A podcast is a series of episodes of digital audio files that anyone can download to their operating device for listening based on their personal consumption. In this day and age of digital media, we have become very familiar with online streaming platforms for our entertainment. The podcast is a fresh new addition to it. Though it has been quite popular in western countries for quite a few years, it is still trying to make its mark in the developing countries.
Digital media has somewhat changed the scenario of the whole process of consuming and creating content. Now content creation is considered a full-fledged job and more and more people are diving into it. But, for running a business or creating a brand for yourself, the influx of cash is of supreme importance.
So, in this article, we will try to introduce you to the ways through which you can monetize your podcast and make some money off the internet.
What are the 10 effective ways to monetize a podcast?
Podcasts make money in two different ways: direct podcast monetization and indirect podcast monetization.
In direct form, you make money off the brand you are trying to sell, by creating original remarkable content, branding it, and providing exclusive access to only paying members.
In indirect form, you use your brand as a medium to sell off other stuff like advertising for other products, promoting a few brands, and so on.
Now that we know this, let’s straight jump into the ways we can monetize our podcasts:
1. Creating a paid membership facility
Providing a platform for the audience to avail of exclusive content in exchange for paid memberships has been on trend for quite a while. You can also opt for facilities like rewarding your regular subscribers for their contribution with many perks like giveaways or launching a contest on social media for increasing the number of downloads.
2. Building an Audience
Catering to the target audience is easier said than done. You need to a created buzz regarding your channel beforehand. Target specific social media groups and events based on the subject of your podcast and use digital media platform as a social tool to uplift your brand.
3. Crucial promotion the day before the launch
Twenty hours before the day of your launch has been seen as the most crucial advertising window, this is the time, you need to promote your brand and make it visible for the enthusiasts by creating stories and posts on social media handles of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You need to pin the tweet or highlight your post and ask your supporters to share as much as possible to gain clout.
4. Exploring different types of content
You need to get creative while selling off your content. The more variety, the vivid categories of content you can provide. Be it graphic images, stories, soundbites, text-only images, polls, etc. you can easily devise better promotional strategies. You can also explore with some teaser clips, behind the scenes action, or create quotes using designing tools.
5. Remodeling your content
In order to keep the traction alive for days to come, repurposing of content should be taken with utmost sincerity. You can do it by creating a Twitter post about it, or uploading a YouTube video, or sharing some insightful thoughts through LinkedIn.
6. Making Guest Appearances
You can widen your horizons of reach and make appearances on someone else’s podcast and attract the set audience who are genuinely intrigued by podcasts. You can choose your choice of subject or get a little experimental by talking about the topics which are different from your subject of expertise.
7. Association with Podcatchers
Association with aggregators at the starting of your career will help you get a kick start. Podcatchers like Apple, iTunes, Spotify, Sticher, etc. will enable people to download and play your podcasts. Launching your platform on these apps will definitely increase the chances of getting acknowledged by manifolds.
8. Gating your back catalog
If you have a podcast that’s been surfacing for a long time then you can try this strategy of restricting access to your older episodes and adding a paywall for users to listen to the older content. In this way, you attract an audience with your fresh content and make off the older material.
9. Broadcasting it on YouTube
YouTube has attracted a lot of creators in the past couple of years. The reason being the easy monetization option available. You can broadcast your podcast on YouTube and enable the monetization option. Uploading videos on YouTube do require an editing skill or two but you can opt-out of it by simply putting a normal picture as the backdrop of your podcast and you are good to go.
10. Selling physical products
You can create your own merch by using the name of your brand, some catchphrases you very often use, or any inside joke that has been up on your show for quite some time now, whatever pleases the audience and whatever they can relate to. Based on those phrases you can sell off t-shirts, mugs, stickers, just anything that will help in triggering an interest in the audience to make the brand memorable.
Hopefully, the above-mentioned ten ways to monetize your podcast will be helpful to you as in today’s digital world, digital currency is the new currency, and day by day more and more people are coming to the internet to gain knowledge or make money off of it by creating good content.
Using these tips will definitely help you build your brand and achieve marketing goals, but what will make your show a true hit is the quality over quantity phenomenon, insightfulness, and deep knowledge about the subject matter. These attributes serve as the crux of any quality content, after polishing your skills you can incorporate the above-mentioned tips to create a broader base of audience.
About the Author: Ross Plotkin is a founder of Barevalue – A podcast editing company that offers podcast editing services and show notes writing services. He usually writes articles on the topic of podcasting such as tips, guides, and information that can be helpful for beginners and advanced podcasters.
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