There are a few different ways that you can monetize your podcast. Some of these are more invasive than others, and depending on your niche or the topic/format of your podcast, one might be more effective than others. Check out some of the ways to make money from your Podcast below.
1. Sponsorships/Voice Ads
We have a sponsor on my podcast that is relevant to the audience. You might have heard other big-name podcasts sponsored by companies like Audible.com and 99Designs. Sponsorships are one way to monetize your podcast, though if you’re going after one of the biggies, you need to have large download numbers.
This article put together by the Entrepreneur on Fire podcast shares some realistic RPM (revenue you will make per 1,000 downloads) rates. I’ve also brainstormed a few ways that you can secure podcast sponsors for your podcast.
2. Affiliate Marketing
There are a lot of online marketing blogs/podcasts like the SmartPassiveIncome website that are killing it with affiliate marketing. Using the pretty link plugin to customize a shortlink, podcast owners can easily track and refer visitors to an affiliate partner and receive commissions if anyone decides to buy on their site.
It might depend on the terms of service of the particular affiliate network whether or not they allow traffic to be re-directed or whether you must use one of the network’s links and remember to plug the url during your podcast. Either way, you could also direct visitors to a particular page on your podcast’s website that contains affiliate links.
This may not be the best approach for a discussion-based podcast about politics or comedy, but it could be a great technique if you are teaching a subject to your listeners and they are eager to try out a product or service you’ve mentioned.
3. Inbound Marketing
A good example of inbound marketing is the Rainmaker FM podcast network, which is providing a tremendous amount of value to its listeners. In exchange for providing value, they have the opportunity to push or make the public more aware about their own product or service, which could be beneficial.
The key to this monetization approach is to deliver relevant value, build a relationship over time, and get readers onto your webpage or to interact outside of the passive listening medium. It’s also important to deliver high quality information, otherwise rather than looking like an expert in your field, you’ll look like an amateur.
If you’re unfamiliar with inbound marketing both through podcasting and blogging/social media, I’d check out Gary Vaynerchuk’s book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. I also learned a lot from Seth Godin’s book, Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers
4. Paid Podcast App
Finally, you could create a paid app that users must download if they’d like to listen to your podcast. This could be to accompany some kind of online course, part of a membership website, or standalone app in of itself.
Keep in mind that you will be competing with many free podcasts in the iTunes store, so figuring out why your listeners care about you and your material is vital. Paid content is becoming commonplace in the online world and it’s only a matter of time before this begins to permeate the audio world as well.
5. Crowdfunding
You can also use a crowdfunding platform like Patreon or JoyRide as a way for your audience to help support the show and be rewarded for it. This could be an interesting way to both engage your listeners and thank them for being a valued member of your podcast’s community.
If you’d like to learn how to use Patreon and, more importantly, how to be successful on the platform, then I’d recommend checking out this in-depth article.
How are you monetizing?
How are you monetizing your podcast? I’d love to hear in a comment down below. Have I left out any other monetization techniques?
Ultimately, I think that monetizing should be the second worry of any podcaster. The first and primary worry should be delivering value and making sure that people are coming back for more over an extended duration. If you’re not bringing something into the world that people want to listen to or recommend to their friends, then it’s going to be a lot harder to make money off that endeavor. What do you think?
