Since I’m a glutton a punishment, I’ll give out another genius idea for free. One centered around intruding the already crowded subconscious of today’s targeted demographic. To help boost the subscriptions of overlooked podcasts and explore a new avenue for ad placement.
It’s no secret that everyone and their mother has a podcast nowadays. That’s more true for Barstool Sports than anyone, who literally have a mother/daughter podcast with Alex Bennett and Kontent Kim. Personally, I haven’t listened to their podcast but every run in I’ve had with the pair, I’ve found them very funny and talented. But under the Barstool umbrella that boasts 100+ podcasts on the Apple Podcasts app, how do you stand out?
Let me be clear, this is not a “Because I Said So” blog. But rather a how to promote any podcast working hard to enter the fold.
First of all, you’re never going to get one person to consume all content. It just isn’t possible, I get that. When and where do people listen to podcasts? Commute to work, workouts, maybe while falling asleep? Let’s say you have a forty five minute commute to and from work. You workout for an hour and you listen for a half hour before going to bed. That gives you three hours for podcasts. That’s what? Maybe two podcasts? With most people capped out, how do you squeeze into their repertoire?
There’s mainly two types of podcasts. A general, all-encompassing type and a niche, or seasonal podcast.
The first kind, the casting a wide net podcasts normally run all year round. That’s your Pardon My Takes, your DPSs, your Le Batards, your CITOs, your Rogans, your Macafees. They cover everything and anything. Usually hosts of these shows already had an established relationship with it’s audience for years before starting a podcast. That’s why it’s so difficult to walk on the scene, declare you have a podcast, and expect it to blow up without anyone knowing who you are.
The second kind, is a specific topic looking to corner a targeted category. It could be all year long unless it follows a specific sport or show. That’s your business centered Token CEO, your poker centered Cracking Aces, your Bench Mobs, your Snuffing Torches. You get the gist. If potential listeners aren’t interested in your vocation or feel they don’t have the capacity to fit you in for a couple of months, how do you get them to give you a chance?
To figure that out we need to start at the beginning. The opening of anything new sees an influx of new temporary patrons. Whether it’s a new restaurant, a new gym, or a new podcast. That’s why the new Chick-Fil-A in my town had an hour drive thru wait the first few weeks. If you don’t grab their attention immediately or have that aforementioned previous relationship, you could lose them forever. The irony is that you’re being judged for your product at the worst possible time. Most podcasts need time to develop. Chemistry, successful segments, and voice aren’t fully established in the first few episodes.
So how do you reel them back in once you have a finished product? Promotion, sure. But where’s that promotion? On their podcast’s Instagram and Twitter page? But why would I be following the social media page of a podcast I don’t subscribe to? The only people seeing that promotion are the consumers you already have locked in. Yes, maybe some clips find themselves on to the main Barstool account story, but that gets lost in the shuffle sandwiched between baby photos and the dinner of the girl in my stats class from five years ago.
We have short attention spans. If a good podcast clip is followed by a funny dog video, I’m going to forget the podcast completely. But what if it was only podcast clips?
You have to force our smooth brains to ingest the content we’d otherwise dismiss or scroll past. We’re creatures of habit, become part of the habit.
There’s no such thing as down time any more. Not really. Even when you’re doing nothing, you’re doing something. Everyone has a specific lineup that they run through on their phone. My personal lineup is: Barstool blogs, Twitter, Instagram posts, Snapchat stories, back to Twitter for trends, back to Instagram for stories, and then the end all be all is Tik Tok because I can get lost for hours.
But what if Barstool podcasts squeezed their way in unannounced? Right at the top of the top blogs of the day, what if there was a Barstool Stories button. I’m not talking about making me go to a new tab, people won’t give even that amount of minimal effort to disrupt their routine. But right there on the main page, if after I’m done catching up on the blogs, if there was an option to see short clips of all things Barstool, I’d click it.
It’d give opportunity to new podcasts trying to showcase their talent to an audience they’ve been unable to reach for a plethora of reasons. Show how funny, or insightful, or dedicated they are. Another slot for advertisers to stake their claim. Another reason to stay on your page. Another way to remind consumers of important dates and announcements. A mainline into the brains of your consumers for all things Barstool without any outside distraction.
I don’t enjoy Instagram stories. But it’s become woven into the fabric of what I do when I open my phone. I’m not even really paying attention. But I can still tell what gym someone who I haven’t talked to in years goes to, or who was recently engaged, who’s currently watching Sopranos, and who was just on vacation. Because even when mindlessly scrolling, our brains are still turned on. Weave yourself into the fabric, become part of the habit. Barstool Stories.
