Since the dawn of podcasting, people have been hooked on making money with podcasts. Why? Everyone wants a return on the effort they put in of course! And if people can listen to your podcast for free, why wouldn’t you want to see some sort of return on your bottom line? If you’re trying to figure out how to make money with podcasts, I’m going to cover exactly this topic today.
So, you want to know how to make money with podcasts.
First, the most important thing to do is to decide whether your podcast is part of your marketing mix that attracts people to your business, or if the content itself is the main revenue source.
Marketing Mix Example: The Ultimate Creative Podcast is part of the business’ marketing mix, and supports the money making by leading clients to my paid products and services.
Content Example: Ya Gotta Laugh! is the product, so it is the sole money maker.
First we’ll cover your podcast as part of your marketing mix.
Here are a few basics.
Your marketing mix includes everything that you do to promote your business. It’s a collection of strategically planned tactics that drive people to your product or services. In addition to a podcast, you might also include a blog (like what you’re reading now) plus Instagram videos, plus email marketing.
Each of these elements has one shared purpose (or at least they should) which should be to help you accomplish your business goals. Whether you want to make more sales, increase awareness about your brand, whatever the heck it is, everything should be working together in one direction in order to move your business forward.
Here’s how to make money with podcasts in your marketing mix:
- Feature successful clients as case studies in interview episodes. This creates an experience for your listeners to understand what it would be like to work with you.
- Create episode content that is similar to a course you’re promoting or a book you’re selling, but give listeners “just a taste” so that they want to buy it.
- Record custom promos to advertise your own stuff! At the beginning of this episode you’ll hear me talking about my free mini-course “How To Start A Podcast” – but you won’t hear me reading ads for other businesses! That air time is MINE!
If you are serious about creating content that will generate revenue for you as part of your marketing mix, make sure you check out next week’s episode with Lianne Kim, host of “The Business of Thinking Big” (and also my business coach) where she will break down exactly how podcasting has helped her to draw in more qualified leads and earn significant revenue over the last two years. Make sure you <a data-formkit-toggle=”d43a09500c” href=”https://theultimatecreative.ck.page/d43a09500c”>subscribe to The Ultimate Creative podcast</a>to catch that!
Next we’ll cover how to make money with podcasts as a product.
If your podcast is the sole product that drives revenue, it makes sense to explore other monetization options. I’d always caution against this if your podcast is part of your marketing mix, because honestly, why would you want to give up the air time to someone else?
Sponsorships typically kick in around 1000 downloads per episode at a minimum. For each 1000 downloads, your podcast is eligible for more/better monetization options. If you’re just starting out and your current audience is zero, you might want to explore a few other options for monetization.
Crowdfunding
Ask your audience directly for contributions via a crowdfunding subscription service like Patreon.
- Create perk levels
- Create an engagement strategy with the audience
- Develop consistent bonus content
Create Complementary Products or Services
Sell products that appeal to your audience, such as The Important Cinema Club and Gold Ninja Video. Justin Decloux, co-host of The Important Cinema Club created Gold Ninja Video, an indie Blu-ray distribution company that sells rare and limited special edition Blu-rays of films that are in the public domain or grey market. The audience cross-over is so similar that he’s able to sell out of certain titles instantly by giving his Patreon subscribers first crack at pre-sales. What’s a product that you could produce that would generate more revenue? Additional revenue streams?
Join Revenue Share Programs
Once you get into higher download numbers, revenue share programs are fantastic if you still want to know how to make money with podcasts. Stitcher offers a revenue share program that generates money from ads and its Stitcher Premium subscription. If you have 5000 or more downloads per episode consistently, you are eligible to enrol in this program.
Similar programs exist on other platforms. Anchor, a Spotify product, has a monetization program that matches content creators with sponsors. The caveat here is that it’s only available in the U.S. right now, so for us Canadians and non-Americans, we need to find other resources.
Each sponsor brand will have a different cost structure for their ads, and they provide you with a guideline for what to say in the ads, so it’s quite varied. BUT, this approach is good because you want to make sure that your content and sponsored ads are a good fit for your audience.
There are other similar programs out there, Podbean, a podcast host also offers a monetization option, as well as Spreaker. Do a little digging, see if your host offers a program like this, and find out what is required in order to be eligible for these programs.
Make sure you subscribe to The Ultimate Creative Podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and if you like the show and want to share a little love, please rate and review! Not only does it help other people JUST LIKE YOU find the show, it also makes me feel like a million bucks!
Interested in starting a podcast? Take my free mini-course “How To Start A Podcast!” It’s totally free, and your next step to make money with podcasts!
Links mentioned in this episode:
The Business Of Thinking Big with Lianne Kim – https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-business-of-thinking-big/id1448374420
The Important Cinema Club – https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-important-cinema-club/id1067435576
Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/
Anchor.FM – https://help.anchor.fm/hc/en-us/articles/360018999351-Anchor-Sponsorships-Overview-
Stitcher Revenue Share – https://medium.com/stitcher-blog/stitcher-revenue-sharing-8905eba5bda
Gold Ninja Video – https://goldninjavideo.com/
