How To Create a Podcast Marketing Plan That Works For You

Are you tired of pouring your heart and soul into your show only to feel like no one is listening? Whether you’re a seasoned podcaster looking to reenergize your show or a beginner eager to make an impact, listen closely. The key to building an engaged audience of loyal listeners lies in a comprehensive podcast marketing plan tailored to your unique goals, interests, and lifestyle. Unfortunately, most podcasters do not have a well-thought-out podcast marketing plan. Perhaps they occasionally post on social, share episodes inside of Facebook groups, wear merch, and call it a day. These are all podcast marketing strategies, but strategies and tactics do not provide direction or lead to long-term sustainable growth. While I love learning about new marketing tactics, they bring temporary results and lack long-term vision. In this article, we’ll explore how a personalized podcast marketing plan can provide structure, why relying on tactics is not enough, and how to create a holistic podcast marketing plan that takes into account the uniqueness of your show.

What is a podcast marketing plan?

A podcast marketing plan is a detailed roadmap that explains how you plan to promote your podcast, grow your show and gain new listeners long-term. Providing direction and clarity helps you determine your goals and identify the appropriate channels, methods, and timelines for implementation.

Placing a special emphasis on gaining new listeners, your podcast marketing plan will cover who, what, when, and how.

Who – Who is your ideal listener?

What – What are the action items you will take to ensure your show is growing month-over-month?

When – When do you have time to promote episodes?

How – How will you measure success?

Podcast Marketing Plan vs. Podcast Marketing Strategy

A podcast marketing plan details your podcasting goals, “how” you will promote a podcast, and “which” strategies you will use.

On the other hand, podcast marketing strategies outline “what” specific channels, activities, and tasks you’ll use to achieve your goals.

Podcast marketing strategies can include getting featured on Apple Podcasts’ top charts, sharing behind-the-scene content on Instagram reels, or growing your email list with an enticing lead magnet. Other podcast marketing tactics include guest appearances on other podcasts, collaborations, press releases, and paid advertising.

Podcasting goals can vary, such as:

Receiving 70 reviews on Apple Podcasts
Gain 100,000 downloads in one year
Reach 5,000 followers on Instagram
Join a podcast network at 10,000 downloads per episode
Qualifying for display ad networks by reaching 25,000 monthly page views

Do you see how each of these goals requires a different approach?

While podcast marketing strategies may come and go, a podcast marketing plan provides the overarching direction for attracting new listeners and building a strong brand.

Even when a tactic fails or becomes less effective, you can rely on your blueprint to keep you focused. Also, it helps you promote your show consistency and encourages tracking your progress so you can make informed decisions about which tactics to prioritize, modify, or replace

Review your plan at least once a quarter, as podcasting is evolving quickly, and there may be new opportunities to reach your ideal audience that wasn’t available before.

Creating A Holistic and Personalized Podcast Marketing Plan

1. Define your show’s unique point of view

The first step to creating a successful marketing plan for podcasts is to define your show’s unique selling point. This is what makes your podcast different from all the others out there.

It could be your expertise, your unique perspective, your production chops, or your engaging personality. Whatever it is, ensure it’s clearly defined and communicated in your marketing efforts.

For example, I currently host (2) podcasts: my travel podcast is for financially savvy travelers.

On The Thought Card, we talk about travel and personal finance topics like saving, investing, and financial literacy. While most podcasts cover one topic, I cover both; this makes my podcast unique.

My other podcast, Women of Color Podcasters, shares the lesser-told stories and accomplishments of Women of Color in the podcasting industry, which make up less than 29% of podcast creators as of 2022. At the moment, there aren’t any other podcasts about podcasting with this niche focus.

2. Leverage your strengths

When creating a podcast marketing plan, consider your strengths and how you enjoy promoting a podcast. Additionally, you want your plan to fit into your life, framed with your time constraints and capacity in mind.

For example, I don’t enjoy posting about my podcast on social; it also doesn’t lead to new listeners or help build my audience. So instead of wasting time participating in ineffective marketing activities I dread, I spend my time on keyword research, writing podcast show notes, and creating eye-catchy pins for Pinterest.

All of these marketing tasks are built into the production of my show, so I complete them once; this is intentional.

With my hectic life as a busy mom of an infant, I don’t have the bandwidth to share videos on YouTube, for example. However, I understand the benefits and hope to expand to video one day, but likely never lol.

My strength as a podcaster aligns with writing and research, so I leverage these skills to create content that answers my audience’s questions and write blog post-style show notes that will rank in search engines like Google.

So experiment and find what works for you; make sure whatever you incorporate into your podcasting marketing supports reaching your growth goals and isn’t busy work.

3. Identify your target audience

Knowing your target audience is critical to creating a successful podcast marketing plan. Understanding who they are, what they’re interested in, and where they hang out, whether online or in-person, will help you tailor your marketing efforts to reach them more effectively.

Getting to know your audience takes time, whether you poll them on social, ask them to complete a survey, or meet them in-person at conferences and events.

Take the time to do some research, converse with your listeners, and review what other podcasters in your niche are doing to gain additional insights.

Focus on creating high-quality episodes that are informative, entertaining, and valuable to listeners. Research trending topics, invite expert guests, and share unique insights. High-quality and relevant content will attract new listeners and keep your existing audience coming back for more.

4. Monitor and analyze performance metrics

Track metrics like downloads, episode completion time, clicks, and show notes page views to determine if your content resonates and if your promotional efforts have the results you anticipated. Use data to refine your marketing strategy. Regularly analyze your podcast’s performance metrics and identify areas for improvement.

In summary, how to create a marketing plan for podcasts? With a well-executed podcast marketing plan that’s simple to follow and leverages your strengths and interests, confidently boosts your visibility and gain new listeners on repeat without feeling drained.

Today, my simple three-part podcast marketing plan includes email marketing, collaborations, and SEO (search engine optimization). Get step-by-step instruction on marketing a podcast that helps you strategically gain more downloads without ever posting on social in my self-paced workshop, Marketing Strategies For Long-term Podcast Growth.