CH 7 - Growing Your Podcast Audience and Promotion

0:00 Growing your podcast audience and promotion. Once you have a product in your hand, it is time to find a home for it.

0:08 There are two aspects to this process. The first is to find the right platform and promote the podcast efficiently. The second, the second is to find a home in the kind of audience you build for the podcast.

0:20 Promoting the podcast. You might want the content to speak for itself, but that really isn't the way to get going.

0:27 Even if you have really good attractive and useful information, people are not going to listen to it if they don't know that your podcast exists.

0:35 Start with at least three episodes on day one. When you are ready to launch the podcast, you must have a minimum of three episodes ready to go.

0:46 This is because a lot of times people don't know which way you are going to go with just one episode.

0:52 Reach out to podcast aggregators. Your second aim when promoting your podcast should be to find aggregators that play podcasts. These are referred to as pod catchers, and there are plenty of them.

1:05 Here are a few examples. Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, SoundCloud, iHeartRadio, tune in, pod tail and pod bay. Ask listeners to subscribe and write reviews.

1:20 Word of mouth is an old and effective way to get the people talking about and listening to your podcast. You will notice that most, if not all podcasts, ask their listeners to subscribe to the podcast.

1:31 And while you're at it, you should also ask them to share the podcast and write a review. Strategize your publishing schedule.

1:39 Thirdly, you should make a publishing schedule and stick to it. If you look at the best podcasts, you will notice that the customers wait for newer episodes, and it is easy for them to keep tabs on the new releases if there is a strict schedule.

1:54 How to grow your audience? Now, once you have done your bit to start the promotion of the podcast, you want to find ways of growing the base.

2:02 Know your audience. Before you stick to a plan you've made, you must take the needs of the target audience into account.

2:10 That's paramount. You will be able to grow your base only if things work out for your audience. So don't try to widen the scope of the podcast.

2:18 In fact, narrow it down so that you can build a loyal base and get more of the same kind so that you can be a niche of your own.

2:26 That way, your podcast will have a unique appeal and that will bring in more audience members. Connect with the audience.

2:35 After learning about your audience, you want to start talking to them on social media platforms. This is often an interesting way for the audience to keep tabs on their favorite podcasts, shows, movies, etc.

2:46 This will help you promote the content, but also learn what is working and what isn't for your audience. That is a priceless asset, and it requires no investment at all.