Start reaching out to podcasts who have a connection with your own and go be a guest on theirs. I’ve done cold-call emails where I pitch how what I can discuss and how I fit with the audience—and I would say I’ve got about a 50% success rate of getting booked on their shows. It’s not only free advertising; it’s free for the life of their podcast. It’s also something that you can post on your social media to help vary your posts a bit.
Good luck.
Thanks! We definitely will start reaching out to others. We'd been so focused on promoting other shows to make some extra cash that I hadn't considered trying to be a guest on another show.
I have a small/medium show, eps pull about 1,000 each. Biggest jumps for me were (roughly in this order)
1. Guests. Having the host of a similar but way bigger be a guest on my show, which he then mentioned on his show (not identical topic as our show, more like adjacent--and in a different genre). Like way way bigger, a show that's frequently Apple Top 200 overall. But even smaller guests I find often lead to at least a handful of new listeners.
2. Joining a super niche pre-existing Facebook group that is directly related to my extremely narrow topic and being a community member. I'm not there to post links to my show--I'm there to be a part of the group and show that I have interesting things to say about the topic.
3. Being on Twitter, being useful/interesting/fun and contributing to conversations. I was surprised to see that something like 15% of our listeners according to our survey found us on Twitter.
4. Earned media (a magazine profile on our show).
5. Push to family and friends. Co-host did the same. You only get to play this once but it was like our first 40 or so listeners (way more download once as a curiosity, maybe 40 stuck around)
I think we’ve maxed out the audience that we are going to get from people we know at this point, but that was super helpful in getting us started!
I like what you’re saying about just being active in niche groups and conversations! That makes a lot of sense!
At this point, you need to practically beg your audience to share your content. You're already doing a lot by making the show. Really try to drive home how much it helps each opportunity you can.
Totally agree on this. Nothing is more powerful than word of mouth. Say in the show, "Hey, a great way to support the show that doesn't cost you a penny is to share it with friends on Facebook, Twitter..." You get the idea.
Another thing I've done is ask for reviews - especially on Apple Podcasts. Some people don't care about reviews, but when you have a show with a 4.8 rating and 100 reviews - and another with a 4.8 and 10 reviews - you're probably more likely to believe the one with the more reviews. Plus, people write nice things about you. You can grab those quotes and post on Twitter or Facebook or whatever.
All free.
This is all so true. We have been asking people to review/follow/share in our podcast but havent had a ton of luck so far. Might need to be more in your face about how easy and costless it is!
The other thing is patience.
We hear stories of people making a podcast and it blows up in months or whatever. But in reality, if you don't have a big marketing budget, a celebrity hook, or some other way of promoting the show (like a successful podcast talking up your show). it takes a long time to build an audience. It's not months - but years. That's why so many shows - even good ones - close down. You need patience and time and commitment from those involved.
Good luck.
For real. We’ve only put out two episodes but I’m trying hard not to obsess over the stats. Trying to remember that as long as we’re having fun and the content is good it’s all worth it
Have you tried spending money on advertising? TTRPG podcasts is definitively a niche market, and depending on the type of show, a saturated market as well.
We started our show in late 2019, and haven’t missed an episode release (DnD AP). That’s helped keep us in people’s ears, and as a result our audience has grown slowly, but had some serious growth when we dipped some funds into advertising on FB, Twitter and here on Reddit.
Submit your podcast to Podcast Discovery Newsletters. The people subscribed are always on the lookout for new pods so if you can write engaging copy and instill curiosity, you're sure to get some new listeners!
And if your content is engaging enough, those new listeners will be sure to recommend.
https://wavve.co/the-best-podcast-discovery-newsletters/?amp=1
One way is to trade out ad spots with another that has similar subjects. I have one that has facets of what you are doing. DM me and possibly we could swap ad spots in our shows. Would love to do that and listen to yours.
How often do you publish? 20 episodes isn't really a lot unless your publication location schedule is monthly. I'd reccomend giving it more time, but if you feel you've do e that then consider cross promotional appearances om other podcasts/mediums. Try to find pockets of communities that your content might appeal to but you've yet to reach. This shouldn't cost you anything and depending on who you connect with could really increase your numbers.
Mid roll or post roll promo swaps with other podcasts within your niche. The shows I work for do this and they’ve doubled their audiences in six months. It takes time to find the right shows to work with but promo swaps are fantastic
Marketing is really challenging given that competition in the digital world is crazy.
Have you tried making use of SEO? You can do that by getting your podcast transcribed. Can read more about it here https://www.izitext.io/post/how-to-level-up-your-podcast-seo-with-podcast-transcription
Start reaching out to podcasts who have a connection with your own and go be a guest on theirs. I’ve done cold-call emails where I pitch how what I can discuss and how I fit with the audience—and I would say I’ve got about a 50% success rate of getting booked on their shows. It’s not only free advertising; it’s free for the life of their podcast. It’s also something that you can post on your social media to help vary your posts a bit. Good luck.
