Podcast Branding and How to Do It Right

From the marketing to the branding design and detailed target audience research, here’s how to nail your podcast branding in a few steps.

Podcasters know the importance of brand awareness for growing their listener base and breaking their own records with each new episode. The charm and competence of the podcast host, the quality of the podcast episodes, as well as the platforms where the show can be streamed, are the key steps you need to take to start off a successful brand. But, there are more small tips that will help you rise above the average, and make your own podcast a force to be reckoned with.

Read more about branding tips that apply in podcasting and will help your number of subscribers rise quickly.

Focus on your audience with the right messaging

A brand voice of your podcast is the most important step towards creating a brand identity. Anything, from a specific industry terminology to a relaxed and engaging way of expressing yourself, can be your podcast’s voice. Don’t try to imitate or mimic famous podcast hosts, but try to be uniquely you and use the best of your knowledge to do that.

The thing that most attracts people to listen to a podcast, apart from the exquisite content, of course, is the charm and personal qualities that the host possesses, and the specific tone of voice.

Famous podcasts often use social media to announce their latest guests and topics or share key takeaways from new episodes. Sometimes, social media can be used to provide a more visual aspect of your podcast.

We already mentioned marketing on social media platforms, and that means having an engaging and fun digital marketing strategy for relevant media. Based on your core audience group, you can position yourself on any media, from Twitter to TikTok.

As with any good marketing strategy, you need to start with good research. Who exactly is your podcast for? Who is your ideal audience? Any brand strategist would tell you to start by niching down your target audience as much as possible, and then find the correct messaging for them. Is your podcast about digital marketing? Then, market it on LinkedIn, forums where marketers frequent, bring in important thought leaders for them and engage in good content marketing about it.

Is it meant for Gen Z audiences to listen to it? Use the correct tone of voice and definitely don’t sponsor it on Facebook. Build a bold and noticeable visual. Everything must be on brand for you to attract the right audience.

You need to build and solidify a picture of your audience, and then build your brand with that picture in mind.

Engage audiences through social media

One such example is the My Favourite Murder weekly podcast, which uses its Twitter profile to share photos of cases they cover in their comical murder mystery show. It’s a smart way to add a face to the story and make their fans visit social media to have a complete overview of the episode.

Even super-famous podcast hosts such as Conan O’Brien use social media to announce their (also famous) guests. If you’re a small and up-and-coming podcast you might feel like this is not too much of a useful trick, but tagging your guests and reaching their personal following that way is a small growth hack that will bring some extra eyes to your social media profiles.

Finally, you can tease people to play your new podcast with key takeaways or snippets. Offer them a bite-sized video or quote post, and they will be intrigued to play the rest.

And if you’re considering paid social media marketing, keep in mind that you can always sponsor a post or create an ad, but find the right platform for your audience first.

Establish a strong brand voice

Whether it’s brand-specific language, a catchy tagline, or an “insider joke” that listeners will know, form a language that is unique to your podcast and brand only.

Build a unique visual identity

Call us partial, but a good visual identity makes all the difference. Having a unique podcast logo and cover art, as well as a visual language that is unique and makes your brand distinguishable is a great way to make people notice your podcast. Imagine you’re a listener scrolling through Apple Podcasts or Stitcher, and suddenly you see a bold design that looks completely different from all the vectors and usual stuff. Chances are they’ll click, listen to a podcast or two, and then if they like it, they’ll turn to be your fan.

Your visual identity should, of course, be in line with your content and style. If it’s fun, quirky, comical, experimental, translate that into your logo. Is it professional, educational and needs to be taken seriously? Stick to a more conventional look. We judge things with our eyes first, so you don’t want to lend a wrong impression.

Infuse the host’s personal brand in the marketing strategy

If your podcast has a host who is considered to be an expert in a given industry or has fame of their own, you should piggyback on that status. There’s plenty of startup owners and marketers who have their own podcasts in which they share their expertise. Or, on the other side of podcast fame, there are many people who were previously famous as comedians, content creators, or even journalists, but are now famous podcast hosts.

The Joe Rogan Experience, probably the most famous and definitely the most expensive podcast deal, is a perfect reflection of the erratic, comical and experimental nature of the comedian and actor himself. The wide array of guests and topics definitely contribute to the popularity of this podcast, but Rogan and his personality are the stars of it.

Or, take the example of The Tim Ferriss Show. As a successful investor and entrepreneur, the host himself offers a lot of value to the listeners: startup owners and innovators who need industry experience and guidance. The podcast is a reflection of his personal brand and experience and the overall brand identity is very much in line with his personal marketing.

Interview important industry players and influencers

This is more of an editorial than an actual branding trick, but interviewing important players of your respective industry, or famous people can bring your podcast certain fame. A lot of people who follow your guests will listen to the podcast mostly because of them, but they might stay if they like it.

I remember when I first saw Hot Ones because of Gordon Ramsey but kept watching the show every Thursday. And yes, it’s not easy to book a huge name or even reach them, but if you manage to land one big influencer, you can go from there to create a huge following.

Get sponsorships to keep building your brand strategy

Yes, ads are annoying to everyone when listening to a podcast. But, podcast sponsorship can go beyond and you can have branded content that is not so obnoxiously sponsored. Having a sponsor for your podcast, from a small business that needs a marketing boost, to a huge platform that uses content creators’ following for campaigns, can offer you extra funds to reinvest in your brand strategy. And, of course, it improves visibility and credibility too.

Learn from branded podcasts and marketing podcasts

Finally, you can learn from other podcasts how to build your own brand. Podcasts such as On Brand with Nick Westergaard, or Let’s Talk Branding have thousands of tips and success stories that can give you a plethora of ideas.

Or, find a branded podcast that a company uses as an extra marketing tool to improve sales. Snacknation has The Brand Builder, Zendium has 2 Minutes of Zen, Salesforce has its Developer Podcast (and a few others!)… All of these industry giants invested in podcasts, because they are aware of their popularity at the moment. Their complete and detailed branding can be a sort of a blueprint that you can follow on your path to making your own podcast’s brand.