Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - The 5 Best Ways to Make Money with Your Podcast

Episode Date: June 20, 2019

There’s this myth out there that anyone can start a podcast and the money will just start flowing in. As I mentioned in the episode on identifying your ideal listener, most podcasters do not make any money with the traditional CPM advertising model. And most ad agencies won’t even look at you unless you’re getting at least 5,000 downloads per episode within a 30-day period.   BUT your podcast can help you generate income, especially if you use your show to build your brand and business in a way that serves listeners and potential clients. Here are the five best ways podcasters can make money with podcasts -- plus a bonus.   Visit sarahmikutel.com for more show notes. Ready to start podcasting? Download my free guide: “8 Mistakes New Podcasters Make and How to Fix Them.” Looking for a podcast media host? Use my Libsyn affiliate code POSTCARD to get the rest of this month for free and next month free.   I’m your podcast coach, Sarah Mikutel. Did you know that I also host the Postcard Academy travel podcast? Check it out if you’re the ‘experiences not things’ kind of person who believes travel goes deeper than a fantastic meal (though that is pretty great). Every week, I interview people who packed up everything to start a new adventure in another part of the world. You’ll learn how they did it and get their best insider food and culture tips.   Thank you so much for listening to Podcasting Step by Step. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.   I’m in a few Facebook Groups about podcasting, including She Podcasts, which I love. And there’s a lot of good information sharing going on there. But on a regular basis, someone new will pop in and say something like, “I want to start a podcast. How do I find a sponsor?” That’s the wrong question to start with. if you’ve been listening to Podcasting Step by Step, you know that you need to start with the ‘why’ behind your podcast and focus on offering value before worryiDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Have you been wanting to start a podcast for a while now, but something's holding you back? Maybe it's fear of putting yourself out there or confusion about the technology. I'm Sarah Mikital and on podcasting step by step, I'll break down how to podcast with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and the confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams. Let's get started. If you're like me, you have been podcast obsessed for a while. they are part of your morning jog. They help you fall asleep. When you hear a great guest who also has a podcast,

you immediately go searching for it, and part of you thinks, can I handle another show? And then you hit subscribe. You are a podcaster to the core. Not somebody who wants to start a podcast to make easy money. And there are people who have been misled

to believe that podcasting is a way to make a quick buck. And that is just fake news. Podcasts are a lot of hard work. but your podcast can help you generate income, especially if you use your show to build your brand and business in a way that serves your listeners and potential customers. On this episode, I will bust some money myths when it comes to podcasting and break down the main ways to earn money with your podcast. Let's start by talking about advertising, since that is the way a lot of new podcasters

assume that they can monetize. I'm in a few Facebook groups about podcasting, including She Podcasts, which I love, And there's a lot of really good information sharing going on there. But on a regular basis, somebody new will pop in and say something like, I want to start a podcast. How do I find a sponsor? And that is the wrong question to start with. There is this myth that you can start a podcast and the money will just start flowing in. And I know that you don't think that.

And if you've been listening to this show, you know that you need to start first with the why behind your podcast before you ever start thinking about money. As I mentioned in the episode on identifying your ideal listener, most podcasters do not make any money with the traditional advertising model, which pays around $25 per 1,000 downloads for a 60-second mid-roll ad. So that's the type of ad that happens in the middle of your show. Pre-roll and post-roll ads, they come before and after an episode, respectively, and they pay a little bit less and are generally shorter because people are more likely to skip over. They call this the CPM model, so cost per milay or cost per thousand. The M is the Roman numeral for 1,000, and Meele means 1,000 in Latin and Italian. So that's the CPM model, but most advertising networks, who will take a cut of your earnings, won't even look at your show unless you are getting at least 5,000 downloads per episode within a 30-day period. Can you guess how many podcasts qualify for this? about 7%. And let's say you do have 5,000 downloads per episode. That's about $125 before any fees are taken out. If I'm doing the math correctly, I'm probably not. But regardless, that's not that

much money. I mean, it's great that you're starting to make money with your show, but you can't live off of $125. However, if you want to experiment with this CPM model, you can try an online service called Advertise cast. I will link to that in the show notes at Sarah Micahoehouse. tell.com. And advertisecast is a sort of a self-service where you can add your podcast, choose what kind of host red ads you want to do, so 60 seconds or 30 seconds. And then you will hopefully get offers and can decide whether to accept them or not. The last step is getting paid and it would be a 70-30 split with you keeping 70% and advertised cast keeping 30%. You would need at least 1,000 downloads per episode to participate in this. But don't feel bad if you don't have 1,000 downloads per

