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If you're making money from your podcast through sponsors, affiliate links,
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paid promotions, or even free products you've been given, make sure your audience knows.
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Part of that is the legal side of things. Depending on where you are and what
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you're doing, you may be required to disclose that relationship.
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But for me, there's another reason that's just as important,
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your relationship with your audience.
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Let's say I recommend a microphone and there's an affiliate link in the show notes.
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I'll just tell you. Something as simple as, that's an affiliate link,
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so I might earn a couple of dollars if you buy it.
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Same thing with a sponsored episode, a paid promo, or a product someone sent me for free. Just say so.
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Don't make your audience try to work out whether there's a commercial relationship
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behind a recommendation.
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And don't assume that putting an affiliate link at the bottom of the page is enough either.
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The disclosure needs to be clear and easy to understand. The Canadian Competition
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Bureau, for example, and the FTC in the US, both emphasise that people should
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be able to understand when there's a material connection between the person
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making the recommendation and the company.
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Because your audience isn't stupid. They understand if you want to make money from your podcast.
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They also understand that sponsors and affiliate relationships are part of how
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a lot of podcasts pay the bills.
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What they don't want is to feel like you're trying to sell them something without telling them.
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And once people start questioning whether your recommendations are genuine or
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not, that's a much bigger problem.
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So, take the sponsorship, use the affiliate link, accept the free product,
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just be upfront about it.
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You're not going to lose your audience because you told them you're making a
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few dollars from a recommendation, but you just might earn more of their trust because you did.
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Until the next time, happy podcasting.
