4 low budget paid podcast growth strategies.
Hey Pod Pals!
This newsletter was lovingly curated (without the use of any AI) in real time on Thursday morning at 9:02am CST.
I already got in a nice little workout, breakfast with the kids, and now the cold brew coffee is doing it's thing!
📈 Today we are going to talk about some paid podcast growth strategies that will fit a tiny budget.
One of my biggest regrets as a podcaster is that I didn't learn about small budget paid growth strategies sooner.
I was jacking around spending THOUSANDS of dollars trying to learn how to run FB/IG ads to promote my show with very little results.
And then....I found out about the strategies we are going to dive into here today!
I see a lot of podcasters making the mistake of assuming that they can't afford to do any paid growth strategies for their podcast.
So let's dive into FOUR tiny budget strategies that will get you REAL GROWTH!
🎯 Strategy #1: Overcast FM banner ads
If you only use one of these strategies this is the one to do! Banner ads are super easy and they can be really cheap (if you follow my tips!).
✔️ When you buy an ad on Overcast it will start to run immediately as a banner that pops up while people are listening to a show in the category that you purchase. The ad runs for 30 days.
✔️ The ad is just your podcast logo and about two lines of text. You get to preview how it looks before you purchase.
✔️ When choosing your category consider the category your podcast is in, but also the types of podcasts OUTSIDE of your niche that your typical listener consumes.
EXAMPLE: I advertise a lot in Sports and News. My show isn't in either of these categories, but lots of YOU listen to these types of shows.
✔️ Don't buy an ad unless the CPA (far right column on Overcast) is $7.00 or less.
✔️ The pricing is dynamic, which means that the price goes up as people buy ad slots.
🎯 Strategy #2: Podcast Addict banner ads.
This is my 2nd favorite banner ad platform and there are a few key differences between this one and Overcast FM.
✔️ Your ad will not start immediately. They all start on the 1st of the month.
✔️ The platform gives you between one and three categories that you can advertise in (related to the category that your podcast is listed in.)
✔️ There is no customization of your ad content. They just take your logo and the first few lines from your podcast host description.
*NOTE: This means you may want to adjust your podcast host description while running an ad on this platform.
✔️ This is a much smaller platform compared to Overcast FM.
🎯 Strategy #3: Sponsor someone else's podcast.
There are a few services that help facilitate this now, but I still like to do it the old fashioned way.....human to human communication!
If it feels like asking for an interview swap isn't going to work out well for me, I will start off by asking a podcaster if I can sponsor their show with a promo of my show.
There are many times where I can throw $50-$100 towards an ad on someone's show and they are happy with that!
This is also a question I add to my podcast guest onboarding process like this..
Would you be open to discussing having Adam sponsor an episode of your podcast?
🎯 Strategy #4: Sponsor someone else's newsletter.
This strategy is pretty much the same as asking to sponsor someone's podcast.
I shift towards this strategy if I know someone has a large/active email list.
*NOTE: Many times my podcast guests are open to just doing a newsletter promo swap for free....so start there.
Now...here's a mental hurdle that I know some of you are going to run into.
Some of you are thinking that you will try out one of these paid strategies once your show starts to make some money.
For many of you....especially if you are promoting your own services on your show....you might not be making money from your show BECAUSE your audience isn't big enough yet.
So, with these strategies we've discussed today, you can make a small investment, grow your audience, and increase your opportunity to earn meaningful income.
📌 Last thing for today:
Next Wednesday, June 24th I'm hosting a free virtual workshop called:
Podcast Growth Without Social Media.
I'm going to go through five strategies I've used to cross 1 million podcast downloads that have nothing to do with being on social media.
Talk to you next week!
Your Pod Pal,
Adam
⭐️ P.S. Here's the scoop on my podcast episode this week!
🎙️ Podcasting Business School EP 626: Tips for improving your podcast content strategy.
This is a special audience Q&A episode where I play audio clips with questions from podcast listeners and then I answer them.
Here are the four questions I answer in this episode:
1. How often can we use a testimonial in our podcast intro?
2. How can I maximize organic discovery for my podcast if it isn't in a listed category?
3. How can I make my podcast intro and outro un-skippable?
4. How can I get high level guests on my podcast?