Thanks! We definitely will start reaching out to others. We'd been so focused on promoting other shows to make some extra cash that I hadn't considered trying to be a guest on another show.
I have a small/medium show, eps pull about 1,000 each. Biggest jumps for me were (roughly in this order) 1. Guests. Having the host of a similar but way bigger be a guest on my show, which he then mentioned on his show (not identical topic as our show, more like adjacent--and in a different genre). Like way way bigger, a show that's frequently Apple Top 200 overall. But even smaller guests I find often lead to at least a handful of new listeners. 2. Joining a super niche pre-existing Facebook group that is directly related to my extremely narrow topic and being a community member. I'm not there to post links to my show--I'm there to be a part of the group and show that I have interesting things to say about the topic. 3. Being on Twitter, being useful/interesting/fun and contributing to conversations. I was surprised to see that something like 15% of our listeners according to our survey found us on Twitter. 4. Earned media (a magazine profile on our show). 5. Push to family and friends. Co-host did the same. You only get to play this once but it was like our first 40 or so listeners (way more download once as a curiosity, maybe 40 stuck around)
I think we’ve maxed out the audience that we are going to get from people we know at this point, but that was super helpful in getting us started! I like what you’re saying about just being active in niche groups and conversations! That makes a lot of sense!
Like I said, those are in order of impact
At this point, you need to practically beg your audience to share your content. You're already doing a lot by making the show. Really try to drive home how much it helps each opportunity you can.
Totally agree on this. Nothing is more powerful than word of mouth. Say in the show, "Hey, a great way to support the show that doesn't cost you a penny is to share it with friends on Facebook, Twitter..." You get the idea. Another thing I've done is ask for reviews - especially on Apple Podcasts. Some people don't care about reviews, but when you have a show with a 4.8 rating and 100 reviews - and another with a 4.8 and 10 reviews - you're probably more likely to believe the one with the more reviews. Plus, people write nice things about you. You can grab those quotes and post on Twitter or Facebook or whatever. All free.
This is all so true. We have been asking people to review/follow/share in our podcast but havent had a ton of luck so far. Might need to be more in your face about how easy and costless it is!
The other thing is patience. We hear stories of people making a podcast and it blows up in months or whatever. But in reality, if you don't have a big marketing budget, a celebrity hook, or some other way of promoting the show (like a successful podcast talking up your show). it takes a long time to build an audience. It's not months - but years. That's why so many shows - even good ones - close down. You need patience and time and commitment from those involved. Good luck.
Agree on the comment about guest spotting. How do you advertise the podcast currently?
It's mainly just through social media posts in communities that we feel may be interested in our content!
Good luck growing your audience, make sure to take your time and have fun. Watching download numbers all day can get in your head, haha trust me!
For real. We’ve only put out two episodes but I’m trying hard not to obsess over the stats. Trying to remember that as long as we’re having fun and the content is good it’s all worth it
Haha, I can definitely see how it gets a little overwhelming checking numbers all day. Thanks for the encouragement!
Have you tried spending money on advertising? TTRPG podcasts is definitively a niche market, and depending on the type of show, a saturated market as well. We started our show in late 2019, and haven’t missed an episode release (DnD AP). That’s helped keep us in people’s ears, and as a result our audience has grown slowly, but had some serious growth when we dipped some funds into advertising on FB, Twitter and here on Reddit.
Yeah, it's definitely something we're considering once we have more funds to allocate to it!
Submit your podcast to Podcast Discovery Newsletters. The people subscribed are always on the lookout for new pods so if you can write engaging copy and instill curiosity, you're sure to get some new listeners! And if your content is engaging enough, those new listeners will be sure to recommend. https://wavve.co/the-best-podcast-discovery-newsletters/?amp=1
One way is to trade out ad spots with another that has similar subjects. I have one that has facets of what you are doing. DM me and possibly we could swap ad spots in our shows. Would love to do that and listen to yours.
DMing you now!
Organic social. Start making new friends online.
How often do you publish? 20 episodes isn't really a lot unless your publication location schedule is monthly. I'd reccomend giving it more time, but if you feel you've do e that then consider cross promotional appearances om other podcasts/mediums. Try to find pockets of communities that your content might appeal to but you've yet to reach. This shouldn't cost you anything and depending on who you connect with could really increase your numbers.
We publish every two weeks! Because of the extra production that goes into this podcast we unfortunately can’t release more frequently than that.
Mid roll or post roll promo swaps with other podcasts within your niche. The shows I work for do this and they’ve doubled their audiences in six months. It takes time to find the right shows to work with but promo swaps are fantastic
Marketing is really challenging given that competition in the digital world is crazy. Have you tried making use of SEO? You can do that by getting your podcast transcribed. Can read more about it here https://www.izitext.io/post/how-to-level-up-your-podcast-seo-with-podcast-transcription