The question on everyone's lips is "How do you make money from a podcast?" And while there are some podcasters making a living from their show the majority of people don't make a dime.

That doesn't mean you can't generate revenue from your podcast but you need to think more creatively than just "How can I sell ads?"

Check out the full episode show notes: https://rachelcorbett.com.au/how-to-make-money-from-your-podcast/

About me...

My name is Rachel Corbett and I've worked professionally for almost two decades in radio and podcasting. I've hosted and produced shows for some of the biggest radio networks in Australia, created three of my own independent podcasts and I was Head of Podcasts for Mamamia, the largest women's podcast network in the world.

At Mamamia, I grew the podcast network from 15 to over 35 shows, the team from two to nine producers and the audience to over 1 million unique listeners a month and over 90 million downloads which is more than quadruple where it was when I started.

I've also hosted over ten podcasts with more than 2 million downloads including Lady Startup, Eligible, Before The Bump and You’ve Gotta Start Somewhere. You can find all my podcasts at rachelcorbett.com.au/podcasts.

I've taught radio and podcasting at the Australia Film Television and Radio School and have my own online podcasting course, PodSchool, so if you're looking for someone who knows what they're talking about when it comes to pods, you've come to the right place.

Resources...

Podcasting guide: podcastguide.com.au

Online podcasting course: podschool.com.au

Contact...

Twitter: @RachelCorbett

Facebook: @RachCorbett

Instagram: @_RachelCorbett

Website: www.rachelcorbett.com

Got dreams of being a professional podcaster but have no idea what you're doing.

This is impossible.

That's about to change.

A new kind of school.

Welcome to the Pod School podcast.

Hello and welcome to the show.

Now the one thing that a lot of people are very interested in when it comes to podcasting is how it can make you some sweet, sweet moolah.

It seems to be the first question on everybody's lips when you tell people you're a podcaster.

How do you make money?

How do you monetize it?

Where do you get the cash from?

And a lot of first time podcasters want to know even before they've started their show.

How can I sell ads?

When do I sell ads?

Let me just say that if those words have come out of your mouth, call you jets.

Because there are plenty of ways to make money out of your podcast that aren't just traditional advertising.

In fact, I would suggest that selling ads in your podcast is probably the least lucrative way to make money.

Unless you you are pulling in half a million listeners or 50,000 listeners or 150,000 listeners an episode.

And if you actually go and sell ads on your podcast via the process that big podcasters use, which is cost per mil approach, which is basically a cost per 1,000 downloads of your episode, if you've only got two or three hundred listeners, you're not gonna make very much money.

I was looking at Midroll, which is an advertising agency that sells ad on podcasts in the States, and I typed in, did a little bit of a maths on their online calculator, typed in a little example for a podcast that had 200 downloads per episode.

And even for a show that has 52 shows a year and was going to sell a 30 second pre roll and a 60 second mid roll, all that that was going to toss up into your pocket if you have that kind of podcast was 179 to 3, $335 a year, not really much to live on.

So those are the kind of small numbers.

If you are understandably one of the majority of people who doesn't have a huge amount of podcast listeners.

The thing is, if you have got a really keen audience that are really targeted, love what you do, trust you turn up every single week, then there's no reason you can't monetize 200 people.

A lot of advertisers go to things like radio because they want to get maximum, maximum reach.

But you know, you might reach 5 million people as an advertise and two people might walk into your store because they just happen to be the type of people that want what you're providing.

But if you offer up a podcast that is really targeted towards a specific advertiser, then you could probably contact them and say, look, I think that this episode is worth 500 bucks to you and potentially get them across the line if they think that even half of your 200 people might purchase the product that they're after.

So I just wanted to take you through some of the ways that you can actually monetize your podcast or think about monetizing.

That is not just, I wanna sell ads, because until you grow your audience to a significant number, that's not going to be the best way to do things.

And the other reason they don't really push advertising on podcasts is that your listeners hate it.

Your listeners have no interest in ads on a podcast.

They don't wanna hear them.

They just wanna hear your content.

So any way that you can keep ads out of your podcast is always going to be a benefit.

So, as I was saying before, you can directly approach advertisers that perfectly align with your podcast, you are doing a podcast for people who love knitting hats.

And there is a local knitting shop or a wool shop or something in your area.

And they.

And you know that you've got 200 people that turn up to consume your content every week, and they'd be really interested in the newest types of wool or getting like a subscription service to get wool sent to their home.

That could be something that a store might be willing to pay 200 bucks per episode for, depending on what their return would be.

So doing that direct approach, if you have a kind of niche podcast that would appeal to a specific advertiser, can be a really good option.

You can also use your podcast to sell products and services that you have.

So if, for example, you are an architect, I have a friend of mine that I've worked with her on her podcast.

She's an architect, and she gives out tips about how to actually do home renovations.

And she will get a lot of people buying her renovation course because they will get a taste of her free, free tips on her podcast.

And they think, oh, this woman really knows what she's talking about.

She's given me some really great free advice.

And then when they're looking to sort of take the next step, they'll look at her online course.

So it becomes a really great way to actually build a relationship with people and get them to trust you and understand that you are an expert in your field and get them to feel comfortable about spending money on a course that you offer.

You could do the same if you were an author and you wanted to sell books of yours, or you had a physical product that you could create content around and then sell on your podcast.

So there are a lot of different ways to actually sell the thing it is that you make and bring in revenue that way.

Rather than impacting the content that you give to your audience via ads.

Instead, why not ship the content out, pristine and delightful, and make money a different way?

Affiliate marketing is another way to do things.

If you're not sure what that is or you've never heard that term before, Basically that's when you will sell a product or service on behalf of another creator.

