117 Podcast Marketing Tips From Podcasters Just Like You

Want to know what other podcasters are doing to promote their podcasts? Check out the massive list below for inspiration.

OliverW

Published in

Headliner

18 min readOct 24, 2019

Podcasting is easy, right?

Creating a podcast takes a ton of time. It’s so much more than just
“Get a mic and hit record!”. In the amount of time it takes to create a single podcast, you could probably make enough tacos feed all of Brooklyn. That’s literally millions of tacos…I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. (By the way, if you’re hungry for tacos and have 5.5 hours to spare, check out the totally daunting taco recipe at the bottom of this post.)

Making a podcast is a big endeavor. But, if you only spend your time creating your podcast, there is a good chance that nobody will listen to it, and that would be sad. You’ll have to promote your podcast, but where to begin? Where should you invest the time necessary to get your podcast the listeners it deserves?

We put out a call to the thousands of podcasters using Headliner, and they answered! We got over 400 tips but we chose 117 Podcast Marketing Tips to share with you.

Like the advice below? Go check out the podcast! Find them on social media and make those connections happen. Podcasting can be played solo, but it’s much more fun as a team sport. Get out there and help each other!

The Most Important Piece of Advice On This Entire List:

Don’t get overwhelmed by marketing tips. Every tip you read has worked for that particular person. Do what’s comfortable, do what you will do consistently.
-Brett Johnson — Note To Future Me

Very true, Brett. (117 tips, I mean come on, really!?). Will all of these tips work for you? No! Will you be able to increase your listeners 10x by following the advice below? Maybe, but not without some trial and error and hard work! Use the tips below as inspiration and to learn about what other podcasters are doing.

General Advice

Build a following, follow who you aspire to be, and steal ideas and tips from successful podcasters. — Tom Covington, TOSAs Talking Tech
Don’t be afraid to try new things, after all what’s the worst that could happen? — Chris Bruno, All About Digital Marketing
Your podcast, your rules. There are no hard rules to podcasting. Creativity is the best tool for getting in front of more earballs — Super Joe Pardo, Business with Super Joe Pardo
Don’t be afraid to ask for reviews and subscriptions! — Hannah Hassler, Rorschach Your Reality
Embrace your uniqueness: we all have some quirky talents, interests personality traits that make us…us. Embrace that, use it and weave it into your podcast. — Ashleigh Mythen, It can’t be that friggin hard?!?
Have fun! If you enjoy what you do others will too! — Ashleigh Mythen, It can’t be that friggin hard?!?
If someone has positive things to say about your show, ask them to spread the word and leave a review. This is the easiest and most beneficial way to generate new subscribers and double your downloads. — Crystal Ponti, Historium Unearthia
Keep going! No matter if it feels slow, if it’s not getting the response you were hoping for, carry on. You never know what will suddenly click with your audience. — Chris Bruno, All About Digital Marketing
People WANT to help you… they just need to know HOW they can help you! Most newer podcasters are afraid to tell their friends and family about their podcast, but those are the people who are most willing to help you out! — Brian Lofrumento, The Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Podcast
Spend as much time planning and executing the promotion of your podcast as you do recording it. A great podcast is pointless if nobody listens to it! — Luke Chapman, Digital Deep Dive
Do not try to reach everyone- it will mean diluting your message and impact. Speak to one person. Overserve them like crazy. They will tell their friends. — Candice Carlton, The Cubicle Revolution
Keep an open mind so you can learn and pivot quickly as you go. — Pete Seligman, The Next Step
Don’t chase listeners — stay true to the aims of your podcast. Generate quality content based on WHO you want to serve and the CHANGE you want to make. — David Wayne Reynolds, Lead. Learn. Change.
Repeat — When it comes to marketing the general public has a gold fish like memory so don’t be afraid to repeat your posts and ads several times. Repetition works, that’s such good advice I’ll say it again repetition works. Your favourite ad has been burned into your Brain because of repetition. — King Kurus, The Black History Buff Podcast
Choose a good podcast hosting platform that automatically promotes it on Social Media each time it is published. — Randal DeHart, Contractor Success M.A.P.
Create a distribution strategy for your podcast. It doesn’t matter that you recorded the podcast, published on every audio stream and now you have to wait. You need to distribute your content in several ways. —Robert Katai, Katai

