FOR PODCASTERS
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How to plan a podcast launch or new season in the UK: a week-by-week timeline with trailers, Apple featuring, guests, newsletters and ads timed to the day.
A good podcast launch starts six to eight weeks before release day, not the night before. Finish the cover art and trailer first, put the trailer in your feed a couple of weeks ahead, pitch Apple Podcasts editors at least two weeks before your first full episodes, line up guests to share, warm up your newsletter and social accounts, then time ads to your best clip in launch week. A new season follows the same pattern, just shorter.
Imagine release morning. The trailer has been in the feed for a fortnight and people have already pressed follow. The newsletter goes out at seven, the first clip is live by eight, and by the time you’ve made a second coffee your guest has shared the episode with their own audience. The comments start before lunch. You aren’t launching into silence. People were waiting.
That kind of morning is planned, not lucky. Below is a week-by-week plan for a new show, what needs to be ready before you start, and how to adapt it for the return after a season break.
Six to eight weeks out is comfortable for most independent shows. It leaves time to finish artwork, record and edit a few episodes, build a little anticipation and pitch for featuring without rushing any of it.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| 8 weeks out | Confirm the name, format and release day. Brief cover art and episode artwork. Book launch guests. |
| 6 weeks out | Record the first episodes and the trailer. Set up the website page and newsletter sign-up. |
| 4 weeks out | Edit episodes, cut clips and plan the social calendar. Plan the ad budget and creative. |
| 2 to 3 weeks out | Publish the trailer in your feed. Pitch Apple Podcasts editors. Start the social countdown. |
| 1 week out | Brief guests with share packs. Schedule the release-day email. Start trailer ads. |
| Launch day | Publish, post, email and push your best clip. |
| The month after | Keep the rhythm, measure what worked and thank everyone who shared. |
The trailer is the single most useful launch asset. It sits in your feed for anyone deciding whether to follow, and it doubles as your first ad. Apple suggests keeping show trailers to two minutes or less and structuring them in four parts: introduce the show and hosts, share the highlights, leave people wanting more, and finish with a call to action that tells them when episodes arrive and asks them to follow.
In your RSS feed, mark it as a trailer episode. Apple’s feed guide explains that a trailer with no season or episode number is treated as a show trailer, and one with only a season number as a season trailer. Your hosting platform will usually offer this as a simple setting.
You can pitch Apple’s editors, though there is no guarantee of featuring. Apple asks new shows to pitch at least two weeks before the first full episodes are released, and a trailer must already be live in the feed. It recommends including advance audio of full episodes, your launch plan and optional featuring art, and asks creators to pitch no more than once every six to eight weeks.
Apple also says you won’t be told if you’re featured, and that personalisation affects who sees each selection. Treat a pitch as a bonus, not the plan.
Give people a reason to care before there is anything to listen to. A three-week build might include:
Once the trailer is live, Apple’s promotional tools can generate social assets, short links, badges, QR codes and an embeddable player for your website. For clips that keep working after launch, see how to promote a podcast on Instagram.
Ads work best as a timed push behind material you already know is strong. A simple shape for launch advertising:
Set a defined launch budget with a start and end date, so you can judge it properly afterwards. Our guide on how to advertise a podcast covers platforms and measurement in more detail, and our advertising for podcasters service plans launches this way.
Your list is the audience no algorithm can take away, and release-day email is often the most reliable push you have. Start collecting sign-ups as soon as the website page is live. In the UK you generally need specific consent before sending marketing emails to individuals, and every message must offer a simple way to unsubscribe, so use a proper sign-up form rather than adding contacts by hand.
Keep the launch email short: what the show is, why you made it, a link to listen and a link to follow.
A new season is a smaller launch, and it is easy to underestimate. Listeners drift between seasons, so treat the return as an event:
Shows that keep posting between seasons find this far easier, because they are returning to an audience that never quite left.
Launch day is the start, not the finish. Keep the release schedule you promised, post clips through the week, and send every guest their share pack on their episode’s day. Note which episodes, clips and channels brought followers, and which didn’t. Then write down what you’d change next time, while it’s fresh. Your next season launch will be better for it.
We’d like your next release day to feel calm, with listeners already waiting. Our team first worked as co-founder Jack Cartwright’s in-house crew, timing ads, videos and social posts around his book releases, and launches are still what we know best. With advertising for podcasters, we plan your launch or new season to the day, make ads from your trailer and clips, and report on what they delivered, as part of joined-up marketing for podcasters. A clear brief, scope and fee are agreed before any creative work begins.
Many shows release two or three, so a new listener who enjoys the first has something to carry on with straight away. It also gives you more to share on launch day. Whatever you choose, have further episodes finished before launch, so the weekly schedule you promise is one you can keep while also handling the promotion.
Choose the day you will release on every week afterwards, so launch day sets the habit. Think about when your listeners are likely to press play, such as a Monday commute or a weekend walk, and when you have the time to promote. Consistency matters more than finding a perfect day.
You can, but you lose your best launch asset. A trailer lets people follow before the first episode arrives, gives you ready-made ad creative and social clips, and is required in the feed if you want to pitch a new show to Apple Podcasts editors. It is worth the extra recording session.
It depends on your goal, the audience you want to reach and how long the push runs, so set a defined launch budget rather than an open-ended one. Start with a warm-up test on the trailer, put more behind what performs in launch week, and judge the result on new followers and listens.
It can be, if the show has a clearer focus, a better format or a stronger look than before. Treat it as a proper launch: refresh the cover art if needed, publish a new trailer explaining what has changed, tell your existing list and followers, and plan the first few episodes so the momentum holds.
A practical UK guide to video podcast lighting: key, fill and practical lights, two-person desks, backgrounds, flicker under 50 Hz mains and a look that stays…
How to promote a podcast on Instagram in the UK: Reels from every episode, Stories on release day, guest collabs, trial reels and posting between seasons.
How to write podcast show notes that persuade people to press play and help episodes get found in search, with a simple template, timestamps and transcripts.
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A closer look at the work behind each part of your plan.
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