How to Feature on a Gaming Podcast to Market Your Game

Podcasts are hot right now. They fit seamlessly into our busy lives, allowing us to listen to interesting material as we go about other chores, travel or relax. Podcasts are presented in a personal context, making them a great pick for users who tune in to listen to their favorite shows every week.

Podcasts have been used to help brands connect with audiences in different industries, but they are still largely an untapped market in the gaming industry. Podcast marketing can help brands, especially smaller games, attract large audiences, and grow their consumer base.

Getting interviewed on a podcast is one way to grow your audience, and this blog guides you on how to identify the right gaming podcasts to get featured on.

What’s your goal?

The first step in your journey to get featured on podcasts is to set clear goals for your outreach strategy. What do you hope to achieve by getting featured on a podcast?

Is it to:

• Grow your gaming brand?
• Attract new players?
• Drive traffic to your website?
• Establish yourself as a thought leader in your niche?
• Spread your brand message?

Setting clear goals like these will help you know the podcast hosts to approach for an interview. It narrows down your search for podcast marketing services and makes your outreach strategy much more targeted.

Your goals will also help you in crafting effective pitches to podcasts hosts. If it's not clear what you hope to achieve by getting interviewed for a podcast show, most hosts will turn down your interview requests. Podcast hosts want to interview people who add value to their audience, and without clear goals, you'll not be able to convince them to host you.

When setting your goals, make sure they align with those of the podcasts you’re targeting. Otherwise, your interview requests will keep getting rejected.

What’s your niche?

As a gaming brand, your aim should be to get featured on gaming podcasts and not podcasts in other industries. Gaming podcasts attract a gaming audience, and this is where you want to be to connect with people who are likely to be interested in your game.

Narrow down your focus and find podcasts in your specific niche. If you have a role-playing game, find appropriate RPG podcasts you can reach out to. Listeners are attracted to podcasts because of the content they provide, and if your game doesn't align with a podcast's audience, it will be difficult for a podcast host to invite you for an interview.

Would your audience be likely to listen to a podcast?

Figure 1: Monthly podcasts listening by age. Source: Marketing Charts

In the gaming industry, yes! The age group for video game players is 18 – 34 years. Most podcast listeners are also within this age group, with a recent study finding that 49 percent of the people who listen to podcasts are young people. These statistics show that there is a link between listening to a podcast and gaming.After all, gamers are a sophisticated, demanding audience. The only way to connect with them is with personalized communication, and podcasts provide this. 

We have explained why podcasts are an effective channel for game marketing on our blog, Should You Use Podcasts for Video Game Marketing?

Look at podcasts in your industry

After setting your goals and understanding your audience, you are now ready to start researching podcast opportunities. Online connectivity and the growing social media space have made this process easier. Here are the four important elements you need to look at:

Reviews

Your video game marketing will only be effective when you appear on authoritative podcasts, hence the need to check online reviews. Reviews indicate how popular a podcast is and how engaged the audience is. Check review sites to see how the podcasts you’re targeting have been mentioned. Don’t just concentrate on the 5-star ratings, read the comments to see what stood out for the audience.

Figure 2: Filthy Casuals Reviews. Source: Apple Podcasts

Check the total number of reviews, and when the most recent one was posted. Check the negative reviews as well to find out what people don’t like about the podcast.

It's not easy to get podcast listeners to leave a review, so you shouldn't be too concerned when a podcast has few reviews. Older podcasts, however, should have a significant number of reviews since they have been around for a while. If you only find a handful of them, that podcast may not be the best channel to host you for an interview.

Social media engagement

Social media marketing is important for all types of brands. The podcasts you want to get featured on should have branded social media accounts where they introduce new guests, posts snippets of upcoming shows, and the time when new shows are live.

Check the number of followers the podcast has on their primary social media accounts and the nature of their engagement with fans. Are they constantly updating their pages, and what do their engagement rates look like?

Don't concentrate too much on the follower count, but you should pay close attention to their branding and how active their social pages are. An active account will create more awareness for your game, and if a podcast isn't promoting itself on social media, they probably are not popular and will not help you reach a broader audience.

Their site

Besides social media, you also need to look at the websites of the podcasts you are considering. The website needs to be up to date with the latest episodes to make it easy for listeners to tune in and catch their favorite shows. They should also publish show notes on their websites and add a link to the guest’s website. This last part is particularly important since it will help listeners get to your website and download your game after listening to your interview.

