Whether you are launching a podcast for the first time or bringing back your show after a hiatus, the level of excitement and creativity in this stage is unmatched!
If you’re beginning to think through your own launch/relaunch, here are a few of our favorite campaign outlines to get your creative juices flowing.
The “Guess What’s Coming” Campaign:
3 weeks out from launch:
- Share a short audio or video clip from the project and ask your audience to guess what they think is coming (don’t tell them it’s a podcast just yet!). If you have a great creative agency working with you, they could even do some interesting creative aspects such as slightly blurring the video or distorting the audio
- If you have a common phrase or tagline in your podcast, you could post a graphic with that phrase and ask for guesses as to what’s coming.
What makes these teasers so powerful is not only the little bit of mystery, but the added engagement of getting your audience involved with what’s to come. This works GREAT in online communities, but you could also send it to your email list and have them reply to the email with their guesses.
Want to add some fun? Everyone who guesses correctly gets into a random draw for some sort of “prize” from you.
2 weeks out from launch:
- Officially announce the podcast is coming and share the go-live date
- Start sharing clips from your early episodes on social, in your email marketing, in your online communities to drum up interest
- Let your audience know that on launch day you’ll send an email with the show links, first episode(s) as well as a bonus resource to your email subscribers to get anyone not subscribed onto your list
Launch Day:
- Share links to episodes on your social media, website, to your email list, etc.
- Ask your online communities to share the show with their network (you could do an incentive or giveaway for one winner from the group of people sharing the show)
- Post in your online communities/ask your email list to submit topics they want to hear on the show, nominate a guest (if it makes sense for your show), etc.
The “Co-Create” Campaign
This works great for a relaunch – many of the business owners we speak to who are relaunching their show are doing so in conjunction with a rebrand or other type of ‘refresh’ on the show, their brand, their services, etc.
The bottom line here is to get your audience involved with the process of the relaunch! Not only does it drum up engagement and excitement, but it creates buy-in from your audience that translates to them tuning in and subscribing to the show because they are already invested in it.
A few ideas to get them involved:
- Have them vote from a few options for your new covert art / visuals
- Gather audience submissions for the new name of your show (if applicable)
- Gather audience submissions for the tagline/subtitle of your show
- Create a Q&A episode (this works great for those in service-based businesses) with members of your community – perhaps they join you for a few minutes, they ask a question and you answer, etc.
- Have your audience submit ideas for future episode topics, nominate guests, etc.
- Do a “live taping” in your online community (make sure you have a good setup to still capture high quality audio) where they can sit in and watch as a “VIP experience”
- (if relaunching a show) have your audience do a post with their favorite past episodes, and be entered to win a prize if they post and tag you/use your hashtag/etc
- You can also just have them respond on a public thread on social media with their favorite past episodes to increase engagement and exposure on the post
Launching or Relaunching a Locally-Based Podcast?
Perhaps you aren’t focused on online marketing, but are launching or relaunching a podcast based on a specific geographic area or market. Here are a few ideas for local promotion:
- Do you have a local publication? Locally-focused social media accounts? Get in touch to get your show promoted
- Print out flyers and bring them to the businesses in your local area to promote the show
- Interview other local business owners / key people, and give them assets to promote the episode and show using their platform as well
- Do you have a local coworking space or coffee shop that hosts events or talks? Sign up to host a session, give a talk, or something else that is on behalf of your podcast
- Get in touch with local blogs and submit your episode content / blogs
- Is your podcast promoting the area you live in? Contact local real estate agents and talk to them about sharing your episode with their buyers as they get to know the area
(Relaunched shows) Use Your Back Catalog to Your Advantage
If you haven’t released new episodes in awhile, you’ll want to reignite your RSS feed. If you want to reintroduce yourself to subscribers who may have honestly forgotten about your show, here are a few ideas:
- Re-release your trailer if the information is still applicable
- Create a ‘sizzle reel’ using clips from your back catalog to re-introduce your show
- Do a countdown to new episodes, meaning you re-release your most popular old episodes with an updated intro letting the listener know what’s coming and that you are sharing listener favorite episodes for the next X amount of days in anticipation of new content
- Did you have a past guest or a few guests who were rockstars about promoting their episodes and/or you got really great listener feedback on? Invite them back for an updated interview in celebration of the relaunch! As always, give them their episode assets so they can promote the new interview, too.
If you are launching a brand new podcast, or bringing back your show with a “refresh” after a hiatus, there are plenty of creative ways to market your show and drum up anticipation of new episodes. The most important thing is to align your strategy with your overall business goals and do something that resonates with you and your audience.
If you’re looking for an agency to not only bring your show to life but help you with the launch/relaunch and ongoing growth strategy, send us a message to learn more about how we can help you! At Produce Your Podcast, our specialty is bridging broadcast quality production with business development strategy – meaning our clients’ shows are all focused on their businesses and are designed to increase their visibility, leads and sales.
Produce Your Podcast is a premiere podcasting consulting, production and marketing agency. Our team of experts provide comprehensive and high quality solutions for B2B and B2C clients to incorporate podcasting into their overall marketing strategy.
Looking for a team of experts to launch your business’ podcast? Schedule a time HERE to book a consultation with our production team.
