Welcome to today's episode of Podcast Insider. I'm Todd Cochrane, CEO of Blueberry Podcasting. And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing specialist at Blueberry. The team here is always thinking of innovative ways that podcasters can market their podcast. Today, we'll share a few of our favorites. You're listening to Podcast Insider hosted by Mike Dell, Todd Cochran, and Mackenzie Bennett from the Blueberry team, bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks to help you start, grow, and thrive through podcasting, all with the support of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting. Welcome. Let's dive in. Well, you know, coming up with fresh and innovative strategies to market your podcast to new listeners, You know, there's probably a 100 ways to Sunday to do this. But, you know, in the in the end, it really is about getting out there and and getting engaged. And, today, socially getting folks engaged, is is basically building curiosity for people that don't know about your show. Building some intrigue on why they should why they should interact or even check your show out. You have to give them a reason. And the first thing we've got up here is talking about personalized audio clips, where you can create a short personalized audio preview. And, you know, again, you can just record this on your standard recording platform. Kind of do an intro or you can use headliner or audiogram. You can even use pie to grab, blueberries podcasting AI assistant to grab, clips from a previous, version. But you can share those clips on social media with captions that directly engage the the viewer. And it's it could be that I've ever wondered how or listened to this quick tip. Again, it has to have something that brings value that, that definitely gets them in engaged and and curious about your show. And not everyone is always going to be engaged with purely audio. So an interactive audio experience, might grab the attention of those outliers. So we've worked with Descript, and you can use a tool like them to make it interactive with a transcript or a snippet that allows them to, you know, read along while they are listening to the episode. You can also do that probably with clips. So you can add the time stamps and the key highlights to make your clips more engaging, and you can also do this in blueberry pie. And I think the interaction is important because I know many times I will have something going and maybe I'll be on Facebook and I'll see a clip that initially intrigues me and I'll click into it, kinda go down a rabbit hole, but you want to be that clip that they engage in and you set the mind set that, hey. There's a podcast associated with this. Of course, AI powered recommendations and voice activated marketing. You you can use AI based recommendation engines like those in good pods or pod chaser to increase your reach, engaging in communities that leverage AI for podcast discovery, allowing listeners to find your show through shared interest and, listening behavior. And I think the challenge that a lot of folks are gonna find with podcast recommendations with AI is you may not be on that list. You may not have been surfaced by the AI to come up as a recommendation. So your mileage is gonna vary on that. But, definitely, it's something that, will allow you to at least have some some different ways to engage. Yeah. The the capabilities of AI and how that functions is rapidly changing all of the time nowadays. But something that used to be more popular, and I don't know. I don't really have any type of, quote unquote robots in my house, but search platforms like Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri, you know, a lot of the time people will have their shows on there, and you can say, hey, Google. Play the latest episode of such and such. So that's an easy one that they can do without actually searching on their own. They're just doing that command. The key is to make sure that you know what is the command that allows them to find your show so that you can give them that direction clearly so they don't end up on someone else's podcast. That's the key. So the clearer the better. Yeah. The clearer with, you know, you may have to add a few extra words in there. You might have to say like, you know, hey, Siri, play the latest episode of podcast insider by Blueberry podcasting. You may have to say something like that for that to guarantee to find the show. But, one of the fun things that has been done, and is becoming more popular, especially in the podcasting 2 point o space is collaborative playlist with other podcasts. So across across podcast playlist are also available on Spotify. So you can collaborate with similar podcasts, create themed playlist on Spotify. I think on Apple Podcasts too is a little harder, but create episodes that cover complementary topics and promote the playlist across each other's platforms. You know, something that I like is, like an ask me anything section. This used to be really, really popular on Reddit, the AMA, but now has kinda taken over on, on other platforms that now include quizzes and interactive interactivity like Instagram and Twitter. So very popular for people to do. You just post it on your story, or you