Podcast Marketing Glossary [PART I: A-M]
Terms you’ll hear in your podcast marketing efforts, what they mean, and why they matter
Whether you’re new to podcast marketing and audience growth or just need a refresher, this glossary is here to give you a foundation.
Welcome to Part I of the Podcast Marketing Glossary, letters A-M
A lot of advice in podcasting spaces assumes you already know what people mean when they refer to things like “promo swaps,” “retention,” or “borrowed audience.” And if you don’t know what these things are, it can feel like you’re already behind.
I know this firsthand because I did not come from a traditional marketing background. I gained knowledge in marketing / growing podcasts by doing and experimenting. And sometimes, that meant I used terms that I made up, but that I came to find, had equivalents in traditional marketing. Over time, I figured out those equivalents, but it took some time.
So, this is a starting point (or a reset) to get you set up for success. I hope it presents clear definitions (with some examples) of the terms you’ll hear in your marketing discussions and negotiations. The goal is to better understand what’s being suggested / pitched. Then, you can decide what applies to your podcast and go from there!
Is there a term you’ve been hearing that you want me to explore or share resources for? Let me know!
Explore The Podcast Marketing Glossary📖
A
Attribution
How you determine where a listener came from, i.e. what the growth can be attributed to (it’s imperfect, but directional insight still helps). For example, if you ran a promo swap with another show and then saw a spike in traffic, that can be attributed to your collaboration.
Attribution allows you to measure retention, i.e. how many people listened to multiple episodes (even on other platforms) following a first listen attributed to a particular marketing activation. (Additional context, added by Sarah Toporoff)
Audience Development
The ongoing process of growing, engaging, and retaining your listeners across platforms.
Audiograms
Short, shareable clips of podcast audio paired with visuals, waveforms, and captions for social media sharing purposes.
Algorithm
The system that podcast platforms use to decide what content gets shown to whom—often opaque, always influential.
Here’s a helpful resource for understanding podcast algorithms
B
Borrowed Audience
The act of tapping into someone else’s existing audience by way of guesting on their show, getting featured in their newsletter, or otherwise setting up collaborations.
Brand Positioning
How your show is differentiated and perceived in a crowded market. It’s unique to you, your goals, and how you’re able to present your show.
Back Catalog
Your archive of past episodes (or issues of your newsletter). This is often an underused growth asset.
C
Call to Action (CTA)
The specific action you want listeners to take, such as “subscribe,” “follow,” “click,” “share,” or many others. This is often shared at the beginning of your show or in the outro. It also applies to email marketing, social media, and other forms of digital marketing. It’s often displayed via a button or underlined link.
Clips & Clips Strategy
The practice of using short-form video/audio excerpts to drive discovery and engagement. Your strategy will depend heavily on your show’s creative, your team’s bandwidth, your budget, and more.
Conversion Rate
The percentage of people who listen to your show (or read your newsletter or interact with you on social) who take a desired action — possibly as a result of your call to action.
Cross Promotion
The process of working with other creators (who host complementary shows or writer newsletters in your niche / adjacent topic areas) to mutually grow each other’s shows. Cross promotion can be set up via guesting opportunities, promo swaps, newsletter mentions, and many more creative integrations.
D
Distribution
Getting your podcast onto platforms (podcatchers) like Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Castbox, Goodpods, and many more. AKA how your show is being distributed.
You might hear people talk about “distribution deals,” when discussing how their podcast is made and the players involved in getting their show out there. That usually means that a network, company, organization, or some other entity is paying your podcast hosting provider fees. It also usually is limited to a timeframe, as in: “the partnership comes with a two-year distribution deal.”
Note: Once your show is on Apple Podcasts, it’ll also be available through most of the other podcatchers, BUT you should still claim your show on those platforms. This usually involves making a free account and then verifying the email address associated with your RSS feed.
Also note: Distribution also usually includes discussions around YouTube lately, even though the process of uploading content onto YouTube is different from podcast platforms.
Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI)
Technology that allows ads (or promos, or general content) to be swapped in/out of episodes over time AND within different geographies.
Downloads
A metric representing when an episode is retrieved by a listener’s device. HOWEVER, big note here: “downloads” are counted differently on different podcast platforms. Also, some platforms also track metrics like plays or streams. Therefore, the Download as a metric isn’t super reliable when trying to tell a story across several different shows.
I recommend tracking your downloads, sure, but also outlining a few other metrics that you and your team will use to track and report on.
I spoke with Shreya Sharma about what other metrics. Watch our conversation here.
E
Engagement
This usually refers to listener or fan interactions such as clicks, replies, shares, comments, listens, and more. Look back to “Downloads” just above. Engagement metrics are trackable as well.
Episode Title Optimization
Crafting your episode titles for clarity, curiosity, and searchability. Optimization of your title should be balanced with the human reader in mind.
Earned Media
This term is usually seen next to terms like “owned media” and “paid media.” Earned media is what happens when you pitch your show / individual episodes for press, features, or mentions you didn’t pay for.
Editorial Features
Having your show highlighted / featured by a podcast app, a newsletter roundup, or another entity with an audience.
F
Feed (RSS Feed)
The technical backbone of your podcast that distributes episodes to platforms. It stands for “really simple syndication.” The technology has been around for more than 20 years and it’s what keeps podcasting free and open. Read more about the history of the tech here.
Feed Drop
The promotional tactic of publishing an episode of your show in another podcast’s feed to reach new listeners. Sometimes these drops are exchanged non-monetarily and your swap partner will ask you to do the same for one of their episodes. Other times, you’ll either pay for the drop OR you’ll negotiate it as as earned media.