Collaborate

“Brand partnerships” with an organization that has a similar audience. Cross-promote by mentioning them in your podcast intro and ask them to spotlight you in their newsletter. — Kara Mayer Robinson, Really Famous
Don’t try to recreate the wheel or build an audience from scratch… people already have audiences, so tap into them by having them on your show and encouraging them to share the episode with their audience! This is an immediate way to get in front of thousands of new people… without spending a dollar in ads! — Brian Lofrumento, The Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Podcast
Network with other Podcasts. Partnering with other Podcasts is valuable. Don’t look at everyone as competition. You have an opportunity to capture their audience and vice versa. There is enough space for everyone! — Jamilah & Erica, Good Moms Bad Choices
Show your fandom. We’ve had great success in amplifying the shows we love and having that favor returned. Nate DuFort, Unspookable
Start a traditional street team — arm superfans with stickers and flyers, digital postcards, audiograms, to help spread the word. — Jesse, Castworks Industries Podcast Network
Partner with established businesses and have them link to your podcast. This is a win-win as your get access to their audience while you provide them with valuable content to share with their audience. — Heneka Watkis-Porter, The Entrepreneurial You

All About Guests

Interview the experts in your niche and become the only one who has interviewed them all. Benefit: Get found by all those that search for your competitors and if you do the job right, get also promoted by all of those existing experts to their audiences. — Robin Good, “da Brand a Friend”
Aim high! Don’t settle on your guests, as the guest themselves should be part of your marketing strategy. Interview people who have a strong following or credibility in your industry. — Keith Cline,The VentureFizz Podcast
Ask your podcast guests to promote their podcast episode with all their networks. — Desmore Samios, The Desmore Chats With Podcast
Be a guest on other people’s podcasts. It’s the quickest and easiest way to use the power of another person’s audience to grow your own whilst helping lots more people at the same time. Double win! — El Edwards, Faith & Business Podcast
Harness your guests’ network. Encourage them to post about their appearance on your show and make it as easy as possible to do that — give them links, pre-write tweets for them and send them visual assets to share, such as a graphic made on Canva or a Headliner audiogram — Dave Musson, Inspiration on TAP
If you have guests on your podcast, do a landing page for their episode — it’s a little extra work but if they have a large audience its worth it! They’ll promote it and you’ll get lots of new listeners — Phyllis Nichols, SoundAdvice with Phyllis Nichols
Interview Your Best Leads / Potential Clients — Tiffany Youngren, BreakAway Agent and SuperPowers of Entrepreneurs
Invite on guests with small followings as you get started and encourage them to share with their fans. Each week your audience will grow and you can book larger and larger guests. — Jonathan Green, Serve No Master
Make it as easy as possible for your interviewees to share the shows they’ve guested on. Tag them in all your social media posts. Send them a ‘thank you’ email when the episode goes live that includes social links, as well as your podcast logo in case they want to include it in their newsletter. — Sarah Mikutel, Podcasting Step by Step
Make the size of a guest’s network one of the criteria for selecting guests. Having a great story to tell is great but even better is having a great story AND a network. — Beth Davies, Career Curves
Create a script or Q&A for your guests — Antionette Blake, Delaware Blogger Podcast
For guests, write a short guide on best ways to promote their episode on social media, and provide collateral, and make sure they tag you in. — Daniel Oyston, Marketing Builder
Reach out to podcasts and offer yourself as a guest to be interviewed. Find the niche that you’re an expert in and use that to self promote! — John Ellett, The Only CEO2
Invite guests from other podcasts in order to attract new audiences. — Zale Mednick, Preconceived

Be Consistent!

