40: 1000 Ways to Get More Podcast Reviews

Let’s say you have a podcast or a radio show or online course, and you really really really want to get more reviews.

There are a 1000 ways to do that:

1. Ask people directly whether it’s friends and family, clients, subscribers, guests, colleagues, etc.
2. Run a contest – the first ten people to leave a review will be entered in a drawing for some big, incredible prize.
3. Ask on social media regularly
4. Give away a bonus, like every time someone leaves a review they can redeem a prize.
5. Make it part of your email signature and automation series
6. Ask every time you publish a new episode or offer your program, and create a vanity URL like LeaveEvaAReview.com to make it super easy.
7. Ask for a review as a birthday gift or anniversary or some other event. People are incentivized by time-bound requests.
8. Make a goal for a specific number of reviews, and ask people to help you reach your goal.

You could Google the remaining 992 options (at least!), but you get the idea: there are a lot of ways to ask for what you want.

How do you decide which tactic to try?

Well, how do they make you feel? Pick one and think about it. How about: Ask for a review as a birthday gift.

You might feel…

• Good, because if someone asked you for a review for their birthday, you’d totally give it to them!
• Good, because it fits your positioning. You love birthdays, you always celebrate yours online and invite your followers to be part of it, so asking for a review-gift aligns perfectly with your relationships and presence to your audience.
• Bad, because if someone asked you for a birthday review, you would roll your eyes. It’s desperate and inauthentic to ask for a review that way!
• Bad, because it doesn’t fit your positioning. You never talk about your birthday, you think birthdays are kind of silly because we’re all adults here, so it would be totally off-brand to ask for reviews this way.

There are plenty of other ways to feel – awkward, exposed, excited, grateful – but the bottom line is this: you’re going to love some tactics and hate others based on your personal preferences and your positioning.

(Of course, everyone else you can think of will have their own opinion about what you do, just like you have your own opinion about every one of these tactics. Shrug.)

Now if you hate ALL of these tactics, plus every other tactic that Google recommends, ask yourself:

Why do you want these reviews so badly? 

What do they MEAN to you?

Maybe you’re looking for validation that your creation is worthy. Perhaps you want to impress people who come to your podcast or radio show page. Maybe you need X reviews in order to qualify for an award. Perhaps you just believe that you “should” (ew) have more reviews at this point.

Whatever it is, it’s worth getting to the bottom of WHY you want what you want. Once you do, you might realize you don’t actually need external validation – that’s an old, insecure version of yourself that you don’t want to humor.

Or you might realize that you DO want to give a certain impression when someone comes to your podcast or radio show page. Are there other ways to do that besides getting more reviews?

The phrase I keep thinking of is “there’s more than one way to skin a cat,” but that’s gross and violent. What I mean is, there’s more than one way to get what you want, IF you even really want what you want.

Image by Social Cut.