Money is not a four-letter word. Money is simply a resource that allows you to continue to do things you love and care about. When it comes to podcasting, looking into how to make money is a necessary part of the process. Money should be viewed as a resource that can be re-invested into your podcast and other business functions. Should making money be the sole focus for your podcast? No. Does it need to be included in your planning and execution? Absolutely. Creating and running a successful podcast takes time, energy, and resources—it's an investment. Therefore, if you aren't making money out of it, it becomes an expensive hobby. And, like any time-consuming, challenging endeavour, this can quickly lead to burnout. You might look at the time and effort you are spending and ask, "Is this even worth it?" Making money is important, you get that. So how do you go about making money from a podcast? It's important to understand that the podcast is not the mechanism to make money, but the bridge. It leads to different opportunities and revenue streams to put those dollars back into your pocket. While there are a lot of creative options, we'll cover the four main strategies to monetize your podcast: sponsorships, affiliates, your own products and services, and guest collaborations. Each strategy is a unique way that you can get paid to talk shop! Strategy 1: Sponsorships We'll start out with the strategy that requires the most time—the long game for money-making through your podcast. Sponsorships are when a company pays you to promote them via your podcast or other business channels. To be honest, we are not huge fans of sponsored podcasts here at Podcast Marketing Radio. They can absolutely work for some people and businesses, but they need to be handled delicately and are challenging to execute well. If you do choose to go with sponsorships, tread carefully. Throwing ads into the middle of a podcast episode can be disruptive to listeners, lowering the overall experience. It's also important to ensure that sponsors are aligned with your listeners' needs. Sponsorships can take a few different forms though, such as bundle sponsorships. These will "bundle" your different platforms—podcast, website, social media, etc.—to promote the sponsored material. The reason sponsorships are a long-term strategy is that it requires your podcast to hit a certain number of downloads to really be worth it. Sponsors payout on a CPM (Cost Per Mille, or thousand) basis. So, you might get $20 per 1000 downloads or listens, but this doesn't start making you real money until you have a sizeable audience in the tens of thousands. Building an audience takes time, and therefore, so does earning money from sponsors. Strategy 2: Affiliates The next strategy takes less time to earn money from than sponsorships and is a more subtle way of earning revenue by promoting other companies' products and services. Affiliates are partnerships with other companies, where you can earn a commission on products or services purchased by your audience through the affiliate link. Tons of companies offer affiliate programs. Many software programs will offer excellent commissions, sometimes up to 40%! Amazon also has an affiliate program that has large earning potential. The problem with affiliates is not finding an affiliate partner, but choosing the right one that will connect with your audience. It's important you are choosing targeted items that your audience needs and will benefit from. This makes it easier to naturally include the information in your content but also offers genuine value to your audience. Strategy 3: Products and Services Affiliate relationships help you sell other people's products and services, but we can't forget about your own! After all, that's why you are in business and starting a podcast at all. You can use your podcast to reach a wide audience and meet their needs with your tailored products and services. There are so many different...
