When you think of a podcast, you think of many mates sitting around a microphone and chatting away about anything you like.
You assume that with a podcast, it’s more of a hobby than a primary job. Many of these podcasts are hosted/started by Youtubers with a substantial fanbase, enabling them to use ads or Patreon and provide the podcast as extra content or flog some merchandise.
However, just because podcasting seems like a hobby that’ll never provide any income unless you are an influencer doesn’t mean that’s true. Today, I will be providing you with tips on monetising your podcast to become a fruitful endeavour.
Donation
One of the best ways to monetise your podcast from the offset is by asking for donations. Many listeners are willing to pay a small amount for their favourite podcast. Plus, unlike the other options on this list, you don’t have to build up an audience or wait to create a catchy slogan for merchandise.
Use a GoFundMe, Kickstarter or a simple Paypal account to accept donations. You can use the money for more equipment or better quality. Whatever the reason, always be open and honest with your audience and tell them what the money will improve. So your audience can trust where their hard-earned cash is going, and it stops any false advertising claims that you could get into trouble.
Sponsorships
Another way to monetise your podcast quickly is by accepting or being in a sponsorship. It’s one of the easiest ones as you don’t have to create additional products for it. You can go about getting sponsorship in several ways. You can find a website that lists several companies looking for a podcast/content to sponsor, or when you’ve built up an audience, email a local company that could pay for you mentioning their product or services.
Some things to remember if your accepting a sponsorship deal:
- Does the product you advertising work with your subject matter or be beneficial to your audience?
- Another thing to remember is that sponsorships pay for how many listeners heard the sponsored content. Would you be happy with the amount of money you got if you’ve got a smaller audience?
Ultimately Sponsors are one of the easiest ways to monetise your podcast.
Tiered content/ Patreon
Another great way to gain income from your content would be to create a Patreon (or something similar.) and create tiered content.
Now before you get confused, I’ll explain it.
Tiered content is where you provide services, and they are charged at different levels, and you get different amounts of said content for the price. Doing this is excellent as it gives your audience more of your content! And you get money in return. It’s easier to advertise on your podcast than sponsorships or donations and is easier to set up.
Another great thing about tiered content (or Patreon) is those audience members who join the Patreon or tiered content pay it monthly. Meaning your podcast will get a guaranteed monthly income which can either be supplemental or become full time. Also, the audience members can leave at any time, which gives your audience peace of mind.
Merchandising
It’s an oldie but a goodie. Merchandising is another excellent way to gain income. If you have an extensive and sustainable audience, then you can sell products to them. The best thing to do is create something with a slogan from the content people regularly hear. Maybe the intro or a catchphrase.
Perhaps a logo on a mug. No matter what it is, it has to be connected to your content. Otherwise, what’s the point? The best way to sell the products is through a third party website that deals with all the producing and selling. Or you could set up a website for it which would keep it in your hands.
Premium episodes/ content
If you have a big enough audience, your podcast’s premium episodes could work a treat for money. Premium content is content an audience member has to pay to be able to listen to or use. If you are thinking of using this model, then you can provide extra episodes of your podcast. It needs to be something more than just a more extended episode. Many people suggest a Q+A with a special guest or Ad-free episodes or that you release the episode a couple of days earlier for premium members.
One thing to remember when setting the price for premium content is your audience demographics.
Let’s pretend your podcast is made up of twenty-year-olds. They typically do not have a lot of income, so you’ll have to sell the episode at a lower price.
Whereas if the audience is primarily forty-year-olds, then they’ve got a higher income. Meaning you can set the price higher!
Always keep the audience and price in mind. If it’s too high, people won’t buy it! And if it’s too low, many people will buy the content. But you WON’T PROFIT!
Whilst podcasting might seem a non-monetisable venture, the above shows that making money through your podcasts is possible. If you want to make money with your podcast, try our tips and tricks, and with hard work and effort, you’ll reap the rewards!
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