It’s almost Spring in the United States! As a new season approaches, the timing is perfect to review what has been working and what has not. One area of podcasting many tend to focus on is promotion. What if your podcast marketing could be better? Are you reaching enough listeners or do you want more?

The truth is listener growth can often be slow. The caveat to this is if your show has a large following at the outset and/or a large marketing budget. For the majority of indie podcasters, the adage “slow and steady” wins the race is fitting and holds a lot of truth to it.

A steady output of quality content is a proven path to podcast listener growth over time.

Like Veruca Salt from the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, who wanted a golden goose...you are probably reading this and thinking, “But, Darlene…I WANT IT NOW!”

I understand. Since I don’t want to see you fall to the same fate as Veruca, I’ve pulled together a few of my podcasting promotion tips in this month’s newsletter. As with all the information I share…none are hard and fast rules. Use my examples to inspire you (and your audience) and don’t shy from adding your own twist to make these your own. Go ahead, pick one (or more) give these a try.

1. Use the power of technology to your advantage! Texting and podcasting can be impactful marketing partners to boost your show’s reach. Imagine the increased number of listeners using smartphones you could reach if only you created a SMS channel for your podcast or brand. Yeah. Creating a way for these listeners to opt into news and information about your podcast via text makes sense! This article by Zapier outlines some of the SMS apps available today.

2. Don't skip including a call to action within each episode. Invite listeners to share the podcast or episode with a friend. Remind them to subscribe or follow. The call-to-action doesn’t need to be long-winded. Keep it simple. You can drop CTAs at any point throughout the episode. You don’t need to hold it until the very end.

3. Be a guest on other podcasts! This is one of the best ways to grow the reach of your show. Why? The most accessible audience to convert to listeners of your show are those already listening to podcasts. When you appear as a guest on another podcast and the host asks where others can reach you, invite the audience to listen to your podcast and connect with you there.

4. And lastly, remember this, it's not your job to be everything to everyone. Deliver your messages as genuinely as possible, and your people will find you. Guaranteed.

Some tried-and-true things will work when promoting your podcast, like guesting on podcasts or making complementary video content that gets many views (TikTok is great for this).

For other promotion ideas, it’s genuinely a Wonka moment in the making, “Take a look, and you'll see into your imagination...” Think up an idea, plan it out, and try it! And if that one idea doesn’t work as expected, mix things up. Or, in the famous words of Wonka himself, “Strike That. Reverse It."

You never know what will happen.