How to manage a branded podcast successfully

Branded podcasts are a great tool to market your business. A successful branded podcast uses a comprehensive marketing strategy that brings attention to the show and creates a loyal audience.

Here's what you will learn in this article:

• Challenges in podcasting
• Podcasting time management tips
• How to market your branded podcast

Challenges in podcasting

The world of audio content creation can seem overwhelming to novice podcast creators. From finding the proper equipment to learning how to produce meaningful content, a podcaster needs to have a thoughtful plan for their show. In a recent Audio Leads interview, Jordan Paris, founder of TrendUp Media and host of the Jordan Paris Show, discusses three main challenges for podcasting.

The first is the need for crisp, quality audio for a show. He explains that great sound quality is key to keeping your audience's attention because it makes you seem credible. Finding the perfect audio setup for your podcast can be difficult. See one of our previous blog posts to find the right podcast equipment setup for you.

The second biggest challenge, Jordan says, is finding inspiration. When attempting to consistently produce meaningful content, a lack of inspiration is quite common and frustrating. The struggle to find inspiration can also make it difficult for you to think of new guests to bring to your show. 

One proven way to get past a creative block is to consume content yourself. Listen to other podcasts, look at social media content, and read articles in your field to develop new ideas. Repurposing your content is another great way to keep your podcast going. Although successful podcasts run on originality, commenting on and discussing others’ ideas while your unique value is a great way to keep producing good content as you search for original ideas.

The third most common challenge while podcasting is time management. 

Podcasts take a lot of effort, especially when you are determined to make your podcast successful. Drafting episodes, editing episodes, finding guests, and marketing your podcast - all take time and energy. Even successful podcasters like Jordan still have trouble with time management infrequently. 

Podcasting time management tips

Jordan mentions that he now uses an assistant to help with his scheduling. He finds that delegation is extremely helpful for keeping his calendar full of meetings and podcast recordings. 

However, not everyone can hire people to help with time management for their podcast. Therefore, Jordan offers a few tips to help keep your schedule in order while podcasting. 

He likes to put everything on his to-do list in chunks to avoid procrastination. Jordan will schedule all of his meetings on one day each week. This back-to-back scheduling technique allows him to have more free time and less stress. He avoids meetings interfering with designated podcast recording days or personal days. 

How to market your branded podcast

Social media

When marketing your branded podcast, it is important to be very active on social media. 

Jordan explains that his following started to grow rapidly when he was posting consistently on his pages and staying active by interacting on the social media pages of others. He put a lot of effort into making himself known on other pages–mostly on LinkedIn–by commenting on their posts. His engagement with other pages brought traffic to his page. 

Jordan believes that LinkedIn is the most important site to focus your marketing efforts for your podcast.

You should consider social media to buy ad spots. It is one of the most effective ways to promote your podcast, as you can precisely target ads to users that fall within your desired audience. Although social media advertising can be costly, the result can be very beneficial.

Analytics

Most podcast hosting sites have episode analytics, which you can use to tell when listening time is highest. You should use this information to see when your listeners are paying attention to your podcast and remove or reconfigure spots that are consistently skipped over.

Call to action

He explains that a branded podcast needs a specific call to action. A call to action (CTA) is a marketing strategy to direct your audience to your business and prompt an immediate conversion/sale. CTAs can vary from telling people to view your product offers to simply tell your audience to buy your product. 

CTAs should be used in your larger podcast episodes, but you should also use them when marketing your podcast. Don’t annoy your listeners by overloading your smaller podcast episodes with frequent CTAs.

Summary

Branded podcasts are an effective way to promote your business. If you do not already have a large audience for your business, you will need to put more time and energy into promoting your podcast show and building a loyal following. When you commit to marketing your branded podcast well, your loyal listeners will become loyal customers, and your sales numbers will rise.

If you stay active and engaged on social media, market your podcast through ad placement, and maintain a consistent call to action, your podcast will be on track for success. 

Make sure to listen to the full episode!