When it comes to earning revenue from your podcast there are several options. Many people rely on ads, like those on YouTube ads or Spotify. Other options include making videos private and getting paid by viewers to listen to podcasts or using merchandise to add revenue. However, these aren’t the real valuable aspects of podcasting. Podcast sponsorship is one of the most useful ways to earn revenue from podcasting.
In this episode, we discuss how you can enhance the earnings from podcast sponsorship to make it more valuable to your podcast. We’ll also look at the key aspects of the sponsorship process, to ensure you don’t miss out on sponsorship revenues.
When Can You Start Earning Podcast Sponsorship Revenues?
Podcast sponsorship can start as soon as you begin producing podcast episodes. They can be part of your first episode and you can start earning revenue almost immediately. Podcast sponsorships at the beginning might be smaller than you will achieve later on, but that doesn’t mean the rewards won’t be good.
Many podcast hosts hope to cover costs at the beginning of their show. Others are looking to earn significant revenue. What you can earn can depend on what niche you’re in and what other extras you can provide your corporate sponsors. It might also be affected by the frequency of the episodes.
How to Increase Podcast Sponsorship Revenues
Here are several easy-to-implement ways to increase podcast sponsorship revenues. These will help you make the most of your opportunities.
Target the Right Corporate Sponsors
One of the first things to consider is whether you’re targeting the right sponsors. Popular sponsors often have more negotiating power, and therefore, you will get a lower rate. So while you might know that these large brands are going to have the funds to purchase a sponsorship package, they’re not likely to buy at a value that is going to be worth it for you.
Therefore, you need to consider who you’re going to be pitching your sponsorship packages to.
Find sponsors who:
- Are aligned with your brand.
- Are relevant to your audience and the podcast contents.
- Have the funds to pay regularly for sponsorship.
- Will be highly communicative.
- Will benefit your podcast as well.
It might take some time for you to qualify new sponsorship candidates. You will need to speak to the management team several times. When in negotiations, you should talk to other sponsors. You might have numerous spots to fill, or you might have just a few, but you should ensure that you’re not left behind because someone has misrepresented their ability to sponsor your podcast.
In addition, be sure that you’ve checked out the past content and news about a brand. There are going to be ethical opinions that you might want to stay away from. These can vary from brand to brand, but you have to work with brands that align with your cultural values.
Create a Sponsorship Package
While some people email a contact at a brand and want to talk about the potential to sponsor their podcast, it doesn’t look very professional. A sponsorship package is a set of documents, or a large document, where you detail exactly what is on offer for the corporate sponsor, how they will benefit, and what you need from them.
It creates a professional output for your podcast and a good first impression. It also means that you can standardize your offerings. However, it is highly recommended that you customize the delivered sponsorship package for the brand you’re pitching to.
Add all the legal information required for the contract to be signed and include a way to cancel the contract. Renegotiation is critical for success because as you grow, you’ll be worth more and should be paid what you’re worth.
Sponsorship packages should also include diagrams, graphs, and illustrations to demonstrate what sponsorship with you can result in. If you’re new, you might not be able to offer too much evidence, but you can look at industry averages.
Using illustrations makes getting across the ideas you want to demonstrate much easier, and allows for better uptake by the audience.
Work with a Podcasting Sponsorship Specialist
One way to earn more revenue when looking for podcast sponsorship is to work with a specialist who can help you find and secure the sponsorship packages. At Produce Your Podcast we’ve helped numerous brands look for, secure, and get paid for podcast sponsorship through several initiatives.
We work with you and your team to create a proposal package that will build value and make it easier for you to convert leads into sponsors. And we can help you establish regular sponsors who make the most of your episodes by showcasing what you have to offer.
Our team works tirelessly to support our clients, which can often yield far stronger results than they would have been able to achieve on their own. Therefore, we’ve helped brands to make their episodes more profitable.
If you’re interested in looking to improve results, you can contact our team of experts to have a meeting to see what the best steps are for you.
Add Other Benefits to the Sponsorship Package
If you’re looking to get the best results from your sponsorship packages, consider other assets your brand can advertise. Those with a strong following on social media and with a large email marketing list can have vastly more valuable sponsorship offers than those with nothing. But you have to include these in your sponsorship package.
Then what you need to do is to demonstrate why these are going to benefit your potential sponsors. Include statistics such as the size of the audience, the engagement rate, click-through rate, and more.