Be consistent! Release on the same day, same time, etc. Fans rely on consistency. — Amanda and Shannon, Pier 54 Podcast
Be consistent if possible. We have a weekly segment and it comes out like clockwork on Saturday mornings and listeners are now looking for it weekly. — Dan Gougherty, Elk Grove News Podcast, Elk Grove News Minute
Post consistently. You can batch your work so you are editing multiple episodes back to back, but release them over time so you have new content coming out each week. — Greg Jameson, 20 Minutes of Influence
Post content about your podcast consistently. Even if it’s not everyday. Make sure you are posting the same day(s) of the week and time. That way, your audience will come to know your schedule and look for your content. — Heather Osgood, Marketing Success With Podcast Advertising

Mind Your Design

Be consistent with your visual branding. People my find you on various social platforms. Make it easy for them by being consistent with how each platform looks and ties into your podcast artwork. — Mark Des Cotes, Podcast Branding
Make a good looking thumbnail that catches people’s attention while they browse through podcasts — Aron Veraart, Sugafly
The title on your podcast’s graphic should be easy to read, given it will often be viewed at small res (e.g. iTunes) — Scot McKay, The Mountain Top Podcast
I always try to create a cover art where the sound wave comes out of the central element of that art. A fish, for the sound wave to come out of your mouth, a flower for the sound wave to come out of the petals, etc. This not only increases engagement but also creates a piece of content that can be used at other times in the program or even at lectures and events. — Mauro Amaral, mauroamaral.com

Email Still Rulz

Don’t be afraid to cold sell your show. Some of our biggest success has come from putting a brief email of introduction together. — Abigail Trabue, RV Miles
Email still rules. It’s easy to scroll past a social media post, but email required action, either deleting or reading. With the right subject line and preview text, people open emails. With the right email copy, people take action. — Tony Loyd, Social Entrepreneur
I link to my podcast in my email signature (I use Drift.com’s team signature to add a banner). It’s got about an 8% conversion rate so far, but it’s just an easy win — and tends to go directly to people who would be most interested in the podcast anyway — Susan Boles, Break the Ceiling
Link your Podcast RSS Feed to your mailing list, this can be done via mailchimp, everytime you upload a new podcast, your audience will be notified! — Mel Bridger, The Mummy Trainer

General Social Media Advice

Best social media advice? Start — Annette Thomas, Power of The Digital Vibe
Did you or a guest say something profound, something funny, something that would pique the interest of a potential listener? Pull that audio and publish it on any and all social media sites, blog sites, send it to your email list and promote the hell out of it. — John Ashton, Those Weekend Golf Guys
Embrace your niche! Find relevant communities and tell them about your show. Don’t expect them to come to you! — Dave Musson, Inspiration on TAP 2
Create questions relevant to that episode and use them to encourage engagement with your followers. Michelle Reeves, The Ideal Life Club Podcast
Use Headliner to create audiograms for social media! — Nicky Lasagna, Dude Foods
Social Media is your friend — Use it to promote your podcast and also to say more on things that might not necessarily appear in the podcast. — Edinam, 2 Pesewas Podcast
Research which hashtags work for your primary audience on each platform. — Shawneda Crout, AudioBooks By Shawneda
Re-purpose your content easily by creating templates for Instagram, Youtube, Facebook. When you release a new episode, instead of posting on one platform you’ll have multiple to post on. — Aidan Vuocolo, Stories Behind the Grind
Post videos with short excerpts that have caption text — it drives a lot of traffic and interest, Aicila, BiCurean
Optimize your social media profiles to make it clear that you have a podcast and where they can listen to the episode. Aidan Vuocolo, Stories Behind the Grind
Master one social media platform and publish high quality content. — Caleb King, People In Tech
Make it visual. People process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Add a picture or video to your social media shares. — Tony Loyd, Social Entrepreneur
Make audiograms! Take out a 15–60 second clip from your show and share it on social media. Headliner makes it easy! Use targeted hashtags to direct it to your target audience. — Kira Dineen, DNA Today
Launch audiograms on different platforms simultaneously to test platform reach and effectiveness — Teri Yuan, en(gender)ed
It’s incredibly beneficial to include a picture of the guest in our audiograms and other social post. We’ve found that people seem more inclined to interact with the post if they can put a face to the voice! — Elijah Longwell, Tuesday Knight Podcast
If you’re not willing to share your podcast on your own social media why should anyone else? Get it out there, it might not be for everyone, but that’s fine! — Chris Bruno, All About Digital Marketing
Caption — Adding caption to your podcast videos & clips will double your social media views. Most people watch social media videos while at work and can not turn their sound on, so by adding caption you are adding views to your podcast clips. — Agostino Zoida, Home Schooled Podcast
Create a social media calendar to promote your episodes: IG account, group on Facebook, Linkedin posts (if related to careers) etc. — Eduardo Zanelato, [OT] Off Topic

