Another easy way to get some exposure for your podcast is to participate in “listener lines” of other podcasts. Most podcasters that have listener lines are not taking live on-air calls, but rather have you leave a recording (usually via skype or an answering machine) that they can play back on their podcast at a later date.

The trick here is to find a balance between being an asset to the show and sneaking in a subtle plug from your own podcast. A message that I leave for another show might go something like this:

Hi Dave, this is Tony from greatbigpodcast.com. Love your show. In the last episode, you briefly mentioned that you would advise against pay-per-click campaigns for not-for-profit groups. Would you mind explaining your thinking in a little more detail? Thanks for all the great work!

You can clearly see that I mentioned the domain for my podcast blog-site in my comments. You would be amazed at how many listeners will pick up on that reference and check your site out.

If you really focus on adding value to the other show, you might be asked to be a repeat guest or featured listener, with many more opportunities to mention your podcast. You could even be able to work out a cross-promotion deal with certain targeted shows. (We’ll try to cover cross-promotion at a later time).

The important thing is to reach out, get started and participate in other shows. Here’s a brief list of podcasts with listener lines to get you started: