Audience Growth Strategies for Nonprofit Podcasters on a Budget – PCI 443

Hey, everyone. I'm Mike Dell, VP of customer relations here at Blueberry. And I'm Todd Cochran, founder and CEO of Blueberry. And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing specialist at Blueberry. Welcome to Podcast Insider. Yep. Today, we're gonna dive into how nonprofit podcasters can grow their audience even with a small budget. And we've got some real world tips. Plus reminder, Blueberry offers 10% off annual plans, which is a great option for nonprofits looking to save.

You're listening to Podcast Insider hosted by Mike Dell, Todd Cochran, and Mackenzie Bennett from the Blueberry team, bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks to help you start, grow, and thrive through podcasting. With all the support of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting. Welcome. Let's dive in.

You know, we're well aware that not everyone with a podcast is able to create, you know, the podcast studio of their dreams and spend thousands each month on marketing and a whole slew of other costly things for the show. A matter of fact, they think that probably applies to about 90% of podcasters out there. Yeah. But there's definitely ways to make your podcast stand out anyway, and, you know, I I

think we should start with the audience. Start with the existing listeners of a show and supporters. Well, you're I mean, you're a nonprofit. You already have an audience in some capacity. So, you know, some of those people with an existing podcast that you have for your nonprofit are already there, so start with those people. You know, your donors, your volunteers, staff, board members, you know, all of those are invested in the mission, and they can be your first listeners and

promoters and word-of-mouth. Tell them to tell a friend, and that's one of the better ways to grow a podcast audience. We've often heard from nonprofits where the they come to us and say, hey. One of our one of our contributors or one of our supporters has suggested we do a podcast. So sometimes the emphasis for the podcast actually starts

from those some same folks. So, you know, one way to really take to kind of, you know, get that going is once you've decided to do the show or you're planning to do the the show, you announce that in your newsletter and and event announcements and in your fundraising emails. And, you know, if you're looking for a specific line of money, that's a great place to do that on something that's gonna launch.

And, you know, you can even feature them as as underwriters of the podcast if there's specific ones that come in. And I really think this can drive, you know, drive that support that you're gonna need if you're if if financing is an issue. You know, specifically for

leveraging your supporters that you already have, a lot of the time, you know, I don't have the means to donate to everything that I want to or to donate in the specific amount that I would prefer. But I do have, you know, somewhat of a following on all of my different social platforms. That's when you repost episodes. That's when you reshare, you know, put out like, you tag them. You do whatever. And that all is included in in these

episodes as well. Something that's calling out something specific that, you know, the animal shelter that I volunteer with is doing, I'm gonna probably repost that. Something like that. That is that is part of how you just continue, and it's it's free. So you can keep that. I I've done that for years with my own show and say, okay. You may not be ready to buy this product or service, but tell a friend

and share my link. You know? But just if nothing else, link to the website, and that is almost like an in kind donation to help grow the show, get that exposure. So, you know, this this this is ties into this social media strategy, and we obviously can use our our AI to help with the coming up with social posts, but you can use Headliner and Canva really to create quick audiograms to make stuff that's compelling that will allow your supporting base to to reshare

and post. And those fifteen to thirty second sound bites, again, with compelling quotes or stats from the episode really, really do help. So, you know, I think nonprofits are often in a position much stronger than someone that's just starting a show already because, usually, they will have an exist again, like we said, that existing following and, you know, Mackenzie, you just mentioned,

you may not be able to contribute, but you can definitely help with the social messaging. And that kinda, you know, goes along with the value for value concept. It's, you know, time, talent, treasure. You know, if you can't give money, you know, people will volunteer their time or, you know, say someone's really good at social media. They could help you with your social media. And they might even find an editor, might

even find a producer. You never know who's listening to the show, who's a supporter. Like, Mackenzie, you got a background in podcasting. I'm sure one of your nonprofits that you support would say, hey. We're starting a podcast. We need some help. You'd be like, hey. I can help edit or I can help post or you know? So Absolutely. So that all kinda comes into play here.

And but, again, I think, you know, just following a standard social media strategy helps you as well in scheduling a post around the podcast release using free tools like buffer or later, tag guest partners and organizations mentioned. They'll often reshare as well. And And a lot of these sources have a free version as well.

You know, if you if you don't have the money to pay for the business level plan or whatever it is, If you if you dig deep enough for the type of software that you're looking for, you'll be able to find a free version probably. And here's a social media tip. Make sure you link directly to your episode page, not, you know, podcast home or, you know, you know, where you're hosting or

anything like that. You know, a page on your website that has that episode on it is the best place, and then, you know, people will find it in the other apps and all that, you know, kinda the Blueberry way. And and I would say that I kinda lost my train of thought here, but I think in the end, you're in a great position to be able to get that extra social media exposure and and that and that compelling message out

there. So but, you know, again, going back to some of the basics, you know, you really got to pay attention. If if you if you have a low budget and let's say that you don't have a lot of support that's been stepped up to help you, You you've gotta make your content easy to discover, and this is how people are gonna find you. You have to have clear keyword focused titles exactly what you're the message that you're trying

to share. Instead of episode seven interview with Sarah, try fighting childhood hunger in Columbus with Sarah James. Something that is people are gonna be searching for specifically. That's so important, that title and, of course, a description that backs up that title is really, really important as well. And, of course, we've got tools to help you with that and so forth. But, you know, what are some of the other things that they can do that to improve their show notes?

