Thinking of starting a podcast and want to know how
podcasters make money?
Or do you already have
a podcast and are looking for ways to increase your earnings?
Good news, there are
many different ways to monetize a podcast…
Some work well when
you are just getting started, and others work best once you’re more established
and have a larger audience.
Either way, you’ll
find at least one way to make
money podcasting no matter what stage you’re at.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing or
performance marketing is where you get a commission when you refer people to
other companies. You will typically earn money when someone makes a purchase.
Affiliate marketing
works best when you promote products or services that you use or are familiar
with, so you can authentically promote them.
You could create
your own “ad” spot to promote an affiliate offer if you don’t have the
audience size for traditional sponsorships. Or you can naturally include a
mention of a product or service as you deliver your regular content.
There are affiliate
programs for nearly every popular product or service. Amazon is one of the more popular programs, or
you can also join a network like Share A Sale where you can search and apply to join specific programs.
Using a plugin
like Lasso is highly
recommended. This allows you to create short links that redirect to your
special tracking link (among a bunch of other useful features). This makes it
easy to say a short, memorable URL on your podcast.
It’s also helpful
to create a Word Press blog so people can easily learn more and find all the different
companies you mention.
I use Buzzsprout
podcast hosting (see our review) for my podcast and if you sign up through my
special link, Buzzsprout will give
you a free $20 gift card from Amazon while I got a commission at no additional
cost to you. Pretty cool if you ask me!
Sponsors &
Advertising
Advertising and
sponsorships are probably the first things you think of when looking for
ways to make money from podcasting.
There are several
different podcast ad networks that can connect you with advertisers. They
do all the work of finding advertisers, negotiating rates, getting the script,
and more. You usually need a larger audience of at least 5K or 10K listeners
per month to work with them.
One of the largest ad
networks is Midroll,
another popular network is Authentic, and many of the podcast hosting companies have their own networks as well.
Another option that
can work well if you have a smaller or more niche audience is to reach out
directly to companies that would be a great fit for your audience.
Courses
Many popular
podcasters create their own online courses to teach similar content to
what they talk about on their podcast.
Online
courses are a great way
to teach something in an easy-to-follow way where someone can get a specific
result once they’ve completed it.
It helps to have an
email list so you can let your audience know about your course both on your
podcast and through email.
Another option to
promote courses is to use a webinar platform to help show the value of what you
offer for about 45 minutes and offer a course you have at the end.
Services
You can offer services
that tie in with the content on your podcast.
I used to analyze and
critique online ads on a podcast and the service I offered was Google AdWords
and Facebook Ads management.
By showing that I knew
what I was an expert on the topic, people knew that they would get expert-level
ad management. This made it much easier to get clients without having to “sell”
them on my abilities.
You could do something
similar in many different industries.
Coaching &
Consulting
Coaching &
Consulting is somewhat similar to offering a service, but you usually don’t do
the work for them. Instead, you help or guide them on how to improve.
Common industries that
have a lot of consultants and coaches are fitness, diet, business, and
teaching, but I’m sure there are consultants in every industry.
Crowdfunding &
Donations
You can ask for donations
to help support you and your podcast. More entertainment-focused podcasts would
be a good fit to monetize in this way.
A common platform for
accepting donations is Patreon.
They make it really easy to offer additional content or bonuses depending on
the amount of money people support you with.
They even give you the
ability to have a separate paid-only RSS feed, which ties in nicely with the
next method to make money podcasting…
Premium Content
Premium content can
really be anything you want, but some of the common ways podcasters offer
premium content are with:
·
Additional interviews
·
Behind-the-scenes
content
·
Ad-free RSS feed
·
Early-access RSS feed
·
Q&A with the hosts
Have fun coming up
unique ways to deliver additional value to your community for a few dollars per
month.
The
Daily Wire is a podcast and
news site that offers the video version of the podcast, live episodes, a
tumbler, and other bonuses when you purchase an annual subscription. No matter
what you think about the content they offer, this is a great example of premium
content.
Events
Hosting events is not
only a great way to make money, but bring together your best fans and bring
them even more value.
One example I heard of
from Pat Flynn was the Walker Stalker conference. It was started by a podcast that talked about
The Walking Dead TV show.
They do events all
over the world and even get the actors involved. That sounds awesome!
Another example from
Sam Harris combines Patreon and live events where when you become a Patron you
can early access tickets to his live events.
Physical Products
Physical products are
things like t-shirts, mugs, and other swag.
The Generation Why
Podcast offers a ton of different products, plus premium content, and a very active Patreon page.
Books
Leveraging a popular
podcast into book sales is another excellent way to make money and increase
your authority.
You can use your
podcast audience to get those initial sales and reviews that will help your
book stand out too.
Public Speaking
Many podcasters get
approached for speaking gigs in their industry. It makes sense that if someone
likes the what they hear on your podcast, you would most likely be a good fit
to speak at conferences and live events (and get paid to do it).
Speaking fees can
range from a few hundred dollars (or just free hotel & attendance) to 6
figures or more.
Speaking is another
great way to increase your authority as well as getting exposed to a new
audience that will hopefully become future podcast listeners.
Combine Methods
As you can see, there
are many different ways to make money from podcasting. Combining a few
different ways is a popular approach and you can always change and adjust your
monetization methods over time.
There is no “right”
way to turn your podcast into a business, just the right way for you.
Did I miss any
monetization methods that you use? Or do you have a favorite? Let me know in
the comments!
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