7 Podcast email marketing practices you should know

Podcast marketing has gained attraction during the past few years. Studies have found that 55% of the US population has at some point listened to a podcast. 80% listen to all or most of each podcast episode, at an average of 7 podcasts per week.

This proves that podcast marketing has the potential to benefit your business:

• Podcasts increase customers’ bonding with your brand
• It engages with customers on the go, who are usually too busy to interact with any of your marketing efforts (like video marketing for example)
• Podcasts tend to humanize faceless brands and gives them depth, a voice, and a human touch that customers need to connect with your brand.

Many other benefits of podcast marketing can be listed. But, if you are reading this article, you probably already know them and are looking for ideas to promote your podcast via email.

This is exactly what we will cover in this blog post. We will give you actionable steps accompanied by real podcast email examples.

Podcast teaser emails

Treat your new podcast as a product launch. Before launching a new podcast, you usually tease it: increase suspense around this upcoming release. This will get your audience intrigued, and they will be more engaged when the podcast is launched.

In your podcast teaser email, hint to your email list that something interesting will be released soon.

Podcast release email

Podcast experts advise preparing and releasing at least 3 episodes on your podcast launch day. This is a tactic that will keep your audience hooked from the beginning. If you only release one episode, your audience will most likely not get invested in your podcast and won’t return for the next episodes.

By launching at least three episodes at once, listeners can binge them and loyalty will increase more with each episode.

Now that you have prepared your podcast episodes and published them on hosting platforms like Spotify or Apple Podcasts, you need to share this news with your current customer email list.

Name, introducing The Drawing Board—Udacity’s podcast focused on discovery

Podcast email newsletter

Once the big release is completed, you need to set up a periodic podcast email newsletter, sent out each month (or whichever period you choose),  to promote every new episode release.

You can start by creating a master email template that you can reuse for every new episode. Master email templates allow you to adapt content without worrying about email design.

You can see here the podcast email newsletter examples from The Slowdown.

Time Sensitive Podcast Ep. 8: Stefan Sagmeister

Notice how the same email design and layout are reused for two different podcast campaigns. This practice not only saves time for the email marketing team but also creates a habit for the audience that will get used to your podcast’s branding.

Time Sensitive Podcast Ep. 9: Elizabeth Diller

Podcast series email

You can prepare and release a one-time podcast. It’s a series of 4-6 episodes that are released in one shot. Podcast series can be a great way to test this marketing strategy and see if it works for your brand or not.

It can also be a good medium to treat a single topic in depth.

After releasing your podcast series, you should announce it to your audience. You can follow the example of Harney & Sons: they start off with the title of the podcast series. They then introduce the podcast in a concise yet informative description and end it off with an actionable sentence that sets the mood for the listener.

Two calls to action are added to accommodate both Android and iOS users.

For Harney Insiders: Check Out Our Podcast, As the Tea Steeps

Podcast compilation email

Podcast compilation can mean two things:

• You are either repurposing your old podcast content into a new “best of” or “mash-up” episode
• Or you are compiling a list of interesting podcasts you think your subscribers would be interested in.

Repurposing previous podcast content

A lot of time, effort, and resources go into producing a single podcast episode. You want to make it profitable for your brand.

One way to do that is to repurpose your podcast audio material to create bonus episodes, or like Wistia put it: “uncut interviews”.

Top takeaways from our podcast 🙌

Podcast suggestions

For those of us who believe in the power of podcasts but have not yet produced their own episodes, you can start testing the water with a podcast compilation newsletter.

In this email, you can send your customers a list of podcast suggestions. Podcasts should talk about topics that are closely related to your brand, values, products, etc.

You can then follow open and click rates to see if your audience is intrigued by this form of entertainment.

It also allows you to provide raw value to your customers, without trying to sell them anything.

Your customers will then perceive you as a more human, pertinent element in their lives, and not just another company endlessly promoting discounts.

Bonus podcast episodes

This tactic doesn’t apply to everyone, but if you are hosting multiple podcasts that treat various topics, you can send your email list a promotional email that provides new podcast suggestions.

Based on listeners’ behavior (which podcast each subscriber likes to listen to), you can suggest new podcast material.

This podcast email sent by Luminary does exactly that in a fun and engaging way.

They are very straightforward in their email copy: “Like this? Try this.”

Listens for your long weekend

Wrapping up

Podcast marketing strengthens customer engagement, gives your brand a voice, and increases your visibility. However, it takes a lot of preparation and effort to roll out even one episode. And then comes the podcast promotion. From podcast teaser emails to bonus episode newsletters, your options are limitless. All you need is a good idea and an email builder like Chamaileon to help you achieve your vision.