Podcast Marketing Micro-Lessons For Scrappy Solopreneurs & Creators

1,163 WORDS | READ TIME: 4.4 MIN Hi friends, Good songs are built around a clear, memorable hook. Great songs are built around several. And then there are songs by Taylor Swift. The master of hook writing who brings the craft to another level. Take We Are Never Getting Back Together. In the first 62 seconds, Taylor drops distinct 6 hooks. By my count, the song as a whole has 12, many of them repeating throughout. For Taylor, this was just a warm-up, however. In Shake It Off, she crams 10...

251 WORDS | READ TIME: 0.9 MIN Happy Friday friends, There's only one reason anyone listens to a podcast. If you've been around this scrappy neck of the woods long, you already know what that reason is: The show does some "Job" for them. In other words, in exchange for spending their time with the show, a listener is getting some kind of tangible benefit in return. That return might be anything from teaching them a skill to making them smarter, making them laugh to shifting their mood,...

342 WORDS | READ TIME: 1.3 MIN Happy Monday friends, According to the data, the odds of making a full-time living off an audio-only podcast alone are roughly the same as the odds of making it to the NBA as a professional basketball player. In other words: Slim. In total, there might be a few hundred shows in the world that have managed to attain this feat. The ones that do have most likely built: A huge (by podcasting terms) audience of at least 10–15k dl/ep (while publishing at least two...

310 WORDS | READ TIME: 1.2 MIN Happy Friday friends, The math is pretty straightforward: The easier it is for people to understand what your show’s about and what’s in for them… the faster you’ll grow. The problem? Messaging and copywriting are, well… super f&@#ing hard. In fact, the more time I've spent in the world of marketing, the more I've come to believe that messaging is perhaps the most devilishly difficult part of marketing. Exposure is easy. Anyone can spend $100 on advertising to...

303 WORDS | READ TIME: 1.1 MIN Take a look at the podcast charts and one thing becomes immediately apparent: Nearly every show in the top 10 (and most in the top 100) of any given category is part of a network. Sure, a handful of truly independent shows have managed to break through. But these are the outliers. Once you’ve recognized the trend, the logical conclusion is, “If I want to hit the top of the charts, I need to join a network.” From there, it’s a small jump to “Joining a network is...

EARS Category: Attraction 2,545 WORDS | READ TIME: 9.6 MIN Hi friends, If there’s one practice that is central to the eventual success of your marketing, your show, and your business it’s experimentation. From marketing tactics and strategies to episode formats, show concepts, titling (at both the show and episode levels), show description, cover art, and more, there are dozens of variables that each play a role in attracting, hooking, and retaining new listeners. With infinite possibilities...

357 WORDS | READ TIME: 1.3 MIN Hi friends and happy Labour Day, Last week, I shared a link to The Manifesto—the guiding principles behind how we approach marketing at Podcast Marketing Academy. Clearly, it hit on something, as my inbox filled up with replies from folks who both resonated with the principles as well as those asking for resources on creating their own manifesto. But there was one email that stood out. It was from a reader who enjoyed the manifesto... but had a particular...

802 WORDS | READ TIME: 3.0 MIN Hi friends, I was reading the latest issue of Ashley Carman's (always excellent) newsletter, Soundbite this morning and two quotes stood out to me as worth paying attention to as creators. The first is an excerpt from a Guardian interview with Sarah Koenig of Serial fame. The second is related to a series of tour and festival cancellations by big, name-brand bands and artists. The takeaway? Marketing, promotion, and gaining (let alone keeping) the attention of...

217 WORDS | READ TIME: 0.8 MIN Hi friends, Last week, I traveled to Washington DC to attend Podcast Movement. It was my 5th time attending the event, and while I didn't have a solo talk this year, I was fortunate to be asked to speak on two different panels related to two different aspects of podcast marketing. On top of the panels, I got to: Meet up with a bunch of Scrappy Podcasters (and give out some brand new merch!) Do a bunch of live micro podcast audits Make a bunch of new connections...