Platform-Specific Social Media

Create a FB fan-page just for your podcast where you share teaser-videos, podcast links, articles and resources related to your podcast. Share posts from that page to your private FB timeline, FB biz-page and inside your FB-group (if you have one). Don’t forget to ask fans to share the episode posts on their timeline too! — Sylvia Becker-Hill, Women’s Empowerment School
Run a facebook live to promote your podcast each time you release a new episode to get people excited and remind them to listen — Jonathan Green, Serve No Master
Share your podcast in Facebook fan groups. I interview celebs and I share teasers in fan groups for the TV shows or movies they’re in. — Kara Mayer Robinson, Really Famous
Join an already existing FB community that is your target audience and serve that community. Become a trusted voice. Then, when you promote your podcast, there will already be an established connection. — Christina Im, The IMbetween Podcast
Post a clip of your podcast in your IG stories. You’d be surprised at how many people view your stories. — Aycee Brown, Is My Aura On Straight?
Use Stories to direct people to your podcast — Create an Audiogram and share it on IG and FB stories — Mel Bridger, The Mummy Trainer
Be sure you’re actively connecting and building powerful relationships on LinkedIn with people who can elevate your podcast. Guests? Sponsors? People who can interview YOU? Start building real relationships with them now. — Karen Yankovich, Good Girls Get Rich
Short videos with excerpts of your podcast — seems to work especially well on Instagram — Rich Ferraro, Rich Ferraro’s Forest Ramble
For podcasts that are job or career-related, make yourself a subject-matter expert on LinkedIn. Post frequently on your topic. Then, after you’ve established credibility, share your podcast. Since you’re a trusted source, people will be drawn to the podcast. — Beth Davies, Career Curves
Don’t underestimate the power of Pinterest. It’s the second largest search engine. At least have an account and post regularly. It’s crucial to post your own things about 30% of the time (your podcast, make images about your podcast, etc) and repost others in related fields about 70% of the time. Pin and re-pin daily. — Kelly Wilson, FitFizz
Browse Quora for popular community questions and incorporate a response into your show. After publishing the episode, take the time to answer the question and include a CTA back to the full episode of your show. — Lachlan Kirkwood, Digital Deep Dive
Sure Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook are obvious places to share your podcast, but try to think outside the normal channels and experiment with other avenues, for example: Reddit, HackerNews, etc. — Keith Cline,The VentureFizz Podcast
Twitter has a thriving podcast community. Get active there if you aren’t. Cross promote and use hashtags like #podernfamily — Aicila, BiCurean
Record video of your podcast and post the entire episode and/or clips to YouTube. You can also upload video to Facebook, IGTV, Vimeo and other platforms for further exposure. — Whitney Lauritsen, This Might Get Uncomfortable
Create YouTube versions of your podcast and use their closed captioning tool. For the uninitiated podcast listener they will know how to play a YouTube video and you can use the closed captioning to create a transcript. You can also then download the video from YouTube and upload it to Facebook to increase visibility and diversify your social media content. — Garrett Tiedemann. Connecting ALS

