Podcircle Podcast

Mickenzie Vought: 00:06

Welcome to the Podcircle podcast, where we bring practical tips and insights for every podcaster.

Kyle Cummings: 00:11

From aspiring podcasters to experts with hundreds of episodes under your belt and everywhere in between, These conversations dive deep into the topics that matter most to you. So let's get started.

Mickenzie Vought: 00:22

Alright. Today, we are answering one of the most common questions that podcasters ask. How do I monetize my podcast? Kyle, do you get asked this all the time in your line of work?

Kyle Cummings: 00:35

Yes. Oftentimes, it's the one of the first questions that I get and but I understand it's it's a good question. It's a common question, and we're gonna get into it today. So I'm excited about it.

Mickenzie Vought: 00:45

Yeah. I think the majority of us get into podcasting, because we wanna have some end result. Right? And financial gain, profits are gonna be a big part of that. And, yes, we wanna share a message with the world.

Mickenzie Vought: 00:57

Yes. We want to give away valuable content, but also we want to win and we want to convert. We wanna convert our listeners to something, whether it's downloads, whether it's buying our product and our service, or whether it's just having another outlet to talk to our customers. And there's always an added benefit, to have monetization around it. So Yeah.

Mickenzie Vought: 01:16

I think the majority of times when someone thinks about monetizing their podcast, they're only thinking about ads. Okay. How do I get ads? How do I get ad partners? How do I get people to support my podcast?

Mickenzie Vought: 01:27

And I'm hoping that this episode kinda opens up, what people would consider monetization. You wanna hit us with that first point?

Kyle Cummings: 01:33

Yeah. Totally. And and I love the idea of someone starting their podcast with the end in mind. So we're gonna get into it. So the first one we have here, one of the first ways you can monetize your podcast is to market yourself.

Kyle Cummings: 01:45

In other words, you can bet on yourself. Organically, you can talk about your products and services and your episodes. You can do this by recording internal ads that you run either as pre roll ads or mid roll ads, which are just simply ads that you put kind of in the middle of your episode there. And just talk about what you do, and there's ways to do that organically. I I hope to think that we do that with our podcast.

Kyle Cummings: 02:09

We're a podcast

Mickenzie Vought: 02:10

Yeah.

Kyle Cummings: 02:10

For podcasters about podcasts. We're just hopping on here and talking about our knowledge and expertise.

Mickenzie Vought: 02:16

So And I think you can do that casually. You can do that organically. I hope that you noticed throughout our episodes that it comes up really organically. And I think the biggest fear or qualm or even objection that people have to this type of monetization is saying I don't want to self promote. I'm not interested in that.

Mickenzie Vought: 02:32

That feels gross to me. And really, I would just challenge you to change your lens around that. You are providing value. Every time you show up with an episode, you're providing value for your listener. You're giving them free content and you're building brand loyalty.

Mickenzie Vought: 02:48

And so self promotion is only going to be off putting if you're not connecting or providing a solution to someone's problem. So if every week you're providing a solution for your listener, you're gonna have a little bit of, cache in that tank and people are gonna wanna give to you. Yeah. And you're providing a solution. Promoting the products that go along with your podcast are gonna go a long way because it's gonna solve a problem to the next level.

Mickenzie Vought: 03:14

They're tuning in for a reason.

Kyle Cummings: 03:16

Yeah.

Mickenzie Vought: 03:16

And so I just wanna encourage you that you're providing a solution to someone's problem in the podcast, and you can take it the next step further. It's not gross. It's not self promotion in a gross way because you're solving a problem.

Kyle Cummings: 03:25

Yeah. And if you feel gross about it and you're like, oh, I don't wanna come off as one of these hacky self promotionally people.

Mickenzie Vought: 03:32

Yeah.

Kyle Cummings: 03:32

Odds are, if you're asking the question, you're not.

Mickenzie Vought: 03:35

You're not gonna be.

Kyle Cummings: 03:36

You're not gonna if anything, you're you're probably not gonna self promote enough and you need someone to nudge you just be like, hey, why don't you talk about what your expertise is a little bit more so. So moving on to our second way to monetize your podcast is by offering a subscription. Mickenzie, you wanna take this one?