So, for example, if you are a marketing coach and there is somebody in your network or somebody that you look up to, or somebody that you've made a relationship with who sells a really great marketing course, you can get in contact with them and ask them if they would consider you selling that course, and then you'll get a cut of that course.

Some people offer affiliate marketing as a general rule.

Others will only do it with trusted people that they know.

But really, if you've got an audience of people that they might not have been able to get in front of before, then it can be a really great opportunity for them as well.

So that's another way that you could bring in revenue through the door by selling a product that belongs to somebody else, but taking a cut of that.

And I would always advise that you make sure that it's a product or a service that you would use yourself.

So make sure you've used the service or you know what it's all about, so that you're only recommending to your audience things that you would genuinely use.

And a lot of the things that you can use, like the online tools that you can use, they will offer affiliate programs.

And if you're already recommending those kind of things, like certain website builders or online marketing tools, if you're already going to recommend those, why not get paid a little cut if you're going to do it anyway?

And you will, when you apply for their affiliate program, get a unique link that you can actually tell your listeners about, and then they can access the deal through your link and you will get a little cut of that.

You can also sell a subscription service.

So if you've got a really engaged audience who really like what you do and want sort of a level above what you're offering or want to pay A monthly subscription fee to be a part of an online community.

Maybe you give them additional videos, maybe you have a Facebook group where you and some other like minded individuals jump in there and share tips and knowledge and that kind of stuff.

Perhaps you give additional information that they don't get anywhere else.

So there's got to be some value there to make people continually pay month in, month out.

And sometimes that can be a lot of heavy lifting in terms of making sure that you're constantly refreshing that membership site because you don't want people to be paying a monthly fee for something that just doesn't ever improve or grow.

But that can be an option as well to bring people who trust you from your podcast into a membership site where they can get a bit of added value.

The other thing that you can do is work on a donation model.

So you might have heard some of the podcasts that you love talk about a thing called Patreon, which is a way that you can actually donate to the shows that you enjoy.

And usually they will offer up a bit of additional content.

So you might get a podcast episode that doesn't have any ads in it if you pay the subscription fee.

Or you might get merchandise or early access to live gigs, tickets, or any of those kind of things, and you can essentially pay to keep them on the air.

This works very well with podcasts that have built up an audience and have a really committed group of people that keep turning up and would rather pay five bucks a month to keep hearing their favorite show than they would to never have it back in their ears again.

So this is probably something that you can't kick off right from episode one because obviously your audience isn't going to know if they like and trust you at that point.

But certainly once you've built up a bit of a following and you feel like there's a sense of community there, it's certainly something that you can think about.

And maybe your audience would rather pay five bucks to get a little bit of something extra.

And you will have to provide them with something extra because otherwise what's the point of paying five bucks a month?

But that can be a way to keep the doors open with the support of your audience.

You can also run live events.

This is really a great way, especially if you're more of an entertainment, entertainment podcast.

So you're not really about coaching or teaching, but you're about sort of a great conversation between mates about movies or just general stuff or it's a comedy podcast if you've got an audience that loves listening to you, then they'll probably want to turn up to a live show and listen to you in person.

Lee Sales and Annabelle Crab's podcast chat 10 looks three is a great example of a podcast that's moved from being in your ears to being on stage.

They've got a really passionate audience and a great Facebook page community where everybody's kind of, you know, chatting with each other.

And so it was such a no brainer for them to start to run live events because their audience was already talking to each other on the Facebook page.

They really engaged with Annabelle and Lee and they want to see them in person and actually have a chance to meet them, press the flesh, get a photo with their favorite star, and also meet other people in the community that they've been talking with on the Facebook page.

So if you've got a really engaged audience and you can build that up and you can create an environment where people might want to see you on, on stage, do the show live, it can be a really great way to bring some revenue into the show and give your listeners a bit of an additional experience where they get to come and see what you do in person and also pay you a bit of coin to do it as well.

The other thing it can do is a podcast can establish you as an expert and really market you in the area that you want to be marketed in.

And this can sometimes translate into things that you never anticipated.

I have seen people get job offers from their podcast because they have established themselves as an expert in a certain field.

You can get direct coaching clients that hear what you do and will email you and say, hey, I love the podcast, but can you give me some one on one time?

I often have emails from people who ask me if I can coach them through their podcast personally.

So this can be a really great additional revenue stream.

If you are an expert and you are actually sharing tips and information on your podcast, then you will be surprised at how many clients will come through the door.

That way you can also establish yourself as a speaker in that space as well.

And instead of just kind of emailing somebody and saying, oh, I'm really good, I can talk into a microphone.

You've also got that audio there to share with them so that they can actually get a sense of exactly how you would talk somebody through something and what your style and approach is and how you sound behind the microphone.

So that can be a bit of a no brainer for somebody who's looking for a speaker.

If you are actually able to give them a bit of audio that gives you a sense of who you are and what your expertise is.

And that can be a great way to get speaking gigs.

And they can pay very so you might make more from a speaking gig than you could ever make from a year's worth of advertising on your podcast if you've just got a smaller amount of listeners.

So see, it's not all about ads.

It's not all about pumping your podcast full of 30 second bits of crap that your audience don't want to hear.

You can be much smarter about how you go about monetizing your podcast so that the actual content of your episode stays as pure as it possibly can and you're just delivering value to your audience.

And then you can bring in revenue in other more creative ways.

Thank you so much for joining me this week.

As always, if you have a question you would like answered on the podcast, you can just head to podschoolpodcast.com and send me an email there.

You'll also find my tech guide if you need help setting up your home studio and want to know what to buy no matter what your budget is.

And also a link to my online podcasting course that you can pop your name on the wait list for.

And I will be in touch as soon as I open the doors again.

I'll see you next week.

And until then, happy podcasting.

That's all for today.

Sam.