January 10, 2024 • 25 mins
In Episode 10 of How to Start a Podcast, you'll learn how to launch a new podcast and our top 5 marketing strategies to gain momentum early.
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Episode Transcript
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Gilon (00:04):
Welcome back to How To Start A Podcast, the podcast
about how to start a podcast.
This is episode 10. We are nowlaunching a podcast. I'm Gilon.
Alban (00:16):
I'm Alban. And yeah, like Gilon said, We're gonna launch
your podcast this episode. Ifyou've been following along,
you're about to launch yourshow. And we're super excited.
So let's dive in to Episode 10.
Gilon (00:28):
Contrary to popular belief, launching is not just
hitting, send, submit publish,once you get the whole thing,
it's a whole spiel it should beif it's done, right, so we're
gonna get into some of thelogistics of successfully
launching your podcast. Tipnumber one, don't trip at the
finish line, you're almostthere, right? Like you are
there. And so let's just makesure all the work that you've
(00:50):
put in, doesn't go to
Alban (00:52):
waste. Yeah, to be clear, our outline actually says don't
tip at the finish line alsoapplicable. Don't tip now. But
also don't trip, it is easy forpeople to go through the entire
process and get to hear andthat's when stuff starts feeling
real. And you start kind ofdoubting yourself and you're
like, I just need to like launchthis thing. And a lot of people
(01:16):
will kind of like overhyped thisstep. So we're gonna talk about
ways to overhype this step andunder hype this step to actually
get launched, but don't be theperson who gets stuck here,
let's get this podcast out tothe world, because we're going
to get so much better as we'reactually going through and we're
doing this stuff,
Gilon (01:34):
there are a couple strategies to do this. Well. So
let's just hop into some of thestrategies for launching
successfully.
Alban (01:39):
There's two strategies that I like the one is the grand
opening, this is like roll outthe red carpet go and do PR,
tell everybody you can youactually submit your show to
Apple to say, Hey, can I getinto new and noteworthy, you are
going out and trying to getpress in different magazines and
(02:00):
online publications. You'respending money to get this
podcast out to the world. Thatis definitely one big strategy
that a lot of the biggest showsus. The downside of that is is
intimidating. There's a lot ofplanning, especially when you're
brand new, you're like, I'verecorded three episodes. But I
(02:20):
was learning a lot along theway. I feel a little silly,
sending this out to Applesaying, Hey, can I be a new and
noteworthy when I know it's justtwo interviews that I did at
home with my Samsung cue to you,it's easy for that to be a
little intimidating. There isanother strategy. But anything
else you wanted to say about thegrand opening Jalon
Gilon (02:40):
only that it's not the only way to launch? You know, as
we started talking, like whenyou said a lot of people don't
get past this step because itstarts to feel real. And I want
to say yeah, it starts to feelreal vulnerable, you know, that
I'm about to put this idea, thisthing that had been living in my
mind out in the world, and howwill it be received. And so if
you're in that space, you canfeel like, Oh, now I gotta go,
you know, be out here andtelling people about my podcasts
(03:02):
to launch, there's only one wayto launch and that's not true.
And so I'm really excited foryou to talk about the second
launch strategy.
Alban (03:07):
The second one I call the soft open. And this comes from
the world of restaurants. A lotof us are new restaurant
launches. They will say like thebig launch is on April 7, but
actually on April 4, and fifthand sixth. They are open. And
it's called the soft open. Andthis is where you think that you
(03:30):
know what everything that goesinto launch starting this
restaurant, you've got all ofthe menu, Don, you have hired
everybody. And then you startjust opening the doors. You
don't put out a big sign, youjust have the doors unlocked.
And a few people walk by andthey open the door and they're
like, Hey, are you open? Yeah,yeah, come on in. And they come
in and they order and you'repretty much the restaurant is
(03:52):
dead. But there's few peoplethat came in help you work
through a lot of issues.
Sometimes you will actually justsee family and friends of the
people who own the restaurant orworking there are the ones
you're inviting. But you getlike a pretty small group. And
then people are like, hey, Iwant to order this dish. And
they are actually figuring outlike, oh, no, the chef's don't
know how to make that this yet.
(04:15):
Oh, we need a crane on that. Oh,can I get more ice? Oh, the ice
machine doesn't actually workthe way we thought it did. And
it needs to be serviced. Beforewe have the big opening. You're
working through all the kinksthat are in this starting a
restaurant business? Well, withpodcasting, it can be super
intimidating to do the grandopen. Because I know there's a
lot of stuff for me to workthrough. I kind of have the
(04:37):
interview stuff down but it'snot perfect. And I want a little
more practice before I startreally putting myself out there.
Well then do the soft open.
Don't put out the sign that sayspodcast starting today. Just
push podcast out to the worldand don't tell anybody and let
the two or three or 10 peoplefind the podcast and then try to
see like, Okay, how's thisworking for me? How does this
(05:02):
fit into my lifestyle? Arepeople enjoying it, and if they
are, then you could startputting the promotional efforts
behind it. Because you were ableto, I think, succeed in a lower
pressure environment, before youfelt the confidence to make
maybe up the pressure,
Gilon (05:19):
definitely. And I will say that I took the soft, open
approach, when I launched mypodcast, I definitely was like,
I'm gonna publish this, and mymom knows, and my mom just
posted and told the world, butI'm not necessarily posting and
telling the world and to bestepping out and starting
podcasts was very vulnerable forme. And so that kind of gave me
the confidence to not like, tipat the finish line and not freak
(05:40):
out at all. I was like, I'mgonna put it out there, it's
gonna be quiet. And I'll tell myfriend and my parents, that's
it. And that gave me theconfidence to just go ahead and
hit publish, right to show upperiod.