Mickenzie Vought: 03:52

Yeah. I think a lot of content creators in recent years have kind of utilized this model and you'll see it across a lot of different things. You'll see it from authors and speakers, podcasters, video content providers. How do you tap into the audience you have you see it with a lot of people who have a big Instagram following, and they've started a subscription model. I have a friend who's a dietitian, and she is blown up on TikTok and Instagram.

Mickenzie Vought: 04:16

And she now has a subscription model where she gives recipes and tips and tricks and all of that.

Kyle Cummings: 04:22

Oh, that's cool.

Mickenzie Vought: 04:22

Yeah. She does it on a platform called Buy Me A Coffee. So there's a couple hosting platforms that we've really seen win. Patreon is kind of the the number one in this space. And then Podia, Buy Me A Coffee, and even Apple Podcasts has kinda leaned into this.

Mickenzie Vought: 04:37

So I've explored what is the Apple Podcast subscription model look like because they saw Patreon winning and they wanted in on that. And so it's a really interesting model and I see people winning a lot with it. One of my favorite, podcast is called The Popcast, and they, I think, are one of the early adapters of this Patreon model. And they have really monetized their podcast that was just this thing and they did it on the side, and now it's their full time job. They have a couple different podcasts.

Mickenzie Vought: 05:05

They've built an entire network of shows. And every week, yes, they put out a free podcast. You can still get their original content for free. But every week, they're gonna they're giving, extra subscription content. So they have an early access to their episode.

Mickenzie Vought: 05:20

They give you early access or exclusive access to bonus episodes. There's community forums. They put out, exclusive PDFs. They put out exclusive in-depth show notes, question and answer with the host. Like, there's a lot of things that you can creatively start to think of.

Mickenzie Vought: 05:37

What are extra things that I could provide that don't have a lot of lift that people would pay for. Live recordings, I've seen that. Like, when they do a live show, only people who are subscribers get access to that. You could do a monthly newsletter. You could have exclusive merch.

Kyle Cummings: 05:51

Yeah.

Mickenzie Vought: 05:51

And there's just a lot of opportunities here.

Kyle Cummings: 05:53

No doubt about it. It's a really great point. So I've got a long drive here coming up in a couple weeks.

Mickenzie Vought: 05:57

Mhmm.

Kyle Cummings: 05:58

And I was like, oh, one of my favorite podcasts has a Patreon where they do exclusive episodes, and they did a this long series on they find out about the Enneagram for the first time, and then they're like, what is this? And so they're, like, trying to figure out their Enneagram. So I'm like, oh, that sounds kind of interesting because I've always I've wondered for years, like, what is their, like, I don't know.

Mickenzie Vought: 06:16

Yeah.

Kyle Cummings: 06:16

So I'm gonna list I'm gonna got a 10 hour drive, and so I'm just gonna go, like, binge a bunch of their Patreon episodes where they're trying to figure this whole thing out, and it sounds like a good time to me.

Mickenzie Vought: 06:24

So There you go. I love it. That is so funny. I think we've just really seen an increase in that, and it's usually a minimal fee. Right?

Mickenzie Vought: 06:31

Like, 5, $10.

Kyle Cummings: 06:32

It's $5 a month. Yeah. And then

Mickenzie Vought: 06:34

you get access to all of these things. So

Kyle Cummings: 06:36

Totally.

Mickenzie Vought: 06:37

Patreon. I love it.

Kyle Cummings: 06:38

Love it. Such a great idea. And we have clients too. Wire talk with Karen Stubbs. She has a Patreon that's been a long running Patreon.

Kyle Cummings: 06:45

She gives Mhmm. She gives a lot of stuff away, and, you know, they have different tiers or whatever. But I think one of their lowest tiers is they that they get an extra episode of the podcast every month. And, she has done really, really well with that and just has nurtured that core Mhmm. Kind of support over the course of several years, and it's totally paid off.

Kyle Cummings: 07:04

And now she does national speaking engagements and things, and it's pretty fantastic.

Mickenzie Vought: 07:09

That's awesome. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the podcast Smartless, and they they partner with Apple, I believe. And when you're in the Apple Podcast app, you can actually see, like, the next episode that you don't have really? Kind of, like, wet your appetite. You're like, oh, I this is the guest next week, and I don't get to listen to it for a full week.

Mickenzie Vought: 07:27

But if I was a subscriber, I can listen to it now. So

Kyle Cummings: 07:30

Oh, that's really cool.

