The Three steps strategy for monetizing your Podcast - Written by Trevor Houston
How do I monetize my podcast?
It's a question that I get asked very often.
Monetization isn't only about getting paid for the efforts that you put in while creating your podcast. It's also about providing value to your sponsors, building long-term relationships with them, and growing your show along with it.
Before you can monetize your show or podcast, you need to be clear about what you are offering. You can't expect a company to sponsor your episode or throw money at you if you are not explicit about what you are providing to them.
With all the experience of creating over 300 episodes of the Who Ya Know Job networking show, I have developed a 3 step strategy that you can use to monetize your podcast.
Before you can monetize your show or podcast, you need to be clear about what you are offering. - Trevor Houston
1. If You Build, They Will Come
One of the biggest mistakes that you can make as a podcast creator is assuming that no one would be interested in your show. Hence, most of the creators don't even plan to approach sponsors. Take the first step! Spend time thinking about the different packages you offer and the value you bring to your sponsors.
For the WYK Show, we have always been Live Stream/TV first and then repurposed the episode into a Podcast. We shoot in a high-end multi-camera studio and film like a traditional talk show. And what does a TV talk show have? Video commercial ads!
So, we decided to do the same.
We film two episodes in a 1-hour Live Stream, break them up with commercial ads then repurpose them into two podcast episodes. But in the beginning, this created a small problem.We didn't have any sponsors back then. We also didn't know how we were going to charge for the commercials. That's when we come to our second step.
2. Give Before You Get
To get something back from the community, you need to give and provide value first. You can't ask someone to sponsor your podcast episode unless they know what they're getting.
For the WhoYaKnow Show, I asked my power partners in the community if they had a video, they would like us to promote for free because of how much we valued the relationship.
I told them that once we got our paid sponsors, they would have the first right of refusal if they wanted to continue. They agreed of course! Who wouldn’t want a free promo, right? So now I had the framework of what the show would look and feel like and had examples I could show potential sponsors. I still do this today. Always remember to push power to power.
I am currently running free video ads for Grant & Elena Cardone to help them hire candidates into the 10X community! Why?
There are multiple reasons.
It helps build a solid relationship with the Cardones and the outside world says “Wow, the Cardones sponsor this show! They must be doing something!”
It’s all perception, but giving spots away has helped me land other large sponsors.
From here I build out my large sponsorship packages, event packages, and event guest appearance packages. “You charge your own guests?” Yes, often we do. Many different variables go into this one such as:
Who is the guest?
What is their level of influence?
For example, if Gary Vee wanted to come on our show I would give him all of our promo free of charge. Push Power to Power remember.
Once we got visibility, we often got requests from coaches, authors, speakers looking to promote their business. And that's why we move on to the final step.
To get something back from the community, you need to give and provide value first. - Trevor Houston
3. Supply and Demand
Once you establish an audience, people would likely want to come on your podcast to promote their services, increase their visibility, authority, and drive business results. I started to notice a pattern of the inbound requests I was receiving to come onto my show. Most companies wanted to come onto my show to promote the books, coaching, services, events, etc. So I created a prequalification form to ask them about their business, their motivation for the appearance, what they wanted to promote, and if they had a promo video. Taking the responses into account, I then created different sponsorship packages. Creating a variety of packages, lets us cater to the needs of different guests and sponsors.
Conclusion
The value that you provide to your community through your podcast/show is the foremost thing that matters. It helps you form relationships, build an audience, and helps you establish credibility. Give before you get. Play your cards right and the sponsors are likely to come to you.
