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.

The post How to monetise and get podcast sponsorship – with ZERO subscribers appeared first on POD BIBLE.

As well as the introduction of subscriptions, the Apple Podcasts app will have a new design and layout and there is a new version of Apple Podcast Connect for podcasters.

The new changes will come in with the IOS 14.5 update. But what do the Apple Podcast changes actually mean for listeners and podcasters? We’ve broken it down for you in an easy guide below.

What will the new Apple Podcasts app design look like?

The new Apple Podcasts app looks quite different.

‘Channels’ is designed to help listeners find new shows based on the content you already listen to (think about music apps, that offer ‘Radio stations’). There will also be channels of podcasts recommended or curated by the makers of popular shows.

‘Curation’ is broader and will help listeners find recommendations from Apple. It will show collections linked to trending news stories, culturally relevant topics, and outstanding new podcasts, curated by the Apple editors.

There will still be a ‘Top Shows’ section, which will showcase the charts of most-listened shows.

Apple have also said that shows and episodes will have “beautiful new pages”.

There will also be small changes to the way you listen to shows. A ‘smart play’ feature starts with the right episodes of shows – for example the most recent episode of a news show, or the first episode of a limited series.

And because of the paid-for subscriptions, the old ‘Subscribe’ button has changed to ‘Follow’.

What is Apple Podcasts Subscriptions?

The premium subscriptions will be in addition to the millions of free podcasts and will be available directly through the Apple Podcasts app.  This means there will now be three different ways to keep up to date with your favourite shows.

The Free option or ‘Follow’ will still download all new, free episodes for you to listen to.

With the Freemium, you can pay for extra episodes, early access or ad-free episodes for some podcasts.

The Paid option will be for podcasts that are only available for paid subscribers.

What does Apple’s paid subscriptions mean for listeners?

For listeners who use Apple Podcasts, the new version should be still be simple to use and might make it easier to find new shows you enjoy. ‘Follow’ lets you listen to podcasts in the same way you are currently used to. The Freemium content might be a nice way to give some support to podcasts you love. When you pay to ‘Subscribe’,  your feed will become a ‘Subscriber edition’ with extra features, and Apple will take the payment (in the same way they do with paid-for apps).

But not all podcasts will have a paid-for option, just the podcasts that opt-in, so there might not be much change for listeners initially.

What does Apple’s paid subscriptions mean for podcast creators?

As a podcaster, if you want to list Freemium or Paid podcasts, you will have to enrol in the new Apple Podcasters Program and there’s a US $19.99/year fee to do so. Apple Podcasts will also take a 30% commission of the subscription price for a subscriber’s first year (dropping to 15% in the second year).

Even if you don’t sign up, you might want to think about your call-to-action for listeners. “Rate, review and subscribe…” might not be suitable anymore.

The Subscription format may work well for bigger podcast companies. Luminary, which already offers exclusive content on their own app, will be making their content available on Apple Podcasts subscription. This should mean their content can reach a much wider audience.

It’s also worth noting that paid podcasts are hosted by Apple, not by your podcast host. If you want it available to listeners on other platforms, you’ll still have to upload it and have payment options elsewhere.

Do I need to do anything about the new Apple Podcast updates?

For the moment, listeners don’t need to do anything. When the updates come to the Apple Podcasts app, listeners will still be ‘following’ all their free podcast feeds.

For podcasters, to start charging for extra content you need to log into (the new) Apple Podcasts Connect.

But you might want to wait a bit – according to Pod News it appears there are a few bugs, including shows disappearing entirely from Apple Podcasts!

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To find out more about the Apple Podcasts updates, head to the new Apple Podcasts for Creators website.  Let us know what you think about the new Apple Podcast Subscription on Twitter.

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