Adding these to the main offer will give your proposal more value. However, you could offer the sponsorship without these and have these as additional services you can add on. It depends on the prospects you’re pitching to.
You might need to base the recommendations on the social media channels the potential
sponsor is on. For example, if they don’t have a TikTok account, but this is your main social media channel, then there might be less perceived value.
And you could be more flexible in what you offer them. For instance, you could offer them inclusion in email marketing campaigns, but request a fee for every successful sale made because of campaigns you’ve run. In the short-term it might be less valuable, but long-term it might be more profitable.
Another benefit that you might be able to offer is a guest spot on your podcast if it is relevant.
Have Limits to Create Exclusivity
There are many ways that you can utilize exclusivity within your sponsorship pitches to help you make it seem more valuable. For example, you can limit your sponsors to just a few, like three or four channel sponsors. This can be a good option for those who want to work with just a few people. However, the risk is that if one of your sponsors pulls out, it can be a significant proportion of your income.
Another option would be to create exclusivity within different sectors. If you’re running a business podcast, you might want to say that you’ll only take sponsorship from one accountant, one SEO specialist, one HR specialist, etc.
There is another advantage of this exclusivity rule, that you can provide real value to the potential sponsors and not create any conflicts of interest which might lower the value of propositions.
Avoid Common Mistakes
Mistakes can be very costly when securing sponsors for your podcast. A proposal can look unprofessional or impersonal if there are lots of mistakes. These mistakes might include some of the following:
- Too much text in the proposal, with large blocks of paragraphs that explain concepts when a sentence will do.
- A proposal that has not been customized for the recipient. Even a name, their logo, and mentioning their brand can improve the chances of your proposal being read.
- An introduction email that has no personalization to it.
- A poor design that looks plain and uninspiring. You should add logos, especially the prospects logo.
- Spelling and grammar mistakes. These can look very unprofessional and using a simple grammar check like Grammarly can be very useful to ensure it goes out professionally.
- Sending proposals at an unsociable time, such as outside office hours, on weekends, or during public holidays.
- Not addressing a specific person in the business. If you don’t know who to address the proposal to, speak to someone at the company and find out.
These common mistakes can be easy to fix, but they are the most common issues brands make when creating proposals.
Ask to Speak to Potential Sponsors
Don’t just rely on email. Try to speak to your potential sponsors. Video calls are a great way to engage with your potential audience, helping you to build a strong relationship that can help push through a sponsorship sale.
Don’t be afraid to end any prospective email with an ambitious request for a conversation with them. You’d be surprised at how many people will respond to these. You can even send them to an online calendar where they can book the best time for you. If you have lots of time slots that are unavailable it also makes you seem busier and like you’re talking to lots of other people, making your time seem more exclusive.
But don’t invite the prospect to set up a meeting with someone else. If you’re sending the proposal, or it is being sent in your name, you should be the one making the meeting. Though you might want to invite others in your team.
FAQs
How many podcast sponsors can my show have?
Your show can have as many podcast sponsors as you would like. But there is a balance between too many sponsors that will lower the quality of your show, and ensuring you have enough to earn your revenue goals.
Will professional podcast production companies be able to help secure sponsors?
Produce Your Podcast can advise you on how best to write proposals to grab the attention of decision-makers and therefore secure better sponsorships that can help you turn a podcast into a revenue-generating process.
When should I start sending out podcast sponsorship proposals?
You can start to send proposals for sponsoring your podcast before you’ve even published your first episode. However, you might want to have recorded a couple of demo episodes or something to demonstrate what they’ll be sponsoring.
Final Word: How to Earn More in Podcast Sponsorship
When it comes to earning revenue from your podcast, sponsorship is by far one of the most lucrative options available. However, there are still ways that you can maximize the results from the efforts that you put in. Above are some tactics you should be using to help you get more from your podcast sponsorship, so you can focus more on producing excellent episodes that will bring in listeners and make your podcast even more valuable.
Produce Your Podcast is a full-service podcast production, editing, and marketing agency specializing in helping brands launch, grow, and monetize successful podcasts that impact their bottom line. With 30+ years of experience in broadcasting and business development brought to every project we work on, our team of experts is a reliable partner to help you achieve your goals with your show.
Click here to schedule a conversation with our team today and let’s bring your show to life!