Things to Do IRL (Eye Contact Required)

Attend farmer’s markets and other local vendor events. Find collaborative opportunities. You promote their wares while they introduce their customer to your show. i.e. cards on table, promoting you on their mailing list, etc. — Rachel Wilkinson, Lifemancy
Community Events — every neighborhood has a celebration. Go. Record live if you can. (I often just use the voice memo app on my smartphone.) Hand out postcards. Wear your podcast’s tee shirt. It’s hand to hand marketing! — Kitty Felde, Book Club for Kids
Go to networking events! Actually talk to people and make eye contact. Scary, but it works! — Meryl Klemow, Campfire Sht Show
Host live listening shows and invite your fans, sponsors, and podcast lovers. — Ever Gonzalez, Outlier On Air
Leverage events. Whether you’re attending a conference or hosting an event, use the opportunity to record podcasts onsite with interesting attendees or event speakers. — Jen Fisher (host) and Amy Fields (comms), WorkWell podcast
My word of wisdom? It’s “word of mouth!” It’s one of the best ways to encourage podcast listenership. Encourage your listeners to recommend the podcast to their friends and family. — Joni Deutsch, Amplifier (from WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR News Source)
Rep your brand. It can be as easy as wearing your own merch or including your social handles in your correspondence, but the more pride you show in putting your podcast out there, the more that simple conversation starter can convert to actual listens. — Nate DuFort, Unspookable

Love Your Audience

Directly interact with your audience as much as possible through email/social. — Katy Oliveira, Collegehood Advice
Keep your community involved. People like to feel like they are apart of something. — Luke Atkins, Insert Name Here
Know your audience. Like any hunter, know where they drink & feed, know their habits, what are they attracted to? What do they worry about? Age? Location? Gender? — Mike Thomas, Innopsis
Reach them where they are. People are not checking your website on a regular basis. Reach them where they are spending their time, from social media to their inbox. — Tony Loyd, Social Entrepreneur
Spend time really researching what your audience is drawn to, across mediums. What are the types of visuals and audio they’re already listening to? It will give you clues to engage them in your show. — Mel Tsuei, Who Taught You How To Drive
Write back to your listeners. Whether there are 3 or 3,000 of them, they matter and stay more loyal the more they know you actually care. — Meryl Klemow, Campfire Sht Show
Read reviews of your podcast at the top, bottom — BHodges, Maxwell Institute Podcast
When it comes to marketing your podcast, you should focus on two targets: your current listeners and potential listeners (those that may know little or nothing about your podcast). — Yann Illunga, The Podcaster Lab

Things To Do, Make, or Try

Offer a digital product in exchange for a screen shot of a review of your podcast. I offer my digital video course as a thank you doe anyone that leaves a review and sends me the screen shot. — Heather Monahan, Creating Confidence with Heather Monahan
Enter podcast awards — even if you’re not nominated, the judges will now be aware of your work and have listened to some — and they tend to be influential people. — Suchandrika Chakrabarti, Freelance Pod
Do more video. I find the bulk of my new listeners/subscribers find me via my solo and interview videos. — Shaun Tabatt, The Shaun Tabatt Show
Have a website for your podcast. It’s true that not many people will listen to your show on your website.However, it’s a must for discoverability via search engines, as well as being a centralized hub to direct your listeners. Every link or resource you mention on your show, including how to subscribe, should direct people back to your website. Make it your home and invite people in. — Mark Des Cotes, Podcast Branding
Host a giveaway during the first 2 months of your podcast launch to entice people to submit reviews. Create a form where they can submit their reviews and be entered to win. Make the prize(s) valuable. — Whitney Lauritsen, This Might Get Uncomfortable
Audiograms. We get lots of social media traction with audiograms, especially using the karaoke feature of the words. — robin hopkins, If These Ovaries Could Talk
Visualize your podcast! Either use Headliner to make videos or turn them into Vodcasts (record video while you’re recording podcast audio). — Ariel Hyatt, The Cyber PR Music Podcast
It’s incredibly beneficial to include a picture of the guest in our audiograms and other social post. We’ve found that people seem more inclined to interact with the post if they can put a face to the voice! — Elijah Longwell, Tuesday Knight Podcast
Try to add one more place that you’re listed each week. You never know where you will find your listeners, but being out there helps. — Jamais Jochim, Webcomics Reviews And Interviews
Collect video reviews/testimonials from listeners & guests. Use them on social media stories & feeds to drive traffic to your page. — Sheila Shynski, The Detour Podcast
Use an audiogram or short video trailer to give your current listeners a compelling reason why they should tune in — share a quick strategy, a quote, a question or a snippet to trigger their curiosity in wanting to learn more about the topic and listen to the episode. — Yann Ilunga, The Podcaster Lab

