How can I best market my podcast?

May 30, 2006 1:47 PM

How can I best market my podcast?

I podcast my public radio show. I've had success doing it (about 5K subscribers right now), but I'm trying to expand upon that success.

So given that I don't have a powerful brand like NPR or HBO or something, how can I best spend my time/money to promote the show? What precious little I've been able to find about podcast marketing has sort of been "get your show listed in the directories" stuff.

Are there books I should check out? Strategies I should pursue? I'm a lot better at creating the content than promoting it.

posted by YoungAmerican to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Here are some thoughts off the top of my head:

* Do the directory thing because it seems easy.

* Make sure you are findable in iTunes Music Store.

* You seem like you interview famous and semi-famous people who all have web sites that need content. Find a smart and non-creepy way of getting a link on their site back to your site. For example, "Thanks for coming on the show Dave Attell, by the way, I've inclosed a link to where you can find the archived interview. You might want to pass that along to your media/web person for your site".

* Contact local radio/newspaper people if the want to do a feature sometime on your success. Everybody needs content to fill their pages so provide it to them.

* Make a short, very short pitch on air encouraging people to pass the show around to others.

* You may not have the backing of NPR, but you are on 3 different radio stations in different parts of the country. Use the station resources to reach out and contact Program Directors at other stations. You'll get a lot of rejections but who know what will happen.

* When you talk to the PD's that don't want your show, find out what you can do structurally to accomodate them (smaller segments, longer segments, etc).

(BTW, I'm checking out your show so you might have just gotten another subscription)

Good luck...
posted by mmascolino at 2:22 PM on May 30, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks mm... those are some great suggestions, some of which I've been pursuing. Definately getting on the websites of folks I've interviewed has helped, to the extent that those folks have places for that on their websites... I interviewed John Vanderslice, a musician, last week, and got a couple hundred referrals from his site.
posted by YoungAmerican at 2:42 PM on May 30, 2006

Mefi Projects? If you haven't already.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:02 PM on May 30, 2006

And then there's the basics. Where's the giant, unmistakable, get-my-podcast-here link at the top of your webpage? I actually went to your web page and couldn't find your podcast. If it's under the link that says "Sound", change it to say "Podcast". Don't be afraid to be obvious when you're dealing with people who, as a rule, have very short attention spans.
posted by doctor_negative at 3:10 PM on May 30, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks doc n. I'm working on redesigning the web page now... that's at the top of my list. Have you seen any podcast webpages that are particularly useful? Most I see are pretty awful.
posted by YoungAmerican at 3:18 PM on May 30, 2006

TWIT is pretty basic but it works. For your site, because you have other content, I'd make the Podcast listings a page off the main page (but very clearly marked on the main page). The only other podcast page I frequent is Comic Geek Speak, they have forums and a VERY active, devoted listener base.

One thing I have seen work on CGS is to be very active in the forums and link to your podcast/site in your sig. Yeah, it's a bit cheesy, but exposure is exposure.
posted by doctor_negative at 5:46 PM on May 30, 2006

Makezine had a podcast article in their 2nd issue, it included how to spread the word on it.

http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol02/?pg=96&search=podcast&cookies=1

If you have a subscription...
posted by iamabot at 7:49 PM on May 30, 2006

you should transcribe the podcasts and put them on your site. this creates a major source of traffic via google and other search engines.
posted by Izzmeister at 1:33 AM on June 26, 2006