**Guest post by Bruce Wawrzyniak, who runs Now Hear This, Inc. and www.InterviewTipsCourse.com.

+20-Plus Ways to Promote Part 1

"13. Gimmicks.

As of the day after tomorrow I will have done a combined total of 460 podcast episodes. Rest assured that when that number hits 500, people will know about it. Just like… One gimmick of mine that I’ll point to [and for musicians this might be “It has been one year to the day since my (title) album came out” or for authors, “It was exactly one month ago today that my new book (title) came out.”] was when I hit the four-year anniversary of my podcast. I had a bakery do four cupcakes in my show colors. One had an N on top. One had an H, one had a T, and one had an E. Four letters, four cupcakes, four years. I took a picture of them and posted it on my Facebook page, my personal Facebook timeline, in my podcast’s Facebook group, on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and in my e-newsletter. Heck, I even put the photo up as a post on my podcast’s Patreon campaign. You can also highlight show milestones (i.e. episode 50, episode 100, and so on). Get creative!

14. Cross promote, cross promote, and then cross promote.

I write a blog here every Monday on this website and more often than not refer to my podcast, with a link over to it, of course. I will also refer to other blogs that have been written, with links over to those. Occasionally on the podcast I’ll be heard saying, “I wrote a blog about this recently. Listeners, go to NHTE.net and click into the Blog section to go read that.” It keeps people engaged with the content that you’re creating. Plus…

+The Benefits of Collaborating with Fellow Artists

15. eBook.

This ties in nicely with the above in that – while I’m re-purposing content from the podcast to fill the eBook – I have links throughout so that readers can click to go and hear the interview that what they’re reading about was pulled from. Don’t create more work for yourself. My eBooks are a convenient workbook so that listeners don’t have to start all the way back at episode 1 to find out where I gave out the tip and what it was. Plus, remember this – There might be someone who finds the eBooks (or finds the blog) that didn’t know I have a podcast. Now they do. ((wink)) Musicians, authors … write a blog, turn a (big) collection of them into an eBook. There, I just combined this and #14 for you. You’re welcome!

16. Refer to past episodes of your podcast.

This might be my favorite out of this whole list. (Stick with me musicians and authors because I’ve got something on this for you too.) Just like with movie lines, I have a bizarre mental rolodex of past interviews that I’ve done. When I hear a guest talking about something that jogs my memory in relation to a previous conversation that I’ve had with someone I’ll say, “Wow, I’m glad you brought that up. That’s a lot like what I talked about with (guest’s name) back on Episode (number). Listeners, if you never heard that episode, go back and listen to my interview with (guest’s name).” I also will put a link to it on the show notes page, but, what happens then is they go listen to that one, only to hear me employing the same tactic and sending them off to another related episode. And so on. (By the way, this also helps you become a better interviewer because it forces you to make sure you’re listening closely to what each guest is talking about.) Musicians and authors, when you’re being interviewed, do a version of this yourself, which is to say, “It’s actually like a song I had on my previous release, titled xx…” or “It’s similar to something I wrote in my first book, (title)…”

+Interview Tips for Musicians on the Publicity Circuit

17. Do a “Best Of” episode.

(Musicians – are you at a point in your career where you could do a Greatest Hits release or a Retrospective? Authors – if you’ve written three books that all go together, package the trilogy rather than only selling them individually.) Podcasters, not too different from the above, it enables you to tease – in one episode – a number of past podcasts you put out, in such a way that the listener will want to go hear other episodes that you’ve put out. PLUS, I did this three times (NHTE 101, NHTE 203, and NHTE 301) and each time I emailed the dozen guests who were featured on each and let them know of this exclusive club they were in and voila, now I had 12 additional people promoting an episode for me!

18. Start a second podcast.

(Musicians. Only perform solo? Join a band!) Yup, it sounds like a daunting task, but, think about it. If someone comes to your new/second show but doesn’t know about the first, you’ll mention it and suddenly get folks listening to the one you’ve been doing all along. When TASCAM hired me to do a podcast for them, I was sure to ask for this allowance. Similarly, if you look at the website for my weekly “Catholic Sports Radio” podcast, you’ll see that I have ads running that say, “Are you a music fan too? Check out Bruce’s other podcast.”

19. Contact constituents who were mentioned on your podcast.

Musicians and authors, remember in #12 above when I promised something for you later on that? Here it is. Podcasters – I interviewed a drummer who talked about the endorsement that he had, which led me to write to that drum company and tell them that this artist did that for them. They will thank you, puff their chest out, and put it out on their social media (and possibly their website and/or newsletter). Musicians and authors – If you appeal to a certain group (you just wrote a song about a cancer survivor or your new book is about aging), then contact relevant groups to see what you can collaborate on (i.e., for the two examples I mentioned it would be the American Cancer Society – perhaps start with a local chapter – and AARP, respectively).

+Tour Sponsorship: How Creativity Can Become Dollars

20. Record on-location (with branding).

When I do an interview on-site somewhere, not only do I wear a shirt, as recommended above, but I have a tabletop banner that I pop up so that passersby can quickly see what the interview is being done for. As seen in the accompanying photo, I even have branded mic flags to promote my podcast. Musicians and authors can do this even if it isn’t something that sticks. As in, a “pop up recording session” or an “impromptu brain dump at Starbucks where I put thoughts to paper towards planning my next book. Grab a coffee with me. Ask questions.”

21. Ask someone you know to listen (or read) and provide feedback.

Have the confidence, of course, that they’re going to like what they hear (or read). But, know that this will make them feel trusted and almost part of the team. They will then become a promoter and tell friends about it. (“Yeah, he even asked me to listen/read and give him a little feedback. I was able to give him some advice that I’m going to be listening/watching to see if he uses.”)

22. Give a number for listeners to call.

These people too will become a street team and tell others, “Listen to this episode of this podcast. They played back a voicemail I left on their message line.” Now all of a sudden other people are bringing listeners to your podcast.

+Why I Ditched Music Streaming Services (for the moment) and Bought A 1-800 Number

23. Have a banner day.

If you’re going to do enough on-site events, invest in a standup (also called rollup) banner that stands taller than you are but also perhaps even the tabletop version. Don’t overload it with information, though. A relevant picture (or two), a website address, and text that will allow you to use it for some time to come (in other words, musicians should have a banner for themselves and not for their latest release and authors should do the same, otherwise you’ll both be spending lots of money on banners every time you put out something new).

24. Use other podcasts.

Get yourself interviewed on other podcasts, yes, but consider advertising (either a paid placement or trading ads with another show that makes sense/has relevance). Musicians – your version of this would be playing on other artists’ songs and/or guesting at one of their live gigs. Authors – your version of this would be collaborating on something so that you could join in on your writing partner’s signing or launch event.

The list is lengthy, I know. Rome wasn’t built in a day. But start chipping away at it. Use it as a checklist. See how many of these you can employ. And throughout it, if you feel overwhelmed and think you just can’t manage the time to try to promote your show, then remember, if not you, then who? Well, okay, you can book a 15-minute power session with me or a 60-minute session, or even hire me so that Now Hear This, Inc. is your publicist and you can focus on just doing what you do and creating what you create. I’d love to hear from you and learn about your goals and objectives and how I can help."

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Bio: 

Bruce Wawrzyniak runs Now Hear This, Inc., which for 15-plus years has managed and promoted indie artists. His online class at www.InterviewTipsCourse.com teaches you how to get more results from TV, radio, and podcast interviews AND it contains more than 15 sources for finding more interview opportunities.