You must be brave to record podcasts and share your voice with the world. It also takes a lot of planning and preparation to create great podcasts so it is great to be rewarded for your efforts. So how can you make money from your podcasts? Here are some podcast monetization ideas that have worked very well for other podcasters. After all, you’re not trying to reinvent the wheel, you’re just trying to get paid.
Make Offers on Your Podcasts
If you’ve created your own products or services, then you can promote these during your podcasts. But you need to do this in a subtle way. Podcast listeners are the best audience in terms of marketing, as the majority will listen to your ads. So, make your ads something worth listening to. Basically, you must give the impression that you’re helping them with the product or service you’re marketing.
Nobody wants to listen to a podcast that is going to try and sell them stuff. So don’t make your offer sound salesy in any way. Just gently recommend the offer as a way of solving their problems. If you don’t have your own products, then recommend affiliate offers to make commissions.
Get a Sponsor
A lot of podcasters have sponsors. You will know this because at the start and end of their podcasts there will be a message like “brought to you by XYZ Company, the leader in…” The great thing about having a sponsor is that you must do very little to earn the money. Maybe you record an intro and outro message, and sometimes a specific mention in your podcast.
Sometimes sponsors will approach you directly because they have heard about the growing popularity about your podcasts. You can look for sponsors too by connecting with brokers that specialize in finding sponsors for podcasters.
Patreon and Donations
Asking for a regular donation using a Patreon account is another popular way that podcasters make money.
You can provide your Patreon supporters with special podcasts that only they can access, or give them early access to your weekly episode.
You can use a quick donation page and ask people to help you keep the podcast going. The money raised will cover your time and expenses. Your listeners, that can afford it, will understand and donate. You may even choose to list your donors at the end of each episode.
Offer Consulting or Coaching Services
One of the major benefits of having a podcast series is that you can establish yourself as an expert in your niche. Remember, if it’s your podcast, then you’re the brand. So essentially, you need to monetize yourself.
Many of your listeners will aspire to have the same knowledge as you do, and some of them will be willing to pay you high ticket prices to receive one on one consulting or coaching services.
You can provide these services online using an app like Zoom. When you offer these services in your podcast, tell your listeners that you only have a few slots available. Before you jump to marketing conclusions, this is actually true, as you don’t want to be too busy with one-on-one sessions. After all, you do have a podcast to create and market.
Sell Premium Exclusive Podcasts
You can create premium podcasts that your listeners can access only by buying it. If this is popular with your listeners, then you could turn this into a monthly membership, where they subscribe and pay you every month to access your premium podcasts.
Make the premium podcasts about subjects really close to your listener’s hearts. Something they can’t easily get for free.