Mickenzie Vought: 07:32

Yeah. So the third way that you can monetize your podcast is through selling ads to others in your space. And so, Kyle, can you talk a little bit about this because we talked about as the front end. So I think this is a space where you can lean into ads, but make sure you're doing it with people that make sense.

Kyle Cummings: 07:46

Yeah. I've got a good example of this one. I've we've got a client who they are very niche. They sell CBD products for pets, particularly for dogs. Yeah.

Kyle Cummings: 07:54

So I was chatting with someone from their organization, and they're like, they're just now getting to those kind of those numbers where they're considering selling ad spots to some of their partners that are also in this space. And a lot of those other people in this space have guests on the podcast, so there's a lot of crossover in their, in their markets. And they're kinda trying to figure out how to do it and and how to price it and things. And so, one of the things that I told them was like, hey, if you sell a pre roll ad, that's almost a guaranteed listen to that ad. Yeah.

Kyle Cummings: 08:25

So sell that for more, you know, and I, you know, I'm not gonna pretend to be any expert on, you know, how to price that stuff. There's articles on that. I think it just depends on, 1, how large your listener base is Yep. And how how large and loyal that is. And then when you bring other people into the fold and you're you're advertising their products, I think it's just one of those things you you just kinda have to test and iterate on.

Kyle Cummings: 08:49

Yeah. So you can sell pre roll ads. And then what's great about, and we talk about this a good bit. We'll talk about it in later episodes as well is is utilizing dynamic advertising. So say they sell a pre roll ad to a partner, and then they can the way that they can kinda package that to the advertisers, like, we're gonna run this pre roll across all of our episodes.

Kyle Cummings: 09:08

So I think they've got I can't remember, I think they've got 60 or 70 episodes at this point. And running a a pre roll ad across 70 episodes where they're averaging probably 4 or 500 downloads a month, that's a lot of guaranteed listens, so I think that they can Yeah. Charge a premium for that. Another thing, this is I don't know if this is perfectly on topic, but another idea that I put to them is that they could have an advertiser sponsor an episode. So they could say this episode of is brought to you by our friends at blank.

Kyle Cummings: 09:39

And here's what they do. And then you say, we're gonna talk a little bit more about this at the at the end of the show and give some calls to action and things like that. But how they can kind of sponsor the episode, you can even do that in the episode specific artwork. I've actually seen Conan O'Brien. He's a friend.

Kyle Cummings: 09:53

Does this quite a bit where in the actual artwork for the episode, it says State Farm.

Mickenzie Vought: 09:58

So it's sponsored by?

Kyle Cummings: 09:59

Yeah. Oh. That'll be State Farm or or whoever they have a big kind of partnership with. And, obviously, they'll run those ads in the middle of those shows as well. But I think we're just kinda scratching the surface on the different ways that we can just do ads and partnerships and sponsorships and these kind of things.

Kyle Cummings: 10:15

And I I'm beginning to think that it's less about getting these huge download numbers and more about just finding those really strategic partnerships where there's a lot of alliance, but also not Yeah. Not a conflict of interest in partnering up on those. I'll I'll give one more example, and then I'll shut up. Typology podcast with Ian Cron.

Mickenzie Vought: 10:33

Yeah.

Kyle Cummings: 10:34

It's a podcast about the Enneagram. It's a wellness podcast, great podcast. But he, for as long as I've listened to that podcast for years, I can only think of one ad that he's ever run, and it's for his friend who who runs an a therapy intensive out in Colorado. Mhmm. And so, like, Ian doesn't do those.

Kyle Cummings: 10:54

Ian's an author and a speaker and but his friend has this intensive counseling, and it's like it's a really good partnership. It's not really conflict of interest, so I've always thought that was really interesting and and smart, and I think that he did that before he even had big download numbers.

Mickenzie Vought: 11:08

Yeah. I think it's really interesting. It kinda goes to that first point we were talking about is that if you have an ad that connects with your audience, it's gonna be the most effective. Yeah. I mean, I'm not an expert on ads as well.

Mickenzie Vought: 11:19

But HubSpot, who is kind of really strong in the marketing space, claims that the average podcast ad cost between 10 to $50 with additional fees way more than that when you've got a high listenership and mostly when you've got high engagement. And so you don't have to have insane listenership as long as you've got engagement. And if your fans are loyal, if your audience is loyal and you're offering them something that connects and is in the same lane as something that you're already talking about, that's gonna be the most successful. You kinda jumped on point 4, which is monetize your podcast by selling sponsored segments.

