If you are a brand that is active in the true crime space, it makes sense to find podcasters that can promote your brand to new audiences in a creative and authentic way. true crime podcasters have become a prominent industry force over the last few years, and there is now a considerable amount of competition between different true crime brands to find, hire and even secure exclusivity with key true crime podcasters.
Working with podcasters means that you can get some of the most powerful and well respected voices in the true crime industry talking about your brand. They will become a key part of the conversation surrounding your brand, and shape the way your brand is perceived by their followers.
podcast marketing can provide excellent opportunities for brand awareness in the true crime industry. Successful campaigns can lead to an instant uptick in sales. Some brands also find that podcast marketing is helpful for gathering insights on how your target market responds to your brand, allowing them to discover new ways to make their true crime products more appealing or even develop new ones.
Whether this is the first time your brand has tried to recruit true crime podcasters, or you already have a roster of true crime creators that you work with regularly, here are some tips to help you find the best true crime podcasters that will promote your brand and help you grow your business.
Spend time researching the top podcasters currently dominating the true crime industry. Figure out what platforms they're using, whether it be YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Podcasts, or newsletters. Your initial research should be fairly broad: sample content from a range of different content creators to get a sense of the kinds of podcasters that will best represent your brand. The internet is bursting with true crime podcasters and you’ll find that some of them match the voice and tone of your brand better than others.
Researching true crime content on podcasts will also give you a deeper understanding of what true crime fans care about. This will help you to adjust your brand messaging into creator talking points that directly address those topics.
Don’t get sidetracked by the subscriber count of top true crime shows. Subscriber rate is less important than engagement, and it’s not worth working with a true crime podcast that reaches millions of people if their content doesn’t reflect your brand and your message.
Use keyword searches to understand their content quickly (without having to trawl through all of their previous content). See if they talk about the kinds of topics that resonate with your true crime brand. If your brand sells insurance (for example), then look for a show that regularly mentions ordinary people protecting themselves from crimes, and doesn't focus on stories that cast insurance companies in an unflattering light.
Once you have found a show that you want to work with, it’s a good idea to look for any content that your brand doesn’t want to be associated with, to make sure that working with this true crime podcast doesn’t impact negatively on your brand’s reputation. You can create a “blacklist” of unsavory keywords that characterize topics that you'd rather stay away from, and then check your chosen true crime show against this list.
You’ll also want to make sure that this true crime podcast posts new content regularly, and that they receive positive engagement on their content. Frequent posting and consistent audience comments on their show is a good sign that they have built up a loyal following in the true crime space, and have an army of followers who actually engage with their content (and any brand promotions it contains).
Check out other brands' successful campaigns with content creators to see how they used sponsorship marketing to promote their company to new audiences interested in true crime products. Start building a list of the most prominent brands in your space that you see sponsoring true crime shows, and add to that list whenever you see a new sponsorship on one of the true crime podcasters that you are tracking.
Looking closely at the strategies these brands have used, you might find tactics and ideas that you want to borrow, from enticing offers to strong landing pages. You can use the ThoughtLeaders platform to track your competitors: with every prominent brand in the true crime industry, you can easily find a comprehensive breakdown of their sponsorship strategies, and find out what has worked, (and what didn’t work so well).
When you’ve found a podcast you are interested in working with, check what brands they have worked with in the past. If they haven’t been sponsored by any prominent true crime brands, you might have an undiscovered gem on your hands (especially if it’s a particularly young show). If it’s a true crime podcast that has been around for a while, there might be a reason why other brands in your industry have stayed away. Similarly, have a look at whether brands have returned to work with that show on multiple occasions. Repeat bookings are always a good sign, suggesting that the podcast / brand partnership was successful and delivered results for the sponsors. No repeat booking might be a red flag, suggesting you need to find a different true crime podcast for your campaign.
It goes without saying that some podcasters are bigger than others. That means that some of the biggest true crime podcasters in the game right now might be out of your budget. That doesn’t mean that you should rule out podcast marketing: in fact there are content creators focusing on true crime that can suit every tier and every budget. Don’t forget that smaller podcasters are likely to draw inspiration from some of the most prominent podcasters in their space, so it’s possible to take ideas and content trends from the larger shows and find similar true crime podcasters that better align with the size and scale of your campaign.
You should also think about how your brand wants to distribute the risk of your podcast campaign: spending all of your budget by working with one large true crime show will mean that you are putting all of your eggs in one basket. Spreading your budget out between a number of smaller true crime podcasters will help to moderate your risk - if one show doesn’t deliver on your campaign goals, you haven’t jeopardized your entire budget.
Once you have found your ideal true crime podcasters, here’s what to do next:
true crime podcasters, especially those with large followings and a strong track record of brand partnerships, will often be inundated by requests from true crime brands, looking to sponsor their content. Make sure your email stands out from the noise and includes all the information that the creator needs to know about your company and the kind of partnership you are looking for.
Use our template emails to remove the guesswork, for an effective email that will make it more likely that you will get a (positive!) response from the true crime podcasters that you have chosen to work with:
Download our Brand outreach template emails here!
Once the podcast has responded and shared some details about their show and the terms of the partnership, you’ll want to collect all of the information relating to your podcasts campaign. It’s always a good idea to keep track of all of the true crime shows you are working with, the rates agreed for each integration, when the promotions will be running and the number of impressions and site visits you are expecting to see. You can collect this information all in one place with our podcasts campaign planner template:
Now you have the best true crime podcasters to work with. After running a few tests with these shows, you'll know which shows are performing well for your company, and you can start discussing long-term partnership deals with these podcasters. Once you find a content niche for your brand, it'll be much easier for you to select the right true crime podcasters who are relevant to the exact products and services that you're selling.
Our top tip? Keep exploring new talent in the true crime space so that your brand's marketing strategy stays ahead of its competitors. That means that you’ll want to keep a close eye on the new content trends and the true crime shows that are leading these. Staying on top of what’s hot in true crime content on podcasts will help to drive your business forward, with the right podcasters at your side.
If your brand is interested in working with the best true crime podcasts, get in touch and we can help you find the right shows for your campaign.