Getting featured on a podcast will help you make more people aware of your game, but the end goal should be to drive them to your website where they can learn more about what you have to offer. Podcasts that don't publish links to their guest's websites are not great from a marketing perspective since they make it difficult for listeners to connect with the guests.

Are they still active?

Before reaching out to any podcast, you need to make sure they are still active. If a podcast hasn't published any new shows in the past few weeks or months, they're probably no longer active. Double-check to see if they have made any closing announcements, or if they are just on a break.

However, very rarely do podcasts leave closing announcements. Most just stop publishing, so check the dates for their most recent episodes to determine if a podcast is still active.

Create a pitch

After compiling a list of potential gaming podcasts you want to get featured on, the next move is to contact their hosts. Remember, you should only reach out to podcasts that meet the criteria we have mentioned earlier in this post (relevant, have great reviews, social media presence, still active).

Pitching might feel strange to you, especially if you haven't done it before, but you need to be good at it if you want to get featured on the top podcasts. A good pitch sells your brand and makes hosts excited to have you on their show. There are a few things you need to do to make your pitch effective, and they include:

Personalizing it

No podcast host wants to receive a templated reach out. Mention them by name and reference a show that resonated with you, highlighting the value you gained from that episode.

Keeping it short

The best podcasts receive many interview requests, so you should get to the point sooner rather than later. Make it clear why they should host you, highlighting what you bring to the table and how your goals align with the podcast.

Build credibility

Mention where you have been featured. If other quality podcasts have interviewed you, reference it in your pitch. This will help you build credibility in the eyes of the podcast host.

Look for ways to contact them

When researching the top podcasts you'd like to get featured on, keep track of any contact information you come across. Most conversations happen through email, so you should be on the lookout for the podcast’s email address.

Some podcasts don't want to get spammed with interview requests, so they will have a contact form you can fill to express your interest in getting featured on a show. As we have mentioned earlier in the post, get straight to the point since busy hosts don't have all the time to go through lengthy pitches.

If you can’t find an email address or a contact form on the podcast website, move to social media and send them a DM. Before doing this, see if they accept DMs. Some podcasts may mention that they don’t accept podcast pitches via social media DMs, so if you come across such notice on their bio, be respectful and don't do it.

When you get a response on social media, ask for their email so you can send them more details. Personalize your pitch and make it clear that you have something interesting to add to the show.

Track your success

After sending your pitches, it’s important to track your outreach efforts to see who has responded to your requests. Check your email to see who you have contacted and what their response is. If you also used social media to reach out to podcast hosts, check your sent items to identify the podcasts you’ve been in touch with.

Transfer this information to a spreadsheet to make it easy to track your outreach efforts. Note down the name of the podcasts you had reached out to, when you contacted them, who has seen your messages and their response. The next stage involves following up with specific podcast hosts, and organizing your outreach efforts in this manner makes it easy to do so.

Then follow up

Depending on the response you receive from different hosts, it’s a good idea to follow up. If a podcast agrees to host you and schedule you, save it in your calendar, and start preparing for the interview.

In some cases, a podcast host could be interested in having you on their show, but all the available slots have been booked for the next few weeks or months. If that's the case, ask them for permission to follow up on a later date to see if they have an opening for a guest.

Sometimes you may not even receive a response. The top podcasts receive many interview requests, and it may take them longer to get back to you. In this case, don't be afraid to chase them up. Send them another email after a week or two to ask if they received your interview request. This shows you're proactive, and it increases your chances of getting a reply.

If the podcast producer replies to say they are not looking for guests, thank them for their time and move on to other targets. Don't bother them with more requests, as this could ruin your brand image.

Getting interviewed on a podcast is a great way to connect with a gaming audience since the average gamer is an avid podcast listener.  Consider podcasts for your next marketing campaign but appearing on one isn’t easy since podcast hosts are very strict on who they feature on their shows.

Engage a gaming marketing agency to pitch and follow up on your behalf since they know that podcast hosts are looking for, increasing your chances of getting invited for an interview. The team at Game Marketing Genie can help. We offer podcast marketing services to help you connect with a large gaming audience.

Are you finding it difficult to attract players for your game? Use these game marketing strategies to make more people aware of your game.