126 Podcast Answer Man – Making Money From Your Podcast

Jeff,

Thanks so much for the comment on the blog. I would very much love to have your feedback in audio form to play in the show.

If you have time to throw it together, I'd be honored to play it!

Thanks so much for the valuable addition to the conversation!

Cliff

It's funny that you should be doing an episode about this as I am currently in the process of trying to get some sort of sponsorship for podcast that I currently run. Now that podcast is in a very niche market and our listener base is still small but growing. I'd like to share my thoughts here.

I knew I only wanted to have sponsors that made sense with my audience. Being a niche market, I wanted only companies that related to that market. Some were not even the first people you would think of to contact. That sorted pointed me in the direction of doing things myself. I found writing a sponsorship letter was not has hard as I thought it would be. I wrote it so I could easily modify small sections of it based on who I was sending it to.

I expected to not get any responses from the companies that I sent to. What I did get was a few emails expressing interest. Its seems like very few Podcasts in my niche have actually tried to ask them for sponsorships. Almost all of them started asking for what kind of money I was looking for. Which while understandable puts you in the position of trying to ask for money without knowing what it's worth really. Not an idea situation to be in. What I find I had to do was ask the questions, what did I want it for. It came down to some simple things; hosting-costs, Skype,Kall8, and maybe a little cash for studio enhancement like a Heil PR-40 and R-09 (neither of which is likely to be soon). So I quotes some numbers that would do just that. Which is likely low, but I since I do not have other numbers available to me for that market, I have to guess what the company I'm talking to actually has available in these tough economic times. One of the companies I was considering sending a sponsorship letter to , actually laid off some employees because they couldn't afford them. I've been happy with the responses I have received, even though they are mostly that that they were interested but didn't have the money currently available. Which I take as an excellent sign of possible deals in the future. The key is to not take it personally and to thank them for their time and consideration if they tell you “no”. As you very well know, it's all about building a relationship. After all, even if they can't help you, they may mention you to someone who is inclined to do so.

I think your based advice of the episode was (and I paraphrase), if you want someone to do something, you have ask them to do it.

Again, thanks for the show.

PS, If I get sometime, I'll try to throw this together as an audio comment in case you want to use it in a future show.

Jeff,

Thanks so much for the comment on the blog. I would very much love to have your feedback in audio form to play in the show.

If you have time to throw it together, I'd be honored to play it!

Thanks so much for the valuable addition to the conversation!

Cliff

It's funny that you should be doing an episode about this as I am currently in the process of trying to get some sort of sponsorship for podcast that I currently run. Now that podcast is in a very niche market and our listener base is still small but growing. I'd like to share my thoughts here.

I knew I only wanted to have sponsors that made sense with my audience. Being a niche market, I wanted only companies that related to that market. Some were not even the first people you would think of to contact. That sorted pointed me in the direction of doing things myself. I found writing a sponsorship letter was not has hard as I thought it would be. I wrote it so I could easily modify small sections of it based on who I was sending it to.

I expected to not get any responses from the companies that I sent to. What I did get was a few emails expressing interest. Its seems like very few Podcasts in my niche have actually tried to ask them for sponsorships. Almost all of them started asking for what kind of money I was looking for. Which while understandable puts you in the position of trying to ask for money without knowing what it's worth really. Not an idea situation to be in. What I find I had to do was ask the questions, what did I want it for. It came down to some simple things; hosting-costs, Skype,Kall8, and maybe a little cash for studio enhancement like a Heil PR-40 and R-09 (neither of which is likely to be soon). So I quotes some numbers that would do just that. Which is likely low, but I since I do not have other numbers available to me for that market, I have to guess what the company I'm talking to actually has available in these tough economic times. One of the companies I was considering sending a sponsorship letter to , actually laid off some employees because they couldn't afford them. I've been happy with the responses I have received, even though they are mostly that that they were interested but didn't have the money currently available. Which I take as an excellent sign of possible deals in the future. The key is to not take it personally and to thank them for their time and consideration if they tell you “no”. As you very well know, it's all about building a relationship. After all, even if they can't help you, they may mention you to someone who is inclined to do so.

I think your based advice of the episode was (and I paraphrase), if you want someone to do something, you have ask them to do it.

Again, thanks for the show.

PS, If I get sometime, I'll try to throw this together as an audio comment in case you want to use it in a future show.