and it is quite evident in this post.

Do you have other podcast strategies you would like to share? Let us know in the comments below, and hope you enjoyed this post!