can even do, you know, like a full post to it or tweet or something like that. But a lot of the time it is if you have a active community on whatever platform you're doing, then they will probably be receptive to playing along and as answering your questions. Of course, you can come up with a best of episodes as as well when you work with other podcasters to create a collaborative episode featuring clips from each show. It can make it a fun joint project that gives listeners a sample of several podcasts and best of episodes. Now this works good for those of you that have a long tail content. For those of you that have content that expires pretty quickly, this may not be a strategy that will work well for you. Maybe you have to go with a very recent episode if it's if it's within the time age of the of the episodes. AK, if you like my show, I do a tech show and within a week, the content is kinda old and everyone's already heard the the information. So, again, depends on your content. Something that people can do very easily but might think is more complicated than it is is geo targeted ads and local marketing for their podcast. In fact, I was just explaining to a, friend of mine's mom this weekend how all of that works, and she had no idea that by living in Cleveland or Cincinnati that she was getting specific ads to that area. So location based advertising, aka your geotargeting on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Twitter, whatever how you know, whatever platforms you're using. Especially, this is helpful if your podcast has local or regional appeal to listeners, as well as collaborate collaborating with local businesses in your area. So you can do small ad segments in exchange for sharing your podcast through social media, email newsletters, you know, a shout out on their website or, them on yours. Anything like that is easy to to negotiate with local business owners. One thing that we do when we go to trade shows and different events is we actually geotarget maybe a mile or 2 square around the venue because you can actually geotarget that close with, Facebook and other platforms. And we will actually advertise the company, to and the target is the podcasters that are going to the event. So, like, when we were in London, we were able to target the the civic center we are at in about a mile area around London. So while people are checking Facebook at the event, they were getting ads from Blueberry, which in turn caused them to come to the booth and say hello. So it's kind of a nice way. If you're doing an event someplace, maybe do event targeted advertising in our location based advertising. And the best part about that is it's relatively inexpensive because it's so so highly targeted. We set a pretty high budget, but usually, we'll spend 60, $70 on a 2 or 3 day event just because it's so targeted. You're not spending a lot of money, but you're reaching that very focused audience. And this could go for an event that's happening in some place in the country around a topic around your show. So if there if you know of a business convention or, you know, whatever the topic of your show is, you could actually target that event, with location based advertising and not even be there, but advertise your podcast. A lot of options here. So another thing that you could do is cross platform content diversification, and that's a long way of saying, do social media content together. So like TikTok or reels content, create short, highly engaging clips, specifically for those platforms, and make sure that you're including, you know, teasers of upcoming episodes or guests, maybe you're like a blooper reel or something like that. And definitely make sure that your clips include the transcript, you know, the captions or graphics to grab attention even without sound. Going back to when we were talking about, you know, interactive stuff just beyond audio on social media, generally, at this point in 2024, almost 2025, if I don't see captions alongside a video and I have to click click on it to hear what they're saying and get the content, I'm not going to probably. If I'm in private and I'm you know, if I'm at home or a friend's home or something like that, yeah, I might click on it and listen to it, but I'm not gonna do that in the public ever. I'm not gonna have sound coming from my phone. So definitely something to think about. Another thing to think about is LinkedIn, you know, depending on your show, if you have a community or if there's community forums on LinkedIn. LinkedIn can be a gold mine for reaching new listeners where you share insights or episode highlights, exclusive tips and posts and groups related to your niche. Doesn't mean going there in spam that you're, you know, you've got a podcast. That means go in there and give actionable information, or maybe respond to a community thread. Say, hey. I did a podcast episode on this and, you know, at the 15 minute mark, I talk about exactly what we're talking about here. That's a great way to pick up listeners for people to engage and being able to, to connect with your podcast. Of course, interactive listener contest and challenges. Listener challenges are fun. They can run a challenge related to your podcast theme, encourage