You did it! You recorded your first few episodes, created a banging intro and outro, and picked out perfectly on brand music! You’ve selected the right podcast host to work for your podcast and business goals and you are ready to tell the world… but how? Sit back, relax, grab a pen and paper and get ready to take notes because I’m sharing some creative ways to launch or relaunch your podcast!
Something to keep in mind while you’re launching your podcast is that you can go as big or as small as you want. You can turn your launch into a huge todo with giveaways, Insta takeovers, and more… or your can simply create some social posts with great audio snippets and make it a quieter affair. Either way is perfectly fine and it all depends on your overall goals.
Let’s start with FLASHY launch ideas.
If you’re looking to rank straight out of the gate one of the best things to do is to have your core hype squad ready to write all the reviews and give you all the good rankings. One way to do this before launch is to release a trailer episode (see episode …. where I talk all about why you need one!) and let them review on that episode!
You could even create a giveaway! Everyone who likes a post, comments on the post, writes a review, and shares the episode with a friend is entered to win…. something!
Now, be careful with this. You can’t exclude someone if they don’t write an amazing review. You also can’t say that they’re entered if they write a 5-Star review. While the rules and regulations surrounding podcasts are kind of murky, they’re getting clearer every day! And the rules and regulations surrounding online contests and giveaways are pretty darn set! You definitely do not want to give the FCC or FTC any reason to come calling!
But when done right, and legally, doing a giveaway can be a really fun way to inspire engagement and listeners for your podcast.
You can also run ads to your trailer. If you’re really looking to make a splash early on, then paid ads can get you there! If you have your podcast trailer on your website with an opt-in box letting them know to join your email list to be notified when the first episodes go live, this can also be an amazing way to generate leads for your business.
The problem that I see people run into with this is that they don’t target their ad audience enough and they get unqualified leads to their podcast. Especially if you’re running ads to the giveaway itself. People will come for the giveaway and give you an awesome boost, but there’s no longevity.
But let me back up a step, you may be asking WHY you’d want to have a big splashy launch. If you’re looking to build a media company or a podcast network or even just build credibility so you can land higher level podcast guest spots… having a big launch will really work in your favor. Being able to say you had the #1 Ranked Podcast for Marketing in the U.S. (even if it was only for one day or even a few hours) can definitely give you a boost!
Other things to do are podcast guest tours announcing the launch of your podcast (kind of like if you’re publishing a book) but this usually works better if you already have a fairly large following and the credibility to get on a lot of shows in a short period of time. This also takes quite a bit of coordination and will require several months of advanced planning! BUT could be an amazing way to create visibility for your show and your offers!
You could do social takeovers, have upcoming guests do social promo and announce to their lists, and so many other things. There are tons of ways to launch in a big way!
Now, let’s bring it down a notch!
Creating a few social posts and audiograms with targeted hashtags and then sharing them on your channels in a dripped out process will also work. If you don’t want to coordinate some huge to-do and are happy to let your show grow in an organic way, then you can totally launch small.
Also, when you do your initial planning and you sit down to really take over your ideal keywords, you know what hashtags are most relevant to your offers and your show… an organic strategy, can and will help you grow.
It takes time, but that’s true of anything in podcasting.
Also, adding in some different kinds of promo assets to share through out the day really helps. Maybe you simply post more frequently that day with an audiogram, a video snippet, a quote card, and then share to stories. You’re still enacting a launch strategy but it’s not some massive ordeal. Because these are assets you should be creating for your show regardless (barring the video if you’re not doing a video podcast!)
What if I’m re-launching?
The best part is that many of these tactics will also work for re-launching your podcast. PLUS you’ll already have an audience to launch your beautiful, new updated show to!
For a relaunch, you might even invest in a beautiful 9-square grid for your instagram that pushes all of your old branding and name down your page and shows a very clear delineation between one period of time and another.
You don’t have to do this, but it does help show in a big way that there has been a change in your realm!
I’m curious, how did you launch your podcast?
OR, if you haven’t launched yet, in a perfect world what would be your ideal launch strategy?