Alban (05:51):
A lot of what's happening here. I think we used to have
something on the blog aboutthis, maybe it might not be
there anymore, but it was aboutimposter syndrome. And it's very
common right before you'rehitting publish to have these
feelings of inadequacy. Or ifonly I could get better, or who
am I to do this thing? Yeah,everyone's gonna think I'm a
fraud. People are gonna thinkit's a complete joke that I have
(06:12):
a podcast about this. I've onlybeen doing this thing for a few
years. I'm not the expert. Andit's funny that everybody I've
ever known unless somebody likea complete narcissist feels this
to some extent, we feel thissense of inadequacy, we feel
this, like, there's already apodcast about marketing, do we
(06:34):
need a second? And oh, there'salready a podcast about this
thing. It's kind of my topic issimilar to this one. And what is
important to remember is like,your podcast and your voice, and
what you're saying is valuable,even if it's similar to other
people are saying, because youhave a different personality, he
have different perspective. Andyou're bringing something
(06:56):
different to the table. So eventhe two podcasts are similar.
They could both be podcastsabout science fiction, books,
and reviews. But one podcast mayactually connect with people who
like certain types of sci fibooks in the different podcasts,
we might be talking about thedifferent sci fi books, and
maybe they have differentopinions. More than two people
(07:17):
can have podcast about this veryspecific book review niche.
Yeah. So if you are feelingthat, I hope that what you hear
from us is like, I definitelyfelt that putting on podcasts. I
mean, I think, like did youexperience this to John?
Gilon (07:30):
Absolutely. That's why I did the soft, open. Yeah. And I
would also say like, it's partof the process to kind of go
like, who is not part of theprocess, but you're not special,
right? Like, we are all goingthrough this moment of like, Oh,
I'm about to, I'm on theprecipice of something new and
different. And I feel somethingin that. And so it's not unusual
to doubt yourself. It's not, youknow, unusual to feel like,
(07:51):
Well, who am I to do this? Youknow, but I would say it is also
a good sign that this is thethreshold crossover, right? Like
you're saying, like, we've allfelt this, but you want to be
the person that pushes past it.
And then the other thing I wouldsay is that your voice is as
unique as your thumbprint.
Right, no two people have thesame thumbprint. I think that's
still affecting the world. Butyou know, to think, well,
(08:13):
there's a podcast about this,people are talking about this,
you know, who am I and I'm notan expert, all that kind of
stuff is just noise, you havesomething to add, because you
are unique. And just like Albanwas saying, even if you're both
talking about wrestling, you'regoing to come with your
different histories andperspectives and likes and
dislikes. And one person may bereal, you know, straight up and
down. And that person might begoofy and silly and put
(08:33):
background noises, you havesomething unique to bring, and
we need your voice. Sodefinitely go ahead and do the
thing
Alban (08:38):
I can tell you like I had specific feelings of specific
people. And I was like thesepeople who I don't even know,
like, don't even really talk tobut just people on Facebook, if
I posted, hey, just started apodcast on this, that like
friends from college, or friendsfrom law school would be like,
This guy's doing a podcast nowlike what is gone wrong in his
life that he's doing it. So Idon't think it's weird if you're
(09:03):
having similar feelings. And ifyou're having those similar
doubts, but that is a way for usto kind of protect ourselves
from like, I really don't wantto be critiqued. So maybe I'll
just not even say anything,because then I definitely won't
get critiqued, the thing is thatyou hold yourself back from
doing the thing that you want todo, which is share your voice.
And so the soft open, like wekind of talked about is really a
(09:25):
nice way to ease on out there.
Yeah, just put it out. And it'sactually kind of cool that your
podcast won't get tons of viewsand tons of listens in the
beginning. Instead, it's goingto be kind of flying under the
radar for a bit. And that's kindof a cool thing, because you can
start getting more comfortablewith it. And then people will
see your podcast maybe a yearfrom now and be like, dang,
(09:46):
you've been podcasting for awhole year. While you've really
been doing something cool. I'mexcited to check it out. So if
you feel like you don't like thesound of your voice, or you're
doubting whether or not you havethe authority legitimacy to
start a podcast. Remember, youhave a different perspective.
Just share it and do the thingthat you want to do. And don't
worry about what other peopleare gonna think about what you
(10:09):
create.
Gilon (10:10):
And I think we've said this also before, you've got to
begin to begin. I was smirkingwhen Alban was talking about
just put, just put it out therebecause consistently, my first
episode is like, in my top fivemost listened to and I have no
idea why people do that. But Ican tell the difference from
when I started to where I amnow. And growth will happen, you
know, and you just got to beokay, being a beginner, you
(10:31):
don't start off as an expert.
No, nobody ever began as anexpert. And so give yourself
grace, and just do it, youabsolutely should just do it. Do
it, just do it, press thebutton, do it.
Alban (10:43):
So now that we have published our podcast, and we
picked one of the strategies,
Gilon (10:48):
then we're done, right, we have nothing else to do,
Alban (10:50):
well, you can be done.
The downside is that, onceyou've done that, then you're
gonna start, like maybe wantingfour or five, or 500 people to
listen to your podcast 500, youdon't want to just stay
Gilon (11:04):
in the corner of the internet know the people, they
need you.
Alban (11:07):
So in the beginning, we're nervous too many people
will see it. Now that we'veactually launched, we're going
okay, now I'm a little nervous,too few people are gonna see
this podcast, and I want to getit out to the world. So let's
talk about five marketing tipsfor the brand new podcaster.
Gilon (11:22):
So like the soft open, there's kind of like a soft
marketing strategy. And that'sto share it with people who
already like you, your friendsand family, right. And what's
really great about this is thatone they do already like you so
they're hopefully they're notgoing to be as critical maybe as
like a stranger on the internet,leaving your review, that also
give you really good feedback.
But also, they can be a reallygreat army of promoters for your
podcast, right? So you can askthem to share it. You can say,
(11:45):
hey, on your platforms, wouldyou be cool? Hey, this new
podcasts so great. They're areally good resource, not just
to hear it to get your downloadsup, but also to share it with
their respective circles.
Alban (11:57):
Yeah. And what we're trying to do here is we're
trying to get to like fivepeople listening to our podcast,
maybe 10. And so think of arethere specific people that you
want to share what you've made,that you think they would be a
good fit, they really enjoythis, these people that you talk
to about these topics, go inspecifically one to one and say,
Hey, I just made this podcast,I'd love for you to listen to it
(12:19):
and tell me what you think. Andif they like it, they will
subscribe. So number one sharingwith friends and family, maybe
we're up to five, maybe 10downloads per episode. Next is
sharing on social media. So onething that I see a lot of people
struggle with and beginning isoverwhelm, and this feeling of
(12:40):
like, I've got to do everything.
