If you want to build momentum, then you've gotta get ready to build some hype. Remember those promo assets from the last episode? Now's the time to put them into action, getting your audience excited—all the way from a teaser phase to pre-promo and beyond.

Kibi Anderson

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Digital Content & Strategy Executive

Liz Cohen

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VP of Development

Mykim Dang

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Executive Video Producer

Colin Rosenblum & Samir Chaudry

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Co-Creators

Jenny Coppola

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Director of Content and Creative

Dan Mills

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Head of Wistia Studios

Rand Fishkin

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CEO & Co-Founder

Chris Lavigne

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Head of Production

Jeff Ayers

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Digital Media & Broadcasting Manager

Phil Nottingham

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Brand Marketing Strategist

Kristen Bryant

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Strategic Partnerships Manager

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4 Creative Promotion Strategies From the Media Industry

Podcast Promotion Kit

Podcast Promo Kit

E17 Hype - Deleted Scenes 0315.00 00 02 00.Still001

Deleted Scenes

Build The Hype


NARRATOR: When you release your show, the last thing you want is to feel like this.

[CRYING]

You want to feel like this.

[CHEERING]

So when you're about to launch, you need to build the hype.

- Amassing the biggest audience for your show is all about momentum. And the best way to build momentum is to build hype.

LIZ COHEN: In my world, I think about, what is the poster going to be? What is the one sheet? What is, like, that one image that's going to intrigue people and draw people in?

MYKIM DANG: Remember all those promotional assets we talked about? This is their moment.

COLIN ROSENBLUM: When you're releasing your show to the world, if you don't hype it, it's like throwing a stick into a fast moving river. You throw it in there and before you know it, it's gone.

NARRATOR: It's hard to get people's attention, so you need to build the hype well in advance of your release date. Think of this time as two phases. The tease and the pre-launch. Here's Jenny to talk about teasing your show.

JENNY COPPOLA: Teasing your show means letting your existing audience know that you're about to release a series. So in this stage you're going to want to create a landing page that features the branding of your new show, send an email to your existing audience, and then get the word out there on social media.

DAN MILLS: It's not too early to start asking people to RSVP or to subscribe to your show. This way you have a line of communication that you can start generating buzz and start generating engagement with this future audience. That way the anticipation is building, and by the time the show actually goes out, people are already talking about it.

RAND FISHKIN: You want your audience to feel like they're in on a secret no one else knows about.

NARRATOR: Rand Fishkin, he's launched dozens of projects, written a book, and started two companies.

RAND FISHKIN: If you've ever been a huge fan of something big-- a movie, a television show, a video game-- you have seen the tease happen. First they tease an announcement date. Oh, there's going to be a big announcement next month, and people get excited for that. And then on the announcement date they show some tiny snippet of what's going to happen. And later on, they tease and tease again.

NARRATOR: Now that the word is out there, it's time to turn up the heat. Pre-launch is where you let your fans know what your show is all about. As you can tell, Chris Lavigne gets pretty excited about pre-launch.

CHRIS LAVIGNE: The defining moment of your pre-launch phase is releasing your trailer. Make a big deal out of it. This should be a premium listening or viewing experience across your channels and it should kick off a regular cadence of content releases that slowly build towards your launch date. So you might release your trailer a week or two before your series. And a few days later, you can release some artwork. A couple of days after that, maybe it's a sound bite from the episode. Then you might post a 24-hour countdown to your launch. Each one of these is an important moment that primes your audience to get ready for an ongoing interaction that they're about to have with your brand.

NARRATOR: Mykim Dang from America's Test Kitchen has helped launch over 15 episodic shows.

MYKIM DANG: Leading up to the launch of a new show is about communicating with our audience, building that hype, programming behavior. Let's say we're a week out from a show launch. Every single day of that week leading up to the actual show we will be communicating, dropping those promotional assets, and having a conversation with the key talent or the key themes that are featured in that episode. And that's something that's worked for us time and time again.

