Today, podcasts are more popular than ever. Considering how visual our society is now, it’s a bit of a wonder that audio-only podcasts are so in demand. Podcasts are wildly popular, and the trend has grown steadily over the past several years.
Podcasts are perfect for morning and evening commutes, long trips, or when working out. Some have become fans of a particular podcast series and eagerly await the next episode.
It’s relatively easy to record podcasts with quality audio. Podcasting can be a profitable venture if you take the time to record a quality podcast and build your audience. Why should you create podcasts? They are an inexpensive, professional way to position yourself or your company as an industry leader.
Podcasts create and build audiences, help you connect with other influencers, and build your personal brand by boosting exposure for your business.
In addition, many have found success in turning their podcasts into additional revenue streams for their businesses, whether the business is a large company or an individual. If you are a beginning podcaster, there are several aspects to consider, especially if your goal is to make money.
Read on to find out how to make money from podcasting.
How to Make Money from Podcasting
If you are thinking of starting your own podcast to share your interests with others, you may want to take it a step further and see if you can make a little extra money in the process. Some folks make this their full-time gig. Next are a few necessary steps you need to take.
1. Why Do You Want to Podcast?
The best, simplest place to start is to ask yourself why you want to create a podcast? Your purpose is your center. It becomes the purpose of your podcast as well as the focus of your goals for the podcast.
Think of it as your personal or business’ call to action. Notice we aren’t discussing the topic of your podcast just yet. That’s coming. For now, focus on what effect you want your podcast in the first place. Your action statement should contain a goal.
For example, if you want to promote your business, you’ll know the podcast is working if you increase your product sales by 15% as a result. In other words, your goal should be measurable in some way. As you develop your podcast plan, you can add ideas to make your podcast profitable as well.
2. To Teach or Entertain?
Podcasts focus on providing listeners information or entertaining listeners. A superior podcast does a bit of both. However, it will focus on one or the other. When thinking about the type of podcast you want to create, think about whether you want to educate and inform listeners. Or, do you want to entertain your listeners and speak to their interests?
Whichever you choose, the content of your podcast should also be relevant and meaningful to your listeners. Chances are it will be if you’ve already discovered how and why it’s relevant to you. Also, it should be relevant to whatever it is you want to promote. Many podcasters have the practical goal of promoting their own business and services.
3. Select A Topic You’re Passionate About
Now we’re getting to the topic of your podcast. According to award-winning podcaster and podcasting consultant, Daniel J. Lewis, your topic should be one you are passionate about. Lewis’s podcast is called The Audacity to Podcast. In it, he stresses the importance of keeping the topic relevant to you as well as your target audience.
Lewis defines one’s passion as the topic that you talk about, learn about, or spend your off time doing. For some, that’s a hobby. For others, it’s family or business. Whatever it is for you, that’s your area of expertise.
4. Find Your Niche Market
Podcasts either target a mass-market audience or a specific, narrower niche audience. For individuals and smaller companies, the niche market is the right one for podcasts. It’s easy to define your audience as well as identifying the types of advertisers and sponsors you need.
A niche market by design is focused, specific, and unique. Thus, there’s less competition in that space. All the better for you to claim your place within that place in the market.
If you aren’t sure what your niche is, then take a moment to think about what sets you apart from others in your industry? What is it that you or your company can offer that no one else does? If you have an established business, look at your mission statement. You may find the answer there.
Identifying your niche doesn’t mean you’re stuck talking about the same thing all the time. Rather, it means identifying your angle. You’ll find your point of view for each podcast, your inspiration for podcasting, and the reason your listeners will care about your topic.
Even if you start with a niche market-based podcast, you can expand the scope of your podcast to reach a wider audience later on.
5. Invest in Quality Podcast Recording Applications
Since your goal is to generate revenue through your podcast, you must create a professional quality product. No matter how small you start, take the time to produce quality, relevant content, along with consistency and quality in every production. Your goals are to gain a following and attract sponsors and advertisers. You’ll need a quality product to reach those goals.