And definitely one way to feeloverwhelmed is to start social
media accounts on every singleplatform for your podcast. Don't
do that. If you have a uniquename that that name is available
everywhere and you want to gosecure them. Okay? But don't
feel like you have to go andstart posting on Instagram and
(13:02):
Twitter and Facebook and Tik Tokand Snapchat and LinkedIn and
bla bla bla bla bla Buzzsprout.
For years, I want to say this islike seven years, maybe nine,
after Buzzsprout was founded, Irealized we not only were not
posting on Instagram, we had noteven registered the Buzzsprout
(13:24):
domain, or sorry, the handle, itwas still available like years
of us using Buzzsprout andhaving it out and lots of lots
of customers. So don't feel likeyou've got a rush to get all of
this. And then just go and pickone, pick the one you're most
comfortable with. If you live onLinkedIn, let's do your work on
LinkedIn. If you think theaudience for your podcast are
(13:47):
people who are really active onReddit, will then focus on
Reddit. If it's a tick tockaudience, then focus on tick
tock you know, pick, what areyou comfortable with? And where
do you think the audience is.
And then let's hone in on oneplace for you to promote your
episode. So if you every timeyou put out an episode, make a
couple pieces of contentpromoting it and share it on
(14:09):
whatever platform you picked.
Gilon (14:14):
It's so tempting to get on all of the platforms, and
overwhelm and burnout are comingfor you quick when you do that.
So I love that we really givepeople permission to only do one
or two if they really want to dothat. So the next one is to
cross promote with othercreators. This is really helpful
because not only are you able toestablish yourself if you decide
(14:35):
to be a guest on the podcast asanother expert you get exposure
to a group of other differentpeople. And then you get
exposure to maybe their socialmedia platform audience people
right so as you're promotingeach other's content, you're
hopefully guesting gueststarring guest podcasting.
You're going to be a guest onthe show. You can be a guest on
their show you get accessexposure to their audience,
(14:55):
which you may not have exposureto in your own lane. And then
when they promote that a wholenother group of people,
potentially that you're alsogetting access to that you
wouldn't have normally. So forinstance, I'm part of a little
podcasting group. And promotingis one of those things that I
don't love doing. But my friendsin the group are like, hey, you
know, if you ever need a guest,if we ever have a slot segment
(15:16):
that you would fit really goodon, come on the podcast, oh, he
put out a new episode. Let'spush that, hey, guys, we're
gonna push this push this. It'sreally, really great to cross
promote with other creators.
Alban (15:25):
I love chronic cross promote with people who are not
podcasting. So find people thatare doing similar type content,
but are on a different platform.
So I've started a Dragonball Zpodcast, we'll go to the top
YouTube channel about DragonballZ and one of the top blogs about
Dragonball Z and one of the bestInstagram channels that are
(15:46):
posting this content, and see ifyou can cross promote with them.
I saw this work for a SupremeCourt podcast I used to listen
to they were the number oneSupreme Court podcast, and they
partner with the number oneSupreme Court blog. And so they
would reference case materialsthat were on the blog and the
blog embedded their episode andshared it. And they both grew
(16:06):
quite a bit because it had thesame audience. But they were
presenting the information indifferent ways. And that allowed
them to cross promote, you know,it wasn't zero sum and they
weren't competing. Instead,they're both helping each other.
So find somebody who you couldwork alongside of and say, Hey,
do you want to have a podcast?
(16:27):
Like, I'd love to do a podcastwith you? Oh, well, I would love
to also contribute to yourYouTube channel in a helpful
way. So see if there arecreators that you could work
with because you have the sameaudience, and they would just be
interested in getting moreinformation in a different
medium.
Gilon (16:43):
Alright, so our next strategy involves Facebook
groups, which are actually areally nice place to market and
grow podcast relatedrelationships.
Alban (16:52):
What I see a lot of people do wrong is they get a
podcast, and then they think,well, I'll just troll through
the internet. trolling. Not likenot trolling, but like cruise
through the internet. It's like,it's like a bolt like a boat
trolling. Okay, so I'm justcruising through the internet.
And I'm finding groups. I'mlike, Oh, I have my Dragonball Z
(17:16):
podcast. And now I have foundthe Facebook group for
Dragonball Z. And so I asked tobe in the group. And then I go,
and I go, Hey, check out mypodcast, I just made Episode
One, everybody's subscribed. Andthen I leave. And then I
realized, like, episode two havealready been kicked out of the
group, because you providednothing of value. What you
instead did was you showed up toa community that hadn't been
(17:39):
built around something. And theywere all contributing to each
other into the sense ofconnection around a shared
hobby. And you came in and said,Why don't you all do something
for me? And everyone said, No,thanks. But it is a great way to
connect with people who arealready organizing around your
topic. So let's say I've got mySupreme Court podcast. Well,
(18:03):
there probably is a Reddit pageor a Reddit subreddit, there's
Facebook groups, there are othercommunities built up around that
topic. Now, the right way toengage them, is to not just show
up and start dropping links isto show up and actually answer
questions fully. Because if youare doing a podcast are probably
(18:27):
an expert in this area. So whenyou see people ask questions,
like, hey, help me understandwhat's going on in this specific
Supreme Court case? If you know,hey, I've actually thought
through it. Here's what'shappening. full explanation. I
actually go into more detail inthis podcast episode, if you're
interested in listening. Now,that's not just self promotion,
(18:49):
that's now helping the personwho had a question. And that
could work perfectly well, forany number of podcasts. I've got
a podcast about dog breeds. Andsomeone's confused about the
difference between a cockerspaniel and a cockapoo or
something. I don't know, theseare actual dog names.
Gilon (19:08):
They are Yeah.
