Growing Your Podcast With Advertising On Other Podcasts

We mentioned in the last episode that advertising rates don't work for more podcasters trying to make a living with podcasting. Today we are looking at advertising from a different angle. That angle is to make an ad to run on other podcasts. After all the listeners of these shows are already listening to podcasts. So when you find a podcast that has an audience who should like your content, you might approach them and see if you can advertise on their show.

The Movie Strategy

While the movie Field of Dreams promises, "If you build it he will come," that is not true for podcasts. Just creating the podcast is only part of podcasting success. You need to promote it. Gary Arndt of the Everything Everywhere podcast follows what I call the "Movie Industry Business Strategy." That is:

Make the best content you can.
Spend are large amount of your budget on marketing your movie.
Hope the audience tells their friends.

Gary makes a good point. If the studios spent millions on promoting the Avengers movie (that was a sequel that everyone was waiting on), how do you expect to get any traffic without marketing your show?

Places You Can Buy Advertising

I did a long-form interview with Gary on the School of Podcasting.

Podcast Addict
Overcast
Buzzsprout Ads
Spotify Ads
Podbean
Pocketcasts
Castbox
Fountain.fm

You can track the activity and traffic using a tool like Switchy.

The "Discovery Problem In Podcasting"

Gary Arndt mentions how people talk about the discovery problem in podcasting. There's no discoverability problem in podcasting, any different than the discoverability problem in movies, music, books, or television shows. I mean, look at authors and Amazon, you can put your book on Amazon, it's not going to ensure success

You Need to Promote Your Podcast

The Last Avengers movie was one of the biggest movies of all time, in terms of box office, and moreover, it was the second part of a two part series. Everybody knew it was coming. Yes, they spent over $200 million in promotion of the movie. And if the Avengers has to spend $200 million to promote their film, why do you think your media property, which is smaller, can get away doing nothing and just making social media posts?

Now before you go spending lots of money on ads back on Episode 129, we talked about knowing what your audience wants. And that's really the first thing you have to make sure is that your show is getting the results, the impact that you want with your audience. In other words, is it good, and asking your mom and your sisters in your cousin, that's not going to cut it? And the other thing is Gary has ads in his show. And in the end, he would spend maybe $4 To earn 14. And I will do that all day.

Now how did Gary get ads, his show, again, is good. He knows exactly what he's going to say before he presses record. He's got a great delivery, we could go into all sorts of things. We've talked about what makes a podcast good. But the one thing I want to make sure to mention is, again, Gary's making money with his podcast, so he has money to promote it.

If you're doing a show, just for fun to hang out with your buddies, unless you have money to burn, this would not be the strategy to grow your show. Now, if you are a person that has their own products and services, or somehow you're generating income with your podcast, you need to know how much money you canspend to get a new listener so that you then know how much you can spend in promotion to get a new listener.

So it takes a lot of tracking and monitoring to understand what's happening. And this is another thing sometimes people will go, oh, great, I'm going to advertise everywhere. Well, then you have a hard time figuring out Wait, which one brought in the most listeners, which one was the most effective? Which one was the most efficient? So do one at a time, whatever strategy you're you're doing to figure out if this works or not. You want to do it one at a time. And one of the things just like when you started your podcast, you need to get feedback on your advertisement before you start putting it out on other platforms to promote your show.

My Advertising Mistake

I did not do this. I put it out on a platform. I didn't get a lot of traction, and I hadn't heard the ad in about three days when I went to see how things were doing, and I listened to my own ad. I went, Wow, that's really horrible!. It was all about me and very little about the actual listener. So that is one piece of the puzzle does your ad make people want to know more than if you're driving them to some sort of page? And again, if you're monitoring and tracking the effectiveness of your ad, you want to send them to a page. And then on that page, you could use something, I use a tool called switchy to track what gets clicked on. So again, you can figure out is this working or not?

Because here again, you have your ad, you have your landing page, you have the user experience, when they get there, if you say, Oh, just click here to order my blah, blah, blah. And it's not very obvious; there are many things that lead to success when it comes to making a sale of anything. So I just wanted to point out that, yes, you can use the movie strategy. If you think about it, they spend millions of dollars on their movie, and then they set aside a good 30%, maybe even 50% of the budget to promote it. They hope that promotion gets you into the theater. And then they hope you tell a friend.

Jacobs media back in 2019, put out a report and 70% of people find podcasts, or check them out, it's because of word of mouth. And so that's really the movie strategy. Get people in the theater, or in this case, get your friends to tell people to check out this podcast. And then once they listen to and they go, this is amazing. They're going to follow your show, they're going to subscribe to the show. And then they're gonna go tell a friend who's going to listen to it, and tell to friends, etc, etc. But it starts by getting your show in front of people that you want to listen. And sure, social media can definitely help. It's not the be-all end-all. And in the end, you can either get in front of them in person by going to events where your audience is, or in the case of Gary, he's still going to where his audience is because he's looking for podcast listeners and he's advertising on podcast apps. And it's great, especially if you can advertise in a specific category because then it better matches your show. I'm always trying to save you money. I don't want you to go blow a ton of money on ads if your system isn't set up to handle that just right. In fact, speaking of saving you money.

Come Up With a Plan

However, it's important to ensure your show gets the desired results and impact with your audience before investing in promotional efforts. And if you're using your podcast to generate income, tracking and monitoring how much money you're spending to acquire new listeners is crucial. This will help you determine how much you can afford to spend on promotion. It's also advisable to test different strategies one at a time and gather feedback before making a larger investment.

Ultimately, it's important to plan and be mindful of your budget when using podcast advertising as a promotional tool. While it can be effective, it's not a one-size-fits-all solution and requires careful consideration and analysis to determine its effectiveness for your show.

In addition to the strategies mentioned above, there are a few other things to consider when using podcast advertising as a promotional tool.

First, it's important to research the shows you're considering purchasing ads on to make sure they align with your target audience. You don't want to waste money on ads that aren't being heard by the people you're trying to reach. It can also be helpful to negotiate with the host or advertiser to get the best deal possible.

Another thing to consider is the type of ad you're purchasing. There are several options, including pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads, as well as sponsored segments and shoutouts. Pre-roll and post-roll ads play at the beginning and end of a podcast episode, respectively, while mid-roll ads play during the episode. Sponsored segments and shoutouts are more integrated into the content of the show. It's important to choose the type of ad that best fits your budget and goals.

It's also a good idea to track the results of your advertising efforts. This includes not only the number of new listeners acquired, but also metrics like website traffic, sales, and overall engagement with your show. By analyzing this data, you can determine which strategies are the most effective and make informed decisions about your future advertising efforts.

Overall, using podcast advertising as a promotional tool can be a great way to grow your show. However, it requires careful planning and consideration to be successful. By researching your options, negotiating the best deal, choosing the right type of ad, and tracking your results, you can effectively use podcast advertising to promote your show and reach your target audience

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