Updated June 20, 2022
This article assumes you have gotten an invitation to appear on a podcast.
Great work! One of the most cost effective ways to promote your company is to appear on other podcasts. Here are nine ideas to leverage that appearance:
- Look at Apple Podcasts
- Go to Google Trends
- Come up with a “freebie”
- Remember: people listen with a phone
- Go for a face to face interview
- Quotes are your friend
- You can’t Tweet too much
- You can LinkedIn too much
- When to mail your list?
When you select your podcast carefully, you are now speaking to your target audience — podcast listeners. If they listen to you, chances are you may gain a subscriber to your podcast. When you are a guest you are in a great position to let new people know, like, and trust you.
You are leaving money on the table if you don’t wring out every available part of this promotion opportunity.
1. Look at your target podcast on Apple
Apple can provide tons of information on the podcast and its audience.
Let’s say your target podcast is the popular “The Social Pros Podcast.” Start with reading the description of the podcast on Apple Podcasts. It should include general formatting for the podcast.
For example, Social Pros has three hosts – two from Convince and Convert and one from ICUC Social. Listen for the transitions and exchanges between host and guest, determine where you will fit in.
Listen for standard questions, prepare an answer
Many shows have established traditions. Best to prepare rather than have the “deer in the headlights” look when they ask you to name your favorite book on marketing.
Here are a couple of samples:
– Is there anyone in the world you would like to sit down with and have a conversation?
– What is the most important book you have ever read?
– What business tool do you rely on the most?
Once you know what the questions will be, you can listen to the last six guests to get a flow of the conversation and level of vocabulary.
Find “you might also like”
The “you might also like” is a great place to find the target for your next appearance. If you have a podcast that deals in technology, we have a list of six podcasts you can try to be a guest on.
Find the #hashtags
See if the company or podcast has its own Twitter page. If it does, scroll down through a month or two of Tweets. List the top hashtags in use. These can be used as conversation pivot points, and as a bonus, you can include them in your podcast promotion on Twitter. Below are some hashtags the have worked for me:
#spacedebris #cloudcomputing #identitymanagement #satellite
2. Go to Google Trends
“Zero Trust” looks like a hockey stick in interest. My technology audience would definitely be interested in that.
“Edge Computing” is a popular topic as well. Millions of sensors are in the world today — all tech audiences need to know how to manage this data securely.
“Windows” may not be a great pitch. A producer may not want to deal with a low interest topic.
Just because you think you have a fascinating topic doesn’t mean the audience will agree.
One of the best ways to see if a topic is popular is to go to Google Trends and type in the phrases you want to discuss. Don’t forget that topics trend over time.
3. Freebie
One fantastic way to grow your email list is to give the listeners something for free during your interview.
This digital goodie can be a checklist, guidebook, or even a set of slide templates. Consider the audience and prepare a “knock out” offering ahead of time. You can structure the request by contacting the producer and asking, “I have come up with something that will be of value to your audience – what do you think?”
For example, in podcast episode #398 of Perpetual Traffic, Ryan Dice gave a magnificent freebee offer. He normally sells a short course in marketing funnels for $100 In this interview, he offers the audience the exact same course for free and a link to the website. What a great freebie.
Here are three “freebies” that these companies have used:
Before the interview, ask the producer if you can use your company’s website for the giveaway. For example, for a cybersecurity checklist, please go to yoursite.com/zerotrust to get it. Listeners give emails; they get the offer.
The second option is to have your freebie hosted at the site of the podcast moderator. For example, in the middle of the interview, the moderator can say, “if you would like a 127-page guidebook of how to reduce cyber threats, go to moderator.com/zerotrust.
4. Remember people will not be listening on a desktop
People listen with phones while jogging, traveling, or in the gym.
In other words, they won’t be sitting at a desk with a pencil writing down a difficult website or title.
Your job is to make it easy to connect. You certainly have a web site – but it may be difficult to spell. Listeners may not be able to reach the website because of spelling.
The remedy – you come up with a dedicated URL that is easy to remember in an oral format. Come up with a name and register it. For example, I mention “How to promote a podcast dot com,” and I can redirect it to wherever I want. This can be a video, a webinar, or a checklist for optimizing a show notes page.
5. Avoid Zoom >> go for face to face with a microphone and a microphone flag
If you are lucky enough to sit in a studio, please get someone to take a photo of you in front of a microphone with a “flag” in front of it. A “flag” is the logo that is attached to the microphone.
6. Quotes
It is dificult to make predictions, especially about the future.
7. You can't Tweet too much . . .
Once you have written show notes talking about your appearance, you have a target for your social media promotion. Let’s start with Twitter. Structure a Tweet with an image, hashtag, handle, quotes, and a link back to your show notes. This is a perfect place to use the image with a flag.
In your Tweets, include the handle of the podcast and the hashtags you discovered in your show prep. One promotion tactic is to run three different Tweets and see which one gets the best response. Take that Tweet and run variations for three months.
8. But you can have too many status updates on LinkedIn
Although you can use services like Buffer, Hootsuite, MeetEdgar; whatever you select, please focus on engaging with the audience.
9. When to send email promoting your podcast?
Before the interview, ask the producer if you can use your company’s website for the giveaway. For example, for a cybersecurity checklist, please go to yoursite.com/zerotrust to get it. Listeners give emails; they get the offer.
Conclusion
A podcast invitation is a golden opportunity for your company.
We have just presented nine ways you can optimize your podcast appearance.
Review all the concepts presented above to select one or two you will actually use. The focal point of your promotion will be a company blog post. The summary content itself should include the offer you made in the interview. Make it easy for new listeners to connect to you.
My mantra: one hour on the interview and ten hours promoting it.
If you liked this article, you may want to read “5 Best Tactics to Leverage Apple iTunes to Reach More People thatn ever Before“
John Gilroy
Has been in front of a microphone since 1991. He can help you structure, launch, and promote your company podcast. johngilroy@theoakmontgroupllc.com
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