Kyle Cummings: 11:52

Mhmm. And

Mickenzie Vought: 11:53

so you could do segments or the whole show. This show is sponsored by. This segment is sponsored by. A couple of examples might be, let's say you're a finance show and you are gonna say this segment is sponsored by our online investing platform.

Kyle Cummings: 12:07

X. Yeah.

Mickenzie Vought: 12:08

Whatever. Let's name it, you know, Q Finance. I don't know. But, you know, if you've got a segment that's gonna talk about, like, here's some market trends and they always sponsor this particular segment about market trends. Or let's say you're a show that's all about, like, motherhood and you're sponsored by a local toy store.

Mickenzie Vought: 12:24

And they're gonna tell you, like, here are the toys that we're seeing that are winning in this space that are gonna be a win for you and your kid learning or whatever. Mhmm. I think you can really tap into their specialty, your specialty, and align your interest as you're saying.

Kyle Cummings: 12:37

Mhmm. So It's really good.

Mickenzie Vought: 12:38

Let's talk about that last point because, we utilize this Yeah. And I think it's really great.

Kyle Cummings: 12:43

I do too. Yeah. So the last point is monetize your podcast by using affiliate links in your show notes. So the obvious when there is setting up an affiliate partnership with Amazon, and we refer a lot of podcast gear. So microphones, headphones, we have a whole PDF that has recommended, like our tried and true recommended podcast recording gear.

Mickenzie Vought: 13:06

Yeah.

Kyle Cummings: 13:06

And so we we linked all that stuff out to Amazon and have an affiliate partnership. It's very simple to set up I'll say if you've never done it, it's really simple to set up. We also have affiliate partnerships with a few other, services that we use. 1 is Transistor, which is a our preferred podcast hosting platform.

Mickenzie Vought: 13:23

Yep.

Kyle Cummings: 13:23

And then with Riverside, which records our high quality audio and video, which we're on right now. So we very simple partnerships with them. Very easy and simple to set up, and just we get a small kickback every time someone follows one of those links and checks out and enjoys one of those services or one of those products. And, it's just another you know, it's probably not gonna start out as this huge, quote, unquote, cash cow thing, but you're using your platform to sell other people's products and services. So why not get a little bit of a kickback on those in an easy way that it's you kinda set it up and drop the links in to your show notes.

Kyle Cummings: 13:59

So let's say you have a podcast and you interview you're interviewing an author this week and it's a pretty well known author. Drop the link to their book obviously in your show notes, but also make sure you're

Mickenzie Vought: 14:09

gonna because the affiliate link on it

Kyle Cummings: 14:11

Totally.

Mickenzie Vought: 14:12

Yeah. And the thing about Amazon affiliate is that it's, no cost to your listener or the person that's clicking on it. The actual fee goes to Amazon. It doesn't go to your listener. And if you're making money on things you're already recommending, That's what I think I've noticed in any time I've used affiliates is that there are things I'm already gonna be talking about.

Mickenzie Vought: 14:29

There's things I'm already a big fan of and gonna be singing their praises, so why not partner with them? I think we think about that with Transistor and Riverside. There's 2 things we would already be, bragging on, so we've created partnerships with them. I love that.

Kyle Cummings: 14:42

Yeah. Yeah. I think it makes a lot of sense, and it's it's a very low lift way to, like I said, just to get a little bit of a kickback for using your platform to promote others products and services. There's nothing wrong with that.

Mickenzie Vought: 14:53

Alright. So we hope that we have expanded your view of how you can monetize your podcast today. It doesn't just have to be ads. You don't have to wait until you have 1,000 and millions of downloads to start making money. You can start today where you are.

Mickenzie Vought: 15:07

And if you are on the front end of starting your podcast, we wanna make sure that you know about our complete podcast starter kit. It is a free download. And in it, you will find absolutely everything you need to start out from checklist to that equipment guide that Kyle was talking about to how to better your interview skills and how to do remote interviews. So we're really proud of this and you can find it at pod circle.com/start. Anything to add on that, Kyle?

Kyle Cummings: 15:33

I think that's it. I think you summed it up really well.

Mickenzie Vought: 15:35

Alright. Happy podcasting, y'all.