Alban (19:10):
If you know what's the difference between these two dog
breeds? Oh, here's thedifference. And here's like the
pros and cons of these two. Andhere's the podcast episode about
that. So don't just drop theepisode. Instead, give people
the exact information they want.
And then encourage and invitethem to come check out more on
the podcast. And I
Gilon (19:30):
love that you gave an example because even in
answering questions and how youparticipate, there's a right and
wrong way. Right? Like nobodylikes a know it all or that
person that's like, oh my gosh,you don't know this. Like
there's a way to say I'mproviding information and I'm
your friendly neighborhood.
podcaster come check this outhow you participate is just as
important as not just droppingthe link and dip in, you know,
Alban (19:50):
yeah, one of the things I see a lot in groups, this is
every internet group. Somebodyasks a question, and let's say
I'm in a lot of Facebook orpodcasting groups. Let's say
someone says, I'm confused abouthow to get listed in Spotify.
How do I do that? And thenpeople go, why don't you Google
it, or go to Spotify and submit,or they just dropped the URL to
(20:12):
a blog post. That is helpful.
And that is correct. But that'snot what the person is actually
asking for. What they're doingis they found this group. And
they're saying that because theyactually want the connection,
they want to talk to anotherhuman about this. And if they
knew, they knew they couldsearch this on Google, and they
could figure it out. But theywanted the connection with you.
And now that they've asked forthat connection for you, just to
(20:34):
say, I talked about my podcastswanting to go listen to it isn't
what they were hoping for.
Instead, for you give them whatthey're looking for, oh, here's
the explanation. And you're kindof asking questions back, and
you're having a dialogue. Andthen you say, if you want to
listen to the podcast, you can,you're much more likely to
convert them to listeners. Sojust remember, people are
(20:57):
looking for different things.
And if they're asking questions,they're probably looking for a
little bit of a connection,rather than just like copy and
pasting the answer into theanswer box.
Gilon (21:07):
And then our last marketing tip is a little bit
about ads, which can get sticky.
But can you tell us what type ofads would you suggest kind of
for a beginner? Yeah,
Alban (21:15):
so the best way to start with podcast ads is the podcast
apps themselves. So there'speople who try to do ads in
Google or Facebook. And theconfusing thing is that you
don't know for sure that thepeople seeing the ads even care
about podcasts, and to say like,Hey, do you know what a podcast
is? But you know, I've got apodcast about baseball. And I
(21:35):
can tell that by your interest,you're interested in baseball,
but now go to your phone,download this app, search for my
podcast, find the podcast, clicksubscribe to this whole process.
And then you're listening to myshow. The drop off rate is
really high isn't. But what doeswork is for people who are
already in podcasts, they'realready listening. So one of the
(21:56):
top apps that does this isovercast, is when I'm scrolling
through overcast, it says, Oh,you're listening to podcasts
about sports. And you'relistening to a sports podcast
right now, here's an ad foranother sports podcast. It
depends on the podcast, it couldbe if it's a business or
technology podcast, it could bepretty expensive. But if it's
(22:16):
arts or humor, it might be quitea bit cheaper. So maybe a few
$100, you will actually get alot of subscribers, because a
lot of people will see it, clickthe podcast ad and start trying
to listen to your podcast. So ifyou have money to put behind
your podcast growth strategy,especially the beginning, when
you're trying to get that first100 listeners or so look up
(22:38):
overcast ads. We also have ablog post that lists every one
of the podcast apps, and whichones allow you to buy ads inside
of those apps. Those are often agreat way to jumpstart your
podcast growth in the beginning,because once you've got a few
100 people listening, then wordof mouth, and some feedback from
(22:58):
your listeners are going to helpyou really escalate your podcast
growth.
Gilon (23:01):
Yes, such good tips and as a beginner, right, so none of
these things are going to bebiting off more than you can
chew. As you start off. Theseare all really great strategies
as you are trying to promote abrand new show. So we've talked
about not tipping at the finishline. The strategies you have
for opening softer Grand Openingwith all the fanfare and
overcoming imposter syndrome.
Javis Are there any resourcesthat they can get into as
(23:23):
they're getting ready to launchtheir podcast? Yes. So
Travis (23:27):
I've got a couple of resources on the subject of
launching your podcast, twovideos and a blog post. The
first video is actuallyironically enough Jalon wearing
a Dragonball Z t shirt talkingabout how to set up an Instagram
account. For your podcast, we'llanswer questions about should
you have a personal account or abusiness account, and what are
(23:47):
all the assets that you need toget that setup all that jazz. So
if you know that Instagram is asocial media platform that you
want to start with, as far associal media marketing, that
video is going to be superhelpful to make sure you have
everything you need to getstarted there. There's also a
video where we identify six waysto promote a new podcast. There
is a little bit of overlap fromthis podcast episode. But
(24:08):
there's also some things inthere that we didn't touch on.
And so if you want to get evenmore ideas for ways to grow your
show right out of the gate,that's a great video to watch.
And then the blog that Albanmentioned how to grow your
podcast by advertising andpodcast apps, that'll be linked
in the next steps section aswell in the show notes. So if
you want to see what kind ofpodcasts listening apps could be
in your budget, there is a widespectrum from you know, a couple
(24:31):
$100 to a couple $1,000 todepending on how much you want
to put into your podcast at thebeginning. That'll show you all
of your options and you can findthe links for all those in the
show notes of this episode.
Alban (24:41):
Alright and if you are interested in learning more
about how to grow a podcast, letus know so this is season one.
And we are now starting to thinkabout what would a season two of
this show look like? So if youare interested in a how to grow
your podcast season, let us knowI am Alban Brooke on Twitter and
you can reach out to me andJalon what's the best way for
(25:03):
everybody to reach out to you?
Gilon (25:04):
I am not on Twitter. But you can reach out to support at
support@buzzsprout.com with anysuggestions or ideas for season
two, if you're interested inthat. Thank
Alban (25:14):
you everybody for listening. We hope that you've
made it through. If you havelaunched your show, and this
podcast was important to youlaunching your show, please
reach out to Jalon in the sportinbox or me on Twitter. Let us
know what your show is. We'resuper excited to be part of your
journey. We always end the showthis way. But until next time,
(25:35):
keep podcast
Gilon (25:36):
keep broadcasting y'all
Welcome back to How To Start A Podcast, the podcast
about how to start a podcast.