There are many tools and applications available to assist you. Next are three that are affordable and assist you with the various aspects of podcast recording.
Audacity
Audacity is an open-source audio recorder and editor. It’s a free program that delivers good, basic recording. Over the years, the company has added features that make it stand up well again even the more expensive paid applications. It’s simple to use, making it perfect for a beginner.
Audition
Audition is part of the Adobe line and is a paid application. It’s an audio mixer and editor that also restores audio content. This one is for more experienced users, as it is a bit more complex than basic programs like Audacity.
GarageBand
If you own a Mac, you probably already have GarageBand. GarageBand is a music creation studio with a vast sound library. You can choose from an array of presets for voice as well as instruments. The best part, it has a recording program designed just for podcasting.
Ways to Generate Revenue Through Your Podcast
If you sell your own products and services, then mention those on your podcast. If you don’t, then you can promote someone else’s products and services as an affiliate. Affiliates earn a commission for promoting products.
Once you’ve grown your podcast audience, you can receive income through sponsorships and product mentions. There are other ways to make money through your podcast, as well.
1. Podcast Sponsorships
The more popular podcasts generate thousands of dollars per month through sponsorships. Sponsorships work through a cost per impression (CPM) model, which means you receive a commission for 1,000 or more downloads.
Sponsorships help cover your podcasting costs, even if your audience is small. If you have a small, niche audience, you can reach out to your target companies directly.
2. Ad Agencies and Marketplaces
If you have an established audience of 5K-10K listeners, there are various podcast ad networks out there that connect podcasts with advertisers. They handle the search for advertisers, negotiating, and acquiring the script for you. Two successful ad networks are Midroll and Authentic.
There are also podcast marketplaces like Advertisecast. They allow you to list your show and inventory. Brands can browse and select from Advertisecast’s listings.
3. Relationship Building
In business, building relationships with partners and customers is essential for growth. The same applies to podcasting. Networking within your niche interest or industry is often the inspiration for starting a podcast. Think about who you may want to interview for podcast episodes.
Interviewing someone is often the beginning of a collaborative relationship. That individual may be a prospect or representative of your demographic for prospects. In this way, you build a one-on-one relationship as well as strengthening your relationship with your audience.
4. Increase Product and Services Sales
Before you set your sites on sponsors, review the products and services that your business sells. Is your offering relevant to your listeners? If so, think of ways to increase sales through your podcast. For example, offer your listeners a special discount as a thank you for tuning in.
Whether you intended it or not, your podcase is a marketing tool for your company. So, why not turn your listeners into subscribers, and then turn those prospects into customers? As you build your community, it makes sense to offer your subscribers exclusive deals and even early access to your company’s offering.
5. Consulting and Coaching
If you offer consulting or coaching services of any kind, why not center a podcast around that topic? Remember, loyal listeners, become loyal customers. You could build in an offer for a free 30-minute session (or another type of discount) for listeners and subscribers.
Get creative with your offers, such as a discount for repeat customers, or even a contest based on a listeners’ interaction with your podcasts, such as liking and sharing. This kind of marketing works toward all your goals, from growing your audience to growing your brand and increasing sales revenue for your products or other services.
6. Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is also called performance marketing. You receive a commission when you refer people to other companies, and someone makes a purchase from that referral.
If you are familiar with the products or services you are promoting, then your promotion is authentic and likely to generate commission. In your podcast, you’d create an ad of sorts to promote an affiliate product or offer.
7. Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising is gaining popularity among podcasters. Rather than promoting another company’s product or service yourself, this form of advertising involves a non-host who reads ads that appear in your podcasts.
Brands purchase programmatic space according to their audience demographics, not according to specific shows and topics. So, you may be able to get paid to run ads from some seemingly unlikely sources.
