How To Publicize?

[NeilShapiro]

Well, I'm feeling a little bit down. After a couple months of podcasting I am disappointed to have very few subscribers. I am wondering how long it usually takes to ramp up a listener base? And, I could sure use some tips on how to go about getting any sort of publicity that might help. Indeed, if anyone wants to crosslink or such let me know.

My podcast is BOOK HOBBY and the feed is feeds.feedburner.com/bookhobbycom or you can download it here on Podcast Alley or listen to it on my main site of www.bookhobby.com.

If anyone has any ideas or tips, suggestions or methods as to how I should best proceed I would surely appreciate hearing. Thanks!

neil@bookhobby.com

[philrossimusic]

Neil,

First of all, do not despair. I see you've got, what, four episodes under your belt? The unspoken rule is "hold off on heavy promotion until you make it through 5 episodes". It's not a fast and hard rule (and I broke it gleefuly), but if you're new to podcasting it's not a bad idea. It enables you to work things out and get cozy in that 'casters seat.

That being said: Do you have a promo for you podcast? If you don't, make one. Get it out to podcasts that are in a similiar interest area as your own (writing podcasts, book review podcasts, etc...). Post on forums. Reach out to people on social networks (i.e. MySpace, LiveJournal). Get on as many podcasting directories as you can find.

There is no fast and easy way to promote a podcast and the podcast won't do it for you. You've gotta wade into the mud and get dirty. Don't be afraid to be shameless. It's an ongoing process. You need to promote yourself in some way shape or form daily.

Two good books:
Podcasting for Dummies
Tricks of the Podcasting Masters


Hope that's helpful.

Cheers,
Phil Rossi

[NeilShapiro]

Thanks, Phil. I should have show #5 uploaded over the weekend so I guess it's a good time to start. I like the idea of a demo sweeper and can put one together fairly quickly. Are there any venues where people swap promo sweepers? Or is my best bet just to listen to various podcasts and send blind emails to the casters offering to swap playing sweepers? How long should such a demo sweeper be? Thanks for your help!

[WyethDigital]

Welcome to podcasting's seamy underside... Guerilla Marketing! :D

I would Google or search the forums for topics and sites related to promo swaps. They're out there. I suppose they can be helpful, but I've never used them, mostly because they seem to relate to audio more than video.

It's a good idea to hit up other podcasters for advice and promotion, so you're on the right track. As mentioned above, participate in an online community. I don't care if it's a podcasting community, one related to your podcast topic, or just MySpace (we use it, but eeewww!)! You need to be visible! And put your links in your signature line on every forum that you belong to that allows it. Stop reading and go do it! Now! (I think you get the idea that it should be a priority)

Participate in review-swapping threads at places like Podcast Alley and Podcast Pickle, especially if it relates to iTunes. You get enough reviews fast enough, iTunes staff will take note. If they also like your podcast's artwork (300 x 300 pixels, and attractive), they see a niche they'd like to promote, and you give them a good vibe, they may feature you. I can attest that it works... We've been featured on the iTunes front page in varying degrees of prominence four times now in less than a year. Downloads don't usually spike, they go off the scale!

Finally, if I may be blunt, there are 70,000 podcasts out there. You have four or five episodes. Do the math. The point is, it takes time to build an audience. If you're discouraged now, how will you be doing after ten shows? I'm not trying to be callous, just trying to drive home the point that you have to love what you do first, and care about gaining an audience second. If you give #1 the attention and care that it deserves, #2 will follow.

Oh, and make some attractive business cards and leave them places.


Good luck!

Eric

PS -- Quit counting subscriptions! Subscribers only equal potential consumers. You need to count downloads! Downloads equal real consumers! remember, downloads are the magic number!

Okay, I've had enough caffeine for tonight...

[NeilShapiro]

Thanks for that advice! I found on the Forum here a nice list of blogs, sites and podcasts which review podcasts and I have already contacted a couple -- and even had one nice email back already from one of the reviewers.

I like the idea of developing a signature line such as you have but what is the html coding you are using so that you are getting links that have a different name then the page they send you to? Would the method work on other Forums and areas too?

I guess there's no way to actually submit a podcast to iTunes for front page inclusion? I know they have a category called Books on the front page that we would fit into nicely.

Thank you again for your help!

Neil
BOOK HOBBY "Books Are More Precious Than Gold"
http://feeds.feedburner.com/bookhobbycom

[WyethDigital]

I like the idea of developing a signature line such as you have but what is the html coding you are using so that you are getting links that have a different name then the page they send you to? Would the method work on other Forums and areas too?
It's called BB code. It's similar to HTML in behavior, but is simpler. What you need to do is use the appropriate tag on either end of the word or image you want to act as the link. Of course, if you want to use an image, you need to host it somewhere. I'd be careful about how many images and URLs you use in a signature line, as there is a character limit.