I definitely think transcripts is helpful, and especially depending on what type of nonprofit you are. That might be something that is directly helpful to your audience. Yeah. Absolutely.

Yeah. But but also don't just cut and paste a transcript as your description that Oh, that will mess up your negative effect as well. That will mess up your your SEO in general. It has to is it still recommended that you kinda just, like, add a PDF to the page of the transcript, or or what is it that people

should do? Yeah. I think a linking to a PDF is good and clearly say transcript of the show and then link to the PDF and or have the the transcript attached as part of your your podcast production that Blueberry allows so that And it's part of our player. It's part of the player. The the transcript will actually play and show on the screen while people are are listening to show either by mobile or on desktop.

We covered it already, but the descriptions, you know, one or two paragraphs that just clearly covers what that episode is about will give Google and all the other search engines and now AI something to bite into to know that that episode matches what people are searching for. And, of course, there's lots of tools out there. There's Otter for transcriptions. There's Whisper, of course, our own internal transcript product. And, you know, don't pay someone

to build the transcript. That's in today's age, that's just insanity. There's great tools out there to do this at a very, very low cost. A nonprofit has better things to spend money on than fixing a transcript. There's a lot of good tools for people. And then once you've got all that figured out, you know, once you have your system set up that way, that's when you go out and engage with your local media, the community newsletters, try to create a

larger, you know, global community online. That's kinda what comes next. Right. You know, a lot of lot of these local news stations, both TV and radio, they're they're always hurting for people on the morning show. So try to, you know, get booked on there to get interviewed, and and that really does, you know, help your they call that social

Oh, social awareness. Yeah. You know, one thing that a lot of people don't realize too, and I I know that ever since I've, you know, basically, you know, cut my television connection, that everything today is you know, a lot of people are not watching TV, but I think there's an older generation that are supporting nonprofits that maybe are still watching regular TV and watching the news or whatever it

may be that comes up. So television stations, believe it or not, are always dying for human resource stories,

And they will come and, you know, if you're doing a podcast and you got some some promotion going on, maybe it's a fundraising or whatever it may you can all tie it in together, and this is a way to get free press. You might get to they may spend three hours in your building or your your office, and you but at the end, if you get two minutes on broadcast, that's free money. That's free promotion, and and I think people don't even think about that these these

these days, but it's still available. Maybe it'll end up as a short on their YouTube channel. So, again, sending that email to local newspapers, radio stations, community websites. Of course, submit your show episodes, links to local nonprofit directories, email list, and event calendars. And, again, if you are part of a nonprofit and you have a specific mission, what are you? You're already a subject matter expert on that topic. Right? I would assume.

It's also good because whenever you do interact with these media outlets in some capacity, you're right. I don't turn on my TV and watch the 15 channels that I get with my antenna unless it's some something live I feel they need to watch. Right. But I do I do have, you know, Columbus news outlets show up on my social media platforms just because they know where I live. Yep. And then I'll watch it then. If it's, you know, a thirty second thing about such and such, I will watch it then.

I'm not gonna see it on the TV, but it will spread across, like, amongst everyone's platforms. All these stations have social media Yeah. YouTube channels, Facebook pages, whatever that they share their stories on, not just broadcast. And they are, believe it or not, required by law to support the public interest. So if Yeah. There is something for your community,

that's two minutes that they can tic tac onto their annual report that says, hey. This was in the community interest. I'm serving in the community interest. So you just might get it. Again, the exposure may not be that big today on broadcast, but, again, they repurpose that content all over the place. So I think that's that's probably a great way to do it. Of course, reviews and shares? I don't know. You were talking about this more earlier, Mackenzie.

I think this this helps in the sense of it just kind of helps your identity and solidifies that, yes, you are a reputable, you know, nonprofit or organization, whatever it is. You know what you were yeah. The social proof. You all need that. And it's it's very, very common nowadays. And and I am absolutely one of the people that does it is I type in whatever I'm searching for and then just type in Reddit Because I know that's gonna have people saying, like, is this legit? Is this a scam?

This is not a website based on reviews. This is people going back and forth. And if they see something that looks spammy, someone's gonna call it out and be like, no. This like, that's a troll. Something like that. So all of that does not like, it it accumulates. You know? It just kinda does that social proof, I think, at least for me. And you could also, you know, in your outro or within the show, you know, say, hey. I've you know, we're we're talking about food insecurity.

