In the indie podcast world, it’s all a grassroots effort to get the word out about your audio drama. With no attachment to established shows, no one (or company) to assist with marketing, and so many audio dramas at this level struggling to be found, promos are a very important tool. So what makes a good promo?
“Madison on the Air” has the unique distinction of each episode is a stand-alone show with a different old time radio show featured. I create a promo for each episode. Some of our titles might be unknown, even to fans of OTR. So it’s nice to give them a taste of what to expect and hopefully whet their appetites for more. We also only release once a month, so creating a promo makes sense. However, that doesn’t mean a serialized show which releases its season in quick succession shouldn’t also have promos for each episode. Raise your hand if you ever watched actual network television. Ya know, before binging and streaming? With weekly releases of TV shows, each episode had their own promo (commercial) to make sure you were excited to tune in to the newest installment. So why not remind your fans, who are undoubtedly balancing your show with all the others in their podcast libraries, that the new episode is coming and they should be ready to listen as soon as it drops?
Let’s also talk length. OMG… people, no more than one minute long! Just like how writers feel they’re severing an arm if they have to cut things from their scripts, audio drama producers are so attached to their content, they want to make sure it’s all represented in the promo. Including long music interludes. Why??? It’s no secret, audiences have short attention spans. So if you’re trying to hook them into your show, stay true to the tone of the show, but make it concise. Even movie trailers with heavy drama can still produce short, well-paced promos. Make the hard decisions and pick the interesting bits that will leave the listeners excited to hear the rest.
Releasing the promos. So since Madison only has one new show a month, I’ve made the decision to release the promo (or “trailer”) in the RSS feed of the show. It will pop up as a new release to all my subscribers and remind them something new is coming. I keep to a consistent release schedule. In my case, the 20th of each month. Then I also build an “audiogram” of the same trailer. I use Headliner for mine. I’m not here to advertise for them, but I like what their app does and with 5 free audiograms a month before they put their watermark on them, it’s been perfect for me. Audiograms create an image with moving parts (usually a “meter” that responds to your dialogue) and can be personalized to your show. You can post these directly to your socials and people will get the promo right there, not needing to click through to other places to hear it. We all know, clicking through can kill someone’s interest! In addition, I will drop my trailer in the eNewsletter on the 10th. Using it as a reward for the newsletter subscribers to get a sneak peek.
Promo swaps. Reach out to either the podcasters you’ve already built relationships with, or other audio dramas you believe will have a crossover audience, and see about free promo swaps. An “eye-for-an-eye” so to speak. Some shows aren’t super interested in doing this because it will “take people out of their drama” by having a break for a promo. Many shows elect to put the promo at the very beginning or, more often, the end around the credits. Of course, the latter means your promo probably is going to be skipped, but you never know. For Madison, the OTR shows automatically have an act break built in (going to their sponsor originally) so I have no problem plopping the promo right smack in the middle of the episode. Remember, if your promo is only one minute long, you aren’t being a burden to the other show! NOTE: When I promo swap with someone, I give them the promo for the WHOLE series. An overview intro to “Madison on the Air” rather than one specific to an episode. You definitely should have one of these promos as well (still no more than one minute long). I have been given promos from other shows pushing their latest season, but the goal of a promo swap is to find NEW audience who hasn’t discovered you yet. Don’t launch them into season 3 information and teasers when they are going to be starting back at season one.
