Podcasting to Market Your Business & Achieve Audience Growth: Best Practices

So, you started a podcast, and it’s going well. You have a small but perfectly formed audience, but you want more!

You want to get seriously visible and attract even more listeners to your show, and to do that, you need three key steps in podcast marketing best practices:

Creating engaging content,
Getting in touch with your email subscribers regularly, and
Being strategic about how you’re spending your time.

In this post, you’ll learn how to step into those CEO shoes and understand how designing content specifically for your target audience, prioritizing tasks, and outsourcing effectively can help you seriously skyrocket your audience numbers.

Step 1. Create Valuable Podcast Content

At the heart of any successful podcast lies one crucial element – rich, valuable content. Your audience needs to be educated or entertained by what they hear. Remember, it’s not just about broadcasting information; it’s about broadcasting information they care about, information they want and need. Too often, podcasters get swept away with other intricacies of the process and forget to focus on the essence – content. Simply put, without meaningful and valuable content, all other marketing efforts are futile.

My mantra is this – create content that resonates with your audience. Make sure you understand their needs, fears, challenges, and goals. Make your podcast a space where they find the answers, solutions, and insights they’re looking for. To accomplish this, you must be in tune with your target clients, understand their needs and problems, and design your content accordingly.

Does it sound overwhelming?

It might feel that way to start with, but remember that excellent content creation and preparation is a process that evolves over time. With consistent effort and dedication, it won’t be long before you perfect podcasting!

2. Connect with Your Email Subscribers

In the world of podcast marketing, building an engaged audience is top priority. If you don’t already have an email list allowing you to get in touch with your listeners, prioritize creating one. Use an email subscriber platform like ConvertKit, MailerLite, or any of the other great ones out there to gather the email addresses of your valued listeners and stay in regular communication with them, especially when they don’t have you in their ears.

Use email marketing to move the relationship forward. Being able to drop into someone’s inbox opens the door to a more personal connection and gives you the opportunity to share valuable content, updates, and offers directly to their inbox. This fosters a strong relationship with your listeners, increasing their loyalty to your podcast and substantially fueling its growth.

Regular and effective communication with your subscribers is important. It’s not just about getting them on your email list but about keeping them engaged, and that requires consistency, valuable content, and understanding their needs.

Step 2. You’re the CEO, So Act Like It!

Podcasting isn’t all about having fun recording your show, meeting amazing guests, and sharing your message with the world (although much of it is!) You also need to let people know where to find you and how you can help them. Podcast marketing requires your amazing creative editorial genius AND shrewd strategic control.

Step into those CEO shoes to leverage the 4Ds of long-term success: Develop, Delegate, Defer, and Delete

Develop

You’re the architect of the vision that propels your content. This means that you conceptually flesh out the structure of your podcast that resonates with your target audience. You must have a deep understanding of your listeners’ unique needs, so your podcast can provide the answers, inspiration, and entertainment to listeners.

Delegate

Delegation can feel scary, but you must do it to leverage your podcast as an efficient marketing arm. Handing over your baby is always nerve-wracking, but to drive the podcast strategically, you need to let other professionals take up some of the slack.

You can’t do everything yourself, maybe you love writing your podcast show notes, but you hate editing your show. Instead, play to your strengths by focusing on producing unique, engaging content and delegate the activities that you dislike or that don’t give a good return on time investment.

Defer

Deferring tasks is a key aspect of prioritization. Not every task needs your immediate attention. When you encounter tasks that can be scheduled for later, tack them back onto the bottom of the list and deal with them later. This will allow you to focus more on immediate, high-impact actions.

Delete

Facing a task that is neither urgent nor important? The best action might be no action at all. Not everything that comes your way must end up on your priority list. Learn to delete or disregard tasks that will not have a direct, substantial impact on your podcast’s success.

When you master the four Ds, podcast marketing suddenly becomes much more manageable! Which in turn, frees you up creatively, allowing your show to thrive and grow.

Podcast Marketing Done Right

To increase your reach and build impressive audience numbers for your podcast, you need to have a holistic view of your marketing. First and foremost, as a podcast host creating valuable and engaging content is the foundation, then you need to keep engaging with your audience to build stronger relationships.

Marketing a podcast well requires many hats, but it is not efficient nor sensible to handle every single task yourself. Prioritization is an essential business skill that separates successful entrepreneurs from those who are perpetually overwhelmed. This involves identifying important tasks based on their urgency and impact and deciding whether to do, defer, delegate, or delete them.

With these podcast marketing best practices in mind, take your podcast to the next level of success. Keep your audience engaged, communicate with them consistently, and manage your tasks effectively. Your podcast will serve as a powerful marketing tool for your brand.

Podcast Marketing Best Practices FAQs

What makes for valuable podcast content?

Valuable podcast content is engaging, informative, and caters to the interests and needs of your target audience. It’s not just about good production quality but also about offering unique insights, valuable information, or entertaining narratives that keep listeners coming back for more.

How do email subscriber platforms help in podcast marketing?

Email subscriber platforms are vital tools for podcast marketing. They allow you to collect your listeners’ email addresses, stay in regular contact with them, and build stronger relationships. Regular updates can keep your listeners engaged, promote new episodes, and help convert listeners into paying clients.

What are the 4D’s in podcast marketing?

The 4D’s stand for Develop, Delegate, Defer, and Delete. These represent strategies for effective podcast management. ‘Develop’ refers to establishing the vision and structure of the podcast, ‘Delegate’ involves assigning tasks that others can handle, ‘Defer’ means postponing certain tasks that are not urgent, and ‘Delete’ entails eliminating unnecessary tasks.

Why should I prioritize tasks and consider outsourcing in podcasting?

Prioritizing tasks helps you focus on the most critical aspects of your podcast that lead to growth and success. Outsourcing, on the other hand, allows professionals to handle tasks you may not be expert in or do not have time for, freeing up your time to focus on creating valuable content, planning efficient strategies, and meeting your listeners’ needs.