8. Repurpose Your Podcast Content
Most podcasts include a written transcript, even if it’s only in the form of notes. On the development end, you have a script of some sort as a base. Both the audio and written content is valuable. Why not repurpose it into a form that generates revenue? Two ways to do that are books and online courses.
Audiobooks and Books
As you continue to create podcasts, you’re creating valuable content that you essentially give away for free or as part of a paid subscription. This easy access is one of the best parts of podcasting. But, it’s also an opportunity for you to leverage your knowledge and hard work by repurposing your content into a platform that generates revenue.
You can review your podcasts, organize and transcribe them into a book. You may create a collection or combine your podcast content with new material. Either way, you’ll have a marketable product that showcases your business as well as your podcast.
Books are a separate format altogether, so you’ll spend some time reorganizing and working with an editor. In the end, though, you’ll have a published piece of literature to add to your professional resume.
Online Courses
Many podcasters use their expertise as well as repurpose some of the podcast content to create paid online courses. Online courses are an excellent way to teach something. The format differs from a podcast in that you are organizing it in a way that’s easy to follow.
People who pay for courses hope to be able to apply what they’ve learned once they complete your course. It takes a little time to reorganize your podcast topics into logical lesson modules. Though, the result can be an ideal representation of your expertise. Your fans and followers are likely to purchase from you because they already enjoy your podcasts.
9. Donations and Crowdfunding
Depending on your niche, you may want to consider asking your community of listeners for donations. Crowdfunding platforms make it easy for your patrons to make donations as pledges. One popular crowdfunding platform is Patreon.
You can create offers with additional content or bonus gifts for higher contributions. In the next section, we will talk about how you can also use platforms like Patreon to organize and collect revenue for events.
10. Virtual Summits and Other Events
We have discussed the importance of building relationships through your podcast. If you have done that, then you can turn that connection into a profitable business opportunity in the form of a virtual summit. Virtual summits enable you to get more out of your podcasts and build more relationships by bringing people together.
You will expand existing relationships. Some companies have organized world-leading, global digital conferences this way. Though, you can still do this on a smaller scale if you are a small corporation or a business army of one.
Explore your connections and gather other experts who are willing to be expert speakers at your event. A successful event will result in increased sales and increased subscribers. In this way, a podcast is so much more than a casual conversation with an influencer or expert in your studio.
If you’re not in the position for a large event, there are smaller events you can organize and host. Doing so brings your fans together with other experts and influencers within your niche. Events can be small cons or professional conferences that allow people to come together virtually.
Some folks combine crowdfunding platforms like Patreon with their live events. Patrons receive early access to tickets to your event.
11. Premium Content Offers
Premium content covers just about anything. Subscribers can listen to your podcast for free. If they choose, they can purchase additional premium content. Examples of premium content that pertains to podcasts are additional interviews, an ad-free RSS feed, and Q&A sessions with the hosts.
Other options are an early-access RSS feed and behind-the-scenes content. Usually, premium content costs subscribers only a few dollars a month. Though, that amount adds up month after month.
12. Swag and Other Physical Products
As your podcast gains a loyal following, you can offer swag products, which are physical products like mugs, mousepads, t-shirts, keychains, and other items. Sites such as Cafe Press and Teespring allows you to sell swag that’s made to order, rather than you having to purchase products upfront and in bulk.
Conclusion
Making money from podcasting is not automatic. It takes time to build an audience and you must have the talent and drive to continue. Though all the topics in this article represent the many aspects behind creating a successful podcast.
Even experienced marketers need a year or two to learn best practices for creating podcasts. Even so, building and launching a podcast is an ideal way to reach your target audience while providing relevant, valuable content.
As you have learned, podcasting is not just a way to market your company or brand. It can be another source of revenue for your company. Depending on your goals, that revenue can simply pay for the cost of producing the podcast. Or, it can generate substantial income as well as networking opportunities.
Once you become a master, you may even consider being a podcasting coach or consultant. You can help other companies and provide them with your own tips on how to make money from podcasting.