This is episode 10. We are nowlaunching a podcast. I'm Gilon.
Alban (00:16):
I'm Alban. And yeah, like Gilon said, We're gonna launch
your podcast this episode. Ifyou've been following along,
you're about to launch yourshow. And we're super excited.
So let's dive in to Episode 10.
Gilon (00:28):
Contrary to popular belief, launching is not just
hitting, send, submit publish,once you get the whole thing,
it's a whole spiel it should beif it's done, right, so we're
gonna get into some of thelogistics of successfully
launching your podcast. Tipnumber one, don't trip at the
finish line, you're almostthere, right? Like you are
there. And so let's just makesure all the work that you've
(00:50):
put in, doesn't go to
Alban (00:52):
waste. Yeah, to be clear, our outline actually says don't
tip at the finish line alsoapplicable. Don't tip now. But
also don't trip, it is easy forpeople to go through the entire
process and get to hear andthat's when stuff starts feeling
real. And you start kind ofdoubting yourself and you're
like, I just need to like launchthis thing. And a lot of people
(01:16):
will kind of like overhyped thisstep. So we're gonna talk about
ways to overhype this step andunder hype this step to actually
get launched, but don't be theperson who gets stuck here,
let's get this podcast out tothe world, because we're going
to get so much better as we'reactually going through and we're
doing this stuff,
Gilon (01:34):
there are a couple strategies to do this. Well. So
let's just hop into some of thestrategies for launching
successfully.
Alban (01:39):
There's two strategies that I like the one is the grand
opening, this is like roll outthe red carpet go and do PR,
tell everybody you can youactually submit your show to
Apple to say, Hey, can I getinto new and noteworthy, you are
going out and trying to getpress in different magazines and
(02:00):
online publications. You'respending money to get this
podcast out to the world. Thatis definitely one big strategy
that a lot of the biggest showsus. The downside of that is is
intimidating. There's a lot ofplanning, especially when you're
brand new, you're like, I'verecorded three episodes. But I
(02:20):
was learning a lot along theway. I feel a little silly,
sending this out to Applesaying, Hey, can I be a new and
noteworthy when I know it's justtwo interviews that I did at
home with my Samsung cue to you,it's easy for that to be a
little intimidating. There isanother strategy. But anything
else you wanted to say about thegrand opening Jalon
Gilon (02:40):
only that it's not the only way to launch? You know, as
we started talking, like whenyou said a lot of people don't
get past this step because itstarts to feel real. And I want
to say yeah, it starts to feelreal vulnerable, you know, that
I'm about to put this idea, thisthing that had been living in my
mind out in the world, and howwill it be received. And so if
you're in that space, you canfeel like, Oh, now I gotta go,
you know, be out here andtelling people about my podcasts
(03:02):
to launch, there's only one wayto launch and that's not true.
And so I'm really excited foryou to talk about the second
launch strategy.
Alban (03:07):
The second one I call the soft open. And this comes from
the world of restaurants. A lotof us are new restaurant
launches. They will say like thebig launch is on April 7, but
actually on April 4, and fifthand sixth. They are open. And
it's called the soft open. Andthis is where you think that you
(03:30):
know what everything that goesinto launch starting this
restaurant, you've got all ofthe menu, Don, you have hired
everybody. And then you startjust opening the doors. You
don't put out a big sign, youjust have the doors unlocked.
And a few people walk by andthey open the door and they're
like, Hey, are you open? Yeah,yeah, come on in. And they come
in and they order and you'repretty much the restaurant is
(03:52):
dead. But there's few peoplethat came in help you work
through a lot of issues.
Sometimes you will actually justsee family and friends of the
people who own the restaurant orworking there are the ones
you're inviting. But you getlike a pretty small group. And
then people are like, hey, Iwant to order this dish. And
they are actually figuring outlike, oh, no, the chef's don't
know how to make that this yet.
(04:15):
Oh, we need a crane on that. Oh,can I get more ice? Oh, the ice
machine doesn't actually workthe way we thought it did. And
it needs to be serviced. Beforewe have the big opening. You're
working through all the kinksthat are in this starting a
restaurant business? Well, withpodcasting, it can be super
intimidating to do the grandopen. Because I know there's a
lot of stuff for me to workthrough. I kind of have the
(04:37):
interview stuff down but it'snot perfect. And I want a little
more practice before I startreally putting myself out there.
Well then do the soft open.
Don't put out the sign that sayspodcast starting today. Just
push podcast out to the worldand don't tell anybody and let
the two or three or 10 peoplefind the podcast and then try to
see like, Okay, how's thisworking for me? How does this
(05:02):
fit into my lifestyle? Arepeople enjoying it, and if they
are, then you could startputting the promotional efforts
behind it. Because you were ableto, I think, succeed in a lower
pressure environment, before youfelt the confidence to make
maybe up the pressure,
Gilon (05:19):
definitely. And I will say that I took the soft, open
approach, when I launched mypodcast, I definitely was like,
I'm gonna publish this, and mymom knows, and my mom just
posted and told the world, butI'm not necessarily posting and
telling the world and to bestepping out and starting
podcasts was very vulnerable forme. And so that kind of gave me
the confidence to not like, tipat the finish line and not freak
(05:40):
out at all. I was like, I'mgonna put it out there, it's
gonna be quiet. And I'll tell myfriend and my parents, that's
it. And that gave me theconfidence to just go ahead and
hit publish, right to show upperiod.
