At the beginning of 2021, over 68 million people in the US said they listened to a podcast every week - and there are currently more than 1.7 million public podcasts and over 45 million episodes available to stream!

Clearly, the podcasting industry is booming, with the number of worldwide listeners growing exponentially, but this rapid growth has also led to a lot of competition between creators in the podcasting space.

Podcasting is still a relatively new medium, but with its relatively low barriers to entry, there are a lot of people out there producing exceptional audio content. Building an audience of loyal listeners who want to regularly listen to your podcast over others' can be a daunting task - but it's also a hugely exciting one.

Essentially, successful podcast marketing and growth is all about getting people excited to tune in to your show - and inviting others to listen to it too. These recommendations and referrals are crucial for making your podcast more popular among listeners. The more people talk about your show, the more likely others are to tune in to your content - and the more likely it is to go viral among your desired community.

Without further ado, here are a few of our favourite podcast marketing strategies for helping your show take off: 

#1 Create consistently

Listeners are far more likely to listen to your show regularly if you're consistently putting out new episodes, so it's best to be prepared and to create a detailed content schedule that will help you stick to a reliable podcasting routine.

In fact, if you're new to podcasting, consider recording at least three episodes before starting to promote your podcast. Having a few episodes ready will make it easier for you to plan out how exactly you're going to promote your content. Then, once you've got some episodes to hand, be sure to schedule them at the right time, when most of your listeners are online. Your content calendar will help you note this down too!

And if you're looking to decide what tools to use for recording and editing, Jake Jorgovan has put together a great list of the best podcast software.
‍

#2 Provide value

While keeping on top of trends is a great way to keep your show relevant, up-to-date and informative, remember that not every trending topic will be relevant (or interesting) to your specific audience.

Instead of jumping on every new online hashtag or trend, cater your content to your specific audience (and what they value) to increase the longevity of your podcast's popularity - and ensure that more people will find your content genuinely helpful and worth listening to. Focus on making each episode useful for listeners, and try to delve deep into issues that interest them and give advice that they can put into practice right away. 

Remember that your podcasts can be funny and gripping at the same time. That's one of the reasons why people keep coming back to your podcast - they want to hear your personality shine through while gaining valuable insights from you. Creating genuinely useful and relevant episodes is also great for developing your brand, as your listeners will associate your podcast with something that you speak about regularly, which they can come to expect from you.

#3 Promote your podcast

Social media platforms are a great place to spread the word about your podcast.

For example, you can insert a snippet about your next episode to fuel new listeners' curiosity, and giving the audience sneak peeks of your next episode can also entice them to start tuning in for more. Hosting a giveaway or posting a poll letting your audience choose what topic you should cover next can also be very effective ways of marketing your podcast online.

Be sure to use appropriate hashtags, too, to invite more people to tune in who are genuinely interested in the topics you cover. 

#4 Invite noteworthy guests

In today's podcasting landscape, collaboration is everything. Inviting guest stars onto your show can help build your number of podcast listeners as that guest will likely have many fans who will check out your show to hear them speak. That's why a lot of podcasters pursue this particular tactic - to increase their exposure. It really works!

However, it's vital to think carefully about who you want to invite onto your show. Many podcasters prefer to feature famous influencers without careful consideration of whether that internet celebrity shares similar values or will be able to answer questions at length about the topic at hand. To attract the right kind of audience with your guest appearances, make sure you exclusively feature influencers who align with your podcast's values, and are a great fit for your podcast at large.

‍

#5 Let listeners participate

Whether you’re new to the world of podcasting or a seasoned expert, inviting your audience to participate in your podcast is one of the most effective ways to grow your following, engage your listeners and successfully market your podcast.

When you ask the general public to share their thoughts, feedback, questions and ideas with you - even whole interviews. You'll entice those who have stories and opinions to share, retain more loyal followers (who want to feel heard and valued by you!) and even collect hilarious or inspirational audio clips from your listeners that you can promote and share online to generate more buzz for your podcast.

We've put together a whole Guide to Podcast Audience Engagement with lots more on the value, opportunities and ideas of engaging your audience.

As to how to do it - voice messaging makes it quick and easy to receive high-quality audio content from your audience - all in one place - that you can easily feature on your next episode, or reply to in order to build understanding relationships.

‍

#6 Convert your podcasts into videos

In addition to being a hive for audio, the internet is the home of visual content. People are used to viewing images and videos as they surf the internet, and if you've created social channels to promote your podcast (which we'd recommend doing!), it's time to think about how you're going to use these mediums to showcase high-quality videos as well as audio.

Converting your podcasts into videos is one great way to capture an audience's attention. When people see appealing videos come up on their feed, they feel the urge to watch them. Videos are also easy to share across different social networks, giving you a huge chance to get more views.

Beautifully edited videos not only drive engagement and encourage your listeners to watch and listen for longer - they'll also improve your SEO, as Google can easily detect them in a sea of written content. When you've got high levels of video engagement, your podcast's popularity will improve tenfold. 
‍

Conclusion

Marketing your podcast may be challenging - but it's well worth the effort. Although the number of people listening to podcasts has grown significantly over the last few years, many podcasters find it difficult to build their audience quickly. We hope these 6 podcast marketing methods help make the task a little easier!

Ultimately, the key to going viral is to understand what makes something so popular so quickly - listener recommendations! When you succeed in building up a loyal listener base, focus on encourage them to share your episodes with others. This is where a viral loop begins. Your job is then simply to keep providing truly great content, so that your listeners keep sticking around for more. Good luck! 

‍

‍To find out how you can use our voice recording and messaging software to help grow your podcast, get in touch with the team at telbee today - We’d love to hear from you!