3 Effective Strategies For Promoting Your Podcast

Join Brian and I as we discuss how to implement three proven promotional strategies for growing your podcast audience. We share practical tips, tools, and a simple mindset for steady audience growth. 

Check out PodMatch when you're ready to start collaborating with new guests. 

For podcast advertising, check out Buzzsprout Ads, Podcast Addict Ads and Pocket Casts Ads. 

If you have questions about preparing for your podcast, email us at support@buzzsprout.com. 

Keep podcasting!

Chapters

• 0:00 How Do I Promote My Podcast?
• 1:31 Survey Insights: What Actually Works
• 1:56 Promoting on Social Media
• 4:13 Collaboration: How to Implement?
• 7:00 Brian's Collaboration Experience
• 7:41 PodMatch: A Tool Build for Collaboration
• 8:43 Options for Podcast Advertising

Transcript

Cara Pacetti: 0:00

Welcome to Podcasting QA, brought to you by the people at Buzz Sprout. I'm your host, Cara Pacetti, and I'm bringing you the best tips and strategies to keep you podcasting with confidence. I'm really excited about today's question because it is a question that we get often. I get asked when I'm working in the support inbox or even just talking to podcasters. And that question is, how do I promote my podcast? How do I grow my audience and get it in front of more listeners? And the reason why this question is exciting and the reason it gets asked a lot is because there's a lot of great answers and a lot of great methods for promoting your podcast. But for today's episode, I want to keep it simple and I want to give you three strategies that are low-hanging fruit, easy to implement, and just to consider, no matter what stage of podcasting you are in, these are just some strategies that are worth giving a try to promote your podcast. So another reason I'm excited about today's question is that I am not alone. I have brought in a friend and team member to help me answer this question. Brian is here with me, and he is a podcaster success specialist here at Buzz Sprout and also the host of the fast-growing podcast called Fandom from Afar. So, Brian, thank you so much for helping me out with this today.

Brian Johnson : 1:26

Hey Cara, thanks for having me. This is like you said, this is a common question. So I think this will be fun to discuss.

Cara Pacetti: 1:31

All right. So every year, the Podcast Marketing Academy surveys podcasters and they voluntarily complete the questionnaire. In 2025, there were 311 podcasters that responded to this survey. And the results showed that advertising, collaboration, and social media were the top three methods of promoting podcasts. So those are the ones that I want to cover today. I want to start off first with social media. There was another category in this survey that showed us the regularly used social channels for podcasters to promote their podcast. And the top being Instagram, LinkedIn, which is on the rise, and Facebook at about 50%. Of course, all social media channels play their role in podcast promotion. But Brian, can you share some tips and specifics when you are promoting your podcast on social media channels? Maybe some etiquette as you are sharing about your podcast?

Brian Johnson : 2:29

I think with social media, you have to think of each platform a little differently. Like I think there is a little bit of nuance when it comes to marketing your podcast on Instagram versus LinkedIn. So, for example, you mentioned I have a basketball podcast. I don't use LinkedIn because that's just not the right platform for me. If you have a podcast that relates to your business, I would say LinkedIn should be your top choice to promote on there. So there is a little bit of nuance. I don't want podcasters to think of all social media as the same. Obviously, there's a different demographic on Instagram than there is on Facebook, than there is on LinkedIn. And so you can use different methods for each platform. You don't have to have just one plan for all social media. And so one thing I always recommend is try and make it engaging. Try and draw the audience in. And we have tools on BuzzSprout like the Visual Sound Byte or on Instagram, you can share the stories. Something to make it interesting and specific to that episode. Be intentional about what you're posting and don't just shotgun approach and just put a generic link out there for everyone to see.

Cara Pacetti: 3:42

I love that. And as a social media user and scroller myself, I will say, even if it's a podcaster that I love, if they just are throwing out episodes, it becomes almost redundant and I miss it. My brain just flies right past it. But if I hear an audio clip or I read something that is actually solving a problem that maybe I'm thinking about, I'm much more likely to click on that link and head over to check out that episode because I just I want to hear more. It's answering a need.

Brian Johnson : 4:13

Absolutely.

Cara Pacetti: 4:14

The next strategy that I want to go over are collaborations. So a collaboration is basically when two or more podcasters, creators, or brands produce content together. In my opinion, this one seems really fun. So some of those examples include featuring a guest on your episode. That's a collaboration. Maybe you just insert a clip of their podcast into your episode and they do the same for you. That's an option. A fun one that I love is the episode takeover. And so you record a fun little intro and you say, Hey, this is Cara from Podcast and QA. And today Brian is gonna be your host. He's taken over, y'all enjoy, and then I sign off and he has the full episode for that day. So that one is super fun. It makes it very engaging.

Brian Johnson : 5:05

I love those examples. Like I would say, collaboration is by far my favorite form of advertising. It's it does take some work, but I think the results can really help your audience build. And I think the examples that you gave are great. And just my piece of advice for any sort of collaboration is it may take some time to build the relationship to get to any of those points. You can't just message some of the bigger podcasts out there and be like, hey, let's do an episode takeover together. And they're gonna be like, uh no, if you ever get a response at all. And so don't be discouraged that you can't do all of these right away. It it is gonna take some time. Like maybe you're just reaching out on social media and building that relationship, and then you're kind of on their radar. That's my biggest piece of advice with collaboration is take your time. Like you're you're not gonna ask someone to marry you on the first date. So don't ask for an episode takeover when you've never spoken to that person before.

Cara Pacetti: 6:04

And I think two parts to add to that. You have to believe in your content. Is your content worth adding to the podcaster that you are pitching this to? And the answer is yes. The other part of that is make it a win-win for that podcaster. Make sure that you are shaping your pitch in that way. You are letting them know about the value, and then just really believing in your content so you can take that step to go ask. Like Brian said, you may get some no's if if it's new and you may not may not know that podcaster well. What is it in sales for every no?

