Whether you’re looking into the short-term goal of promoting your podcast or perhaps looking at what you can charge sponsors for appearing on your podcast, then there is a range of options for you. You will want to price your opportunities appropriately, so read on to find out more.
Marketing Your Podcast
You can’t expect to publish a podcast and for people you know to just listen. Without a proper marketing plan for your podcast, you aren’t able to shorten the learning curve and growth of your show. Plus, having a marketing plan in place means you are prepared in both the short and long term to expand your audience. So you’ll need to consider carefully how to market your podcast.
Social Media Costs
One option is to use platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. to market your podcast. And although there are limited costs to this, you can expect to also see varied results. With the right expertise, you can improve the results of your campaigns. But you might need to spend some money on Facebook advertising a Facebook page or boosting a post.
Advertising budgets for this can be relatively flexible. Facebook does have a daily minimum spend, but you have the choice of how long you promote your page or post. You could probably spend under $50 and get viewed by thousands of potential, targeted audiences. This does depend on your niche and audience.
The trouble is that you don’t know whether this will help you reach audiences who will listen.
You have to factor in doing the social media work in the first place too. You can do it yourself, or hire a freelancer to help. Hiring a freelancer can be cost-effective if you take a long time to get content created and sent out, but it’s going to raise the costs further.
The average cost for a freelancer is about $500 to $5000 a month. And it depends on the needs of the business as to what you have.
On Podcast Distribution Sites
There are numerous options to promote your podcast on Spotify and Apple. An advantage of promoting on these sites is that you can reach audiences who are actively listening to podcasts, and target the distribution of the advert to similar podcasts, where you know there are going to be attentive audiences.
Spotify and Apple platforms can be relatively costly. The minimum cost is about $250 per month, which isn’t too bad, but the reach won’t be massive.
However, targeting can be more effective than using Facebook or LinkedIn.
On Websites
You can also advertise yourself using websites. Your website costs you only the hosting fee, which is already accounted for. But your website is a good starting point. There are also ways that you can advertise on other websites too.
For example, you might want to have an image advert on a local listing site, business news site, or some other platform. These costs can vary. Websites usually charge based on the size of the advert and the placement. The higher the page you’re at, the more it will cost.
Be sure to do a quick check on the website’s traffic. It is not uncommon for some websites to charge $250 to $450 a month for an ad but generate very little traffic.
Blogging can be a very effective way to boost your website’s performance on Google and other search engines. This can be very cost-effective as you can write the blog posts yourself. If you’re looking to hire a freelance blog writer, you can expect to pay between $35 and $100 per blog post.
The biggest issue with your website is that you will have to wait for results. It can take up to a year for a blog post to appear on the first page of Google, and that’s only with the best-optimized content for your chosen keywords.
What to Charge
In addition to advertising your podcast, you might be able to charge people for advertising on your podcast. The costs for this can be interesting, and you should consider several factors.
Your Average Number of Listeners
The popularity of your show will determine the charges you can make for those wanting to feature on your podcast. This is based on a per thousand ratio. The higher the number of listeners, the more you can charge.
The Type of Sponsorship
There are two different types of advertising you can create. There are advantages and disadvantages to both of these types of sponsorship.
Pre-recorded
One is pre-recorded, up to 60 seconds long, and can be inserted like a traditional advert on a radio show or television program. These are generally one of the more cost-effective options for brands and other podcasts. However, they can have less value, as they’re not coming from the host, and therefore, the trust value is not present.
In-Show
Another is for the host to mention the brand and to provide a good deal. These are generally more fluid and fit in with the current content of the podcast. These are more expensive because the host provides an additional trust factor.
Additional Services
Additional services to the sponsorship can help you improve your revenue from sponsorship and advertising. For example, you can use social media exposure, website adverts, links in blog posts, email blasts, and other options to increase the package you offer sponsors.
You could create a custom package, where people can select what they get and add on the price as you want. You can base prices on the per thousand audience again.
Average Costs
The costs can depend on the brand and niche of the podcast. Average costs for podcast ads will sometimes follow radio advertising numbers. The average costs for pre-recorded ads can be between $15 and $30 per 1,000. For host-read sponsorship, the costs can be between $25 to $40.
So if you have 5,000 listeners per episode, 2,000 Facebook fans, and a 10,000 email marketing list, you can charge up to $510 for a pre-recorded advert and $680 for a host-read advert.
Not every advertising package needs to follow this and working with a partner on your ad & sponsor strategy can teach this.
Another way that you could earn revenue is to do an affiliate program. This is where you’re paid for every sale made from traffic generated from your activities. There are some issues with this. Someone might hear the brand name on your show and then do a Google search for it, which would lead to the sale being attributed to you.
But that doesn’t mean you couldn’t do a hybrid system, to make it more cost-effective for your sponsors. You could, for instance, charge $150 for being on your show and then a 25% commission on any sales that have been made from Facebook and the email list. In the short term, you might have a smaller income, but in the long term, it could be more lucrative.
FAQs: What is the Cost of Podcast Advertising?
Is it better to have free podcast advertising?
Free podcast advertising can be an effective way to keep costs down, but they are often low-value and generate very little interest in your podcast. You can use some of these tactics to start with, but always consider more high-value options.
Can a podcast production company help with setting prices?
Yes, you can use podcast production companies, like Produce Your Podcast, to help with all aspects of producing, promoting, and monetizing your podcast for a more effective and profitable experience.
How long are ads on podcasts?
Pre-recorded and host-read ads are generally less than 60 seconds. This is the typical ad time which allows for enough time to get a clear message across.
Final Word: What is the Cost of Podcast Advertising?
Whether you’re looking to promote your podcast or want to know what to charge, knowing the cost of podcast advertising is useful. The costs will depend on the type of promotion, the size of the audience, and more. However, a quick read above and speaking to a professional podcast production company can help you determine what you need to know to ensure you’re getting a fair price.
Produce Your Podcast is a premier podcast consulting, production & marketing agency. Our team of experts provides comprehensive, full-service quality solutions for B2B clients to incorporate podcasting into their overall marketing strategy. If you’re looking for a reliable partner to help launch or grow your business-branded podcast and boost your sales and marketing goals, we’re here to help.
Click here to schedule a conversation with our team today. Let’s work together to create a high-quality podcast that takes your business to new heights!
