How to Get More Podcast Listeners with These 5 Visibility Strategies [Organic Growth Series] [ep. 79]

 
 

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Here’s what to expect from this episode:

If people don’t know about you, they don’t know about your podcast. And if they don’t know about your podcast, they can’t get to know you and learn more about your offers. 

In case you missed last week’s episode about holistic SEO, we are in the middle of a series all about organic podcast growth, covering intentional strategies to grow your podcast listenership WITHOUT paid ads. And in the second episode of this series, we’re looking at 5 visibility strategies to get you more podcast listeners AND give you a quicker ROI than your foundational SEO strategy. 

Don’t worry, I’m not here to tell you that you need to create daily Reels and TikToks, but you DO need to be taking action to bring in new listeners. Because, unfortunately, we can’t just sit around and wait for them to come. Ready to dive into these 5 visibility strategies?

PS. Next up in the series, you’ll hear from a guest expert on what you should be putting in place on Pinterest in 2023 for podcast growth. I know how so many of you feel about Pinterest, but I encourage you to tune in to see what she has to say. Catch you here next week!

TOPICS COVERED:

  • What I mean by strategic visibility

  • Leveraging the power of emails and newsletters (and no, print is not dead)

  • Keeping it simple with podcast trailer swaps

  • The power of podcast guesting (and a quick mention of my Guesting for Educators mini-course)

  • Why virtual summits are GOLD!

  • Instagram/Facebook lives, takeovers, and collaborations

  • The great thing about all 5 of these visibility strategies

Resources mentioned:

how-to-get-more-podcast-listeners

  • Sara Whittaker 0:01

    Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners, and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whittaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager, and I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators. In case you missed last week's episode, we are in the middle of a series all about organic podcast growth. These are intentional strategies that you can put in place to grow your podcast listenership without paid ads. Part one of this series was episode 78, which featured SEO expert Nina Gibson, Nina and I talked all about holistic SEO for your podcast and for your brand. This included how to make your content creation SEO focused so that traffic is consistently being driven to your podcast long term. Today, in episode two of this series, we're going to look at some visibility strategies that lead to organic growth. I like to think of keyword research and SEO as the anchor of your organic growth. It's foundational and it is so necessary. But it's definitely something that does take time. The things we're going to focus on today are strategies that will give you a bit of a quicker ROI. Like I said, this is all about visibility. And that word visibility can be kind of scary to a lot of entrepreneurs, especially if you are more of an introvert. But it doesn't have to be scary. And it's something that we should all be focusing on in 2023. And when I talk about strategic visibility, I'm talking about the things that you can do to put yourself in front of the right people to convert them to listeners of your podcast, and in turn into followers, subscribers and buyers. Now, a lot of you got into podcasting because you do not want to be showing your face on socials 24/7, which I totally get. And that can still be true, do not worry, I am not here to tell you that you need to be creating daily reels and tiktoks. But you do need to be taking action to bring in new listeners. So we can't just sit around and wait for them to come as lovely as that would be. So it comes down to this. If people don't know about you, then they're not going to know about your podcast. And if they don't know about your podcast, then they can't get to know you and learn about your offers. I saw this quote online recently, and I just thought it was perfect and really encompasses everything that I'm talking about in this episode. And that quote was get more visible, like your business depends on it, because it does, I have that quote, saved somewhere. And so I will include that in the show notes so that I am sure that I cite exactly who originally said that. But I just love it. Because it's so true. We need to be putting ourselves out there and putting things in place so that we can make sure that we are reaching the maximum number of people as possible. So let's look at some ways that you can get more visible in order to see that organic growth, I have five things I'm going to share five ideas I'm going to share with you and I am ordering them from what I consider it takes like the least effort, or those things that maybe if you are really introverted and you don't love being on camera, and you don't love, you don't love doing things live, maybe you prefer to like be able to script something out and pre record something. So I'm going to have that in order from things for my more introverted non video friends, to people who are totally fine with being on live video. The first visibility idea that I have for you is to really leverage the power of emails and newsletters. So the idea here would be for you to be able to write a short blurb, about your business about your podcast, who you help, why somebody would benefit from listening to your podcast, the kinds of topics you cover, things like that, kind of like an elevator pitch for your podcast, and a little bit about you. So if you could create a little blurb like that, and then find some people to connect with who could who are willing to put that information in their newsletter that would be sent out to their email subscribers, that could make a world of difference in terms of bringing new people into your world and converting them to podcast listeners. Now, this could be a collaboration that you do with a networking friend, maybe somebody in a similar space as you and you could even do a newsletter swap, maybe even a They don't have a podcast, maybe you could share just information about them and maybe include a link to like their TPT store or their Instagram, whatever it is that they would want to promote. I do recommend focusing on like one thing here. So for you, it would be your podcast. So you guys could do a little newsletter swap. Another great outlet that I don't think many people are utilizing at all is to think about how you could get in front of parents and teachers through print. So I'm thinking about like parenting magazines or educational magazines, that you could somehow get a blurb or an article in. If you've never heard of the resource hero, that's H A R, O, it stands for Help a Reporter Out, that's a really cool resource that you can sign up for. And there's different categories that you can sign up for notifications about and as basically, reporters from various things like a newspaper or a magazine can post what they're looking for more information about. And these can often lead to opportunities of you being interviewed, or giving information to somebody who has access to printing information in one of these resources. Now, I'm just gonna give you a little warning that if you sign up for hair out, it is free. I don't know there might be paid versions, but it is free to sign up for notifications, you will get daily notifications, and it can be kind of overwhelming. So if you and you do have to kind of like sift through it, but you can filter by like keyword and things like that, it's worth checking out honestly, I have worked with people who have gotten some really great visibility opportunities through Harrow. So I would just recommend like setting up a filter on your email. So when those emails come through, they'll go straight into a folder and not completely load up your inbox. Okay, so that is one option for those of you who maybe are looking for something that you can do that is not paid, and that is not going to require you to be on video. The second idea is to do a trailer swap. Now what this would look like is you would be collaborating with another podcaster. And you would need to have, you would each need to have a short trailer for your show. Now many of you probably already have a trailer that's on Apple podcast that's kind of like that first introduction for people to your show, kind of like a movie trailer. If you don't have one, you can create one in less than an hour. But basically, you and this other podcaster would swap trailers. So if I was collaborating with a podcaster named Susan, I would give my trailer to Susan and Susan would air my trailer in a podcast episode. So she might introduce it by saying something like, if you are enjoying my podcasts, I think that you'll really want to check out podcasting for educators hosted by Sara Whittaker. Here's a quick one minute trailer to give you a glimpse into what her show is about. And then she could play my trailer and I would do the same for her. So very quick, simple exposure, you're getting yourself not only in front of a new group of people, but you're getting yourself in front of podcast listeners, which are much more likely to quickly convert into listeners of your podcast. Now, of course, with any kind of collaboration like this, that you do, you need to be intentional about it and make sure that you're collaborating with somebody who has an overlapping audience to you. Okay, so that's another idea of something that you can do that doesn't require video. And that is pre recorded. Visibility. Isaiah number three is something that if you're a longtime listener of this show, you have heard me talk about many, many times, and I'm sure that you can guess what it is and that is podcast guesting. So this is a level up from a trailer swap, because you would actually be doing an interview on somebody else's podcast. Same kind of idea, though here the benefit. There's lots of benefits. But one of the greatest benefits is that if you're doing it intentionally, you are getting yourself in front of again, not only your ideal listener, ideal customer, but also somebody who already listens to podcasts. So you've kind of overcome that barrier of, okay, you're getting somebody to enter your world and then you're also getting them to be a podcast listener. No, they're already a podcast listener, so they're very likely to convert into a listener of your show.

