5 Monetization Tips for Selling Podcast Ad Space (#15)

Maximizing Podcast Monetization: Five Mindset Tips for Selling Ad Space

In this episode of 'Podcasting Badass,' host Sober Steve discusses effective strategies for monetizing your podcast through ad space sales. Drawing inspiration from working with a client on a geo-local podcast, Steve shares five essential mindset tips to confidently sell ad reads and ad space. He emphasizes the mutual benefits for sponsors, listeners, and podcasters, the evergreen nature of podcast ads, and the idea of building partnerships rather than mere transactions. Tune in to learn how to present your podcast as a valuable platform for advertisers and listeners alike. For personalized assistance, visit SoberSteve.com and schedule a time to connect today!

00:00 Introduction to Podcast Monetization
00:29 Mindset Tips for Selling Ad Space
00:34 Understanding Geo-Local Podcasting
01:54 Building Confidence in Your Value
05:17 The Evergreen Advantage of Podcast Ads
06:48 Forming Partnerships, Not Transactions
08:59 Adding Value Beyond Ad Reads
11:14 Conclusion and Call to Action

Chapters

• 0:00 What's a Geolocal Podcast?
• 3:00 How Ad Space Helps The Company & Listeners
• 5:00 Evergreen Content
• 7:00 Building Partnerships, Not Processing Transcations
• 9:00 Customizing Your Offer