Alban (05:51):
A lot of what's happening here. I think we used to have
something on the blog aboutthis, maybe it might not be
there anymore, but it was aboutimposter syndrome. And it's very
common right before you'rehitting publish to have these
feelings of inadequacy. Or ifonly I could get better, or who
am I to do this thing? Yeah,everyone's gonna think I'm a
fraud. People are gonna thinkit's a complete joke that I have
(06:12):
a podcast about this. I've onlybeen doing this thing for a few
years. I'm not the expert. Andit's funny that everybody I've
ever known unless somebody likea complete narcissist feels this
to some extent, we feel thissense of inadequacy, we feel
this, like, there's already apodcast about marketing, do we
(06:34):
need a second? And oh, there'salready a podcast about this
thing. It's kind of my topic issimilar to this one. And what is
important to remember is like,your podcast and your voice, and
what you're saying is valuable,even if it's similar to other
people are saying, because youhave a different personality, he
have different perspective. Andyou're bringing something
(06:56):
different to the table. So eventhe two podcasts are similar.
They could both be podcastsabout science fiction, books,
and reviews. But one podcast mayactually connect with people who
like certain types of sci fibooks in the different podcasts,
we might be talking about thedifferent sci fi books, and
maybe they have differentopinions. More than two people
(07:17):
can have podcast about this veryspecific book review niche.
Yeah. So if you are feelingthat, I hope that what you hear
from us is like, I definitelyfelt that putting on podcasts. I
mean, I think, like did youexperience this to John?
Gilon (07:30):
Absolutely. That's why I did the soft, open. Yeah. And I
would also say like, it's partof the process to kind of go
like, who is not part of theprocess, but you're not special,
right? Like, we are all goingthrough this moment of like, Oh,
I'm about to, I'm on theprecipice of something new and
different. And I feel somethingin that. And so it's not unusual
to doubt yourself. It's not, youknow, unusual to feel like,
(07:51):
Well, who am I to do this? Youknow, but I would say it is also
a good sign that this is thethreshold crossover, right? Like
you're saying, like, we've allfelt this, but you want to be
the person that pushes past it.
And then the other thing I wouldsay is that your voice is as
unique as your thumbprint.
Right, no two people have thesame thumbprint. I think that's
still affecting the world. Butyou know, to think, well,
(08:13):
there's a podcast about this,people are talking about this,
you know, who am I and I'm notan expert, all that kind of
stuff is just noise, you havesomething to add, because you
are unique. And just like Albanwas saying, even if you're both
talking about wrestling, you'regoing to come with your
different histories andperspectives and likes and
dislikes. And one person may bereal, you know, straight up and
down. And that person might begoofy and silly and put
(08:33):
background noises, you havesomething unique to bring, and
we need your voice. Sodefinitely go ahead and do the
thing
Alban (08:38):
I can tell you like I had specific feelings of specific
people. And I was like thesepeople who I don't even know,
like, don't even really talk tobut just people on Facebook, if
I posted, hey, just started apodcast on this, that like
friends from college, or friendsfrom law school would be like,
This guy's doing a podcast nowlike what is gone wrong in his
life that he's doing it. So Idon't think it's weird if you're
(09:03):
having similar feelings. And ifyou're having those similar
doubts, but that is a way for usto kind of protect ourselves
from like, I really don't wantto be critiqued. So maybe I'll
just not even say anything,because then I definitely won't
get critiqued, the thing is thatyou hold yourself back from
doing the thing that you want todo, which is share your voice.
And so the soft open, like wekind of talked about is really a
(09:25):
nice way to ease on out there.
Yeah, just put it out. And it'sactually kind of cool that your
podcast won't get tons of viewsand tons of listens in the
beginning. Instead, it's goingto be kind of flying under the
radar for a bit. And that's kindof a cool thing, because you can
start getting more comfortablewith it. And then people will
see your podcast maybe a yearfrom now and be like, dang,
(09:46):
you've been podcasting for awhole year. While you've really
been doing something cool. I'mexcited to check it out. So if
you feel like you don't like thesound of your voice, or you're
doubting whether or not you havethe authority legitimacy to
start a podcast. Remember, youhave a different perspective.
Just share it and do the thingthat you want to do. And don't
worry about what other peopleare gonna think about what you
(10:09):
create.
Gilon (10:10):
And I think we've said this also before, you've got to
begin to begin. I was smirkingwhen Alban was talking about
just put, just put it out therebecause consistently, my first
episode is like, in my top fivemost listened to and I have no
idea why people do that. But Ican tell the difference from
when I started to where I amnow. And growth will happen, you
know, and you just got to beokay, being a beginner, you
(10:31):
don't start off as an expert.
No, nobody ever began as anexpert. And so give yourself
grace, and just do it, youabsolutely should just do it. Do
it, just do it, press thebutton, do it.
Alban (10:43):
So now that we have published our podcast, and we
picked one of the strategies,
Gilon (10:48):
then we're done, right, we have nothing else to do,
Alban (10:50):
well, you can be done.
The downside is that, onceyou've done that, then you're
gonna start, like maybe wantingfour or five, or 500 people to
listen to your podcast 500, youdon't want to just stay
Gilon (11:04):
in the corner of the internet know the people, they
need you.
Alban (11:07):
So in the beginning, we're nervous too many people
will see it. Now that we'veactually launched, we're going
okay, now I'm a little nervous,too few people are gonna see
this podcast, and I want to getit out to the world. So let's
talk about five marketing tipsfor the brand new podcaster.
Gilon (11:22):
So like the soft open, there's kind of like a soft
marketing strategy. And that'sto share it with people who
already like you, your friendsand family, right. And what's
really great about this is thatone they do already like you so
they're hopefully they're notgoing to be as critical maybe as
like a stranger on the internet,leaving your review, that also
give you really good feedback.
But also, they can be a reallygreat army of promoters for your
podcast, right? So you can askthem to share it. You can say,
(11:45):
hey, on your platforms, wouldyou be cool? Hey, this new
podcasts so great. They're areally good resource, not just
to hear it to get your downloadsup, but also to share it with
their respective circles.
Alban (11:57):
Yeah. And what we're trying to do here is we're
trying to get to like fivepeople listening to our podcast,
maybe 10. And so think of arethere specific people that you
want to share what you've made,that you think they would be a
good fit, they really enjoythis, these people that you talk
to about these topics, go inspecifically one to one and say,
Hey, I just made this podcast,I'd love for you to listen to it
(12:19):
and tell me what you think. Andif they like it, they will
subscribe. So number one sharingwith friends and family, maybe
we're up to five, maybe 10downloads per episode. Next is
sharing on social media. So onething that I see a lot of people
struggle with and beginning isoverwhelm, and this feeling of
(12:40):
like, I've got to do everything.
