Podcasting is a great way to voice your thoughts and opinions and reach listeners from all over the world. You just have to get yourself a good podcasting microphone, some monitoring headphones, a user-friendly recording and editing software to polish your podcasts with, and you’re ready to start a podcast. But of course, no matter how easy it may sound, you still need to put a lot of effort into it. Make sure you produce quality content that will engage your audience and keep them coming back for more. If you play your cards right, you’ll even be able to make some money with your podcast.
So how can you turn podcasting into a lucrative career? In this article, we list some of the most popular ways that podcasters make money from their content. If you’re a beginner, you’ll probably want to start with one strategy and work your way to doing a couple of them interchangeably or all at the same time. Don’t worry, it gets easier—just ask today’s most successful podcasters!
Read on to find out how to make money with podcasts.
Products and Services
Before you go looking for help from other people, you can start by directing potential customers to yourself. Do you happen to run your own online business? Or better yet, did you start podcasting mainly (or partly) to promote your products or services? If your business is relevant to your audience, then you definitely should think of ways to use your show to increase your business earnings.
One way is to offer exclusive discounts to your audience. Don’t be afraid to offer your product or service, as the podcasting medium can help you in gaining your listeners’ trust. You can also create your own merchandise (many influencers sell “merch” to add to their income) after building a good following—these can be shirts, hoodies, baseball caps, mugs, and other items that may be relevant to your podcast topic.
Another way to promote your services is by expressing your professional opinions on certain topics related to your skills. For example, if you work in the digital marketing field, it would be a good idea to do informational episodes that allow you to subtly show off your marketing knowledge and expertise. This can make it easier for you to attract clients.
Advertising and Sponsorships
Perhaps the most popular way to make money in the podcast industry (and any other industry where you create content for an audience) is to look for sponsorships and advertisers. There are already a couple of podcast ad networks that can help you find advertisers, but you’ll usually need a monthly listener average of at least 5-10K to be able to work with them. Another option is to do it on your own—reach out to companies and ask them if they would like to sponsor you. Keep in mind that audiences are easily put off by insincerity, so try to make it a point to work with brands that you actually believe in.
Many popular podcasts like Entrepreneur on Fire make thousands of dollars every month through sponsorships with the CPM (cost per impression) program. For example, you can earn around $18 per 1,000 downloads per episode with a 15-second ad in the pre-roll slot, $25 per 1,000 downloads for a 60-second ad in the mid-roll slot, and $54 per 3,000 for a 15-second ad in the mid-roll slot. Of course, these depend on the agreed rate with your sponsor, depending on how long the ad is, the number of downloads, and even where the ad is placed in your show.
Networking
Just like in business, cultivating relationships within the podcasting community (and outside of it) can be integral to your success. After all, many deals with entrepreneurs, sponsors, and even authors and coaches are closed through networking and connecting with other people in the industry. Meeting people will allow you to meet potential sponsors, as well as possible interviewees or collaborators.
Aside from allowing you to uncover various monetary opportunities, building your network can also help you grow your audience through guest spots and collaborations with other podcasters.
Affiliate Marketing
Another very popular strategy for making money online is affiliate marketing. Also referred to as performance marketing, this is where podcasters get commissions whenever they successfully refer their audience to companies. With every purchase, you get to earn some money. You can ensure greater effectivity by promoting products and services that your audience will be interested in and that you actually use and enjoy.
Podcasters typically create their own “ad spot” or naturally mention a product or service in the middle of their show. Sites like Amazon also have affiliate programs, but there are many others. You can even join networks like ShareASale to find and join specific programs that you like. You can also use online services that will allow you to create short and memorable affiliate links that your audiences will remember so they can be redirected to your tracking link easily.
Online Courses
Podcasters who do educational topics can create paid online courses that offer more in-depth information than what they discuss in their podcasts. For example, you can create a podcast series wherein you talk about the different types of photography niches, then offer a complementary online course that your listeners can choose to avail should they want to learn more. You can use your podcast to talk more about your course and explain what your listeners can learn and achieve by the end of it.
You can also have the same listeners subscribe to your email list so you can update them about future courses.
Coaching and Consulting
As a different kind of service, coaching and consulting don’t actually involve you doing the work for others. Instead, you offer help in order to guide your listeners in a particular field or topic. And as we already know, expert advice rarely comes free.
You can offer purely coaching or you can include free (or discounted) consultations for your listeners as part of your business plan. It can be for business, diet, wellness, or even podcasting—anything you’re particularly knowledgeable, skilled, or successful in. Use your podcast as an alternative medium instead of focusing on your social media market.
Books and Audiobooks
This strategy may not be for everybody, but it can be a great income-generating option for those who are already authors. Take the opportunity to use your podcast audience to boost your book sales, as well as invite reviewers to pick up your material. You can even be a guest on other podcasts to promote your book.
Now if you’re not an author, who says you can’t create an audiobook out of your quality podcast content? Feel free to create a whole new product out of your show (or shows) as a way for others to catch up on and learn from the highlights of your content.
Crowdfunding
Don’t be afraid to ask for support from your audience. If you’ve gained a lot of listeners and have interacted with your audiences quite a few times, you can bet that many of them would be willing to give you donations to support you and your podcast. Crowdfunding is a very fitting strategy for entertainment-focused podcasts and others that are relatable to a broader audience.
You can have people make pledges through Patreon, whose subscription content service helps make it easier to offer additional content depending on the amount of money a listener (or member) pays to support you with. If you happen to be supporting a charity, your podcast can also be a good medium for seeking donations.
Premium Content
Through Patreon, you can also offer premium content that you know your audience will want to listen to. Typical examples of premium content are extended or special interviews, behind-the-scenes moments, ad-free series, early-bird access to your shows, and other unique and valuable content that can rake in a few dollars each month.
You’ll find that some podcasters also offer live and video versions of their audio podcasts and other bonuses when a listener purchases an annual subscription. It can be anything you like, as long as it excites your listeners and that you make it worth what they pay for.
Hosting Events
Remember how you can (and should) cultivate relationships through (and for) your podcast? You can make use of those relationships and put together an online digital conference or virtual summit where you can have experts, thought leaders, and even celebrities speak about a particular topic.
By collaborating with other famous personalities this way, you can tap into their market and gain even more listeners. In turn, your combined anticipating listeners can pay to subscribe to the virtual summit and be part of your growing email list. You’ll be surprised how some podcasters were able to make around $20,000 in sales this way.
We hope we are able to give you a better idea of some of the top monetization options that are available to you as a podcast host. Feel free to dabble and see what works best for you and your show. And if you have other monetization methods that you think we missed, please feel free to share them in the comments below to help your fellow podcasters!