listeners to participate and share their entries on social media. Example might include a 30 day challenge relevant to a self improvement podcast or a best advice challenge for business podcast. These rewards, don't have to be big, but could be an Amazon card or something like that. But again, have something that challenges your listeners and basically get the community involved. One thing that I've always thought, is fun is doing a podcast referral contest. Offer rewards for listeners who refer new listeners to your show. Use a unique referral link or just say, hey. They your new new listener needs to send an email to the show said, hey. Susie recommended a podcast, and I'm a new listener. There might be ways there to have, to, again, to build more community by getting a referral. I think on almost every episode of my own podcast, I tell my listeners to share, the show with their friends and family, especially if there's something that I've talked about in a recent episode that can help someone. And, these rewards for listeners who refer new listeners, again, you can be very creative there in coming up with stuff. And it doesn't have, again, to be expensive. Maybe it's a shout out or it's a sticker. Something simple. People love getting swag and, sticker to slap on their laptop is always fun too. On a different route with that is augmented reality, which is AR and QR codes for promotion. Ever since the pandemic, QR codes have come back with a vengeance, and you can do what is called a QR code scavenger hunt. So you create these codes, link them to teaser audio clips or special special episodes or anything you really want them to be. You can place these in both physical and digital spaces. You know, this is kinda one of the scenarios in which you see a random QR sticker on a telephone pole in your park when you're, you know, taking your your daily walk, and you're like, okay. What is this? And now all of a sudden, hey. You are a potential listener. You are listening to this podcast. So I think that's a really cool one. AR experience, I have less experience with this, to be completely honest, but you can do episode highlights, to create an augmented reality to fit your podcast theme. That sounds really cool. Todd, have you ever done anything like this? No. But I I've done the QR thing, but I've done it in a way that is fully transparent. It's like when I'm doing live video, I will have a QR code that will link to my subscribe page. Mhmm. And, people that are watching the show for the first time, of course, here's the trick. If you're watching the show on your phone, the QR code is worthless because you really how do you how do you scan a QR code from your your phone? So they have to be watching you on a laptop or a big screen for that to really work. So you need to make sure you put that QR code in a place where if the actual mobile user is gonna be able to get to us. I always have the additional link there, form to link to. But, that's what I've kinda done with QR codes. But I do always kinda wonder if they're ever gonna do something to get around that, like, you know, using a QR code while you're already on your phone. I have no idea how that would work. It'd be nice if the you saw a QR code in a video on your phone, and you could just click on the QR code and it would pick it up. Right. But, yeah, I don't know if I've gotten that far yet. But again, you know, there's lots of ways to market your show. One of the fun things that you can do and especially if you, have some friends that are are influencers is you can partner with a, well, maybe a big influencer or even a micro influencer, collaborate with them and, have them help grow your show, with their engaged audiences. Invite them to be guests, share episodes, or simply recommend your podcast to their followers. That's that's always a bonus. You know, if you know someone that has a great, great presence, maybe they don't have a podcast or maybe say, hey. I've got a podcast. I'd like to have you listen to it. And, you know, maybe make them a fan. So that so it requires a little more work. And maybe sometimes you have to write a check too. But at the same time, micro influencers probably the cost to get a promotion is is pretty low. At the same time, you can engage in Reddit and topic specific forums. I've always thought this has been a very underutilized, niche. And I'm not talking about going into a podcast or Reddit. I'm talking about going into your specific content topic forums and, even on discord. And it can be powerful for podcast promotion if you're active in those groups. And you can share insights and value without spamming to build report and casually mention your podcast as as a resource. And this might be another way to even get guests for your show if you if you do interviews. Yeah. Finding the guests on there would be really great. Another way to market your podcast is with podcast specific advertising platforms. So Spotify ad studio and overcast ads do this, dynamic ad insertion, which Blueberry offers, and, you know, we we've been doing advertisements on and off for many, many years with Blueberry. One thing to think about on the over cast ads is it's pretty effective, for a relatively low low cost. I know Marco's, done that