Podcast Promotion

3 Email Marketing Examples to Engage Your Podcast Audience

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Podcasters are accustomed to checking things off their list while preparing their episodes. Creating valuable content, checking their intonation was on point and the audio was clear, and providing all the right answers. And while all these components are non-negotiable, it usually takes much more to create a podcast that will make an impact.

The numbers above show that podcasts are a dominant source of information and entertainment. But seeing that there are millions of active podcasts, that’s a lot of competition. 

Great content, clear sound, and captivating visuals will get you so far. So, what is the secret ingredient missing? The answer is simple: loyal listeners. They are the ones that will listen to every episode, share it with their connections, or offer you their reviews to use as social proof. 

How can you get the loyal listeners that your podcasts deserve? There is a bulletproof way to create a trusting and long-term relationship with your audience while differentiating yourself from the competition, and that’s email marketing. 

In this article, we will explore the benefits email marketing brings to your podcast promotion and present you with the most effective email marketing examples to drive podcast audience engagement.

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You may be a podcast creator, but you’re also a podcast marketer. Make sure you know how to promote a podcast by reading our ultimate podcast marketing guide.

Why is Email Marketing Important for Your Podcast Success?

One of the basic problems associated with podcasts is the interaction with your audience is usually over once the episode comes to an end. This is where podcast email marketing comes in to facilitate connecting with your listeners when they tune out. Creating targeted email campaigns offers you endless possibilities, from sharing teasers of upcoming episodes to asking your audience for feedback. But let’s get into the details of it.

1. Personalized communication

Email marketing is known for creating personalized experiences for subscribers. By adding personalization elements to your email campaigns, you let them know you have gone the extra mile to make them feel special. You can tailor your message to fit each recipient’s needs, demographics, and interests. That sounds like a challenge, right? 

Thankfully, email marketing services such as Sendinblue and top Sendinblue alternatives help you customize communication with your subscribers. There are tons of personalization options, from adding personalization elements to each email campaign to sending automated emails to welcome new subscribers or bring cart abandoners back to your website. You could also handle communication with CRM software. This type of audience engagement helps you build trust and keeps your podcast top of mind.

2. Control over the channel and the message

Email is a marketing channel you have full and constant control of. It allows you to collect and manage recipient data, eliminating any chance of losing valuable information. Not only that, but you can segment recipients according to that data and send customized messages to each of them. Email marketing gives you full control over your message while ensuring that it gets delivered through the increased deliverability rates most ESPs provide. 

In social media platforms, every piece of followers’ information is managed by a third party. If you combine that with the constantly changing social media algorithms, it imposes a serious threat to your marketing efforts. On the contrary, using email campaigns to market your podcasts gives you secure access to your subscribers’ information.

3. Direct access to audience feedback

By sending out email campaigns to your subscribers regularly, you keep the channel open for all sorts of purposes. One of the most beneficial ones is gathering valuable feedback from them by creating surveys and incorporating them into your emails. 

Ask your audience for feedback and potential suggestions so that upcoming episodes meet their needs and desires. You can offer incentives for them to complete your surveys and then use their insights to improve your overall podcast experience. Aside from that, a vast majority of listeners are more than willing to answer such questions since it shows them that you value their input.

4. Increased conversion rates 

Email marketing is your go-to channel for driving conversions since it targets people who have already shown interest in your brand. It’s a solid strategy to promote your unique selling proposition, provide educative content, inform recipients about upcoming episodes or other events held by your company, or make recommendations according to each subscriber’s habits. 

This makes it one of the most effective tactics to influence prospective customers at every stage of your sales funnel. With all the automation and segmentation options it offers, you can dispatch targeted email campaigns to people who are more likely to convert into paying customers. Apart from that, customized emails help you establish a two-way conversation and retain existing customers.

Grow Your Audience with Castos

Castos gives you all the tools and expert guidance you’ll need to create an incredible podcast that will make a lasting impression for your brand.

The 3 Best Email Marketing Examples to Drive Podcast Audience Engagement

With email marketing, you are able to send the right message to the right people at the right time. This is a key benefit when it comes to podcast marketing, enabling you to build a solid community and strengthen your relationship with your listeners. Now let’s get you started on getting the most out of your emails by sharing the best email marketing examples to boost podcast audience engagement.

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Don’t have an email list yet? Check out our complete guide: How to Build an Email List for Your Podcast (Including 12 Tips for Success)

1. Send a warm welcome email

Welcome emails are an important part of your email marketing efforts. That’s because they generate more opens than any other email type and you can automatically send them to subscribers once they sign up for your email list. So, you just need to set up the welcome email automation workflow and let it do all the rest. 

By sending a warm welcome message, you make an excellent first impression and set the groundwork for turning your new email recipients into lifetime listeners. 

