Monetizing your podcast: Podcast partnerships and branded content

Right now, I am seeing a tonne of money flood into podcasting. We see it in the endless new podcast apps and apps for podcasters arriving onto the market. And I’m seeing increasingly more interest from large companies wanting to get onboard the upward trend of audio on demand.

For a corporation, University, government organisation or big brand, podcasting is becoming a very desirable place to be. I mean, it connects with their audience on a deeper level that a 30 sec TVC, radio commercial or print ad just can’t do anymore. And, in most cases, it’s so much cheaper to produce.

One of the major hurdles for an organisation is the amount of leg work that producing a podcast can be. There’s so much too it and it’s not something they can afford to fuck up. So they often find a professional to help bring it together.

This is where I often come into the picture. I work with these kinds of organisations and brands to drive and oversee the project.

But I do see another opportunity emerging.

My prediction is that we will see those with super niched podcasts, or those who have really established themselves as a ‘host with the most’, collaborating with bigger brands.

Right now, the influencer space in podcast land isn’t really that happening, but I’m predicting it will be a legit thing soon enough.

Be on the look out for big brands approaching established podcasters to form partnerships and podcast collaborations.

It’s really a no brainer… you know what you are doing and have proven you know how to do it, and they want someone who knows what they are doing to do it. Win win!

This is moving beyond sponsorship and into more branded content and I feel like this will be a huge growth area and opportunity for podcasters in the future. I’m already seeing this unfold within my client community. It’s very exciting times to be involved in this industry, for sure.

The downside would be that in some cases you may lose some creative control, but perhaps that would be offset by the money you can earn, what you would learn through the process of collaborating with a company that has a way bigger marketing budget than you currently have, and reaching a much wider audience (aka, their market). Partnering with a big brand can do wonders for your cred (when done well and in alignment with your own brand).

If you’re an established podcaster with an idea for a new show that might work well for a brand, could be time to start shopping that idea around.

If you’re not sure this is an option that’s right for you, there are plenty of other ways you can monetize a podcast. Here’s a few suggestions:

• Sponsorship
• Patreon
• Books
• Retreats and events
• Online courses
• Memberships
• Coaching, consulting or mentoring
• Public speaking
• Crowdfunding
• Donations
• Affiliate Marketing
• Merchandise
• Podcasting services

You can read the full epic post covering all these and more, here.

This is an excerpt from an epically long post on monetizing your podcast that can be found here.

Go listen to more of Karly’s thoughts and insights on podcasting at Rock Your Mic Right and you can find out more about her work at karlynimmo.com.