for years with his app, and people have seen pretty good success. So don't, don't listen. There's a few apps that additionally that do that as well. I think fountain is one where you can advertise. There's a couple of them that allow it. Just look into it. Go to the, podcast app's website to see if they they offer that. Of course, you can host special episodes with listener involvement. Listener co created episodes where you allow listeners to submit questions, topics, or even short audio clips. Letting your audience be part of the creation can increase excitement, incentivize them to share the episode, make them a producer, Make them, you know, when they submit content like that, you can always give, give credit to always, and it really allows people to become a big part of the team and more likely to share the show. And, of course, you have a monthly or themed or guest takeover. You can invite fans or guest host to take over your podcast for an episode. Interesting fresh perspectives that appeal to new listeners while keeping your current audience engaged. Now the only thing I think about the guest takeover pieces, you need to have someone that you can trust. Use yeah. Usually, when I do guest takeovers, it's someone that I have worked with or podcasts that I'm familiar with and I'm friends and they're willing to fill in for me for an episode. They still follow the same format, but they, again, they give their own their own spin on things. And lastly, we wanna talk about how you can leverage your analytics to optimize content and outreach. So this is topic based targeting, going back to kinda what we were talking about with geotargeting. Yes. You can do geotargeting, but also if you have any demographic information about your listeners, you know, we provide an audience survey for all podcasters to use to try and gather that audience demographic information, and then we integrate it into the stats so that you can really see everything altogether. But you can tailor future marketing efforts to emphasize specific topics that you know that they would be interested in and appeal to new listeners with similar with similar interests. And alongside that, time sensitive push notifications is really cool. So you can do this to your followers whenever a new episode goes live, timed around your high engagement periods that you see within your analytics. You know, we we tell you how many people are listening within the first couple days and, you know, what that drop off is, how long they are listening to your episodes. So all of this can be, really useful for optimizing your content to your audience. Now one thing to remember too is people that are subscribed via certain podcast apps, they will actually do a push notification for you as well. Apple Podcasts, if they are actually followed your show, if you they follow it or subscribed, they will get a push notification. If you allow the Apple Podcasts app to do, if the listener has allowed the the podcast app to send notifications, they'll actually receive it on their end saying, hey. There's a new episode of exec show, and they'll get that notification. But, a lot of folks have even went to the point where they are now using a service where you can actually collect their, mobile number and you can do an SMS push through a third party service that does require a subscription. Some of those are are very inexpensive to use, when you have a low number of subscribers. When the numbers get up higher, it can be a bit costly, but it is another way for you to send a push notification to current subscribers to say, hey. There's a new episode out. Make sure you, you go listen. So these strategies combine creativity and activity and, of course, our platform specific advantage is to reach a broader audience while keeping listeners engaged and eager to share your content. I hope you found one of these of about 20 tips here, maybe even 22, 23 tips, useful. Take 1 and try it. Definitely check out the show notes because the show notes will have a broader breakdown of all of this for you to review. Yeah. If you try any of these out and loved it or even if you hated it, let us know, and we'll be happy to go over it with you. Thanks for listening to Podcast Insider. Thanks for joining us. Come back next week. And in the meantime, head to podcast insider.com for more information. To subscribe, share, and read our show notes. Check out the latest suite of services and learn how Blueberry can help you leverage your podcast. Visit blueberry.com. That's blueberry without the e's because we can't afford the e's.
CHAPTER 1
00:00:00
Introduction and Overview
CHAPTER 2
00:01:01
Personalized Audio Clips for Engagement
CHAPTER 3
00:02:08
Interactive and AI-Enhanced Podcast Features
CHAPTER 4
00:03:36
Voice-Activated Marketing and AI Recommendations
CHAPTER 5
00:04:30
Easy Voice Commands to Access Podcasts
CHAPTER 6
00:05:03
Collaborative Playlists and Cross-Promotion
CHAPTER 7
00:07:05
Geo-Targeted Ads and Local Marketing Strategies
CHAPTER 8
00:09:30
Cross-Platform Content and Social Media Engagement
CHAPTER 9
00:12:10
Listener Interaction and Community Building
CHAPTER 10
00:14:16
Innovative Promotion through AR and QR Codes
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