Podcast Marketing: Start Marketing Your Podcast w/ a Funnel
Marketing your podcast in 2021 requires a true strategy. Thousands of podcasts are being launched every single day. Now that we’ve passed 2 million shows, hosts need to take marketing seriously.
I want to talk about something that is very different: creating a funnel to market your podcast. There are some amazing benefits to adding this structure to your brand. I know we always create funnels for products or coaching programs and courses and memberships or software.
You can have funnels for everything, but I think one of the best funnels you can make is for your podcast. Let’s just say, for example, you have 50 episodes. That’s a lot of content!
Now I’ve had people that will go and listen to my old podcast episodes all the time. But what happens a lot as your show is growing, your new listeners miss out on all the old content. Some listeners come in around episode 85 or 110, and they haven’t heard all other content before that. So one of the best things you can do is have that backlog of content and then you use it inside of a funnel.
So I want to break down the layers of a funnel and how you can really set this up and all the steps that it takes.
Not only will this grow your mailing list, it will also get you even more listeners!
Let’s get started!
Create a Mailing List for Better Podcast Marketing
So step one is to create a mailing list. This is where the branding of your show comes in to play. When you put your branding all into one area to encompass your message in your focus into one thing. The person listening to episode 110 should also be able to learn from or relate to the content in episode 62. If you can’t use your content in this way, your podcast marketing won’t be effective.
All the content, all the interviews, all the episodes of your show should also align with what you’re doing now. Yes, it may be slightly different. The product you are promoting on an episode could be different or maybe the intro has been changed.
The opt-in strategy you’ll be using is “the best of.” If someone is a true fan of your show OR they need the result you’re offering, this will be perfect for them and they’ll sign up without hesitation.
So now you have the freebie designed. Now you had a landing page. You don’t have to overthink this. The best way to set up a landing page is to include these key elements.
Who: What type of listener should be signing up to get your best of playlist? Be specific about this person if you want to get a lot of them. Describe them in a slight detail.
What: Be very clear about what they get. Wouldn’t you hate signing up for a mini course on one subject and ending up with an email course about something else? Be very transparent and don’t promise things you can’t deliver.
Pro Tip: Make sure your focus is one specific topic. For example, if your podcast covers fitness, healthy eating and mental wellness, only create the funnel to serve one of these topics. This is important especially if you plan on selling products. The person signing up for mental wellness content might not want the fitness content just yet. Be careful not to overwhelm your listeners.
Most podcasters forget this but podcast marketing needs to be more than social media. You want to always be building your mailing list. Think of your mailing list as a way to connect with new prospects and help them learn more about your business and you. And this automation strategy is going to save you a lot of time.
It’s easy to show them your podcast. It’s easy to sell them products. That’s super easy because once you have the email, they’re in your world.
Now this is where you get to market your podcast on an even higher level.
Using Content to Nurture While Marketing Your Podcast
The fun part starts when you use content in emails. The copy in the email doesn’t really matter that much. You don’t need to write a few hundred words explaining whats in the email. Keep it simple!
All you need to write is a short title of what the content explains and then use bullet points to elaborate on what they’ll get for listening. Be clear and remind them about the main solution you’re providing with all of these aligned episodes.
I’d suggest sending at least five episodes but no more than ten. Think about all of those top ten lists at the end of the year. Imagine if they were “top 15 songs of 2021.” That would be weird.
My favorite part of this process is the adding the content into emails. You’ve already produced everything so you don’t have to do a ton of work. Its really just about organizing the content so that it flows easily and really teaches your audience something valuable.
This process will save you a ton of time. I’ve been on the consuming end myself. One of my favorite shows is The Memberships Guys Podcast. Chris Morrison does a great job educating businesses on how they can build communities. If you want to grow a membership, that’s who you learn from.
So whenever I’m thinking about something or I’m kind of talking with my team, one of the first things I do is I go back to their show to see if they’ve covered it on an episode, because then that gives me more of a reference point. That gives me more information. The Membership Guys did a great job with branding their show because it remains top of mind whenever I think about membership communities.
A Podcast Marketing Pro Tip
Listeners are not thinking bigger picture. Everybody that listens to your podcast is not listening on iTunes! So the link you put in your email can not be for iTunes, it has to be a link that goes to your main podcast player. So they can then choose where they want to listen. That’s how you get people to subscribe on their favorite platform.
I think you should be using the main link to your podcast player because on the most podcast players like speaker Speaker, Libsyn, or Buzzsprout have links to all the main distribution platforms. They do the work for you and make the content easily accessible.
Think about this from a different perspective. You have the newest android phone. You see someone share a podcast with a title you might be interested in. When you got to click the link, you immediately get shifted to iTunes. But you don’t have an iPhone. Now you’re frustrated because GooglePlay won’t let you download an app. How long before you get upset and just say forget it? I know more people wouldn’t try for more than two minutes.
Don’t make it hard. Don’t make it this fight, because if you do that, they won’t listen. They won’t tune in.
So the last key to this whole funnel process is you’ve got to have something to sell.
Using Podcast Marketing to Sell Products or Services
I hope you have some sort of products or services to sell. Thats the fastest way to monetize your podcast. There should be massive value at the bottom of your funnel.
The product at the bottom of this funnel has to solve a problem for the listeners that have signed up to listen to more episodes and eventually work with you.
But most importantly, you’re offering it. It aligns with your funnel needs to align with the main reason they signed up. If the main reason they sign up is they want to learn how to build their own online courses. At the end, you need to offer them a program where you’re going to help them do that. Because your podcast episodes are kind of giving them bites and pieces it’s just giving them just a little bit snacks here and there.
Now the full offer should be the full course meal where they’re really, really going to take that big leap to get the end result.
For example, let’s say your podcast is all about healthy living and the funnel specifically covers fitness. Now at the end of the funnel, your product should be a personalized workout plan or even working together one on one for sessions. They signed up to learn about fitness. The episodes throughout the funnel gave them small wins. Now the big program will get them the biggest wins.
Selling products with this process is going to help you generate a lot more money with a lot less stress. Once you get the offer designed, you’ll be able to print the revenue you desire.
Getting Start with Podcast Marketing
The best way to get started is to plan. Go through your current episodes and see if you have the content necessary to complete a solid funnel. Don’t have the content? All that means is you have to plan it out and record everything.
Let’s say you do interviews and solo episodes. You’re sharing two episodes a week which equals eight episodes per month. You should plan for the next eight. In 3 months, you’ll be posting 24 episodes. You only need eight of those episodes for a great podcast marketing strategy.
If you’re a podcast and would like a free Podcast Audit, send us your show! We’ll help you develop a five star marketing plan!