Public Relations

Feature a press kit on your website, showcasing best of clips, audience, FAQs, contact info, guest list, etc. — Jesse, Castworks Industries Podcast Network
Pitch podcast reviewers and journalists. Some people review podcasts monthly or even weekly. Others have an annual review. Create a list of these bloggers and journalists and pitch them at the appropriate times. Maybe you have an education theme that would be great for back to school. Keep in mind that magazine journalists often work months in advance. Make sure that when you pitch, you’ve just put out a killer episode (if they’re interested in you, they’ll check out your show) and that your email has a hook. People don’t care that you have a podcast, they care about the story behind it. — Sarah Mikutel, Podcasting Step by Step

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Contribute to blogs in your niche who can then link back to your podcast. This also gives you more credibility when people Google your name — they will come across these blog posts. — Trina Leckie, breakup BOOST Relationship Advice
Title your podcast posts as if they were articles or videos that need to to rank inside Google search results. Avoid journalistic and ironic titles in favour of those that synthesize in a few words the specific topic you are covering in your episode.
Benefit: Just like SEO. Be increasingly found inside Google search engine page results as Google itself has upped its antennas for scouting new podcasts, suggesting them in the results and offering even a playback platform. — Robin Good, “da Brand a Friend”
If you cannot transcribe your episodes due to cost make sure you have a clear summary of your episode. This does 2 things. It allows for better SEO and makes your content searchable across Google and other search engines., When the content is consistent with your podcast topic it increase page rank relevance and distributed through all social media channels increases traffic sources and content relevance.
Summaries can contain links to your website and social media channels. You can also earn affiliate income from links to products like books etc on Amazon. When interviewing guests check if they have affiliate programs. This is a passive way of increasing income. — Lance Wantenaar, Thinking Like A Genius
Make sure your podcast is on Google Podcast (formerly Google Play) as they transcribe the podcast do you get additional SEO from the text version. — Frank King, The Suicide Prevention Punchline
Publish a blog post for each episode and add a transcript for better Google ranking. — Dagmar Recklies, Die Strategieexperten-Podcast
SEO matters. Even if you hire someone to optimize your SEO, everyone who puts out content should understand the basics. SEO matters for websites, podcasts and social media — it matters for overall success. — Kelly Wilson, FitFizz
YouTube (although it is not a podcast platform, it can be very helpful for your SEO) use the “Full episode” option and publish the episode on your YouTube channel. Do not forget to include direct links to the platform where you publish that podcast. — Gerardo Cuellar, Podcast Diseño

Want more?

We tried to include tips from everyone who submitted, but since many were similar, we edited down. If you have advice that you didn’t see here, leave a response. Maybe you’ll be cited in the next version of this list. 😉

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Special Shout Out to To Yann Ilunga — he gave me the idea for this post while we were having a chat a month ago. Thanks Yann!

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