Episode Summary
Is the phrase build it and they will come the primary strategy behind your podcast distribution plan If it is then thats a problem And its one experienced by too many podcasters In the latest episode of Recorded Content the co-founders of Motion and hosts of Recorded Content explain why a podcast is much more than an audio file that gets distributed through platforms like iTunes
During the episode Tristan and Justin discuss some of the challenges that companies face with podcast distribution and how to create an effective distribution plan for your companys show
Without a clear repurposing plan and strategy its easy to give up in those early days and its even harder to convince the companys leadership team that theres an ROI Give your podcast a fighting chance with the strategies covered in this weeks episode
Guest Profile
Name: Justin Brown
What he does: Justin is the Co-Founder of Motion and leads customer success for all of the shows produced by the company
Company: Motion
Key Insights
- If you just think of your podcast as an audio channel youre making a big mistake Your audio show is the core content but it can go so much further than that Too many companies start off with the goal of setting listeners to turn into subscribers on their website but there are a lot of action steps between those two events Knowing that you want to host a podcast is only step one of the process but a properly branded podcast is so much more than a singular audio channel
- Repurpose your content and go beyond the RSS feed Out of the podcast you need to be prepared to repurpose and distribute all over the web from social media to company websites and newsletters When the podcast is tied into other marketing initiatives like any other content you create youll get so much more out of your podcast and reach a much broader audience Repurpose and redistribute smaller pieces of the show to get much more traction
- The biggest issue with podcast distribution is that theres a lack of a plan
Episode Highlights
YOU NEED TO REACH PEOPLE WHO ARENT LISTENERS
A podcast can have more than listeners What about the viewers What about the readers
Dont let your only important data point be how many people downloaded the show in the last week
When you do go to create your companys podcast focus on the message Focus on how you can help your audience Then once you have high quality information reshape the content in a lot of different ways
Why Because not every single person in your target audience listens to podcasts However they are consuming information in one form or anotherand you increase your chances of connecting with your ideal customers when you have a variety of different assets from your show
You Need to Focus on Three Different Distribution Phases for Your Podcast Episodes
If you want to get the most out of your companys podcast there are three key phases to implement
Once the episode is created You move into your primary distribution phase of the podcast which is publishing LinkedIn posts to your company page publishing Twitter posts to the company profile publishing an episode page on your website and then getting it up on Spotify Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Stitcher or wherever you may be posting it Justin says
Then you focus on enriching other parts of your marketing efforts You really tap into other types of marketing assets like outbound email ads newsletters and more
Heres a breakdown of the three primary distribution phases covered in the episode
- Repurpose breakdown
- Primary distribution
- Enrichment
GET IN FRONT OF MORE CUSTOMERS USING PAID ADS
Most people overlook using paid ads to increase their podcast following but its an excellent strategy not only to reach new listeners but to make sure your current audience sees that content too Counting on someone to download and listen to your episode every week the moment its released is much like posting in a Facebook group or sending an email newsletter while a lot of your followers might see that content its not guaranteed
You can then fold in those shorter pieces that you create out of your podcast You can develop a paid ad strategy around that And effectively what youre doing is guaranteeing that certain people in your audience see those messages that get across through your podcast and you can do that without them having to find you on Apple or Spotify Tristan says
A full-length episode paid ad doesnt make sense but a two-minute video with some of those graphics you repurposed can perform well The way you think about using that paid ad strategy is important too This isnt meant to convert someone into your paid offer
Justin notes With this paid ad strategy really make sure that youre thinking about it as top of funnel content that youre using the ad for The ad isnt necessarily trying to drive someone to go buy from you today but youre using this ad actually to promote your podcast
CREATE A REPEATABLE REPURPOSING SYSTEM
Just as you have a checklist for each aspect of podcast production do the same on the other end with repurposed content
For every episode Justin recommends
- Short custom thumbnails
- Detailed show notes of 500 to 1000 words
- Short videos
- Social images
- Episode art
- A cleaned up transcript
This gives more life and possibility to each podcast episode and a better chance of hitting traction across multiple marketing channels