    Sara Whittaker 9:44

    I have talked about podcasts guesting a lot on this podcast, so I'm not going to go really in depth here. But it is, I think probably will always be one of my very top recommendations in terms of growing your podcast. So if you have not yet tried this strategy, I highly encourage you to make it a goal of yours for 2023 because you can see a really big and quick ROI, if you are guessing on the right shows and I'm a firm believer that quality over quantity is the name of the game when it comes to podcast guessing. I think that there is a very intentional process that you should go through in order to get the most out of podcast guesting and like I said, I'll link to a few episodes that I've done in the past about podcasting and I do also have a mini course. That's all about the process of podcast guesting how to really leverage this strategy and how to land some really great podcast guesting spots. So I'll link that in the show notes as well, where you can go check it out at podcasting for educators.com/guesting. The fourth visibility strategy that I want to talk about today is virtual summits, virtual summits have really exploded over the last few years. And I if you're in the education space, I see virtual summits all the time in this space. So if you have never been a speaker at a virtual Summit, this is such a great way to grow your email list to grow your podcast listenership it has the potential to really make an impact on your business. So be on the lookout for these opportunities. A lot of times when people are hosting a virtual Summit, they'll post on their Instagram that they're looking for speakers, usually there's a form that you would fill out to apply with a suggested topic that you could speak on and things like that. So take advantage of these opportunities. Because, again, this has the possibility of putting you in front of your ideal customer and a lot of them. So I have personally seen virtual summits have a huge impact on my business. So if you've never done one before, definitely be on the lookout for those. I think all of the virtual summits that I've been a part of my sessions are always pre recorded. So if that's appealing to you, then this would be a really great option for you to try out. But you would basically pre record your session. And then there would be a specific day that your session airs, and then a lot of summits, they'll have like, maybe like a Facebook group or somewhere where you could be available for questions that people have after watching your session. And then lots of other summits, we'll also do live presentation. So sometimes you'll kind of have the option to choose if you want pre recorded or live based on what you prefer. Just kind of a tip with something like a virtual Summit. Usually, it depends on the host, some hosts will let you promote paid offers some only free offers like any like a lead magnet or something like that, of course, you want to limit your call to actions at the end of your sessions. So if your goal going into this virtual Summit is to bring in new podcast listeners, then you'll want to make that your main focus at the end of your session is to really drive people to your podcast, versus, you know, having several different call to actions that you're giving. Okay, and then the fifth visibility strategy that I have for you is to do a instagram or facebook live collaboration or takeover, whatever you want to call it with somebody that has an overlapping audience with you. So maybe it's somebody who has like a course group or a membership, and maybe they have a Facebook group that goes with this community, and they'll have guest experts that come in and do a training. This is a great way for you to show your expertise, and to make people aware of who you are and make them aware that you have a podcast. So that's more usually I see that more on like within Facebook groups, but then I've I know I've done collaborations through Instagram lives where I will go on somebody else's Instagram and do a live with them on a certain topic. It's just another great way to get visible. This strategy can look different depending on who the host is. But it could be pre recorded or it could be live. I know for me, I have had guests experts come in and do trainings for my course the prep school. And usually I'll give people the option. Do you want to do a pre recorded training or do you want to do it live? Because I know people usually have a preference with those kinds of things. So if again, if if you're more comfortable with something being pre recorded, then just let the person know that but if you're okay being live, there's definitely benefits to doing a live presentation. It's obviously more interactive. People are there in the moment asking you questions. It's just another great way to connect with people. But pre recorded is great as well because if it's for a course or membership, most likely it will live in that course or membership Over time, and every time that somebody new joins, they have the ability to check out your presentation. Same thing applies in terms of what I said with a virtual Summit. And that is that you want to limit your call to actions at the end of your training or your live when, if you're doing an Instagram Live. And the host says, you know, at the end, just like in a podcast interview, where can people find you limit your call to actions make that CTA, I have a podcast, here's where you can listen, here's the kind of topics that I cover. And just focus on that. All of these ideas are so great, because you will see instant results if you're strategic and intentional about the platforms that you are putting yourself on. And all of them with the possible exception of virtual summits are likely going to be evergreen, they're going to continue to be found by new people, continuous exposure for free. So want you to think about these five visibility strategies, doing a newsletter blurb, a trailer swap, guessing on podcasts, participating as a speaker in a virtual Summit, and doing a Instagram or Facebook Live takeover or training. What is one thing, like which of these five things is the one thing that you could focus on implementing over the next few months, choose one that feels the least scary to you and that you're the most interested in and take action? If you reach out to somebody and ask if they want to collaborate? And you get a No, that's okay, keep going. It's good to put yourself out there like that get a little bit uncomfortable, be intentional and track your results with any of these strategies. Now, some of the other very, very crucial pieces to this puzzle of bringing in new podcast listeners is to make sure that you are nurturing your current listeners and creating a community around your show. We're going to talk about these things in upcoming episodes of this series. But first next week, you'll hear from a guest expert on what you should be putting in place on Pinterest in 2023. In order to see podcast growth, I know how so many of you feel about Pinterest, but hang in here with me. I really encourage you to tune in to hear what she has to say. I'll catch you here next week. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. To keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support and launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course the podcasting for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep school. I'll see you here next time.

More about Podcasting for Educators:

Podcasting for Educators is the podcast for TpT authors and other online educators. It's a show that will help you get your podcast in front of those who need it most - teachers, counselors, literacy specialists, SLPs, parents, and more! Each week, Sara Whittaker and her guests will share top tips and actionable strategies that you will need in order to launch, manage, and grow your podcast. You’ll learn how to leverage your show to build long-lasting relationships with your audience and promote your TpT resources, courses, and memberships, all while providing valuable and accessible content!

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Sara Whittaker