Podcasts, podcasts everywhere, not a single penny in sight! Let this not be the case with your podcast venture. Many podcasts available today started off as a hobby taking a more organized shape. But as the podcast grows with its audience, the question of making money through it arises in every podcaster’s mind. With the time, planning, and effort one puts into starting a podcast and building its audience; podcast monetization serves as a great motivator to continue or even help turn it into a profitable job. There are several ways to earn for a podcaster. One can offer ad spaces, create paid content, find sponsors, sell products, host live podcasts, coach, or even ask for donations.
When to go for Podcast Monetization?
Before thinking about earning any financial gains from your podcast, you need to establish yourself within the podcasting arena with a healthy number of loyal listeners. Once you have built a community of your podcast audience by hosting it on popular sites and releasing regular episodes to form a healthy stock, it’s time to start earning from your podcast. With the proper guidance and direction, it becomes easy to pivot your podcast into a money-making business.
Best Ways to Monetize Your Podcast
There is no single way that would make your podcast profitable. But instead, you need to combine and apply multiple methods to get significant money from podcasting. We have shared some of the best ways which would serve as a podcast monetization checklist for you to get assured gains if done right. These include direct methods, which include content-based paid services, and indirect ways, where the podcast acts as a vehicle to promote other products.
Donations:
If you have a dedicated set of listeners, asking for donations or crowdfunding is the simplest way to start getting some money through your podcast. This option is entirely listener-supported, where the fans donate small amounts regularly to support their favorite podcasters financially. There are several sites that make the process of fan donations easy. You can offer some bonus content to the donors for their contribution and motivate more listeners to join in. Though usually, only a small percentage of the listeners help out through fan funding, the amount is still significant enough for this to become a source of your earnings.
Paid Access:
You can segregate your episodes and content into free and paid sections. Having the option of paid memberships for your audience to gain access to some premium episodes or to get a content upgrade is another popular way to make money while podcasting. You can also use this approach to put a lock on your back catalog once you create enough episodes to create an archive. Furthermore, you can also prepare and sell any e-course based on your podcast theme or niche as a paid service.
Sponsors, Ads, and Affiliates:
Finding sponsorships and providing advertising space within your episodes is a common way to earn a share of the revenue earned from ad placements. You can even join an advertising network that would connect you to relevant sponsors acting as a mediator. Apart from these, you can also go for the affiliate marketing route to start bringing in money. The earnings from this method depend on the podcast’s audience size. This path requires the least amount of effort on your part too.
Sell Products:
Producing and selling your own merchandise is another popular way many digital creators opt for. Selling T-shirts or accessories with any catchphrase from the podcast or your logo can also help monetize your podcast. To kick-start this merch business, you can also offer freebies by organizing giveaways for your subscribers. Moreover, you can skip the whole merch creation process and start selling affiliate products.
Host Live:
Hosting a live event for your audience is another way you can earn through even a small group of attendees. But for your event to be successful, you need to make sure that you have a loyal enough audience who can take the time to travel and attend. Then, you can either hold a discussion or a workshop or give a lecture related to your podcast.
Consult, Coach, Counsel:
Depending on your podcast niche, you can also extend paid consultation services in your area of expertise. For this, the podcasts would work as a platform to establish you as a knowledgeable figure in your niche, based on which the listeners can consult you for advice.
Books and Guides:
After creating podcasts on a specific subject matter, you can also compile a book or guide based on the topics you speak on in your podcasts. These books can serve as a collection of your transcriptions, along with additional resources and information for your audience who decide to buy them.
Youtube Publishing:
Another easy way to monetize your podcast content is to switch from audio to a visual mode of delivery. If creating a visual recording of the whole podcast seems a huge task, you can also repurpose your audio recordings by uploading them on Youtube by just adding a single relevant picture to each. You can publish your podcast videos on Youtube and enable the monetization option on your account to earn a quick buck.
Conclusion
Starting a podcast and keeping it alive requires a lot of time, patience, and dedication. Though not the most profitable business, podcasts can surely make you enough money to generate some side income after some time. However, for podcast monetization, you need the right approach and a combination of methods to get any returns. The podcasters can focus on extensive marketing, finding sponsorship, and extending their products and services to garner more interest and income.