The Podcaster’s Checklist: Getting the Word Out

Here’s everything your podcast needs to be successful, from setup to marketing

Here at Anchor we produce and listen to a lot of podcasts, which means that over time we’ve found ourselves learning some pretty valuable lessons from production to marketing. And maybe you’ve started your podcast (congrats, by the way!) and after making a few episodes want to know how to take it to the next level.

Below you’ll find an essential checklist for making a solid and marketable podcast. How many of these bullet points you follow may change depending on your show, but we strongly recommend considering each either way.

Your Podcast Title

1. Your podcast title should be short, but informative. 30 characters or less, generally. Make sure people know what your podcast is about just after reading the title.
2. The exception to limiting title length is when using subtitles for the sake of searchability. For example, the podcast “He’s Dead Jim” is titled “He’s Dead Jim: A Star Trek Podcast” as a way of enabling potential listeners to find a Star Trek genre show easier.

Podcast Description

1. The shorter and clearer, the better.
2. You can use this space to include links to external websites you want to promote. Not all podcast apps support links, but it’s worth knowing either way.
3. Important Note: Using the word “podcast” or your show’s title in the description could prevent it from being promoted on third party distribution platforms.

Artwork

1. Artwork should clearly depict the name of the podcast, and will not be featured by external platforms without it.
2. Make sure your artwork remains clear at small sizes.
3. Your art can make or break your chances of being featured on other platforms, so be creative (but stay true to your vision).
4. Artwork must be a minimum of 3000×3000 pixels.

Explicit or Clean?

1. We’ll leave this up to you, but consider your show’s audience.
2. Will someone or their parents be offended if you don’t include an explicit warning?

Release frequency

1. Is your show going to be daily? Weekly? Bi-weekly? The more you release the more downloads you’ll get, which in some cases could help you climb the charts faster.
2. On which day(s) do you plan on releasing your show? There is no best day of the week to release your podcast, so choose whatever works best for your schedule! Schedule your episodes and plan them in advance.
3. You’re trying to build a habit in your listeners, and staying on a consistent schedule will help that happen fastest.

Best Practices for Sharing Your Show

Sharing outside of Anchor

• This may seem obvious, but you should be posting on all of your social accounts at least once every time an episode goes live. On visual platforms like Instagram, consider clipping the best or most compelling segment of your episode for an Anchor transcription video. Remember: You can share episodes directly from the your profile page within the app.
• Cross promote your podcast by guesting on, or featuring guests from other people’s podcasts. You can find a community of Anchor podcasters on our Facebook group.
• Does your episode feature an interview? Ask your guests to share the show out as well. Capturing the audience of others is the easiest way to expand your reach.
• On a similar note, try tagging accounts relevant to your episode. Are you discussing an episode of Westworld? Tag the official Westworld account. This won’t always pay off, but it never will if you don’t try.
• If you have a website for your podcast, embed the show using our podcast embed feature. You can do this for the whole show, or just for a specific episode by hitting the share button from your web profile page.

Target the right audience

• The easiest way to get more reviews for your show is to ask, but when you ask matters. Asking for reviews in the beginning of the show will hit the most ears, but they won’t be as engaged as those who love your show enough to listen all the way through to the end.
• Find niche online communities discussing the same topics as your podcast and promote yourself there via organic posts or ads, depending on which makes the most sense for your show.
• Consider aligning episodes with current events, or topics on top-of-mind for a huge number of people. This won’t work for every show format, but could work wonders for promoting yourself.

Just a few tweaks can go a long way in getting your show heard by more people! Listen to our show I Should Start a Podcast for more helpful tips. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us by email or on Twitter. We can’t wait to hear your podcast!