episode. Most podcasts do not come anywhere near this. The media number is under 200. And yet they are able to make money through a non-traditional sponsorship by building a show for a very specific audience and then finding a sponsor who wants to reach that audience. These podcasters make their own deals and name their price. For example, if you have a show on vegan cooking, you could reach as a to a company that supports the vegan lifestyle, maybe a company that makes cruelty-free fashion. I will dive deeper into sponsorship for smaller podcasts and next week's episode when I will be interviewing Jess Kupferman, co-founder of Shee Podcasts, and wearer of several other podcasting hats. In addition to co-managing the Shee Podcast Facebook group with Elsie Escobar, who you heard from

on a previous episode, Jess is organizing Shee Podcast Live, the first podcast conference focused on teaching female indie podcasters, how to start podcasting, how to refine content, how to grow an audience, and how to achieve goals with a podcast. So hosting events around your area of expertise is another way to make money with your podcast, not the easiest way and not something for beginners, but potentially a very rewarding experience that can bring your community together. I am proud to say that I will be speaking as she podcast live in October covering how to capture quality audio when you don't have anywhere near studio-like conditions in your home or van or wherever you happen to be recording in the world. And your podcast doesn't have to be a multi-day conference. It could be you

recording your show live in front of an audience. The guys from Pod Save America have done really well with this. Your event could be a week-long retreat in St. Martin. If that is the case, let me know I am there. And you don't have to be the one hosting the event to make money. You could use the authority you've built up with your podcast to land speaking, in your field of expertise. But back to Shee Podcast Live for a second. If you are not the winner of my Shee Podcast Live ticket giveaway, I can still help you get a ticket to the conference through my affiliate link. So affiliate marketing or referral sponsorship is another way that podcasters can earn money for their show. It's a good place to start for beginners because you don't need a ton of

listeners to become an affiliate. In case you don't know what affiliate marketing is, this is when a podcaster or a blogger or a YouTuber mentions a product or service to their audience, and then they get a referral fee from the company if their audience buys that product or service. And it doesn't cost the person who buys that product or service any extra money. In fact, they might even get a little discount. So in previous episodes, I've mentioned that I'm an affiliate for the podcast media host Lipson, who I use for both of my shows. And if you sign up for a Lipson account using my code postcard, then you'll get the rest of this month off free and the next month free. If you want to test out affiliate marketing, plenty of products and services have programs.

So think of some subscriptions or courses or events or even clothing that you love, really any kind of product, and see if they have an affiliate program. Audible.com is a very popular affiliate program for podcasters. Listeners can use your affiliate code to get a free audiobook and a 30-day free trial. So it's win, win, win. Your listener gets something free. You potentially get a $15 referral fee. And Audible potentially gets a new customer.

I will link to their affiliate program in the show notes. So head on over to sarahygotel.com for that. When I first came across affiliate marketing, I thought it seemed a little bit shady. On blog post, I would see people raving about some service. And then at the end, I would see a message saying something like the writer may have received compensation for the review, or this post might contain affiliate links. And I thought, why should I trust you? You are getting paid to say this. But that's because

I didn't know where trust this person. I had just stumbled upon their site. Affiliate marketing works after you have built up trust with your audience, when you promote products and services that you really believe in, and when they are things that your audience actually wants to buy. And you have to disclose if you have an affiliate relationship. Affiliate Marketing works, and podcasts because the audience trusts their host. And I hope that you trust me. If you are listening to this podcast in 2019 before she podcast live and you would like to support this podcast by purchasing your ticket via my affiliate link, you can do so by going to sarahmicatel.com slash she podcast live, all one word. For most people, your podcast on its own isn't the moneymaker. Rather, it's using your show as a

marketing tool to sell products and services that your audience wants and or needs. So your podcast supports your business. Ways to make money in this category include creating a membership site. So Brendan Bouchard, who is the best-selling author and high-performance coach, he hosts the HPX podcast with his wife Denise to promote his membership site and his other programs. He also does this to share his positive message. And that's the thing. Your show can't be. one big ad or requests for money. You might barely even mention your products and services on the show. You're giving, giving, giving to your audience and then offering a product or a service that could be a benefit to them. Your podcast could be used to promote your coaching or consulting services. My friend

Lynn hosts the coach to active podcast to support her business that coaches people to live a more active lifestyle. You could host a mastermind. or a mentoring group. Elsie Escobar runs the group mentoring program called the ELeak, which I participated in. And the podcast that she co-hosts, she podcasts and Libson's The Feed, they help build her authority as a leader in the podcasting space. You could build and sell an app. So if Libson is your podcast media host, you can work with them to create an app for your show.

