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I want to start this off by saying, 100%, without a doubt, no questions asked, if you dedicate yourself to creating a podcast that makes you money, you will make money off your podcast.

Remember that Henry Ford quote, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” The podcast industry is worth $25 billion, and if it’s your intention to make some of that money, you will.

But what will it take? That’s what we’re all wondering. What will it take to monetize your podcast, and is it currently in a place to be making money?

In this episode, we’ll talk about what makes a podcast monetizable, what successfully monetized podcasts are doing right, and how you can start working towards making money with your podcast.

What Makes a Podcast Monetizable?

Audience Reach

The first thing, and I know some of us don’t want to hear this, but it’s audience reach. A billboard isn’t really worth anything if it’s on a road only 2 people drive on every day. If you’re trying to monetize a podcast that only has 100 loyal listeners, you are laying the groundwork, you’re on the right track, but you aren’t there yet.

Podcasting is hard work. It’s time-consuming, it costs money, and it’s frustrating. It’s always there in the back of your mind that you need to write an episode, edit an episode, or get an episode ready to publish. When it’s been weeks or months or even years, and you have this podcast you’ve put so much into, and still, no one is interested in sponsoring you, that can be really hard to hear. But that’s when you have to ask yourself: how many people actually listen to this podcast? How many new people are finding the podcast every week, and what am I doing to bring in new listeners?

Just because you have a podcast doesn’t mean you’re going to make money. There needs to be a strategy.

Engagement Metrics

Audience size does not equal audience engagement. After you figure out what your average audience reach for new episodes looks like, you need to start digging into your engagement and audience demographics. This is going to be the game-changer for most small podcasters and creators.

We all know those people with 30,000 followers who only get 25 likes on a post, and you’re thinking that doesn’t seem right. Just because someone has a large following on any given social media does not mean they have good engagement or that people are going to buy or even pay attention. The same goes for podcasting. That’s why it’s important to have engagement metrics and to be able to clearly communicate what your audience looks like and how they interact with your show.

Knowing Your Audience

Having a clear brand identity and knowing who your listener is, is crucial. When someone asks for my opinion on their podcast, I ask them who they’re making it for. Who is the listener of this show going to be?

That’s the question I need every podcaster who wants to have a monetizable podcast to have a crystal clear answer for – this is exactly the person who’s listening to this show, this is why they listen, and this is consistently what I provide.

Steps to Monetize Your Podcast

1. Know Your Audience

You need to create a podcast that consistently solves a problem for the audience. Whether that’s entertainment, education, inspiration, whatever it is, you need to be consistently showing up every week to do that thing. And in order to do that thing well, you, of course, have to know who you’re doing it for.

Ask yourself:

• Who is listening?
• What do they look for in your podcast content?
• How old are they?
• What do they do for work?
• How much money do they make?
• What do they spend their money on?
• What’s important to them?

2. Build Consistency and Clarity

Mixing it up isn’t doing you any favors. People want to know what to expect from you, and advertisers want to know what to expect from you. Consistency and clarity are the names of the game.

3. Develop a Growth Strategy

Podcasts making thousands, even millions of dollars, have a growth strategy. They know at the beginning of the month or even the beginning of the quarter, this is the content we’re going to be creating, and this is the person we’re making it for. This is the value it creates for our listener, and we know why they’re coming back.

4. Communicate with Potential Sponsors

From there, communicate with agencies, partners, and advertisers to say, hey, this is my audience, this is how I serve my audience, and this is why you’d be a great fit to advertise with our podcast. We have X number of listeners every month, they roughly fit in these demographics, and this is why they listen to the show.

Conclusion

If from the beginning you know you want to make money off your podcast, start a national or internationally reaching podcast. Local podcasts are amazing, and I love them, but the reach is limited to the area and who in that area listens to podcasts.

Every successful podcast provides value to a specific audience. So take some time and think about who your audience is, why they’re coming to you, and how you are providing that value to them.

This will change everything. If you believe you can, you’re right!

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