Brian Johnson : 6:38

You're one step closer to a yes.

Cara Pacetti: 6:40

There you go. For every no, you're one step closer to a yes. So uh have courage, pitch it as a win-win, and have fun with it. That's that's the biggest takeaway.

Brian Johnson : 6:48

I think that's a great point. You don't want to come across as desperate where you're you're like, my podcast is doing terrible and I need you to save it with your audience. Like that's that's adding no value to the other side. There's there's no way they're gonna say yes to that. I have an example of kind of how I used both social media and collaboration for my podcast this summer. One of my favorite basketball podcasts, I heard that they were doing a kind of a promotion where if you became a Patreon supporter of the podcast, then you would get to be a guest on the podcast this summer. And so I signed up to be a Patreon supporter. Then I got to be a guest on his podcast. We had a great time, and I was actually invited back two other times. And so it's just one of the examples that a small step can lead to things that you don't even expect to help build your podcast. And I'm excited to see where it goes.

Cara Pacetti: 7:37

That's amazing. What a neat example. So thank you for sharing that, Brian. If you are a little intimidated about code calling and reaching out to podcasters to collaborate with you, there's an amazing tool out there called Podmatch. So Podmatch is a website that allows AI to match you as the podcaster with any guests based on similar interest. And it's very easy to use. You can either sign up as a podcaster searching for guests or as a guest looking to be interviewed by a podcaster. If you are interested in starting there, I'll link that in the show notes. That removes the intimidation of asking somebody that you may not know that well, and will maybe get the ball rolling. And then, like Brian, now that he's been a guest on somebody else's podcast, he's got that confidence now and he can continue that.

Brian Johnson : 8:32

I didn't realize how much fun it would be. It's a great deal to be a guest.

Cara Pacetti: 8:36

Yeah, absolutely. So collaboration, another strategy, very fun. Again, very easy to start implementing right away. The last point of strategy that I want to talk about is podcast advertising. Advertising is basically paying to get your podcast in front of listeners. Brian, can you tell us a little bit about podcast advertising in general and kind of what to expect?

Brian Johnson : 9:01

Yeah, so a big piece of advice with podcast advertising, especially when you're paying for it, is to set your expectations. And just like with any marketing, podcast marketing is going to be you're paying to get your product in front of people. You're you're never gonna be guaranteed that they're going to follow your podcast or or even listen to an episode, but you are getting in front of them. And that's that's the important part. It's just like when you're driving down the highway, you see a billboard, you may pass by it 20 times before it kind of clicks in your head, and you're like, ooh, I do want that chicken sandwich. And you pull off to the side and go get it. So it's never gonna be an instant gratification, but it is something that does work. I just always want to encourage people to set expectations that are realistic for that because Carrie, you and I see it in the inbox all the time that a podcaster's done some sort of marketing and they're just not seeing the results. And we just have to encourage them. That's that's normal. That's that's just kind of part of advertising.

Cara Pacetti: 9:55

Thanks, Brian. Setting expectations is great advice when you are starting off with paid advertisement. It's hard because it's an investment for you. And so, like anything, you want to see the return quickly, but just keeping in mind that advertising is a long-term game. And the more that your podcast is getting out there in front of people, the more likely the listeners are to subscribe. I wanted to share a couple of options for paid advertising in the podcasting space. So, Podcast Addict and Pocket Cast both have opportunities for paid advertisements on those directories. The price ranges depending on where your ad is placed, but both are a static image. And then when the listener clicks on that static image, it will take you to a details page. You'll get a little bit more information about your podcast. We offer Buzz Sprout ads. And so you can pay to advertise your podcast in Buzz Sprout. Brian, do you just want to quickly kind of tell us how it works with Buzzsprout ads?

Brian Johnson : 11:07

Oh, absolutely. It's a great opportunity to get in front of a targeted audience. And what I mean by that is you you purchase your ad, Ron, and then what BuzzSprout will do is we match your ad based on your podcast categories with other podcasts that have those same categories. And so we're trying to set you up for success. We we want your ad to be listened to by people that will possibly listen to your podcast by matching those categories. You're getting in front of an audience that's already interested in that subject. And so hopefully they'll click on the link and then check out your podcast as well. If you haven't checked it out already, I'm sure we'll have uh more information in the show notes. And uh I think Cara might be doing a future episode. So a little teaser there for you on Buzz Sprout Ads.

Cara Pacetti: 11:52

Yes, uh more to come on Buzz Sprout Ads, but yeah, it's a great feature. And so if you're interested in any of those options, those are great starting points for paid advertising. So to recap, we've gone through three strategies: social media sharing, collaborations, and advertising. Again, I hope this is just a quick takeaway to get your mind thinking of your next steps for promoting your podcast. If you have any questions for the podcaster success team about any of these strategies for growing your audience and promoting your podcast, reach out to us. Uh, you can reach me or Brian or any of the other podcaster success team members by emailing support at buzzsprout.com. Um, if there's a question that you'd like me to answer on a future podcasting QA episode, just click the send us a text link in the show notes. And I'd love to get that question answered for you in the future. Thank you, Brian, for all of your awesome input. I really appreciate it.

Brian Johnson : 12:48

Oh, thank you for having me. This was fun.

Cara Pacetti: 12:50

Yes, this was really fun. And it's always fun to get behind the microphone. Usually we're helping the podcasters and we get to play the podcaster role today. So it's been really fun. Be sure to join us every Monday to kickstart your week. Thank you so much for listening. And as always, keep podcasting.