Transcript

Steve: 0:01

Hey there everyone. Welcome to a new episode of podcasting. Bad-ass I'm your host sober Steve, the podcast guy. And if you were looking to sell ad space with your podcast, as one method of monetization, this episode is for you. After listening. If you're ready to grow your business with your podcast, you can visit sober steve.com to sign up for a free brainstorm session to brainstorm ways to get your podcasts started and launched, or a tune up to help increase your downloads with your existing podcast. But first. Let's discuss five mindset tips when selling ad raids and ad space with your podcast. So the inspiration for this episode is because I was talking with a client who we are in the process of helping him create a geo local podcast. Which means that it is a podcast that while you can download it anywhere around the world, the majority of the purpose of the podcast is to help support his local business. And he's going to be targeting. Local advertisers and local places to be able to monetize this podcast. And so it works a little differently than traditional online ads and marketing opportunities where you're targeting these big companies. Instead, you're targeting a lot more smaller businesses that you might find are really good partners for your podcast, talking money at all, I've realized is not something that other people have a decade plus of doing like I did before I started podcasting. As I was brainstorming some ways for him to go around town, asking for people to invest in his podcast, I was noticing some objections came up out of insecurities that I realized that many podcasts have, and these are fears and things that we need to get over. If we're going to be truly podcasting bad-ass is. Which is what led me to this episode to help spread some of the tips and tricks that that I've gotten with my mindset over the past 10 years or almost 20 years at this point. Of doing sales and marketing in one way, shape or form. So the first that is true with your podcast. If you've done the work and the research in advance and know your vision. Is that you were doing the company a favor. When you were offering for someone to invest in coming on your show for ad reads for a few episodes, you are pairing them with their ideal client, ideally because you've already done your homework. You know who your ideal listener is. So when you are talking to these people, you can say explicitly, my listeners are people who love X, Y, and Z. And so I will leave that this is the right fit for you because of a, B and C. And when you are able to explain to them, why you are able to get them in front of their ideal customer, because their ideal customer lines up very similarly to your ideal customer. It. Shows them that you are a match made in heaven and that they should be investing in the ad reads with you. So just know that you are doing them a favor there. It is not an uneven exchange. If anything, in the end, they will probably make more money from your ad than you will make from their investments. So feel very comfortable going into any conversation about selling ad space that you were in the seat of, like you are doing them a favor. In addition to that. So many times we all have issues and insecurity about what it's going to be like, introducing these brands to our customers. And so the other benefit of knowing who your listeners are and making sure that the ads that you're having them listen to are ones that they're going to have value in is that you also know that you are doing them a favor as well. When you were going to work out these. Negotiations with these companies for them to sign up to have you do their ad reads for them, or get involved with the show in any way, shape or form. Not only are you doing them a favor, but you're also doing this amazing thing for your listeners or you're connecting them to this awesome resource that they didn't even know about before. That is a huge value that you're being able to spread around where everyone in this situation is winning. And so you can go into this conversation knowing that you are helping everyone involved. There are no losers here. It's 30 seconds of their life where they were already doing something else anyway, because most of us multitask a little bit while podcasting. It'll just go in one ear and out the other, if it doesn't resonate and sing to them, the way that it likely will, if you're doing your homework with your matchmaking. So with that you have number one. And you're doing the company, the favor to you were doing the listener a favor. And then we get to three. That at the end of the day, podcasting is the best form of advertising for companies right now, hands down for most brands, it is an absolutely no brainer because you are going to be offering them a lower cost than advertising in other forms of media, like radio, which yes, radio people still spend thousands in bigger companies spend like hundreds of thousands, if not more into radio where it's a very certain select demographic that hears it once. And then it just disappears into the void. Or even if they're investing more to do things like Hulu ads or streaming ads right now, those are a set they are launched for a set period of time. They play there. X number of impressions that you paid for them they'd disappear into the void or TV commercials. It works the same way. So many other ways that we advertise right now when people are investing in it, they get the ad played once and it goes away. But podcasting is evergreen. Which means that it's something where not only are you going to have all those listeners who download the episode when it comes out. Here about this brand that you talk about during your ad rate, but also when people download that episode, six months later, one year later, three years later, That ad is still going to be there. In a unique way that doesn't exist in any other form of advertising. Right now that is a gold that like I'd have worked with people before that have come on my senior living podcast. I stopped that podcast when I left the job that it was associated with, but the home health agencies, the hospitals, the brands that I introduced on the show would report back months. And even years later that they would still occasionally get a phone call saying, Hey, I just found this podcast. And it hasn't had episodes in a while, but. You were one of the last episodes and I really loved what you talked about. Can you still help me? And they were like, yeah, of course I can. But it just shows that it's not just something that happens right away. It's something that grows over time as your show grows. And especially if you are getting ready to launch your podcast or your podcast is still in the beginning stage of things where you are offering a lower price for advertising. Then you might, when your numbers triple or, 10 X over time. So you want to make sure that like the. They want to get in while the good, the going's good because that's just going to get better from here as your podcast grows and it's going to be great for them that they get this huge bang for this small buck. If going over, all of that still feels very heavy for you. Another way to look at it as also that you're not doing a transaction, like a one and done. Wham. Bam. Thank you. Ma'am give me your money. What you're doing with these people? Isn't a transaction. You're forming a partnership with them. This is giving the company that you're offering a chance to complain your sandbox and become friends, or at the very least become business networking partners. The value goes beyond just reading the ad. It extends to everything that you'll do in their life. With their brand, as they support you, you will support them. So whether that looks like not just being on the podcast itself, but also doing posts about that ad or about the partnership. Talking about the brand when you're out at networking events or even out in real world referrals. Most of us do a very excellent job of taking care of those who take care of us. I know that if anyone invests in my brand, I'm going to be singing about their brand as well. And then we believe in each other and we help each other grow together. And so that is what you are giving these people a chance to do when you are coming to them, to offer them a chance to invest in your show. As a new partner is a chance to get in and build this great relationship where you both will win and you both will grow and you both will succeed together. Together, as opposed to considering a transaction where you're selling something. And the most wonderful thing about podcasting still being very indie in so many other ways. Everyone knows about podcasting right now, but there really is no industry standard where this is exactly what you know, there's no mathematical equation saying that if you have this number of downloads for this show for this niche, and this is the genre that the going rate is this, there is general large, broad strokes that, for ad reads on a. Small to medium sized show could be a thousand dollars, but that's not anything like written in the Bible where you can't play with it, depending on where you are in your podcasting journey, where your listeners are at, and the number of listeners you have and where the company is that you're trying to partner with are at, in their journey. But you got to build this value yourself as your podcast or for your show. So you get to go around and see what does doing an advertising read look like for your show? Are you going to just expect them to send you an ad and then you'll read it and then go on with the show and there'll be like very easy for you, but it won't be as personalized or warmed, or if you're going to add that extra value to really go above and beyond and personalize and tailor. Like their product. To the way that you talk to your listeners so that when you do that ad. They know that it's like, they'll know it's an ad because you're talking about a product, but at the same time, you're going to be coming at it the same way that you come into anything else that you're doing on your show. And you're going to be using your jokes and talking in the way that you talk and engaging with them, and it's going to have a lot more impact. So that could be a way that you provide value. With your ad, you can also provide value. If let's say they really invest big at the end of the time that they're done advertising do like a big, thank you. Welcome to them. By having them on your show in some way, shape or form, they might not be your ideal guest or your coaching client or whatever it is that you're looking for. But if they are really going above and beyond with you, and you're forming this partnership after the ad space is and you do your reads for X number of episodes that they want to keep playing. You can figure out ways to incorporate that. You can also then make sure that if you're doing any sort of free downloads or freebies, that there's mention of them in there as well for additional advertising space. You can also be doing Instagram lives with them or sharing their information on your different social media platforms of your choice or their choice, and inviting your listeners to like their pages. There's so many ways that you can add value into your program in a way that feels right to you. I just threw a whole bunch of paint at the wall. Some of that's going to stick for you and some of it's not, but the great thing is that's why I work with my clients on finding the right approach and the right strategy for them to make sure that. At the end of the day, when Jim goes out and is working on finding his geo local advertisers, he's going to go into those conversations like a bad-ass. Get those sales and quickly have his podcast management monetized before launch even happens. It's gonna be fabulous. So you just need to make sure that you're going into it with the confidence that you have something to vet, like that's going to offer a value, not only to the company, but your listeners. And that it's going to be a value that you believe in because you're forming a partnership. And at the end of the day, podcasting's the best form of advertising, the same way as the best form of everything. It's awesome. So hopefully those five tips have helped you get into a bad-ass mindset and you were ready to go out there and work out some advertising deals for your show. If you need any more help, definitely reach out to me so that we can help talk that through. You can visit me@sobersteve.com. Make sure though, either way, if you've loved this episode, follow it wherever you're listening. Cause they come out every Monday, but also give a five star review. Five star reviews are a huge way that these apps and algorithms say, wow, this is good stuff. We should show more people. So if you like this, give a five stars. If you love it, also write a text review. It could be like literally five words saying I love this show. Steve and that's good enough, but like having a written review also huge for the app. So please pay a forward. If you found this information helpful by following and leaving a review until then keep on podcasting like a bad ass. I look forward to talking with you soon.