Solved: Ad/Marketing advice or suggestions for podcast needed.

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! Happy to give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance on your situation. Hitting a plateau is really common, especially when you're juggling a podcast with full-time work. It often just means the initial tactics have run their course and it's time for a more structured approach, not that you need to work harder.

I've put together some advice based on our experience running paid ad campaigns. A lot of the principles we use for growing user bases for software and apps apply directly to growing a listener base for a podcast.

We'll need to look at your audience...

Before you even think about spending a penny on ads, the first thing I'd do is get really, really clear on who your ideal listener is. You've probably got a gut feeling, but we need to go deeper than that. This is the foundation for everything. If you get this wrong, you'll just be throwing money away on ads shown to people who'll never listen.

You mentioned hitting a reach plateau, which suggests you've saturated your current circle and their immediate connections. To break out, you need to find new pockets of people who are exactly like your best current listeners. Don't think about 'everyone'. Think about one person. What's their name? What do they do for a living? What are their hobbies? What other podcasts are they subscribed to? What influencers do they follow on social media? What keeps them up at night? What are their goals?

The more specific you can get, the easier it'll be to find them online. You want to create a detailed persona. This isn't just a marketing exercise; it's a practical tool that will guide every decision you make about your ads, from the platform you choose to the words you use in your ad copy.

We do this for all our clients. I remember working with an eCommerce client selling outdoor gear, we didn't just target 'hiking'. We built a persona of "Weekend Warrior Will", a 35-year-old software developer who lives in a city but escapes to the Peak District every other weekend. He follows specific hiking bloggers, is a member of a few rambling groups on Facebook, and buys from certain brands. Suddenly, targetting becomes much easier and more effective.

Here's a quick table to help you brainstorm. Try and fill this out for your ideal listener.

Answering these questions honestly will give you a massive head start. You'll stop thinking about 'marketing' and start thinking about having a conversation with a specific type of person. And that's when ads start to work.

I'd say you need to pick the right channels...

Once you know who you're talking to, the next question is where to talk to them. You mentioned Google and Meta (Facebook/Instagram), and those are definitly the big players. But you shouldn't just spray your ads across both and hope for the best. They work in very different ways.

Google Ads: Capturing Intent

Google is for when people are actively searching for something. For a podcast, this is a bit tricky unless your show is about a very specific niche that people search for. For example, if you have a podcast about "learning to code in Python for beginners", you could run Google Search ads targeting keywords like:

-> "best python podcasts"
-> "learn to code podcast"
-> "how to start programming"

The advantage is that anyone who clicks is highly qualified; they are literally looking for what you offer. The disadvantage is that for most general entertainment or commentary podcasts, there isn't much search volume. People don't often Google "funny chat podcast". You'd be relying on people searching for guests you've had or very specific topics you've covered. It can work, but it's often a smaller scale opportunity.

Meta (Facebook & Instagram) Ads: Generating Demand

This is probably where you'll see the most scale. Unlike Google, you're not waiting for people to come to you. You're proactively putting your podcast in front of them while they're scrolling through their feed. This is where your audience persona work becomes so important. You're not targeting keywords; you're targetting people based on their interests, behaviours, and demographics.

For example, if your podcast is a comedy show about parenting, you could target:

-> People who like pages of other parenting comedians.
-> People who have an interest in "Parenting" AND "Comedy Movies".
-> Members of parenting groups.
-> People whose age and life stage suggests they have young children.

This is all about interruption. You need an ad that grabs their attention and makes them curious enough to stop scrolling and check out your show. The potential audience is huge, but the challenge is nailing the creative and targeting so you're not just annoying people.

You probably should focus on the creative...

Okay, so let's say you've picked Meta as your main channel. You've defined your audience. Now, what do you actually show them? The ad creative is arguably the single most important factor in whether a campain will be succesful or not. For a podcast, you have a unique advantage: you already have the source material.

You can't just run an image ad with your logo and say "Listen to our podcast!". It won't work. You need to give them a taste of the content itself. Here are a few formats that work well:

-> Audiograms: These are the most common for a reason. A static image with an audio waveform and captions over the top. The key is to pick a killer clip. It needs to be short (30-60 seconds), self-contained, and either incredibly funny, insightful, or controversial. It needs to create curiosity and make someone think "I need to hear the rest of that conversation". Don't pick a random bit of chatter. Pick the gold.

-> Video Clips: If you film your podcast, even better. A video clip of a great moment is far more engaging than an audiogram. The same rules apply: pick a fantastic, short segment. Seeing your faces and interactions adds a massive human element that builds connection much faster.

