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Key Takeaways

Dedicate Time to Marketing: Podcasters should allocate 50% of their time to marketing efforts. Without marketing, even the best content might not reach its intended audience.
Value Niche Audiences: Engage with your niche audience by understanding their needs and preferences. Personalized interactions can provide valuable insights and foster loyalty.
Effective Use of Social Media: Social media is more effective for community engagement rather than growth. Focus on building relationships rather than solely promoting your podcast.
Partnerships and Collaborations: Partnering with similar podcasts can significantly boost your audience. Tools like Rephonic.com can help identify potential partners.
Personalized Pitches: When pitching your podcast, make it personal and relevant. Avoid generic email blasts and focus on building genuine connections.

Overview

Arielle Nissenblatt and Lauren Pasell shared a wealth of podcast marketing tips in a rapid-fire session. They emphasized the importance of dedicating significant time to marketing, suggesting that podcasters should spend 50% of their time on it to ensure their content reaches a wider audience. They advised valuing niche audiences by engaging directly with listeners and leveraging partnerships with similar shows using tools like Rephonic.com.

Social media was noted as more effective for community engagement rather than growth, while newsletters were highlighted as a prime avenue for promotion due to their targeted audience. They also stressed the importance of having transcripts and media kits for accessibility and professionalism.

Both speakers underscored the need for creativity in marketing, encouraging podcasters to think outside the box and continuously test different strategies.

Core Concepts

Dedicate Time to Marketing

Spending significant time on marketing is crucial for podcast growth.

Key Points:

Allocate 50% of your time to marketing.
Marketing ensures your podcast reaches a wider audience.
Without marketing, even high-quality content may go unnoticed.

Examples:

A podcaster who spends equal time on content creation and marketing sees a steady increase in listeners.
Engaging with listeners through personalized emails and social media interactions can lead to organic growth.

Quotes:

You need to spend just as much time making sure that people hear it.

Marketing is inherently creative and forces you to think outside the box.

Value Niche Audiences

Understanding and engaging with your niche audience can lead to more loyal listeners.

Key Points:

Identify and engage with your niche audience.
Personalized interactions can provide valuable feedback.
Building relationships with your audience fosters loyalty.

Examples:

A podcaster with 100 downloads per episode engages with listeners through calls and personalized messages, leading to increased loyalty and feedback.
A niche podcast about beauty products collaborates with beauty influencers to reach a targeted audience.

Quotes:

Try to get in touch with a few of those people that are listening and giving feedback to you about your podcast.

It will give you a sense of who is listening to your show and what their unique needs are.

Effective Use of Social Media

Social media is more effective for community engagement rather than direct growth.

Key Points:

Use social media to build and engage with your community.
Social media is not the best tool for direct podcast growth.
Focus on creating meaningful interactions rather than just promoting your podcast.

Examples:

A podcaster uses Twitter to engage with listeners, answer questions, and build a community rather than just promoting episodes.
A podcast about history uses Instagram to share behind-the-scenes content and engage with history enthusiasts.

Quotes:

It's good for the community you're building.

Do not try to grow your podcast on social media.

Partnerships and Collaborations

Partnering with similar podcasts can significantly boost your audience.

Key Points:

Identify and collaborate with podcasts that have similar audiences.
Use tools like Rephonic.com to find potential partners.
Partnerships can include promo swaps, guest appearances, and joint episodes.

Examples:

A true crime podcast partners with another true crime podcast for a promo swap, leading to increased listeners for both shows.
A health and wellness podcast collaborates with a fitness podcast for a joint episode on mental health and exercise.

Quotes:

We really believe in partnerships for podcast growth.

Borrowing audiences works.

Personalized Pitches

When pitching your podcast, make it personal and relevant.

Key Points:

Avoid generic email blasts.
Personalize your pitches to make them relevant and engaging.
Build genuine connections with potential partners and listeners.

Examples:

A podcaster sends personalized emails to newsletter editors, resulting in features in popular podcast newsletters.
A podcast about entrepreneurship pitches to business blogs with personalized messages, leading to guest posts and increased visibility.

Quotes:

We've gotten pitches over the years that are email blasts that we completely ignore because they're not personal.

Rewrite your things and definitely clear the formatting so that it's not spaced in a whole bunch of different ways.

First 30 Podcast Marketing Tips

Dedicate time to marketing, ideally 50% of your time.
Value your niche audiences and engage with them.
Social media is good for community building but not the best for growth.
Find shows to partner with using tools like Rephonic.com graph.
Look up your show on Apple Podcasts to find similar shows.
Pitch to podcast newsletters and ask how they like to be pitched.
Submit your show to be featured on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Link your podcast in your email signature, pointing to a favorite episode.
Ask listeners to text an episode to a friend.
Change up your call-to-action (CTA) regularly.
Consider promo swaps and analyze their effectiveness.
Pitch yourself as a guest on other shows.
Spend money on newsletters; they have a higher click-through rate.
Use newsletters in your niche for promo swaps.
Make your CTA specific and creative.
Have transcripts available for your episodes.
Put a media kit on your website.
Treat each episode as its own mini marketing campaign.
Have show notes for each episode.
Make your CTA more engaging than just "listen and subscribe."
Apply to be featured on Apple and Spotify, answering why you should be featured now.
Use episodes.fm or a link tree for sharing your podcast.
Be a guest on other shows, even small ones.
Keep pitch letters between 100 to 300 words.
Start a mini-series to create new marketing moments.
Run a feedwarmer campaign between seasons.
Claim your show on all podcatchers.
Ask for feedback on your cover art from friends, strangers, and even enemies.
Consider advertising in real life (IRL) where your audience hangs out.
Think of marketing as a creative and fun activity.

For the rest of the 100 podcast marketing tips: Check out Lauren Pasell's blog post. Find the complete list of 100 tips in the Podcast Marketing Magic newsletter and their social media accounts.

Conclusion

Marketing is a critical component of podcasting that requires creativity and dedication. By allocating significant time to marketing, engaging with niche audiences, using social media effectively, forming partnerships, and personalizing pitches, podcasters can significantly grow their audience. These strategies not only help in reaching more listeners but also in building a loyal community around the podcast. The key is to be consistent, creative, and genuine in all marketing efforts.

Food for Thought

How can you better engage with your niche audience to understand their needs and preferences?
What creative marketing strategies can you implement to make your podcast stand out?
How can you form meaningful partnerships with other podcasters to mutually benefit from each other's audiences?

Reference Tools, Platforms, and Resources

Rephonic.com: Tool for finding similar podcasts and potential partners.
Episodes.fm: Platform for creating a webpage for your podcast with links to various podcatchers.
Descript: Tool for creating transcripts for your podcast.
Reletter.com: Platform for finding newsletters by topic for potential collaborations.