Frequency (Publishing Cadence)
How often you release episodes.
Here’s more information on setting up a feed drop / swap / feed warmer campaign
G
Guesting
Appearing on other podcasts, whether it’s for the purpose of directly promoting your show / projects or you’re building a guesting portfolio to indirectly grow / send traffic to your initiatives.
How your episodes appear in search engines.
Graphic Assets (Podcast Artwork, Social Assets)
Visual branding surrounding your show such as your cover art, episode art, chapter art, logos / general website design, and social media.
Guest Swap
The tactic of guesting on someone’s show and then having them as a guest on your own show.
Here’s an article about how to design impact podcast cover art
H
Hook
The piece at the beginning of your episode that reels in a listener / viewer so that they stick around. It can be delivered via a particularly impactful cold open quote, a cliffhanger before the intro music starts, or anything that hooks an audience member.
Host-Read
When a podcast host personally recommends another show by way of an “ad” on their podcast. Sometimes these host-reads are placed in a pre, mid, or post-roll position, but they can really go anywhere — they can even be placed organically and sound more like an organic mention.
Hyper-Niche Audience
A very specific target listener or consumer for a show. While audiences in these specific niches might be smaller, they are coming to your show for a specific reason, which makes their engagement potential super high and valuable for you and for potential advertisers.
Here’s an article that gets into why brands are interested in hyper-specific audiences
I
Impressions
Impressions refer to the number of people your content (podcast, social posts, video…etc) reaches on their feeds — not necessarily the clicks or deep engagement that your content receives.
Note: impressions can also refer to IRL eyes and ears on your content.
Influencer Marketing
The process of partnering with creators to promote your show. Sometimes this is established via a paid partnerships, but it can also refer to swaps or earned media acquisition.
Intro
The first moments of your show / episode. Intros can be always-on (pre-recorded and tacked onto each episode) or recorded fresh with each installment of the show.
Internal Promotion
Promoting episodes of your own show (or partner shows) within your own feed or content ecosystem.
Here’s some information on setting up a podcast network
J
Journey Mapping
Understanding how a potential consumer of your show goes from the first touchpoint to becoming a loyal listener.
Jump Cuts
Fast-paced editing of your show, often used for video clips — but can also be a style choice within an audio show.
Jingle (Sonic Branding)
Short, branded audio (sometimes with music) used for intros, transitions, or show identity-building.
Here’s a free podcast intro / jingle maker
K
Keywords
The words associated with your show’s unique positioning. These are the words and phrases that help your show get discovered via search. You might know your keywords ahead of time because you’re part of your own show’s demographic, but you also may need to do some research to learn more.
Note: There are keywords that someone might use when they know what they’re looking for in a new podcast to listen to / watch. And there are also keywords that someone might use without knowing specifically what they’re looking for. When crafting your keyword strategy, think of both scenarios.
KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
The metrics you track to measure success (downloads, retention, etc.). KPIs are used in all areas of business / marketing. Your show’s KPIs will differ from someone else’s. You can also establish and track different KPIs at different points in your show’s journey.
Kickoff Strategy
How you launch your show and first few episodes to maximize impact and traction.
This website / tool helps you identify and track your show’s keywords
L
Listener Retention
How long people stay engaged a. within an episode, b. from episode to episode, c. from season to season. Can also be applied to “viewer retention,” or even “follower retention” on social media platforms.
Lead Magnets
Free resources you set up and offer on your website or landing page in exchange for email addresses or other information from visitors interested in that resource.
Listen-Through Rate
The percentage of an episode that listeners complete. Can also be applied to viewers on YouTube. Some podcasting hosting providers will give you this data on a per-episode basis. You can also get platform-specific data by logging into your Apple Podcasts Connect or Spotify for Creators accounts. YouTube also shares pretty robust viewer data.
Landing Page
Within a podcast context, a landing page is a dedicated page that displays information about your show, shares links to the podcast (or has an embedded player), and has other useful items such as a newsletter subscriber form.
Here’s a tool that helps you set up lead magnets | here’s a tool that helps you set up a landing page
M
Metadata
The information attached to your podcast (titles, descriptions, tags) that can be setup and maintained within your podcast hosting provider.
Monetization Strategy
A process by which you can make money from your podcast; how your podcast generates revenue. This can be accomplished by way of ads subscriptions, products, and many other possibilities.
Multi-Platform Distribution
Publishing your show across audio + video platforms (AKA publishing both within your hosting provider’s dashboard and on YouTube).
Mid-Roll Promotion
Ads or promos placed in the middle of episodes. It’s helpful to create a space for these during your recording so that when you place a marker for your mid-roll during the publishing process, it’s being inserted at a natural-sounding point, as opposed to interrupting mid-sentence.
Minisode
A a short, standalone clip pulled from a full-length episode.
“I usually use these clips on YouTube with their own unique thumbnail, title, and description.”
-Submitted by reader Steve Koch of Vandal Pop
Here’s some information about updating / upgrading your podcast metadata
That’s Part I, letters A-M
…of our podcast marketing glossary. What did I miss? Hit the replies to let me know. Stay tuned for Part II, where I’ll get to the rest of the alphabet.
If you want more information on some of the terms outlined above, come to Defining Terms: Podcast Marketing 101 or catch the replay.
If this glossary helped you, consider becoming a member of the EarBuds Patreon. It’s free to show your support!
This is a great list, though I believe you forgot "Arielle: A person you should absolutely listen to for excellent podcasting advice."
This is great! When is comming part 2?