Get into a Marketing Mindset
As a podcaster, you should always be thinking about marketing your show. However, it is easy to become paralyzed by the fear of not marketing the ‘right’ way. It can be simple to try someone else’s tips, tricks, plans and promises of the ‘right’ marketing formula. Yet, to effectively market your podcast you have to get back to the basics.
In one word, marketing means promotion. And if you look up a definition of promotion, you will see that promotion just means ‘active encouragement’. While it is easy to be intimidated by the study and practice of marketing, it is even easier to embrace ‘actively encouraging’ people to do something. This is mainly because we already are actively encouraging people to do things all the time.
- Think about the last time you stayed up crazy late binge watching 8 hours of a new show. You told at least one friend that they should check it out too, didn’t you?
- When you last followed a recipe perfectly or were delivered the best pizza you ever had, you took a picture and posted it online, admit it . . .
- You found the perfect hiking path off the beaten path, and you let your friends know about it — and the quaint mountain restaurant you unwound in afterward.
If you engage in any of the above activities, you are a marketer. You probably found it easy to talk about someone else’s show, recipe or life hack in your normal daily life. You can also, just as easily, market your own podcast.
You will have to do some very basic homework before you can easily market your podcast. You should first know the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE and WHY details about your show. Be prepared to talk about each of the topics below:
- WHO is the host (or co-hosts) of the podcast? What makes you or them uniquely qualified to host?
- WHAT is the show about? Be prepared to share a one-sentence summary of your show.
- WHERE can people find your podcast. Know how to share where people can listen to your show (your website or an app) and even be prepared to offer to guide them through how to listen without sounding too techy.
- WHY should they listen? List the benefits of listening to your podcast.
- WHEN are new podcast episodes released? You should know exactly when the next episode of your podcast is being released. Also, know your release schedule (for instance, every Tuesday) and what your next few topics will be.
Armed with that knowledge of your show, you will be prepared to easily and comfortably encourage people to listen, either in personal conversations or in online communities. With that little bit of preparation you will have a marketer’s mindset. You will have this mindset not because you know someone else’s formula for success, but because you know about your show and are prepared to talk about it.
If you would like more information like this or would like to connect with other podcasters, consider joining Blubrry’s Facebook Group. And for more marketing best practices and tips, check out this page in our Podcast Manual.