How To Monetize A Podcast?

Many podcasts start to share a passion or raise awareness. These two are the best motivation for the majority of podcasters.

However, who would not want to have a permanent activity that would also help make earnings?

Podcasters invest lots of time, effort, and resources to produce quality content. So, why not choose to monetize your hard work if it is possible? After all, as was wisely said by an entrepreneur and successful podcaster, Jason Allan Scott, “anything that has value can be monetized.”

So, let’s take a look at some effective methods that can help you monetize your podcast.

Affiliate marketing

Many brands choose podcasters to recommend products or services to their audience. Those podcasters either have a large audience or are connected with a niche that the brand targets.

Affiliate marketing is when a trusted person becomes a brand ambassador and introduces their audience to products and services they might find compelling. Later, podcasters get paid for each purchase that was made based on their recommendation. Usually, a marketer provides a link by which the purchases are tracked. That is why it is also referred to as performance marketing.

Affiliate marketing works better when the recommendations are authentic. Firstly, podcaster should promote stuff related to his niche. Also, it’s better if podcaster promotes services or products which he uses personally.

Sponsors and advertising

The first things that come to mind when thinking about how to monetize a podcast are sponsorship and advertising. It is a form of traditional marketing, where a sponsor pays a podcaster for placing an ad in a podcast.

Podcast advertising has many opportunities. As podcasting industry expert Jason Allan Scott said, “there are so many businesses competing for customer’s eyes. Put simply, the ears are less crowded.”

Podcasts usually have a niche topic. For example, it can be about brewing coffee or maintaining a healthy lifestyle. A sponsor from the same industry will usually choose to reach podcast listeners as his target audience. Advertising on podcasts is like putting a billboard on a street where most bypassers are at least interested.

The first thing you should choose is a sponsorship model and ad format that fits you best. Further, you can seek ways to reach out to sponsors. Your payment details will differ depending on the sponsorship type you select. You can learn more about podcast sponsorship models, podcast ad formats, and finding podcast sponsors.

Courses

A trusted podcaster who creates online courses and has a large audience is a good answer to “how to monetize a podcast?”. An audience who trusts a podcaster in a specific field wants to learn more from them. And with the tools available today, it is easier than ever if you want to create and sell your online courses.

The important thing here is to maintain the overall scope of the podcast during the course.

For example, if your podcast is about managing personal finances, developing a course on winemaking might not be the best choice for your audience.

You can be your own sponsor and advertise sell your course during podcast episodes. If you have your listeners’ email addresses, you can let them know about it via email as well.

You can even dedicate an episode on lecturing a small part of your course content so that listeners get eager to learn more and register for a course.

Products and services

You can sell your abilities or products that tie in with the topic of your podcast.

For example, if you are a nutritionist and your podcast is about healthy eating or eating habits, your audience will trust you with their diets. So, as an expert, you can offer a service of developing personalized diets.

Or, if you are podcasting on environmental issues and protection, you can consider making products that would support your approach and mission. For example, you can order eco reusable shopping bags if you want to fight against the usage of plastic. The audience who shares similar values may purchase it as well.

Books

In 2014, entrepreneur and podcaster Chris Ducker published a book named “Youpreneur,” closely connected to his podcast. The book and podcast even share the same name to be more specific. And this is not a unique case. Many podcasters choose to share their knowledge and expertise in a traditional way of writing a book.

You can turn your podcast into a book to earn money and increase authority in your field. You can promote the book on your podcast and generate initial sales and reviews from your audience.

Events

Hosting events is an excellent way to earn money and also meet your fans and experts in the field. It is a good opportunity to develop networking and strengthen your podcast community.

You can organize forums and conferences to discuss hot issues and generate value for your community. If you do not have enough resources to organize real-life meetings, no worries. COVID19 taught us that almost everything could successfully work on online platforms.

Premium content

There is a good chance that your loyal audience will be willing to pay for premium content. So, when thinking of how to monetize a podcast, consider offering exclusive content which is only accessible for paid subscribers.

Premium content ideas are:

  • Question and answer sessions with special guests
  • Ad-free episodes
  • Early access
  • Behind-the-scenes episodes, etc.

However, here is an important point to consider. You should keep the balance between offering something worthy for purchase which in the meantime will not make you listeners assume that you are hiding valuable stuff only under paid content. Just make sure that you have plenty of quality content available for free.

To sum up

Podcast monetization is realistic and possible. However, do not make it the primary goal for your podcast. Focus on developing quality content first. The genuine engagement of your listeners is the only way that will help you generate earnings.

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