Podcasts have been a love affair of mine ever since my oldest child was born. Those free, bite-sized, easily consumable shows kept me sane and connected to the world when my days were filled with feedings and diaper changes.
And I’m not alone. According to Apple, over 150 million people in the United States listen to a podcast at least monthly. Podcast ad revenue growth has also grown in the last 5 years—by a whopping 1000%!
But putting these statistics aside, podcasting can be a highly valuable, fun, and effective form of content creation that allows your audience to get to know you and your business and at the same time receive lots of amazing free value. A win-win for everyone!
Actually launching…
So you’re on board and ready to do this thing—awesome! Let’s talk about 3 things that will help your launch be the most successful it can be!
Craft a launch strategy
Make a detailed plan and make sure you or someone on your team is managing the moving parts of your launch. Think about what social channels you use and what your ideal client is active on. Then use those channels to craft stories, teasers, and posts that build anticipation and excitement for your podcast.
One of my favorite strategies is to assemble a launch team. Your launch team can include friends, current clients, business partners, and fans. You can give them access to listen and rate your episodes in advance and also provide them with social graphics and captions to share their excitement of your show going live.
Plan to ask your listeners to review
Podcast reviews are important in so many big ways, including social proof for new listeners as well as ranking and features on “top podcasts” lists (this varies based on podcasting platforms).
Make a plan to not only ask your listeners to review your podcast but consider providing them with an incentive at launch time. You can do a giveaway, give out gift cards, or offer your service for free or at a reduced rate (e.g. a free coaching session if you are a business coach) to entice them to participate.
Please make sure sure that your request for reviews is genuine and tells your listeners why their review matters. If it helps others find you in searches, tell your listeners that their review helps you to spread a message you are passionate about. If their review provides you with valuable insight into what your listeners want to hear more of, tell them that!
And don’t forget to have a system for tracking entries. Sometimes it takes platforms like Apple a few days to post submitted reviews, so using a backup system or software like Gleam.io can help. You can even create a system to manually track reviews through something like tagged stories on IG.
Repurpose the heck out of your content
One thing I love about podcasts is that they can be repurposed in SO many amazing ways for your business! Create an automated system that ensures your episodes are being used to their fullest potential. Audiograms, social media posts, detailed show note blog posts, Pinterest graphics, YouTube videos—all of these can be created from a single podcast episode!
Plan the details and the team out before you launch and you won’t regret it!
I’ve been so grateful to help some incredible entrepreneurs launch their podcasts. If you need help with the details—the team, the launch plan, a content system—I’m here for you! Let’s hop on a call and chat about the amazing message you want to spread through your podcast (and the nuts and bolts that will get you there)!