When just starting a podcast, don't think about monetizing it immediately. First, what you need to think about and start working on, is to build a community of your listeners and grow. Once you have a solid audience, you need to find out your broader goals: do you think of quitting your job and making money through podcasting? Or do you want to bring leads to your business? Having a clear understanding of your goal and where you want to go will determine the strategy to monetize your podcast.
Podcast monetization can not be "one size fits all." Some monetization strategies will work if your podcast has a massive audience. Other ones can work with a podcast that has small audiences. Depending on the goal, podcasters should stick to strategy considering audience size, the time they can invest in it, and of course, what will be profitable.
We compiled the common strategies list that podcasters implement for their podcast monetization. Let's dive into it.
Sponsored Advertising
The most common technique to make money from your podcast is sponsored advertising. Sponsorship involves contacting relevant brands within your niche to advertise their products and services in your show. You connect your audience with advertisers and get paid for that.
For example, if you use a product from a famous brand, you can contact them and ask for sponsorship. Many podcast hosts start or end; sometimes, they even say during the episode that their podcast episode is sponsored by [X Brand], which is called pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll ads, which indicates a sponsorship.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is another strategy for podcast monetization. It involves selling other products or services under a special tracking link and getting a commission when referring leads to other companies. So when podcast listeners click on this affiliate link and buy the product or service described in your episode, you will earn a commission from the sale.
For example, Amazon has an affiliate program where podcast hosts can sign up as an affiliate and start earning commissions. The commission amount podcaster can earn from affiliate marketing, in fact, depends on the size of their audience. It's highly recommended to promote only those products or services you truly believe are reputable and can bring value to you as well. As a result, you will build credibility and trust with your audience.
The main difference between this monetization strategy and advertising is that you only receive the payment if your listener buys what you mention on your show and tells the seller that they purchased the item through your podcast. With this model of podcast monetization, think about what you want to sell.
Paid Subscription for Premium Content
Selling premium content is another strategy for podcast monetization that takes your podcast business to the next level. It involves charging a subscription fee for unique or exclusive content that isn't available on your regular podcast feed. For example, you can publish four episodes per week where two episodes are free, and the other two are paid.
Donations
Another simple way of monetization is asking your audience for donations. If your podcast gives value to your audience and the content is engaging, then b sure many listeners will be willing to donate a few dollars to support their favorite podcast show. There are a lot of services/platforms you can use to collect donations, including Paypal, Patreon, GoFundMe, and more, plus you can start crowdfunding for your podcast. As soon as you open an account, add the link to your description and ask listeners to donate.
Charging guests
One of the podcast monetization strategies is charging your guests to be on your podcast. There are many famous podcast shows out there, especially in the business niche, that charges their guest to come on the podcast.
When choosing the strategy for your podcast monetization, make sure you have your goals defined clearly and remember that one strategy can't work equally well for all kinds of podcasts. It depends on different factors like your audience size, the time you are ready to devote to monetization of your podcast, which in reality can be time-consuming, and profitability. In a nutshell, be strategic about what you are committing to and signing up for, and before starting your monetization, balance all the factors to know what will be the best bang for your back aligned with your audience's values.
