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(By Mark Asquith) There’s one thing no one tells you when you start out in podcasting. No one tells you that to get your podcast to stand out, you need to put the effort into marketing your podcast properly.

This doesn’t mean throwing all the time and resources you have at learning to be the best marketer-podcaster genius on the planet.

I’m talking about building a long-term marketing strategy that you can implement easily. One that helps you grow your podcast sustainably, by optimizing the assets you already have as a podcaster: your content, your brand, and your audience.

The 5 podcast marketing tactics that follow are highlights from Captivate’s latest comprehensive tutorial. For 9 more ways to market your podcast for growth, revenue and success, be sure to check it out!

1. Repurpose your podcast content

The goal of repurposing is to surface your content to new listeners using different formats, like blogs, infographics, videos or even tutorials. This gives your audience options for how they can access and consume your content, as well as giving you more material to work with when it comes to marketing.

I repurpose every episode of my podcast, The Podcast Accelerator, into dedicated YouTube videos and captioned social posts by filming as I record. From one podcast episode I can get 2 additional pieces of content to grow the Rebel Base Media brand, drive traffic to Captivate and target new audiences.

2. Be a guest on other podcasts

Pitching yourself as a podcast guest is THE best way to stand out and raise your podcast’s profile. There’s no better way to attract new listeners, either: listeners trust and respect the opinion of their favorite podcast hosts, so appearing on their show or getting their recommendation makes their audience more receptive to what you have to say.

How do you build relationships with other podcasters and shows within your niche?

You’ll be more successful if you listen to the podcast and take time to get to know them and their audience. It’s a massive bugbear of most podcasters when people who ask to be a guest haven’t listened to previous episodes. Us podcasters, like listeners, need to be wooed!

3. Feature guests on your podcast

By inviting guests onto your podcast you generate social proof for your podcast and your brand. You build authority for your voice, create relationships within your niche and, crucially, introduce your podcast to a new audience of already receptive listeners.

Places like LinkedIn, Reddit, YouTube or Twitter are all brilliant resources for research, outreach and bookmarking potential guests for later. Ask your audience for who they’d like to hear from, topics they’d like to hear addressed, and start nurturing your podcaster relationships sincerely before pitching to potential interviewees - it will benefit your podcast brand in the long term.

4. Use paid advertising channels

If you have the budget, test out some very strategic, very targeted paid advertising campaigns.

Lots of podcasters I speak to have found success acquiring new listeners and promoting their content using paid ads on Facebook, Overcast or Listen Notes. Remember, though, that no one is going to come across your ad and become a subscriber there and then - if you’re going to run paid ads, really think about what you want to achieve with them.

When used as part of a longer-term strategy, paid ads are a great way to identify interested audiences and nurture them into becoming repeat listeners or subscribers over time by creating specific podcast trailers, video clips (perhaps featuring a high-profile guest) and eye-catching visuals.

5. Expand your online presence

Is your podcast on social media? Is the sky blue?

I know everyone and their dog is on social media, but most podcasters don’t use it correctly and don’t promote their podcasts effectively.

Put your efforts into one or two channels, and don’t just post every time you have a new episode out.

The real trick is to be present. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Reply, engage, interact, post, share. Build close relationships with your brand advocates - the listeners who are most active - and they’ll do the hard work of sharing and recommending your content for you.

The goal here is to create a community that people genuinely want to be a part of. For podcasters, that kind of authentic rapport is gold dust, and is what will truly set you apart.

Putting it all together

If you want to grow your podcast, try to get out of the continuous cycle of promoting new episodes if it’s not working for you.

By optimizing your content, building relationships with fellow podcasters and your audience, you can organically grow and distinguish your brand as well as attract new listeners and subscribers.

And hey, if you need more inspiration, there are 9 more ways to market your podcast in our latest free Captivate tutorial. If something has worked well for you in the past, or you have questions about how best to grow your podcast, I’d love to hear from you and see how I can help.

Mark Asquith is the CEO of Rebel base Media and can be reached at mark@rebelbasemedia.io