It takes a lot of time and dedication to produce a quality podcast. No matter how much you might love it, it’s hard to invest all that energy into something without any revenue coming in. So, here are a few ideas to start monetizing your podcast…
Affiliate Links
If you mention a product or service on your podcast, check for an affiliate program so you can earn money with referrals.
Amazon has a huge affiliate program that’s open to anyone. If you regularly mention or recommend specific books on your podcast, why not use an affiliate link and earn 4% on those purchases?
At Cratejoy, we love it when our sellers get mentioned on a podcast. If you think your audience would be interested in a monthly snack box, pet box or eco box, sign up for our affiliate program with Impact Radius. Every sale will earn you a referral fee and also help our sellers grow their business.
Shareasale and Commission Junction are other sites to find affiliate partners.
Pro tip: Use redirects so that the affiliate links are easy to remember. As example, share a link like yourpodcast.com/bookname with your listeners, which then redirects to the affiliate site with proper URL tracking.
Sell Your Own Products
You probably want to have a few T-shirts, pint glasses, and stickers to promote your podcast anyways. Why not sell those through your website? You could also offer them as a thank you gift for people who donate.
Get creative with products! If your podcast is about dogs, put together a package of dog treats, toys, and dog sunglasses. If your podcast is about sharks, send out some shark treats, toys, and shark mittens.
Does your podcast release on regular schedule? If so, it might be a perfect match for a subscription box product. You can curate the products based on that month’s topic or guest, and time boxes to show up at your customer’s door as soon as the podcast is released. This is also a great way to engage more with your audience.
Another option is to repackage your content as a book or develop it into a course that can be sold.
Paid Memberships
Quite a few podcasts have started to offer paid memberships with exclusive benefits. Through these programs, they offer:
- Extended podcast content or special episodes
- Options to join an exclusive Facebook group or Slack channel
- Welcome package with podcast swag
- An exclusive email newsletter (with optional deals and promotions)
This can be a great way to build a community around your podcast and engage with your audience, in addition to bringing in a yearly membership fee.
Sponsorships and Ads
Ads are the most popular way to monetize podcasts. You don’t necessarily need to have a huge audience to make it work (though it helps). When we researched podcast advertising rates for Cratejoy, most shows charged between $15-25 CPM (cost per 1000 listens).
However, a really engaged audience on a niche topic can be even more valuable to a sponsoring company, and they might be willing to sponsor you outright. For example, if your podcast is about knitting, reach out to yarn companies you like to see if they’d be willing to support the show.
Cratejoy is an all in one subscription commerce platform that includes everything you need to start your own subscription box. Try it free for 14 days.
