How do you get people excited about a show that doesn’t exist?
Getting your head around how to promote your podcast when there’s no podcast to promote can be difficult.
But it can be done and here’s how…
Record episodes in advance so you’ve got plenty of audio to play with
This is usually only possible with shows that focus on evergreen content i.e. content that doesn’t date. If your show discusses current topics and events this is going to be harder because you need to record close to the date of release to make sure your show is relevant.
However, if you can batch record ahead of time, the more episodes you can get ‘in the can’ the more content you’ll have to promote your show.
You might decide to release a sneak peek of an episode or interview, some behind the scenes content or a montage of a whole heap of different things.
When you’re putting your promotional audio together, think about what would be most interesting for a potential listener and what would make them want to subscribe to your show.
Different ways to promote your podcast
Create a trailer or “Coming Soon” episode
To generate an RSS feed which you need to submit your podcast to directories like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify, you need to have at least one piece of audio uploaded in the back end of your podcast host.
A “Coming Soon” episode (also called “Episode 0” or a trailer) is a piece of evergreen audio you can upload to your feed and share on social media to get people excited about your show.
It can be a produced piece of audio with a voiceover telling people what to expect or it can feature a montage of audio you’ve already recorded as a tease to what’s on the way.
You can be as creative as you like with your introductory episode because it’s your chance to get people interested in your show before it’s live.
Plus, if you can entice people to subscribe before you drop your first episode when you launch you’ll be more likely to feature in the podcast charts because you’ve already got people there downloading your show from day one.
Share audio promos on social media
Again, if you’ve recorded episodes or bits of episodes ahead of time you can use these snippets to promote your podcast on social media.
If you’ve got some great highlights you can write a little voiceover around them, jazz them up with a bit of music and voila you’ve created an audio promo for a show that doesn’t exist.
Once you’ve got the audio you can use a tool like Wavve or Headliner to create a moving graphic for your social media feed…
View this post on Instagram
Whichever way you do it, don’t forget to include all your show info so people can find you and subscribe.
Use all the hashtags
Uploading content with the appropriate hashtags can be a great way to promote your podcast because people can find you if they’re searching for content in your niche, even if they’ve never heard of you or your show.
This means you can grow your followers organically before you drop your first episode.
Create your ‘content universe’
When building social pages for your show from scratch you don’t always need to share audio to promote your podcast.
Instead, you can start to build a suite of content that relates to the topics or themes you’ll be covering in your show.
This content could be articles written by people you trust or whose opinions you like.
Or you could write some of your own blog posts and point people to where they can subscribe.
If you’re writing blog content this will also help people find you via search so make sure you’ve optimised your posts for SEO.
You can also share behind-the-scenes videos of you putting the show together, infographics, photos or any other content that relates to or supports what you’ll be covering in your podcast.
Try not to launch with an empty social profile
If you’ve decided to start new social pages for your podcast try to populate them with as much content as possible before the show starts.
You don’t have to go crazy but you don’t want people turning up to a Twitter account or Instagram page on the first day only to be greeted by one lone post.
It might feel ridiculous sharing content to no one but it’ll make you look more professional when people eventually do turn up (and don’t forget to beg your family and friends to follow you).
Before you go down this road consider whether you really need to start a brand new profile for your show or whether you can use your existing social media pages.
Sometimes your own brand and the show might not fit together but if they do you’re always better building a profile you’ve already got than starting one from scratch.
Be creative…
The show feed and social pages for your podcast are yours to play with so think about different ways you can build buzz to get people excited about your show before it hits their ears.
There are a lot of people promoting their podcast in the same way so look at what others in your niche are doing and try to do things differently so you can stand out from the crowd.
Got a burning podcasting question you’d like answered? Send me an email.
Want to start your own podcast but need a little help? Download my “How To Start A Podcast” guide or sign up for my online podcasting course, PodSchool.
