The podcast marketing tips I wish someone had handed me on day one
I started my podcast two weeks after my youngest was born… and she’s turning five this August. Five years of podcasting means five years of learning things the hard way, pivoting, experimenting, and slowly figuring out what actually works. If I could sit down with my newbie podcast self and hand her a roadmap, this episode is exactly what I’d say.
Whether you’re brand new to podcasting or you’ve been at it for a while and feel like your podcast marketing strategies have plateaued, these four tips are for you. I’ve spent years testing what works and what doesn’t when it comes to how to grow a podcast audience and I’m sharing all of it here, no filter.
Let’s talk about the podcast marketing advice I really wish I’d had from day one.
Topics covered in this podcast episode:
- Why starting your email list before your first episode drops is one of the best podcast marketing strategies you can implement
- How email marketing has become the most effective way I sell my offers and grow a podcast audience
- Why Pinterest is a powerful, sustainable podcasting strategy that keeps working long after you hit publish
- What I wish I’d known about Pinterest and how to grow a podcast without social media overwhelm
- The magic of podcast conferences and in-person networking events for podcast tips for women
- How in-person events helped me find incredible guests and take my podcast more seriously
- Why Instagram might not be the right platform for every podcaster, and how to figure out where your people actually are
- How I landed on Pinterest and Threads as my go-to platforms for podcast marketing
Links & Resources
- Episode on growing your email list with Kylee Chandler
- Episode all about why Pinterest is amazing for podcasters
- Connect with Andi on Threads
- Connect with Andi on Pinterest
Unedited transcript:
I started working on my podcast two weeks after my youngest was born. She turns five in August. That is crazy to me. Today I’m sharing the podcast marketing advice I wish I could give my cute little newbie podcast self.
Hey, I’m Andy Smiley, and I’m obsessed with helping you grow your podcast without letting it rule your life. I share strategies that actually work, conversations with the smartest podcasters I know and the stuff I wish someone would’ve told me. Sooner. Here are the four pieces of advice I wish I could go back and give to myself when I was starting my podcast.
The first thing is start your email list before you drop your first episode. Yes, I know there are only gonna be three people on your email list when you send out that first email, but we all start there. Everyone starts with not very many email subscribers. You’re not alone. You’re not weird. Just send the email. Email marketing has been the most successful way I’ve found to sell my offers. I make most of my money from sending emails and people clicking on my offers in those emails. If you need help coming up with ideas on how to get people on your email list, in last week’s episode, Kylie Chandler gave us some really great podcast specific ways to add subscribers to your list. I’ll make sure to link it in the show notes.
The next piece of advice I would give my podcast newbie self is to start using Pinterest as soon as you have content to share. I know that Pinterest feels a little daunting, but I promise it is completely worth it. Start creating pins as soon as you have content. That could be about your first episode, or it could be for your email list, even if you’re only pinning once a week. Start creating content on Pinterest because it will live on Pinterest for so much longer than any other social media platform. Can you imagine how much more content would be out there helping people find my podcast if I would’ve started four and a half years ago? But alas, I didn’t wake up to the brilliance of Pinterest until later in my podcasting journey. If you wanna learn more about Pinterest, I have an entire episode all about why it’s so awesome for podcasters. I’ll link to it in the show notes.
The third piece of advice that I wish I could give myself when I was first starting my podcast is to go to more podcast slash networking events. When I went to my first podcast conference, I immediately started taking myself more seriously. I buckled down. I made some big changes for my podcast so that I could continue to create my podcast in a sustainable way, but also make money from it. Also, the connections that you make at a podcast or networking event are priceless. You can figure out if you vibe with a person in just a couple of minutes instead of days or weeks through Instagram dms. I have found some of my favorite podcast guests at podcast conferences and networking events. Those are like a gold mine for podcast guests. Don’t take my word for it. Go try it out. And most importantly, meeting people in person is just good for your soul. When you see people on the internet, they look like they have their whole life together perfectly. When you meet them in real life, you realize that we’re, we all have stuff that we’re trying to figure out. I’ve met some amazing people at podcast conferences and we are still friends today, like I still DM them or text them and check in on them and send podcast questions at them and recommend people work with them. All of the things.
And truly, as a mom of Littles, it’s just really nice to have like a podcast community that I can connect with, especially on those days when like I haven’t talked to another adult all day and I have a 4-year-old that’s asking me why for the 17th time.
Okay. The fourth and final piece of advice that I’m going to give today to my younger self is don’t just do Instagram because that’s what you’re quote unquote supposed to do. When I started my podcast, the first thing I did was start an Instagram account. I wish I could go back and have a conversation with myself and help her understand that Instagram isn’t the place for her. The hard thing is that it feels like everyone is on Instagram, so you probably are gonna have some major FOMO if you aren’t using Instagram. But the truth is Instagram isn’t where my people are, and I wasted a lot of time and energy trying to fit myself into a box that my podcast and my business wasn’t supposed to fit in. Luckily, I’ve learned that now and Pinterest and Threads are my two main marketing tools that work so much better for me and my podcast. I just wish I would’ve learned that sooner, but live and learn, thanks for coming along with me while I give advice to my past self.
As a recap, this is the podcast marketing advice I would give to my younger self. First, start an email list immediately. Second, start using Pinterest as soon as you have content to share. Third, go to more podcast conferences, networking events. Any kind of in-person event so that you can connect with people and honestly feel less lonely. And fourth, don’t just start using Instagram because everyone else is, make sure that it’s actually a good fit for you.
Do you have a friend who’s feeling like their podcast marketing has plateaued? Will you text them this episode? You can click the share button next to this episode and send it right to them. Next week, I’ll be breaking down my plan for how I’ll keep making money and getting podcast downloads during my seasonal break. Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you next week.
