Podcast promoters offering their services on LinkedIn and Fiverr claim they’ll bag you more listeners and fast-track your podcast to the top of the charts. If you’ve been in the podcast game for long, you’ll likely have come across them (or probably will soon enough).
These promoters typically offer to boost a few different podcast analytics – download numbers, 5-star reviews count and subscribers. Normally for a very low cost, too.
So, a few hundred downloads for a fiver or so.
Are these boosts in numbers actually beneficial to your podcast, though? Do these metrics on their own equal podcast growth?
PODCAST PROMOTERS PROMISES
In the worst-case scenario, you might find that some podcast promoters will promise you these analytics boosts and they simply don’t follow through. Obviously, in this case, it’s completely not worth your time and money. I would like to think though, that most podcast promoters are offering a genuine service. And typically you’ll be able to check over reviews from other customers if they’re on a freelancer platform.
But even if they do succeed in getting you a few hundred or even thousands of extra downloads or subscribers, what does this actually achieve?
Firstly, let’s talk about how they’re achieving these analytics boosts.
They may use some of these tactics –
- Creating hundreds of fake iTunes and Spotify accounts and subscribing to your podcast with them
- Using ‘keyword stuffing’ tricks to move your show up the search rankings
- Spamming links to your show in ‘listen for listen’ type social media groups
- Using bots to achieve any of these tactics
Now, does this actually help your podcast grow?
A rapid boost in downloads can be what pushes you to the top of the Apple Podcasts charts for a few days, but you’ll drop off as quickly as you moved up. And so will all these new ‘listeners’.
These new ‘listeners’ aren’t real fans. They won’t stick around. They may not even be real people. And most of the ones who are don’t care about your message.
They won’t give genuine referrals to their friends.
They won’t enter your marketing funnel and buy your products.
And they won’t create lasting growth for your podcast.
And if this wasn’t enough to put you off, there’s a good chance that your whole show could be removed from the podcast platforms for violating terms of use. Thus, destroying all of the hard work that you have put in so far.
I know that seeing your numbers go up is rewarding and motivating. But real growth and real fans engaging with you is far more rewarding! It just takes a bit longer.
HOW TO REALLY GROW YOUR PODCAST
To be clear, I’m referring to the (usually) low-cost podcast promotors who promise you large analytical boosts very quickly. I’m not referring to marketers who will work with you and your brand long-term.
If you have the money to invest, you could consider outsourcing the marketing to a marketer or agency that will take a holistic approach. Getting to know you and your audience before creating a long-term marketing strategy that gets real results and real fans.
Ultimately though, it’s down to you producing consistent, quality content and showing up for your ideal listener. If your budget is low, you can promote your podcast yourself by hanging out and making connections in platforms and groups where your ideal listeners hang out.
For your own pages/channels, posting companion content for each episode to draw listeners in, such as short audiogram clips, helps to boost click-throughs to your podcast.
Creating your own piece of lead magnet content and advertising it through call-to-actions in your episodes and on your website can help to bring people into your podcast’s mailing list and turn them into long-term fans.
FOCUS ON THE REAL RESULTS
All this to say, I know it can be tempting to focus on the analytics right from the start. And it can be disheartening to see low numbers even after you’ve put out a few dozen episodes. But it takes time to see real results. And it’s all about the people – the real listeners who will engage with you and your content and will shout about your podcast from the rooftops.
Build a community of real fans and the results will follow. 📢
There’s a lot more depth to go into in terms of marketing your podcast and getting more listeners. Check out more posts on our blog.