Welcome emails are a great opportunity to build brand awareness. Since such an email sets the tone for content to come, make sure it represents your brand tone, shares valuable information, and lets them know what to expect. Last but not least, make it eye-catching and engaging. Don’t go for a long-form copy that goes on and on about your podcasts. Stick to short and straightforward writing, compelling visuals, and include external links for recipients to follow up on your episodes.

Luminary’s welcome email is one of our favorite email marketing examples. It does a great job of getting to the point of the brand’s value proposition. It employs a simple layout, straightforward copy, and actionable and bold CTAs while highlighting the unlimited access that recipients get to the full podcast collection. 

But it doesn’t stop there. In order to urge subscribers to explore podcast options, they display two podcast categories. The first one features award-winning creators, targeting listeners who look for the most qualified podcast content out there. The second one celebrates diverse voices, targeting audience groups that prefer to find diverse content that resonates with their unique desires and experiences.

2. Combine announcing new episodes with valuable content

The ultimate goal of creating a podcast email marketing campaign is informing recipients about upcoming episodes and urging them to listen to them. Is that enough, though? To convert listeners into paying customers, you need to do a bit more than dispatch regular newsletters to promote every new episode release.

Sharing valuable content in your email campaigns is an effective way to convert leads through your content. Email marketing offers an opportunity to educate your podcast listeners regarding your selling proposition and your business culture. You can even leverage storytelling to share your brand story. After all, everyone loves a great story and getting to know the people behind the idea and their values.

Every element included in this Chilli Sleep email is carefully thought out and serves a certain purpose, which is why it’s on our list of email marketing examples. If the motivating podcast title doesn’t grab your attention, the insightful description definitely will. The podcast features the company co-founder sharing useful tips on how to build a healthy sleep system and directly connecting it with the brand’s products. The email highlights that insomnia is a common problem that most individuals can identify with, even the podcaster himself. And then Chilli Sleep offers the solution to it through the said podcast and additional resources on sleeping habits to further address their subscribers’ challenges.

Tip

Need help crafting emails to promote upcoming episodes? Check out our guide on building your podcast newsletter.

3. Ask listeners for feedback and reviews

As previously mentioned, requesting listeners to give you their feedback is an excellent way to boost podcast audience engagement. By asking your audience for feedback, you show them that their opinion matters and that you need it to improve future podcasts. After all, it’s one of the easiest and most efficient tactics to produce compelling content for both your episodes and email campaigns. 

Make sure your questions are short, specific, and relevant to the content shared. You can include surveys in your email campaigns or request feedback each time a user performs certain actions like downloading one of your episodes. 

To take it one step further, ask them for ratings and reviews. Remember there is no such thing as negative feedback since there’s always room for improvement. What’s more, you could use positive reviews or even testimonial videos as social proof to showcase how your podcasts resulted in listeners improving their daily lives. 

This email from Harvard Business Review serves a double purpose. It introduces its work advice podcast, explaining how upcoming episodes will provide listeners with useful insights for workplace-related challenges. 

Not only that, but it urges recipients to submit their questions to help the hosts address them in future episodes. In fact, the corresponding CTA is placed at the top of the email, next to the one urging them to listen and subscribe, showing recipients that both actions are equally important to the podcast creators. That, along with a simple but powerful phrase like “We’d like to hear from you” are more than enough to make subscribers feel special and motivate them to act on the email message. 

Email Marketing Examples Final Words

Delivering high-quality podcasts should be your top priority. With podcast email marketing, you get to interact with your target audience beyond the podcast itself and keep in touch at regular intervals. When listeners give you their email addresses, they allow you to enter their personal space, meaning their inbox. They need to know that such an important move on their part isn’t in vain. So, this is the perfect time to show them a warm welcome, provide them with value, and treat them with respect and appreciation.

Don’t forget to include links to all the external platforms where subscribers can listen to your podcasts and social media sharing buttons to facilitate sharing your email content with their connections. Whatever you do, your email copy and design should be centered around the action you want subscribers to take. 

Remember that your listeners are busy individuals with stuffed inboxes. So, follow all the practices shared in this guide to make every email worth their time and engage them through the email content they deserve.

Guest Post from Maria Fintanidou – Copywriter for Moosend

Maria Fintanidou works as a copywriter for email marketing automation software Moosend, having created the Help Articles (FAQs) and overseen the platform’s translations in Greek and Spanish. She loves exploring new cultures and ways of thinking through traveling, reading, and language learning.

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Craig Hewitt
Craig is the founder of Castos. When he's not busy podcasting, talking about podcasting, or helping others get started in this awesome medium he's hanging out with his wife, two children, and likely planning their next travel adventure.

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