Strategies for Captivating Your Podcast Audience: A Conversation with Arielle Nissenblatt - Part 2

“I am a huge advocate for trailers for podcasts for a number of reasons. I can talk about the marketing aspects of it, but first, let’s do the content. So, I think they should be short. And the reason I say I think, even though I claim to be an authority on this topic, is because there is no right and there is no wrong. You can do whatever the hell you want and that’s the beauty of podcasting. However, I think that they should be between thirty seconds and ninety seconds, something quick to whet the appetite of a potential listener. Bare bones, what they should say is your name, your show, when it’s dropping, why you’re making it, who it’s for. When in doubt, you can spoon-feed your listeners everything they need to know about your show via the trailer. If you have more time, more resources, more money probably, you can get a little bit more creative with it, but at the very least, it should have the above elements.” – Arielle Nissenblatt

 

This episode is the second half of my conversation with podcasting expert and founder of EarBuds Podcast Collective Arielle Nissenblatt as we talk about making a first impression with podcast trailers, whether video or audio previews make a bigger impression on young listeners, and how, when it comes to driving audience engagement, brutal honesty can sometimes be the best policy.

 

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(0:00:00) - Podcast Trailer Length and Visual Elements

Arielle and I continue our conversation with a look at podcast trailers, and how effective they can be for grabbing the audience’s attention right from the start. “So you can upload that, make sure your feed looks good, make sure you are findable on all the podcast listening apps,” she explains. “You can start even sending people to your show to subscribe or to hit the follow button, even leave ratings and reviews before your show launches.” We discuss whether YouTube is the new kingmaker for podcasts and the perils of betting too much on a viral video. “You use all the right hashtags, you use all the right captions and you try to hit the algorithm,” she tells us. “You might not hit the algorithm and that’s okay, but it also could be really demoralizing and you just spent a lot of money or a lot of time.”

(0:06:55) - Podcast Promotion and Visual Elements

We compare how well video clips and audiogram snippets perform on YouTube, and Arielle shares tips on making the most of video in an audio-first format like podcasting. “If you don’t record video, or if you want to make a video element of your show without recording video real faces,” she says, “you can still have a video element. You can go to Descript, you can go to Adobe, you can go to a lot of different places.” She shares different strategies for monetizing a podcast, and how to know when a show’s ready to start offering paid subscriptions. “One way to tell,” she explains, “is if you ask your audience for ratings and reviews and you don’t get any, and it’s like pulling teeth to get them to do anything. You’re probably not going to get them to pay you money to continue making your...