6 Ways To Promote Your Podcast
Finishing up the last two weeks of the course titled podcasting in business I have learned a great deal about personal branding and marketing your social media websites. In this particular post I will explain six ideas I thought can help boost your podcast programming. Now this may sound similar to my earlier post on seven ways to increase your podcast subscription but these are two different fields. If you believe you have the recording and publishing down but looking for ways to promote here are my suggestions from my experiences.
Take notes and apply these for your next podcast episode:
1. List your podcast in multiple directories. In the days before Google search engines and Microsoft’s Bing many businesses listed their addresses and phone numbers in the Yellow Pages. The same applies to podcast producers who have over 125 different podcast directories to list their shows.
2. Make a press kit for media outlets. Getting coverage from various media outlets requires time and preparations. I suggest setting up a template of press releases that you can adjust and edit once you complete your episodes to send to news reporters, submit to Advertising Age, or use the traditional distribution services like PR Newswire and Business Wire.
3. Network, Network, Network. The is a very crucial practice of becoming an effective podcast producer. The interesting part is that this is a combination of two words net and work. You can translate this however you like with offline socializing and promoting your website or using web 2.0 applications to engage your target audience. Sending out a Twitter blast using keywords and links to your podcast website can be very useful.
4. Show your badge. Just as police officers are required to show their badges upon arriving at a scene you as a producer of downloadable media files should identify your brand with a badge. They cost nothing and are easy to embed in various websites, blogs and social networks. A badge gives the potential listener a map to visit your website and hear your episodes without typing the actual web address.
5. Record a Promo. A brief audio file that promotes your podcast is a great way to provide listeners a “snippet” of what to expect in further episodes. Make sure not to make your promos too long or else you will lose the listeners attention. Your promo is only a mini commercial for your full episode and I suggest you upload your promos at www.podcastpromos.com and www.promos.podshow.com.
6. Provide ranking services. Many directories have the ability to let listeners vote for their favorite podcasts and I encourage you to provide this link. By having a high ranking on these services your podcast can get listed or featured on the directories websites. People who are searching for podcast to listen to use these high ranked recommendations despite not hearing about the podcast beforehand.
I hope these are helpful tips that will assist you in promoting your digital media programs. Once you have a good promotional plan I suggest you read my other post on ways to increase your subscription listings.
