Getting Paid to Podcast
Podcasting can be a whole lot of fun, but at some point, you have to make money with your podcast or else you won’t be able to continue to create new episodes. While many people think there are just a few ways to monetize your podcast, there are actually at least 10 ways to turn your podcast into an income-producing venture.
Here they are:
Selling Advertising
This is the most common way podcasters monetize their podcasts. Advertisers pay for you to run their ads on your podcast – you will either read their ad live or you will simply run a pre-recorded ad at some point during your podcast episode. Advertisers will typically pay you a fee based on the number of listeners you have to your podcast.
Sponsorships
A sponsor (different from an advertiser) is typically a company who buys mentions on your show, typically for a long period of time. For instance, you might have a company sponsor your show for an entire year and you may make mention of that company at the start and at the end of each podcast episode. It might sound like this: “Today’s show is sponsored by Microsoft. Get more done in less time with Windows 10!”
Paid Subscriptions
Some podcasters don’t make their podcasts available to the public for free. Instead, listeners (or viewers) can only get your content if they pay to access it. This is a great model for a paid membership site, but it’s not a viable option for public facing podcasts like those found on iTunes since you are not able to charge for your content.
Paid Guest Appearances
Sometimes, you’ll have people who want to be interviewed by you who are willing to pay you to conduct the interview. You may think all interviews are done for free, but that’s not always the case. A guest may need an interview to post on a web site to increase their position in their industry and getting on a podcast and being interviewed gives them access to your audience and also allows them to have a powerful credibility- building piece they can use on their web site. (I’ve been paid as much as $1,000 for conducting these kinds of interviews.)
Self-Promotion
This is a strategy that I really love. You use your podcast to promote YOUR products, services, events, etc.. directly to your listeners. In this model, you’re using the podcast to build your audience and inviting them to buy additional items from you. It’s a very effective way to build your business by leveraging the reach of your podcast.
Affiliate Products and Services
You could promote products and services sold by other companies using an affiliate link so that each sale made from your podcast would result in a sales commission coming to you. If your show is a product review show, you can often get companies to send you their products to review on your show. This is a very effective technique if you’re just getting started and don’t yet have a large audience. You can also use this method no matter how else you choose to monetize your podcast.
Paid Podcaster
In this scenario, you’d be hired by a company to host and produce a podcast for them. You would cover the topics they choose and the podcast would be branded as being theirs, but you’d get a check for each and every podcast episode you create. There are many companies that would love to have a podcast but lack either/both the time/talent to create one. Sell them your time and talent.
Event Promotions
You would create a series of podcast episodes that are designed to promote an upcoming event in your industry. You would be paid by the event organizers for these episodes and you might interview the presenters, exhibitors, and even the organizers of the event. This would be sold to the event organizers who would post and promote your podcast to all event attendees, thus growing your audience and getting you paid for doing these special editions too.
Donations from Listeners
Many podcasters are doing well by using services such as PayPal and Patreon to accept donations from listeners who wish to contribute to the podcast host to help keep the podcast going. Over time, this can be a very effective way to generate ongoing income and can be used along with some of the other monetization strategies.
Get Creative
Podcasting is still a very new field and as such, there are few, if any, “rules” that you need to follow when it comes to monetizing your podcast. I firmly believe that we have yet to uncover the best way to really monetize a podcast, and that leaves us plenty of room to experiment.
Make your listeners or viewers part of your podcast. Give them a voice and they will support you by telling their friends about you, they will support you by sending you money each month, and they will stand by your side and defend you should the situation ever call for that.
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