If you are looking for tips on how to monetize your podcast, you are where you should be.
While thinking about how to start a podcast, you should keep an eye on ways to monetize it. Although podcasting can be quite fun, generating money from your show will give you the right push you need to keep it alive.
There are several ways to monetize your podcast, but affiliate marketing remains one of the easiest methods to generate revenue from your show. It has a low barrier of entry, and you can earn up to 50% commission. Moreover, you and the brands you promote benefit from affiliate marketing.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a process whereby a brand hires a partner to promote its products, services, or content and earn a commission. The commission is usually given after a valid sale is made.
In affiliate marketing, a company or an affiliate network partners with an affiliate marketer who may be a publisher, a blogger, a social media influencer, or a podcaster.
Unlike a brand, affiliate networks serve as an intermediary between a company and an affiliate marketer to manage affiliate programs. They are the middlemen of affiliate marketing. Hence, you can earn a reward as a podcaster by either partnering directly with a company or through an affiliate network, whatever the case.
How to Make Money from Affiliate Marketing as a Podcaster
After joining an affiliate network or partnering with a brand, you are given a unique link that you can add to your show notes or share on social media. You can also mention it during your shows so that it will be a part of the transcripts.
After your listeners use your unique link to make a purchase, the proceeds from the sale are shared between you and the brand based on the agreed percentage, ranging from 5–50%. In some cases, though, affiliates are rewarded, but not necessarily after a valid sale. Some affiliate programs offer rewards on a cost-per-click, or CPC, whenever anyone clicks on their link. You can also earn commission on a cost-per-lead basis whenever you refer a prospect to the brand.
While there are scores of way to monetize your podcast, affiliate marketing has proven to be effective. Here’s how to monetize your podcast via affiliate marketing;
Promote Products or Services Related to your Podcast Niche or Industry
Your podcast target audience wants to hear everything related to your content. If you want to truly monetize your podcast through affiliate marketing, you need to partner with brands offering products or services similar to your niche. Your audience will click on that link you promote only if it matches their needs.
How do you ensure you partner with the right retailer? You already have a target demographic, and you understand what they want. Your audience is central to your podcast’s success. They are part of your show because it sparks their interest.
What you promote on your podcast should be related to your podcast’s or episode’s content. For instance, don’t advertise a toilet cleaner if your podcast is about gardening. Instead, you can look for brands that sell gardening tools to promote.
Declare your Intention to your Audience
Inform your audiences that you will earn a commission from the link they are about to click. It is standard practice, to be honest with your audience about an affiliate code or link so they do not feel deceived.
You can say something like: I may receive a commission on the affiliate link mentioned in this show should you buy from them. Transparency and full disclosure build trust between your brand and your audience. Furthermore, informing your audience of your intentions is ethical and beneficial in future endorsements.
Support Brands with a Quality Image
Your integrity matters when promoting brands on your show. If you cannot vouch for a product, service, or content, it is better not to endorse it to make money. You might be able to earn a commission, but in the long run, your listeners will not trust anything from your show. You can lose loyal fans in the process. There are several ways to ascertain the quality of a product you are affiliated with.
You can dedicate an episode to the brand where you invite a guest to discuss the product. Trying out what you are promoting personally will give you more confidence to speak about it. Another way is to thoroughly review the brand before signing up as an affiliate. If you are sure about the quality of the brands, you can easily convince your audience about them.
Work on Boosting your SEO
Typically, your podcast cannot survive without listeners. If your concern is, what do I need to start a podcast? You need people to listen to and comment on your show. Your audience is the dopamine that motivates you when it seems impossible to record one more episode.
On the flip side, monetizing your podcast through affiliate marketing will give you a financial incentive. Yet, you need to have a high number of listeners to earn a significant commission from affiliate programs as a podcaster. The more listeners you have, the higher the chances of someone clicking on the link or using your referral code.
How do you get more listeners to your show? The simple yet complex solution is to work on your SEO rating. You can use your social media, blog, and YouTube to boost your SEO. Also, don’t underestimate the power of newsletters and audience engagement. Maintain an email list where you can send the most recent information about your show, including affiliate links, to your audience. Finally, if your audience comments on your show, appreciate them by responding politely.
Tweak the Promotion Schedule to your Benefit
One of the beauties of affiliate marketing on a podcast is the flexibility it provides. You can place the adverts as part of the intro or outro when writing your podcast script. Note that promotion can also be done in the middle of the podcast while transitioning from one topic to another.
Any podcaster worth their salt will know that the best approach is to try out different approaches to ascertain what works best. Also, if you partner with an affiliate network, you can track sales using your unique ID. Therefore, you can compare the sales made when the promotion was placed on different segments of your podcast. Similarly, you can compare your performance when you add your affiliate URL to your social media as compared to when it was just mentioned in your newsletter.
Best Affiliate Marketing Network
Affiliate networks allow you to join many programs at once, increasing your sources of income for your podcast. Instead of looking for a brand to partner with, you can look for programs similar to your podcast industry from any of the following networks;
- ShareAsale
- C J Affiliate
- Apple Services affiliate
- Avangate Affiliate Network
- Clickbank
- Disctopia Partnerships
Final Thoughts
Affiliate marketing does not make you a marketer; you are still a podcaster first and foremost. Remember that as part of how to start a podcast, you need listeners to monetize your podcast.
Although you can join an affiliate network with just a small number of audiences, your podcast’s success rests on growing your listenership. Furthermore, the money you will generate from being an affiliate will motivate you to grow your podcast.
