Fun fact: Less than 2% of all podcasters with more than 5,000 listeners per episode are making money from their podcast!
We know, we know, that fact wasn’t fun at all… because as you can see, only a very small percentage of podcasters make money from podcasting.
Here’s a sunnier statistic: Of the podcasters we work with at Galati Media, over 90% are monetizing their podcasts and bringing money back into their own businesses.
It’s really important to us as a podcast production company to ensure that the podcasters we work with are getting the results they need and a return on their investment with us.
How Can I Make Money from My Podcast?
How to Monetize a Podcast Right Away!
In this blog, we share eight ways to monetize a podcast by choosing the best method for you and your listenership.
It’s important to remember that making money (we like to say cash money dollars) with your podcast is often a long game and takes a long-term strategy and approach. Buyers are often at different stages in the journey and could be symptom-aware, problem-aware, or solution aware and it’s important to speak to them in each of these phases. You also have to understand that there are different types of buyers: early adopters, late adopters, laggards, and every stage in between! Some people take time to make a decision to spend money with you and others sign on the line right away.
Podcasting is a great way to show up for the different types of buyers and speak to them where they are in the buying journey.
Podcast episodes we recommend that go hand in hand with this blog:
Listeners to Leads Episode 26) How to Monetize Any Podcast
Your Answer to, “How Can I Make Money from My Podcast?”
8 Ways to Consider Monetizing Your Show
How to Monetize a Podcast with Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is something we often use in our show Listeners to Leads and it makes a lot of sense for business owners who use apps, services, programs, and other resources to grow their businesses that they can stand behind.
For example, we regularly guide people to Buzzsprout as a podcast hosting platform. We love Buzzsprout because of its user experience, customer service, and intuitive back end. Because we recommend Buzzsprout so often, we’ve become affiliate marketers and promote it in our podcast episodes with an affiliate link in the show notes.
Two reminders with affiliate marketing:
- You have to inform your audience up front that you’re an affiliate for whatever you’re promoting and disclose that you get a kickback from sharing this resource or tool.
- It’s best not to rely on affiliate marketing as the sole way of monetizing your podcast, as it’s best as a supplemental monetization tool
How to Monetize a Podcast with Sponsors and Advertisers
You’ve probably seen (and heard) this a lot in the podcasting space. We discuss this method with a few of our clients looking to monetize their show beyond just promoting their own servies and products. One thing to keep in mind is that with sponsors and affiliates, is that many require a substantial amount of downloads (usually about 10,000 per month) to be considered.
You also need to evaluate whether or not it’s a good fit for your audience. If you’re doing a podcast on baking, does it make sense to run ads on mattresses?
Look at what’s in alignment with your listeners and a best fit for your brand when choosing sponsors and advertisers.
Interested in joining a Podcast Network? Learn more about them in this blog post.
How to Monetize a Podcast with Donations
One way to monetize your podcast is through donations. This could be anything from having your listeners contribute through Venmo or PayPal. Some people will invite their listeners to “buy them a coffee”. This method is a good choice for community-building podcasts who have a solid listenership of people who love them and want to support them by sending them something nice.
How to Monetize a Podcast with Premium Content
This method of monetization has been increasing in popularity over the past several years, and there are a few ways to go about it. You could offer exclusive bonus episodes or early releases that live behind a paywall or create supplementary resources for episodes such as downloads, PDF’s, checklists, and worksheets. There’s even an opportunity here to create a membership around the podcast where they get access to exclusive, more in-depth content with a monthly membership.
What can you add onto your podcast as a bonus that comes at a cost to access?
How to Monetize a Podcast with Products and Merch
Who doesn’t love a good piece of merch!? T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, and notebooks can all be customized to have your show logo or a catchphrase on them for purchase to create community around your show and to help promote your show.
Think of what might make sense for your listeners and related to your topic and consider how you can create a tangible product around it.
How to Monetize a Podcast with Your Book
If you’re an author, you can use your podcast to have people buy your book. Maybe you even offer listeners a free code through your show and they only have to pay shipping and handling. Or they get the first chapter FREE and then a promo code to buy the whole book through your show.
Authors have a lot of opportunities to make money through podcasting by offering content they’ve already created!
How to Monetize a Podcast by Landing Speaking Gigs
Another way to make money with your podcast is by using your show to land speaking gigs. If you want to be a speaker and get on more virtual and live stages, a podcast is a great way to express your thought leadership to show up as the expert in your industry.
You can use your show to express your unique ideas and stories that you can then turn into speaking opportunities.
How to Monetize a Podcast by Selling Your Own Services and Products
This is obviously our favorite way to monetize your show. Whether you’re offering 1:1 services, products, courses, or consulting, you can make money with your podcast by selling what you provide!
If you have something to sell and you want to monetize your podcast in this way, you have to make sure you’re talking about it! Make sure you’re clearly reminding people and letting them know how they can work on you 1:1 or in a group setting. Give them consistent and clear next steps.
You have to continuously remind them of what you offer and how they can take action to working with you.
If this sounds right up your alley and you want to know how to monetize your podcast, you’re definitely going to want to give Episode 29 of Listeners to Leads a listen) How to Monetize Your Podcast by Selling Your Own Services and Products.
One-size doesn’t fit all when it comes to how to monetize your podcast!
There are so many ways to make money from your podcast, the key is to find one that works for you and get confident in your strategy so you can turn your podcast into a sales funnel that brings you in leads, and cash money dollars.
At Galati Media, we know the internet is riddled with podcast strategies. We also know how to focus on the one that’s right and most effective for YOU. We provide you with realistic, straightforward recommendations that will help you to increase listener engagement and maximize the results with your podcast based on your goals for your business and audience.
- We offer podcast strategy without the fluff, so your content can make a difference in the lives of your listeners!
- Our 60-minute podcast audits include a deep dive into your podcasting goals and how effectively you’re achieving them. We provide recommendations around discoverability, artwork, descriptions, episode titles, marketing, your podcast website, and more! You receive a fully prepared report of our findings, including recommendations to increase the success of your podcast.
- We help to answer any podcast-related questions you may have and give you clear steps forward!
