How to monetise and get podcast sponsorship – with ZERO subscribers

Want to monetise your shows? Gordon Glenister from the Influence Global Podcast tells us more about how he makes money from his podcasts…

When I was speaking at The Podcast Show London earlier this year, I was amazed to see so many people come to my talk, in fact hundreds. But then I reminded myself why and that every podcast host wants not only to make great podcasts but also to find a way to monetize it. I started podcasting in 2019 as I entered the influencer marketing industry. I have always believed in the principle that I wanted to grow my audience by collaborating with guests. Podcasts are hugely popular – in fact 82.4% of podcast listeners spend 7+ hours per week listening to podcasts

If you want to work with sponsors, first make sure you understand their goals and KPIs. Remember they are less interested in you, more your audience and the relevance to their products or services. They want to create brand awareness through “association”. They want to drive traffic to their website via CTAs so show mentions and show note links is very important to them. With Membership World I reached out to a membership app supplier even before I started the show and shared my vision and that they could use my content, consider guests from their target clients (association leaders) and help them promote their brand in the UK through the links. It worked. We have produced only 15 episodes and generated £7500. I understood what the sponsor wanted.

Create a bespoke series for a sponsor

I created five episodes for Influence with fashion influencers (recorded all on the same day) all with the same title (‘Influencers are the new retailers’) and then published one at a time during London’s Fashion Week – each had links back to the influencer’ stores. We added the logo on the front cover too. It was shared on my platform, the influencers’ and LTK and was picked up by some of the LFW traffic too. One of these shows still remains one of the best episodes of all time. They paid us £2500 for the series. Why this worked is because it was so bespoke and highly relevant to the e-commerce platform

Have a sponsor’s rate card

Think about what you can offer a sponsor by having a detailed package of options. Typically advertisers want ads pre-roll or mid-roll and this can be created as a show read by you or by a new voice. Maybe try both options to see how your audience reacts to them.

An example rate card

Have a guest information sheet

It’s important to have a detailed guest information PDF that shows what the show is all about and the links that the guest can use to follow and rate your show. It’s also a reminder to make sure they record in the best optimal sound and why they need to share the podcast once released.

Membership

Many podcasters create a membership platform around their podcast and this could be done by a monthly subscription model. You might like to give some content away (snippets) and have the main value in the membership

Featured products on the show as affiliates

If there are products or services that align with what you do, then you can offer a discount link to your listeners and also where you generate an income based on every sale. The affiliate partner will create a specific link for your listeners to use so that its trackable back to you.

Accept donations

Twitch is a platform widely used by gamers who accept donations for shout outs and all sorts of services and even platforms like Go Fund me and Only Fans have helped their creators generate considerable earnings this way.

Sell tickets for a live recording

Why not promote a live recording of your show and sell tickets to your audience. Obviously you need to cover the cost of hiring the venue, but this could generate an income for you and attract new listeners . I saw this work really well at a private members club event.

Put back episodes behind a paywall

You might like to charge a fee for back episodes. It all depends on the content if its rich high value education this may work better than a conversational style show

Join an advertising network

I belong to the Marketing Podcast Network where we have over 45 marketing related shows across the world. We are all part of the same network and when we take ads, they run across all the shows, that’s a huge value to the advertiser. We each get a share of what is based on our subscribers. Others to look at are Podcorn and Podgrid. You can also reach out to other podcasters in your space with a view of setting your own network

Syndicate content on YouTube

Lastly, it is worth mentioning YouTube. Increasingly, podcasts are also listened to and watched on YouTube and you should consider sharing your content on there as you can generate revenue through ads on the site.

Gordon Glenister is the host of the Influence Global Podcast and Membership World. For more on monetizing your content or to listen to Gordon’s podcasts visit gordonglenister.com.