-> Testimonial Graphics: Got a great review from Apple Podcasts or a nice comment on social media? Turn it into a simple, bold graphic. Social proof is powerful. Seeing that other people love your show can be enough to convince someone to give it a try.

-> 'Hook & Teaser' Copy: Your ad copy (the text part of the ad) is also vital. Don't just describe your podcast. Pose a question or make a bold statement that your episode answers. For instance:

See the difference? The second versions create intrigue. They don't give everything away. The goal of the ad isn't to get them to listen to the whole episode right there. It's to make them curious enough to click the link and check it out on their preferred podcast app.

You need to test lots of different clips, different ad copy, and different visuals. You'll quickly find that one or two ads will vastly outperform the others. That's when you know you've found a winning combination, and you can put more budget behind it.

You'll need a solid testing strategy...

This is where things can get a bit technical, but it's where the real results come from. You can't just set up one ad and let it run forever. You need a structured way to test what works and what doesn't, and to guide new listeners from just being aware of you to becoming loyal fans. I usually think about this in terms of a funnel.

1. Top of Funnel (ToFu) - Finding New People
This is your cold outreach. The goal here is just to get your podcast in front of new eyeballs and ears.
-> Audiences: This is where you use your detailed targeting based on the persona you built. Interests, behaviours, etc. Once you have more data, you can also create 'Lookalike Audiences'. This is where Meta finds new people who are statistically similar to your existing website visitors or (if you can upload a list) your email subscribers. These can be incredibly powerful.
-> Goal: You're not necessarily aiming for a listen here. You're aiming for a click to your website/podcast page, or even just a 15-second view of your video ad. You want to guage interest and build a pool of people for the next stage.
-> Offer: Your best, most clickable, most intriguing short clips.

2. Middle of Funnel (MoFu) - Warming Them Up
This group of people are no longer cold. They've shown some interest. They've watched one of your video ads or clicked through to your site. Now you need to build more trust and familiarity.
-> Audiences: You'll be retargeting people who have engaged with you in some way. For example, anyone who watched 50% of your video ad, or anyone who visited your website in the last 30 days.
-> Goal: Nurture their interest. Get them to actually listen to an episode or follow you on social media.
-> Offer: You can show them different clips, maybe a 'behind the scenes' video, or an ad highlighting your best-ever episode. You're showing them more of what you're about.

3. Bottom of Funnel (BoFu) - The Ask
This is for the warmest audience. They've engaged multiple times, maybe visited a few pages on your site. Now it's time for a direct call to action.
-> Audiences: People who have visited your website multiple times, or maybe people who have added your podcast to a platform but haven't listened yet (this is harder to track).
-> Goal: Get them to subscribe.
-> Offer: A direct ad that says "Love the clips? Don't miss an episode. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you listen."

This structure ensures you're showing the right message to the right person at the right time. It's a lot more effective than just showing the same ad to everyone. It does require proper setup of the Meta Pixel on your website to track visitors, but a good freelancer or agency will handle all of that for you. It's the difference between shouting into the void and having a strategic conversation with potential listeners.

In terms of costs, it's difficult to give an exact number. For a 'conversion' like a new listener or subscriber, it can vary wildly. Based on my experience running Meta campaigns for signups in developed countries like the US/UK, a cost per result can be anywhere from £1.60 to £15.00. That's a huge range, and it depends on your niche, your targeting, your creative, and your landing page. I remember one software campaign where we got costs as low as £0.96 per user using Google Ads. The key is to start with a test budget, maybe £20-£30 per day, and focus relentlessly on optimising. Don't look at the cost per thousand impressions (CPM), look at your Cost Per Result. What are you willing to pay to aquire one new long-term listener? Once you know that number, you can manage your ad spend effectively.

This is the main advice I have for you:

There's a lot to take in here, I know. It's a big shift from just pushing content on social media to running a proper paid acquisition system. To make it a bit more concrete, I've broken down the main recommendations into an actionable plan for you. This is the kind of process we'd take a new client through.

As you can see, it's a process. It requires patience, a methodical approach, and an understanding of how the ad platforms work. It's not something you can just set and forget, especially in the begining. But once it's running, it becomes a machine that consistently brings new, targeted listeners to your show, freeing you up to do what you do best: create great content.

I remember one client where we drove 1535 trials for a B2B SaaS using Meta Ads. The principles of finding a target audiance and converting them with compelling creative are the same.

It’s all about building a system that works for you, so you're not stuck having to work day and night on promotion. I hope this detailed breakdown has been helpful and gives you a clearer path forward. If you'd like to chat more about your specific situation and see if we could help, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation call where we can discuss your podcast in more detail.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh