One of the reasons you might want to start podcasting is because you think you’ll get sponsors to help pay your expenses and possibly generate additional income. Sponsors will usually pay you to mention their business, product, or service while recording your podcast. This allows you to earn money from each podcast episode that is aired. Here are some helpful tips for finding sponsors.
Start with a good podcast
Before you do anything else, make sure you have a good podcast with a decent number of listeners. This is the same concept as when you want advertisers for your website or blog.
No one is going to advertise with you before making sure you’re a good fit for their company. They want to know the type of content you publish, what is your voice and what is your market niche. Advertisers will also look to see approximately how many views or downloads their podcast receives on a typical day. Having a good following, posting new episodes regularly, and having a sponsor page that shares your stats is a must have.
wait for them to come to you
Once you have a podcast that is popular and in good standing, some sponsors will come to you. It’s good to keep promoting your podcast even when you have a large following, because the more you promote, the more likely sponsors are to find you.
Post about your podcast everywhere, including on your website, your blog, on social media, and even on social bookmarking sites. Many podcasters don’t start out just to get sponsors, but end up finding them on their own over time.
Listen to other podcasts
If you want to reach out to sponsors, you first need to know which companies like to provide sponsorships to those who are doing podcasts. Instead of approaching people blindly, start by listening to other podcasts on your same topic or niche.
Listen to podcasts you know already have sponsors and find out exactly who is sponsoring them. This gives you a good idea of the types of businesses that might also be interested in your podcast. You still need to keep promoting and finding sponsors on your own, but this is a good place to start when you really can’t decide who to approach to sponsor your podcast.
Post about your availability for sponsors
Make sure potential sponsors know that you are available to accept sponsorships. Not all podcasts want to advertise or make money, so some sponsors may be a bit wary of reaching out.
Make it very obvious that you are accepting sponsors and banner ads. You can do this by posting about your podcast on a blog or website, and then have a dedicated page for sponsors. This lets them know what’s available and what spots are available for sponsors, how to contact you, and what kind of businesses or products you’re interested in promoting. This also becomes a page where you can use keywords so any business searching through a normal search engine can find you.
Create an Ad Looking for Sponsors
You can also have an ad on your site and other related sites showing that you are looking for sponsors. This ad must have the name of your podcast and a brief description of the type of podcast you have. Then you can have a short sentence that mentions that you are currently accepting offers from sponsors or advertisers.
Although it’s nice to have sponsorships, don’t be disappointed if you can’t get sponsors right away. Companies look for the ROI (Return on Investment) for every advertising dollar. If you don’t have the downloads or audience to impress a business, start looking for other ways to monetize your podcast first.
Most major sponsors look at the “Cost Per Thousand” factor. A typical sponsor will pay something like $30 for every thousand downloads of an episode. So if you’re only getting 75-100 downloads per episode, you probably won’t get the kind of sponsors who invest in podcast advertising.
Try local businesses
This will come naturally to you if you have a local business owner related podcast. You can do a flat deal of a certain amount of dollars for a certain number of episodes.
For example, if you have a podcast on auto repair, you might approach an auto parts store for sponsorship purposes. Mention the name of the store and refer your listeners to the store during the podcast. Be sure to tell your listeners to let the store know that they heard about them on your podcast.
Remember, businesses need to know that their advertising dollars are working. If no one walks into the store mentioning your podcast, after a month or two, the company will stop sponsoring you.
Take all of this information in the light of understanding sponsorship from a business perspective. Many podcasters think that sponsors will knock on their door trying to advertise with them. I wish it was as simple as that. But it is rarely the case.
Getting sponsors is hard work. But if you take your time, build your listener base, and deliver a good quality podcast with interesting topics, you’ll eventually have the sponsors you’re looking for.
Just don’t count on it happening right away. Use other monetization techniques first and move towards getting sponsors.