And definitely one way to feeloverwhelmed is to start social
media accounts on every singleplatform for your podcast. Don't
do that. If you have a uniquename that that name is available
everywhere and you want to gosecure them. Okay? But don't
feel like you have to go andstart posting on Instagram and
(13:02):
Twitter and Facebook and Tik Tokand Snapchat and LinkedIn and
bla bla bla bla bla Buzzsprout.
For years, I want to say this islike seven years, maybe nine,
after Buzzsprout was founded, Irealized we not only were not
posting on Instagram, we had noteven registered the Buzzsprout
(13:24):
domain, or sorry, the handle, itwas still available like years
of us using Buzzsprout andhaving it out and lots of lots
of customers. So don't feel likeyou've got a rush to get all of
this. And then just go and pickone, pick the one you're most
comfortable with. If you live onLinkedIn, let's do your work on
LinkedIn. If you think theaudience for your podcast are
(13:47):
people who are really active onReddit, will then focus on
Reddit. If it's a tick tockaudience, then focus on tick
tock you know, pick, what areyou comfortable with? And where
do you think the audience is.
And then let's hone in on oneplace for you to promote your
episode. So if you every timeyou put out an episode, make a
couple pieces of contentpromoting it and share it on
(14:09):
whatever platform you picked.
Gilon (14:14):
It's so tempting to get on all of the platforms, and
overwhelm and burnout are comingfor you quick when you do that.
So I love that we really givepeople permission to only do one
or two if they really want to dothat. So the next one is to
cross promote with othercreators. This is really helpful
because not only are you able toestablish yourself if you decide
(14:35):
to be a guest on the podcast asanother expert you get exposure
to a group of other differentpeople. And then you get
exposure to maybe their socialmedia platform audience people
right so as you're promotingeach other's content, you're
hopefully guesting gueststarring guest podcasting.
You're going to be a guest onthe show. You can be a guest on
their show you get accessexposure to their audience,
(14:55):
which you may not have exposureto in your own lane. And then
when they promote that a wholenother group of people,
potentially that you're alsogetting access to that you
wouldn't have normally. So forinstance, I'm part of a little
podcasting group. And promotingis one of those things that I
don't love doing. But my friendsin the group are like, hey, you
know, if you ever need a guest,if we ever have a slot segment
(15:16):
that you would fit really goodon, come on the podcast, oh, he
put out a new episode. Let'spush that, hey, guys, we're
gonna push this push this. It'sreally, really great to cross
promote with other creators.
Alban (15:25):
I love chronic cross promote with people who are not
podcasting. So find people thatare doing similar type content,
but are on a different platform.
So I've started a Dragonball Zpodcast, we'll go to the top
YouTube channel about DragonballZ and one of the top blogs about
Dragonball Z and one of the bestInstagram channels that are
(15:46):
posting this content, and see ifyou can cross promote with them.
I saw this work for a SupremeCourt podcast I used to listen
to they were the number oneSupreme Court podcast, and they
partner with the number oneSupreme Court blog. And so they
would reference case materialsthat were on the blog and the
blog embedded their episode andshared it. And they both grew
(16:06):
quite a bit because it had thesame audience. But they were
presenting the information indifferent ways. And that allowed
them to cross promote, you know,it wasn't zero sum and they
weren't competing. Instead,they're both helping each other.
So find somebody who you couldwork alongside of and say, Hey,
do you want to have a podcast?
(16:27):
Like, I'd love to do a podcastwith you? Oh, well, I would love
to also contribute to yourYouTube channel in a helpful
way. So see if there arecreators that you could work
with because you have the sameaudience, and they would just be
interested in getting moreinformation in a different
medium.
Gilon (16:43):
Alright, so our next strategy involves Facebook
groups, which are actually areally nice place to market and
grow podcast relatedrelationships.
Alban (16:52):
What I see a lot of people do wrong is they get a
podcast, and then they think,well, I'll just troll through
the internet. trolling. Not likenot trolling, but like cruise
through the internet. It's like,it's like a bolt like a boat
trolling. Okay, so I'm justcruising through the internet.
And I'm finding groups. I'mlike, Oh, I have my Dragonball Z
(17:16):
podcast. And now I have foundthe Facebook group for
Dragonball Z. And so I asked tobe in the group. And then I go,
and I go, Hey, check out mypodcast, I just made Episode
One, everybody's subscribed. Andthen I leave. And then I
realized, like, episode two havealready been kicked out of the
group, because you providednothing of value. What you
instead did was you showed up toa community that hadn't been
(17:39):
built around something. And theywere all contributing to each
other into the sense ofconnection around a shared
hobby. And you came in and said,Why don't you all do something
for me? And everyone said, No,thanks. But it is a great way to
connect with people who arealready organizing around your
topic. So let's say I've got mySupreme Court podcast. Well,
(18:03):
there probably is a Reddit pageor a Reddit subreddit, there's
Facebook groups, there are othercommunities built up around that
topic. Now, the right way toengage them, is to not just show
up and start dropping links isto show up and actually answer
questions fully. Because if youare doing a podcast are probably
(18:27):
an expert in this area. So whenyou see people ask questions,
like, hey, help me understandwhat's going on in this specific
Supreme Court case? If you know,hey, I've actually thought
through it. Here's what'shappening. full explanation. I
actually go into more detail inthis podcast episode, if you're
interested in listening. Now,that's not just self promotion,
(18:49):
that's now helping the personwho had a question. And that
could work perfectly well, forany number of podcasts. I've got
a podcast about dog breeds. Andsomeone's confused about the
difference between a cockerspaniel and a cockapoo or
something. I don't know, theseare actual dog names.
Gilon (19:08):
They are Yeah.
Alban (19:10):
If you know what's the difference between these two dog
breeds? Oh, here's thedifference. And here's like the
pros and cons of these two. Andhere's the podcast episode about
that. So don't just drop theepisode. Instead, give people
the exact information they want.