NARRATOR: Pre-launch is where you turn your supporting content loose. But if you want those assets to make an impact, you need to have a strategy. Here's Liz Cohen on how a trailer can set the stage for your show.

LIZ COHEN: I think with a trailer it's, how do you want your audience to feel after they watch it? Well, A, you want them to say, oh, I really want to watch the show. But also, what are you leaving them with? Are you leaving them with a intrigue? Are you leaving them with a funny joke? Are you leaving them with something emotional?

NARRATOR: But Liz, can trailers give too much away?

LIZ COHEN: Yes. Trailers give way too much away and it's annoying. It's like especially with comedies, they show all the funny jokes and then you go and you're like, there's no more funny jokes in the movie.

[LAUGHS]

This is a bad movie. Tricked me with the funny jokes in the trailer.

NARRATOR: Where you're using your content is also important. Content creators Colin and Samir are back again to tell us more.

COLIN ROSENBLUM: How's it going? I'm Colin.

SAMIR CHAUDRY: You went with how's it going?

COLIN ROSENBLUM: Why not?

SAMIR CHAUDRY: Sorry. That surprised me.

COLIN ROSENBLUM: When we're hyping one of our shows and sharing an episode across all types of social media platforms, we try and get really specific about the type of content we'll share on a certain platform. If we're using Instagram, most people are scrolling, they don't have their sound on, so you want something that's super visually engaging in the first couple of seconds.

JEFF AYERS: You want to, again, really look as closely as possible as the audience you're trying to connect with. Where are they interacting with it? Is it all social media? Is it only on Instagram or Twitter? You want to go to the places that they are and create that hype.

NARRATOR: Where you build the hype is also going to help you determine how to advertise.

PHIL NOTTINGHAM: Advertising for your show is important. It's not going to replace organic distribution, but it can be that tool that just kick starts people into talking about your content.

NARRATOR: Back in the hot seat, It's Phil Nottingham.

PHIL NOTTINGHAM: So, set aside some budget for your promotional assets and posts about the show. As you grow to two or more series, you can then cross promote your content to your different audiences. If you have a video series that's got a really engaged audience, let them know you're about to launch a podcast. Or, if you've got a podcast that's doing really well, why not tell them about this funny thing that happened on the latest episode of your new video series? All of this is free advertising for your shows on your other shows. This is what we mean by marketing like a media company.

JEFF AYERS: For us at Deathwish, depending on the type of content we're putting out, we're trying to make sure that the audience that we're trying to touch knows about it before it ever comes out. So if I'm talking to a musician on an upcoming podcast episode, we're hitting those audiences and making sure that they understand that their favorite musician is about to be a guest on our show. Or if it's just a more fun show about science or something crazy that's happening at Deathwish, we're making some social posts and we're putting out some fun content, even in our newsletter, that's allowing people to know, hey, guess what? Something fun's just around the corner.

KRISTEN BRYANT: Don't forget about those fans who are right inside the halls of your office.

NARRATOR: Say hi to Kristen Bryant.

KRISTEN BRYANT: Having a strong culture inside your company can also help you build brand affinity. If your colleagues are super excited about this project, then they're going to be more likely to share the video series or podcasts with their friends. So you want to make sure you keep them in the loop, let them know what the show's going to be about, and when it launches, so that they can do their best to support you.

LIZ COHEN: Word of mouth is so important. And nowadays, there are so many amazing tools to use. Like, it's a little less like water cooler talk now and it's more about what you can put out there and what you can get people talking about.

JEFF AYERS: You have absolutely a second to grab anybody's attention in this day and age. Start with one second to grab that audience and then worry about putting out the full part of your content.

JENNY COPPOLA: You're in the business of making shows now, so it's time to start thinking like a media company.

MYKIM DANG: It's time to build the hype.

DAN MILLS: (SINGING) Building the hype, got to get them excited.

(SINGING) Building the hype--