So to link to an image like the one in my sig line:

http://www.howtogirl.com/images/howto_full_banner.jpg (http://www.howtogirl.com)

...You need to first add the img tags to your picture's URL. Like this:

http://www.howtogirl.com/images/howto_full_banner.jpg

To attach a link back to your website to the image, you would simply wrap the image's URL in img tags, then add wrap the img tags in the BB Code URL tags using your site's address:

http://www.howtogirl.com/images/howto_full_banner.jpg

Not all bulletin boards allow a sig line (most do), and some have different rules. How it works is determined by the board software and administrator.

I guess there's no way to actually submit a podcast to iTunes for front page inclusion? I know they have a category called Books on the front page that we would fit into nicely.

No, there's not. Performance, quality, luck, and artwork are the keys to being featured.

Eric

[Rasheed]

PS -- Quit counting subscriptions! Subscribers only equal potential consumers. You need to count downloads! Downloads equal real consumers! remember, downloads are the magic number!

Okay, I've had enough caffeine for tonight...
Luckily, webforums are as timeshifted as podcasts. I like my coffee in the morning.

Please could you explain why downloads equal potential customers? I always thought that subscribers were your real audience, because they have taken the trouble of subscribing to your podcast, and downloaders were more occasional listeners, not necessarily potential listeners who listen once and then perhaps never again.

So why are downloads more important than subscriptions?

[Bucket]

Because counting subscribers is rather like herding cats. Except you probably have better odds with the cats.

There is no way to reliably count subscribers. The only methods in existence right now involve formulas which amount to guess work. Downloads are easily quantifiable, trackable, and reliable. It is the only statistic you really have which is consistently based in fact with no guesswork applied.

[Rasheed]

Well, it seems to me that neither the number of subscribers nor the number of downloaders are particularly important. Of real importance, imo, is how engaging your podcast is. If more people talk about your podcast than people are actually listening, you have done something good.

I guess when it comes down to it, the most important thing for a podcaster is that (s)he has entertained some people and those people want to hear more. The rest is only to keep podcasting, to pay the bills for hosting, research, new equipment, etc.

So it really shouldn't matter if only 10 people are listening or 1,000,000 , as long as they like what you do and you like that they like it. If you can somehow measure the appreciation people feel for your efforts, that is good enough measurement for most podcasters, I guess.

At least, that is how I think of podcasting, and to be honest, all things in life. If you do what you like and like what you do, you should have a full life worth living.

[WyethDigital]

Well, it seems to me that neither the number of subscribers nor the number of downloaders are particularly important. Of real importance, imo, is how engaging your podcast is. If more people talk about your podcast than people are actually listening, you have done something good.
This is also true, but feedback is hard to quantify if you want to find advertisers. As motivation however, there's nothing better.

In the absence of feedback, stats become your motivation. It took a month and and a half before we got feedback that wasn't from another podcaster or in some way solicited by us, and when we read it, it was cool!

I guess when it comes down to it, the most important thing for a podcaster is that (s)he has entertained some people and those people want to hear more. The rest is only to keep podcasting, to pay the bills for hosting, research, new equipment, etc.
I'll file this under the "content is king" philosophy, which is absolutely true. There's a reason someone is consuming a podcast versus the content spoon fed to us by the mass media. But don't downplay the business side of podcasting. The two can work together. I've gotten jobs because of our podcast.

So it really shouldn't matter if only 10 people are listening or 1,000,000 , as long as they like what you do and you like that they like it. If you can somehow measure the appreciation people feel for your efforts, that is good enough measurement for most podcasters, I guess.
I agree, but most podcasters are hobbyists. There's nothing wrong with that, and IMO I think that's what keeps this medium fresh. But there's also room for podcasting as a business, which is our approach. We're not the only ones who see it that way. That is why stats and downloads are important.

At least, that is how I think of podcasting, and to be honest, all things in life. If you do what you like and like what you do, you should have a full life worth living.
That's a good way of thinking of it, Rasheed, and it's why we've been doing this for over a year.

Eric

[Bucket]

Eric is dead on with what I was trying to say. Of course personal satisfaction and one's personal measure of success (as well as that of one's audience) is more likely to be tied to things like quality and audience engagement. And as far as a personal feeling of success and worth, those are excellent benchmarks.

They just aren't benchmarks that can be quantified for the world at large. If you are after a quantifiable measure of success, you're back to downloads.

[philrossimusic]

Agreed. Success is subjective.

It could be numbers. It could be feedback. It could be the pure satisfaction of putting a show out consistently. It could be dirty pictures sent via email.

Also, your impression of success and how you derive satisfaction from podcasting can change over time.