Please share this with someone who'd care, you know, whatever the topic may be. So, you know, ask loyal listeners to rate and follow on if they're listening via a podcast app. And And it kinda sorry. I don't mean to cut you off, but it kinda can give you value of, like, what people are saying about the show in general to see, like, is the is the content that we're talking about with this organization actually valuable to the people listening? Do they

like it? You know, is this something that is actually worth their time? Or are they saying, like, no. This is two and a half stars because I was interested in the topic that they said they'd be discussing, but I didn't actually like the episode. Like, I don't think I think they did a poor job with it or they're gonna say, like, I think this is really good. So that that does help in some sense

to, you know, your content itself. You know, some organizations that I do pay an annual fee to, they have like, if I let my subscription lapse or whatever, say, hey. Come on back. We'll give you a a bag or they'll have a t shirt or or some sort of Famous tote bag. Yeah. Some sort of giveaway. You know? I think that there's huge potential there if you have

if the nonprofit is developed swag, You know? And what it could be one of those, you know, shopping bags that you don't throw away and you take back to the grocery store. So, you know, you know, a QR code on that shopping bag, subscribe to the podcast or whatever it may be. I think that's a great idea to consider for people that are contributing that do specifically contribute for, let's say, the podcast that you have something. Could be a sticker, you know, but you have to follow through.

And one of the mistakes I've made in the past is, well, I'll send you a sticker if you send me a sticker. Well, two minutes later, I send the sticker, you know, and then I get, oh, thanks. You finally remembered. So, you know, make sure you do it in a timely manner. But, I think this this type of stuff people like, you know, and people like to not necessarily put stickers on their car anymore. That used to happen in the many, many years

ago. Of course, every once in a while, I'll see a car with a sticker on it, and I laugh. But, you know, if something goes on the refrigerator, maybe it's a magnet or something. Who knows? Because when people come My office door is my sticker wall. When when people come into the office or, like, or come into your house, oh, oh, oh, you support this and that. So it kinda gives your allows you to, you know, probably display that you you

support this nonprofit. So these giveaways, I think, would be cool or recognition. Yep. And, also, you could give away some behind the scenes content. You know? Give early access to episodes or, you know, handwritten note to listeners who participate and, you know, just a lot of, you know, what goes on? How does this, you know, how does this organization work? You know? And that helps engagement with your listeners that that now they know a little bit of secrets. You know? Oh, and kinda

that insider access is kinda cool. They wanna feel like that they're part of our community, especially because so much of communities are online

nowadays. So they, yeah, they do anything for that extra level of connection a lot of the time. So And then, you know, we could also, you know, list your top shares or supporters on your website or read them out. You know, I hear a lot of people that are using Patreon. For example, they'll say, I got a new Patreon listener this week, blah blah blah blah blah, and, you know, right in the show. So it kinda gives people they love hearing their own name Yeah. In in media. Mhmm.

So, also, there's you you can partner with other nonprofits or advocates. I think we've got a few things on the list here we can give some suggestions on. You could, you know, invite leaders from other organization to be guests on your show, you know, that are similarly aligned to what you're doing. And I think that the content swaps may work if the content aligns. You know, if it's the same type of

content, I think there's an opportunity there. Long term relationships, They really do help you in the end. You know, that that saying of don't burn your bridges. This is this is definitely one of those one of those areas. Yeah. Build long term relationships with other like minded organizations or advocacy groups and, you know, keeping good company? So, again, I think it boils down to, you know, start with partners you already work

with. You know, people that you know, people that you trust and who would love your content, maybe even get them to share it. Maybe they don't have a podcast. Maybe they could include it in their newsletter as well. So there's there's all kinds of ways here to to really have a great strategy to grow a show, especially if you're, again, a nonprofit podcaster. But some of these tips are works for folks that are not necessarily nonprofits, but just trying

to grow your podcast. So I think there's some Podcasters are unintentionally nonprofit. You know. Well, that's probably true too.

Yes. So I think that's a wrap on this episode, and thank you for joining us for our nonprofit spotlight. If you are part of a nonprofit or podcasting on a budget, we offer 10% off on all of our annual plans. You know, sometimes we do deals throughout the year where it's get two months free or something like that. So always look out for ways you can save with Blueberry. We have we have some options.

And, of course, don't forget to follow or subscribe to Podcast Insiders so you never miss the podcasting tips, updates, industry insights. With the Blueberry team, you can do that over at podcastinsider.com. Thanks, everyone. Thank you. Thanks for joining us. Come back next week. And in the meantime, head to podcastinsider.com for more information, to subscribe, share, and read our show notes.

To check out our latest suite of services and learn how Blueberry can help you leverage your podcast, visit blueberry.com. That's Blueberry without the e's. We couldn't afford the e's.