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(By Carey Green) If your podcast is going to be top in its niche, people have to know about it. Obvious, but true. And you don’t accomplish it by posting 10 Facebook posts per day saying, “Listen to my podcast! Listen to my podcast! Listen to my podcast!” Even if you include an audiogram.
The awareness step requires what I’d refer to as “guerrilla promotion” techniques. Some involve social media, some don’t.
1 - Get biz cards printed up for your show. Seriously. Sticking with our real estate example from the first article in this series, if you’re actively working in the real estate industry, you meet others who are actively working in the real estate industry all the time. Right?
Your podcast can help those people. But only if they know about it.
So along with trying to rustle up new clients/customers (and handing out your normal business cards), why not rustle up some new listeners to your show by handing out show-specific business cards?
And be sure to include a direct link for the easiest way they can subscribe to your show. You figure out what that is (and it may or may not include a QR code or two).
2 - Find the online and real-life communities that talk about what you talk about on your podcast It only takes one search on Facebook to find groups that are interested in what you have to say. Do it and join the groups that appear to be active and have a decent number of members.
But again, don’t immediately start posting “Listen to my podcast! Listen to my podcast! Listen to my podcast!”
Follow these steps instead… 1. Watch and listen 2. Notice the common questions or needs that arise 3. Start answering questions with helpful answers (in other words, don’t just show off or promote yourself, truly help people) 4. Make friends 5. When you finally do share your podcast, do in a way that provides topic-specific episodes as a solution to someone’s need
Then do the same thing in real life.
It takes a bit more work to find these real-life groups, but they are out there. And they are extremely valuable! Google “my niche groups in my town” and see what turns up. Go to those groups. Then repeat steps 1-5 above in real life.
And don’t forget to take your podcast biz cards!
3 - Take note of where high-profile people in your niche are and copy what they are doing Are there people in your industry who you look up to…
• Writing pieces for industry magazines? (online or offline) • Placing ads in industry journals or publications? (online or offline) • Presenting at industry events? • Writing local newspaper columns or op-eds? • Guesting on podcasts within your industry? (affiliate link)
Figure out how to do those things for yourself – and do them. Regularly. Giving away amazing insights and value. And keep at it.
4 - Develop friendships with others who podcast and blog about the things you do (and those influencers from the previous point) There are so many ways to come at any topic. That’s why there are so many podcasts in every niche (OK, maybe not in the “underwater basket weaving” niche, but you get the point).
Those others who are podcasting or blogging in your niche are not your competition. In fact, they could become some of your greatest supporters. Pie will help me explain.
The “podcasting pie” may have a limited number of slices, but the pie itself is growing all the time. Edison Research tells us that as of 2019, 51% of people in the U.S. have now listened to a podcast.
But that also means 49% of the American public hasn’t listened to a podcast – yet. How many of those people are interested in your niche topics? Lots. I guarantee it.
You and those others who publish episodes about your area of interest and expertise have plenty of people to build an audience from. Heck, people who listen to podcasts about a certain topic often listen to multiple podcasts in the niche. In other words, there’s plenty of pie in your niche to go around.
Become intentional about building relationships with those in your niche. Not creepy ones where it’s obvious you only want something from them, but real ones where you’re giving real value to them.
Some ideas… • Ask them to give you an audio spot that you can feature regularly on your podcast (to serve your listeners and to highlight them). • Share blog posts on your website with backlinks to their site/episodes. (Backlinks are a huge value to them). • Refer to their good resources/episodes often. • Send people to their email lists and products. • In time, create a joint-venture product, webinar, or service with them. • Even propose an “episode swap” where you agree to put a full episode of their show in your podcast feed and they agree to do the same for you.
As you do these things, you’ll connect with someone who likes the topics you like and wants to help people with it just like you do. That’s a lot in common. It’s the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.
And friends help each other.
So read back through this post and decide what your first action step will be. Awareness and notice are where you have to start in order to dominate your niche.
COMING UP: Step two: Quality/Helpfulness
Carey Green is the Client Happiness Guy and founder at www.PodcastFastTrack.com