Monetise your podcast with sponsorships
Creating your own podcast is exciting for many reasons, one of which is that a podcast can expose your business or brand to a new and varied audience. However, what many people don’t realise going into it, is how costly and time-consuming it can be. It is not only about covering production costs, but also the time involved in sourcing, booking and speaking to guests, as well as promoting and planning the content. For anyone who has started a podcast before, it soon becomes apparent that to create a quality production, an investment of both time and money is needed. To monetise your podcast, seeking podcast sponsorships is the proven method.
You may have some high-end podcast producers in mind who you would love to hire, knowing they would do an amazing job in bringing your podcast to life. If budget in the early days is a constraint, you may look into more cost-effective options like freelancers on platforms like Upwork. But, sourcing producers from these platforms can sometimes prove to be a bit of a lucky dip.
Ready to monetise your podcast with the help of sponsorships? These legal templates below have been developed for podcasters:
However, if you had someone sponsoring your podcast, you would not have to think twice about hiring your preferred producer because you wouldn’t be bound by the budget constraints in the same way.
Why you should consider sponsorship to monetise your podcast
A new podcast can be hard to keep afloat. It takes a lot of work to get up and running and record on a regular basis. Plus, podcasts are rarely a roaring success from the get-go. Even the greatest of podcasts can have a slow burn to get traction with their audience. You don’t always receive a huge influx of people listening to your podcast early on, so having the financial support of a sponsor will help keep you going to ensure your podcast is published and promoted with consistency in the early days.
Having a sponsor will help you to keep moving forward, because you’re no longer responsible for production costs, and you have the commitment of the sponsor to spur you on. Your sponsor may also share your podcast on their channels, which can assist with increased audience reach.
Your podcast needs to stand out from the crowd, and with a sponsor you can enjoy the inferred, added trust and credibility attached to your brand. Your intended audience is also more likely to give your podcast a listen, as it’s been recommended by a brand they already know and trust.
It is important to know that sponsors don’t always share your podcast content. It’s not a given. That’s why content sharing on social media, amongst other things, are worthwhile clauses to put in your podcast sponsorship agreement.
Why you need a podcast sponsorship agreement
Before you sign a sponsor up, it’s important to think and talk about the terms of your podcast sponsorship and discuss a formal agreement. For reasons such as the social media sharing example above, the sponsorship agreement should be a two-way arrangement. It could be part of your podcast sponsorship agreement that it’s not just up to you to promote and share the podcast, but that the sponsor is required to share specific types of content on their platforms also.
Likewise, the sponsor may request you to mention their brand at the start or end of your podcast, as well as on social media posts. They may also request you tag their brand in those posts. Additionally, there may be a logo and a brand kit that needs to be provided, along with guidelines for how the brand can and cannot be used in any promotional campaigns.
It’s important to ensure both you and the sponsor are clear about what the terms of the agreement are and what is expected of them, to avoid any issues arising later down the road.
Podcast sponsorship agreements are imperative to work out the little details. Details you may not have thought of, initially. This might include the content of the podcast and whether the sponsor gets any say in reviewing the content, or if it is at the discretion of the podcast host. Consideration also has to be put toward non-compete, exclusivity and confidentiality requirements. All of these elements need to be determined and documented.
Then there is the length of the podcast sponsorship agreement to consider. Is it going to be in place for one season? How many episodes are there in each season? How regular is the podcast published? Will you renew the agreement each season, or will it be ongoing? What happens if you as the podcast host becomes sick and misses getting out an episode? Will you be required to make up the missed episode at a later date?
All of these elements will need to be documented as a legal agreement to ensure that you are on the same page, and you are both receiving value for money.
If you think you might only need a generic podcast sponsorship agreement, you can find our sponsorship agreement template here as a part of our podcast pack, which also includes a podcast disclaimer and a podcast guest release.
If your podcast sponsorship agreement is likely to be very specific around what will and won’t happen, then it is a good idea to think about having it customised. This can be worthwhile if there are complicated mutual benefits and arrangements.
Finding a quality podcast sponsor and having the agreement fleshed out properly is important for so many reasons. It can really set you apart from the rest of the crowd, while broadening your reach, boosting your credibility and taking the additional tasks involved in creating a podcast, off your shoulders. Being able to afford to hand the responsibility of production over to someone else allows you more time and energy to ensure you can focus on what you would prefer to spend your time doing.
Related: 5 things to know before starting your podcast
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Our podcast pack includes a podcast disclaimer, a podcast guest release and sponsorship agreement templates. If you would like to discuss your podcast sponsorship needs with me, book a no-obligation call here.