Rob Walsh, VP of Podcast Relations at Libson, he recommends creating a podcast relations at Libson. he recommends creating an app as a way to grow your audience because more people are familiar with apps than they are with podcasts. And once you start building a fan base, you could use the app to earn money with a freemium model. That is, some of the content is free, maybe the latest 20 or 30 episodes, and then the rest is put behind a paywall. Mark Marin offers this premium option. You could sell physical products, so Trader Joe's is a grocery store chain in the U.S. A lot of people really love it, and they've got a podcast called Inside Trader Joe's, which earns even more loyalty from their customers by taking them behind the scenes to share the history of the store, how they choose the products that they sell, and more. You could write and sell a book, my friend Lynn, who I mentioned, she also has a book out called Couch to Active, so the same name as her podcast.

Different revenue streams, all under the same ecosystem. You could create an online course. I will soon be launching a podcasting course that will teach you everything you need to know to set up and launch a world-class podcast. And this will include easy to understand videos on how to edit your podcast, which is something that is sorely missing out there right now. To get on the wait list, you can head on over to sarahmicatel.com and course. And you don't have to create products and services from scratch. For example, you could work with a company like Tea Public. They love working with podcasters. And on their site, you can design t-shirts and stickers and other swag. And then you can sell them for a 31% commission on your designs. And they do all

of the work, the printing, the shipping. Or if you don't want to design anything, you can curate existing products and then sell them on your own Tea Public merchandise store online and get 11% commission. And then you can mention your shop on your podcast and or your website. I will link to them in the show notes. The final way of making money that I'll mention is with listener support. You may have heard podcasters tell listeners that they can financially support their show by donating via a platform called Patreon. Making money this way really works best if you've already been providing great content to your audience for a few months.

You've built up the no like and trust factor with them. Tim Ferriss, the author and podcaster, was famous for having a ton of ads front-loading his podcast, like five to seven minutes of ads before getting to the content, which is generally a cardinal sin in podcasting, but his audience appreciates the work he creates. So they rolled with ads and probably fast-forwarded his ads, to be honest. Recently, however, Tim decided to do an experiment with a listener support model for a show. So from June to December, he is taking out of the ad's all of the ads from the Tim Ferriss show and is asking listeners to contribute between $10 and $1,000 a month if they want. The show is still going to be free to everyone, but he'll be holding live Q&A's once a month for patrons of his show. So if he makes money with this model, he says he'll stick with it. And if he doesn't, he's going to go back to putting ads in the show. When it comes to listener support like this, some people create bonus content

for patrons or offer access to themselves like that Q&A with Tim. Other people just express their gratitude for financial contributions. David Kedavi, host of the podcast Love Your Work, has a very effective way of asking for money. At the end of a show, the end of his shows, not at the beginning of his shows, he'll say something like, and this is what he said in his last episode. Is Love Your Work helping you find your unique creative voice? Does it bring you the inspiration and motivation you need to become the creator and human you want to be? If so, please be part of making this a special and nourishing and thoughtful show. Support the show on Patreon. You'll be an even

bigger part of the show than you already are. If you contribute just a coffee a month, you will be helping to support the hosting and production of Love Your Work. Everyone has some unique, creative gift to offer the world. Together, we can give people the tools they need to bring that work into the world. The world will be better for it. He goes on a little bit longer and mentions what his Patreon link is a few times, but then he goes one step further and says, if you can't contribute financially to the show and you've listened to more than three episodes, please write a review on Apple Podcasts and consider that your donation. So that's a brilliant way of asking for somebody to write a review and also making people feel like they're still part of the show and contributing,

even if they can't or don't want to offer money. Asking for money feels weird for the majority of us. So I think David does a really nice job laying out the value he provides in a way that makes his audience think, yes, these podcasts are meaningful to me. I want to contribute. Actually, here's one more bonus way that your podcast can lead to money by helping you land your dream job. If you're talented enough to produce a great podcast, this will look excellent on your

resume. A podcast is a great way to publicly build your authority and showcase your creativity, skills, and personality. Plus, podcasts are cool, and businesses are taking notice. A little homework for you. Be extra mindful of the podcast that you listen to this week. Note which ones make you want to take action, whether that is to buy something or to get a free download. What's motivating you? What language are they using?

How are they making you feel? As I mentioned in last week's episode on how to take an idea and make it your own, study what you like and what makes it work. That's all for now. I will dive deeper into these different ways to monetize your podcast in future episodes beginning next week when I will be talking sponsorships for the indie podcaster with Jessica Kupperman. Subscribe to the show so you don't miss it.

Thank you for listening to podcasting step by step. You are now one step closer to launching that podcast you've been dreaming about, but I want to get you even closer. I created a free guidebook for you with actionable worksheets called 8 mistakes new podcasters make and how to fix them. To find that, head on over to sarahmicatel.com slash fix. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahygotele.com slash blank no more.