Tired of endless Google searches and overblown, impractical advice? Ask the Consultant to get direct answers to your pressing promotional puzzles. Send your query to clinic@podspike.com and include the name of your show so, if your question is chosen, we can give it a plug.
This month's guest consultant: Arielle Nissenblatt
Arielle is founder of EarBuds Podcast Collective, a podcast recommendation engine. She is a marketing expert, audio producer and manages the community team at SquadCast, a remote recording software solution.
Clayton M Coke, host of The Cashflow Show, asks:
I have had a long break from podcasting since Covid and have started back up again after 18 months of podfade. How do I crawl my way back up to the upper echelons of podcasting? I am on a good platform and I promote my podcast on LinkedIn Instagram and Twitter but I am not getting the traction I feel I should be getting. Do you have any ideas how I can achieve this?
Arielle says:
I have many ideas as to how you can achieve this. First of all, welcome back to podworld. We missed you!
Pick a launch date that’s a good deal in the future, at least 2 months, and work backwards from there. You need: a press release, pre-written social posts that you can share within those press releases, new artwork differentiating your new season from the old version of your show. Start thinking about what other podcasts out there would be good collaborative partners for cross-promos and even guesting. Make a list, write your pitch, and send out some emails to let those potential collaborative partners know your show is returning. Make sure your question – whatever it is – is clear: do you want to promo swap, buy an ad, guest on their show… anything.
For social media, it’s important not to expect huge conversion. It’s hard to bring new listeners to your show from social, but it’s great for keeping existing listeners abreast of your latest episode drops. As for a social strategy, consider using threads rather than one-off posts announcing new episodes. Listeners and potential listeners want to know why they should tune into your show – what unique value they’ll experience by listening to your latest episode. So your social media should reflect more than just the fact that a new episode has dropped. Tell us the lessons or key takeaways and then, a few tweets down the thread, give us a link for further listening, so we can decide whether or not we want to tune in.
In fact, all of your social media should be able to exist on their own. If your podcast is about national parks and nature, your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn presence should first and foremost tell the world about that topic. And next, should tell people that you have a podcast where they can learn more. It’s a long game, though, so don’t expect this tactic to convert so quickly. It’s about building a brand over time, and more importantly, establishing you as a trustworthy expert on your topic.
Best of luck! A.
- Questions chosen to feature in Ask the Consultant will be included in a future issue of The Podcast Clinic newsletter or on Podspike’s social media platforms. Email clinic@podspike.com