And then encourage and invitethem to come check out more on
the podcast. And I
Gilon (19:30):
love that you gave an example because even in
answering questions and how youparticipate, there's a right and
wrong way. Right? Like nobodylikes a know it all or that
person that's like, oh my gosh,you don't know this. Like
there's a way to say I'mproviding information and I'm
your friendly neighborhood.
podcaster come check this outhow you participate is just as
important as not just droppingthe link and dip in, you know,
Alban (19:50):
yeah, one of the things I see a lot in groups, this is
every internet group. Somebodyasks a question, and let's say
I'm in a lot of Facebook orpodcasting groups. Let's say
someone says, I'm confused abouthow to get listed in Spotify.
How do I do that? And thenpeople go, why don't you Google
it, or go to Spotify and submit,or they just dropped the URL to
(20:12):
a blog post. That is helpful.
And that is correct. But that'snot what the person is actually
asking for. What they're doingis they found this group. And
they're saying that because theyactually want the connection,
they want to talk to anotherhuman about this. And if they
knew, they knew they couldsearch this on Google, and they
could figure it out. But theywanted the connection with you.
And now that they've asked forthat connection for you, just to
(20:34):
say, I talked about my podcastswanting to go listen to it isn't
what they were hoping for.
Instead, for you give them whatthey're looking for, oh, here's
the explanation. And you're kindof asking questions back, and
you're having a dialogue. Andthen you say, if you want to
listen to the podcast, you can,you're much more likely to
convert them to listeners. Sojust remember, people are
(20:57):
looking for different things.
And if they're asking questions,they're probably looking for a
little bit of a connection,rather than just like copy and
pasting the answer into theanswer box.
Gilon (21:07):
And then our last marketing tip is a little bit
about ads, which can get sticky.
But can you tell us what type ofads would you suggest kind of
for a beginner? Yeah,
Alban (21:15):
so the best way to start with podcast ads is the podcast
apps themselves. So there'speople who try to do ads in
Google or Facebook. And theconfusing thing is that you
don't know for sure that thepeople seeing the ads even care
about podcasts, and to say like,Hey, do you know what a podcast
is? But you know, I've got apodcast about baseball. And I
(21:35):
can tell that by your interest,you're interested in baseball,
but now go to your phone,download this app, search for my
podcast, find the podcast, clicksubscribe to this whole process.
And then you're listening to myshow. The drop off rate is
really high isn't. But what doeswork is for people who are
already in podcasts, they'realready listening. So one of the
(21:56):
top apps that does this isovercast, is when I'm scrolling
through overcast, it says, Oh,you're listening to podcasts
about sports. And you'relistening to a sports podcast
right now, here's an ad foranother sports podcast. It
depends on the podcast, it couldbe if it's a business or
technology podcast, it could bepretty expensive. But if it's
(22:16):
arts or humor, it might be quitea bit cheaper. So maybe a few
$100, you will actually get alot of subscribers, because a
lot of people will see it, clickthe podcast ad and start trying
to listen to your podcast. So ifyou have money to put behind
your podcast growth strategy,especially the beginning, when
you're trying to get that first100 listeners or so look up
(22:38):
overcast ads. We also have ablog post that lists every one
of the podcast apps, and whichones allow you to buy ads inside
of those apps. Those are often agreat way to jumpstart your
podcast growth in the beginning,because once you've got a few
100 people listening, then wordof mouth, and some feedback from
(22:58):
your listeners are going to helpyou really escalate your podcast
growth.
Gilon (23:01):
Yes, such good tips and as a beginner, right, so none of
these things are going to bebiting off more than you can
chew. As you start off. Theseare all really great strategies
as you are trying to promote abrand new show. So we've talked
about not tipping at the finishline. The strategies you have
for opening softer Grand Openingwith all the fanfare and
overcoming imposter syndrome.
Javis Are there any resourcesthat they can get into as
(23:23):
they're getting ready to launchtheir podcast? Yes. So
Travis (23:27):
I've got a couple of resources on the subject of
launching your podcast, twovideos and a blog post. The
first video is actuallyironically enough Jalon wearing
a Dragonball Z t shirt talkingabout how to set up an Instagram
account. For your podcast, we'llanswer questions about should
you have a personal account or abusiness account, and what are
(23:47):
all the assets that you need toget that setup all that jazz. So
if you know that Instagram is asocial media platform that you
want to start with, as far associal media marketing, that
video is going to be superhelpful to make sure you have
everything you need to getstarted there. There's also a
video where we identify six waysto promote a new podcast. There
is a little bit of overlap fromthis podcast episode. But
(24:08):
there's also some things inthere that we didn't touch on.
And so if you want to get evenmore ideas for ways to grow your
show right out of the gate,that's a great video to watch.
And then the blog that Albanmentioned how to grow your
podcast by advertising andpodcast apps, that'll be linked
in the next steps section aswell in the show notes. So if
you want to see what kind ofpodcasts listening apps could be
in your budget, there is a widespectrum from you know, a couple
(24:31):
$100 to a couple $1,000 todepending on how much you want
to put into your podcast at thebeginning. That'll show you all
of your options and you can findthe links for all those in the
show notes of this episode.
Alban (24:41):
Alright and if you are interested in learning more
about how to grow a podcast, letus know so this is season one.
And we are now starting to thinkabout what would a season two of
this show look like? So if youare interested in a how to grow
your podcast season, let us knowI am Alban Brooke on Twitter and
you can reach out to me andJalon what's the best way for
(25:03):
everybody to reach out to you?
Gilon (25:04):
I am not on Twitter. But you can reach out to support at
support@buzzsprout.com with anysuggestions or ideas for season
two, if you're interested inthat. Thank
Alban (25:14):
you everybody for listening. We hope that you've
made it through. If you havelaunched your show, and this
podcast was important to youlaunching your show, please
reach out to Jalon in the sportinbox or me on Twitter. Let us
know what your show is. We'resuper excited to be part of your
journey. We always end the showthis way. But until next time,
(25:35):
keep podcast
Gilon (25:36):
keep broadcasting y'all
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