Monetization Tips for New Health & Fitness Podcasts

Monetization Tips for New Health & Fitness Podcasts

Podcasts have become a powerful marketing tool, offering a unique way to connect with a dedicated audience. Yes, podcasting can generate its own income through sponsors and advertisements. But did you know that there are numerous ways to monetize your podcast beyond the traditional ads you hear?

I’m Jamie Kennedy, Executive Podcast Producer at Brave Moon Podcasts. If you’re a health and fitness professional or wellness enthusiast looking to stand out in a saturated market, podcasting is the answer. Think of podcasting as a powerful marketing tool you can use to boost your brand, share your story and help shape the future.

In this episode, we’ll explore various strategies to generate income as soon as you launch your podcast.

In this episode, we talk about…

• How to start making money from your podcast right away

• The power of affiliate marketing and selling your products/services through your podcast

• Tips on creating bonus content or premium episodes for loyal listeners

Transcribed Podcast Episode

When you think of making money from a podcast, do you immediately think of advertisements?

You know, like when a podcaster interrupts the conversation and says, "we'll come back after these ads."

Or you usually hear at the beginning of an episode, "this podcast is brought to you by..."

If you're like most people, you probably assume that a company first must hear about your podcast and then ask if you will advertise their product or service on your podcast. And this does happen, but there's a lot more to it.

In fact, what I wish people understood about podcasts is that making money from podcasts goes way beyond the ads you hear on the big podcasts you listen to. There are at least 15 different proven viable ways to make money from your podcast, many of which you can start as soon as you launch. So if you're stuck in this mindset that you won't make money until you're as big as the biggest podcasts out there, and getting thousands of downloads an episode, it's time we talk.

Because my dream for you is to start making money from your podcast from the very beginning. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Jamie Kennedy, Executive Podcast Producer at Brave Moon Podcasts. We've produced podcasts for Virgin Active Health Clubs, Functional Training Institute, Wellbeing Coaches and Speakers, and many more. I'm including all of the insider secrets I've learned along the way being a podcast producer for some of the top health and fitness brands on the charts today.

So whether you're a small business owner, health and fitness professional, or a wellness enthusiast looking to boost your brand through podcasting, this podcast is for you. For a comprehensive list of the equipment and software my clients use, head to my website and grab my free start a podcast guide.

I've condensed months of research into this guide offering you the industry's best choices. Download it today. The link is in the show notes.

Now let's jump into it. How to actually make money from your podcast. Quick background. I come from the health and fitness marketing world. I am obsessed with content and have worked with some of the biggest gym chains and health and fitness companies in the world to bring their digital marketing content to life. This experience led me to discover the power of podcasts as a marketing tool for your business.

So much so that it's the reason I started Brave Moon Podcasts because I believe in podcasts as one of the most powerful marketing tools in rotation today. And I think this is a huge misunderstanding about podcasts. That podcasts are meant to be their own entity only. That your only mission with a podcast is to make it a standalone piece that must generate money simply by having the most listeners and therefore have big brands and companies that want to use your podcast as a vehicle to sell their product or service.

But the piece that many people are missing out on is the concept of using a podcast as a marketing vehicle to sell your products and services, not someone else's. Just like you think about Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube as a way to generate leads for your product or service, you should think about a podcast in the same way. But here's the thing, a podcast is light years ahead of Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Because a podcast is an opportunity to spend real quality time with your listeners. Whereas a viewer spends an average of two and a half minutes on any given video on YouTube and an average of, this, six seconds on Instagram, a listener spends a whopping 27 minutes on every podcast episode they listen to. This means that a listener is developing a much stronger relationship with you as the podcaster.

They trust in your ability to educate, entertain, and inspire them. And this leads to trusting you and your recommendations. Hence the reason why 65% of podcast listeners have purchased something from a podcast they listen to. So that, my fearless friend, is why I've invested my entire company in podcasting. Because it's not just a marketing tool, it's a powerful marketing tool.

So that leads me into talking about how to get off the sponsor and ad train and get on the monetization train because that's really where the money is, at least initially. Because let me explain right now that sponsorships are 100% achievable for you. But unless you have a huge platform already and a really strong podcast concept, getting sponsors will take time. That's just the truth of it, years even.

But that's why you need to think of all the other amazing ways you can make money from a podcast when your listenership is a lot smaller. And I will tell you right now, monetizing your podcast can be done in less than a month. How do I know this? Because I did it. And so have 90% of my podcast clients.

If you've found this podcast, there's a probability that you are in the health and fitness world like me. You're interested in starting or growing your podcast, which more than likely, falls into the category of health and fitness. Even if it doesn't, stay with me because more than likely you have something to sell, so you'll definitely be able to find value from this episode. Whether you have a product or service to sell already, it's time to think about something that you could sell. You might be saying, but Jamie, I'm not in it for the money. I'm just passionate about podcasting. And OK, I love that so much. Seriously, I'm passionate about podcasting too. But let's face it.

There's two reasons you're still listening to this episode. Firstly, you're maybe sort of possibly interested in the money too. Secondly, you're curious how you're going to make enough money to cover your podcasting expenses. Love it. Let's do this. Story time. I had a podcast client who came to me without a business. She is an executive level leader, full-time job, full-time career, and she's passionate about management.

She wanted to be the best possible manager she could be. And so she took all of these trainings and gained knowledge about how to be a great manager. And that's what she became. And it turns out she really wanted the opportunity to teach other managers how to do the same thing. So a podcast concept took hold.

Before we even went live, she sent me a text and said, hey, I have no plan to make this a business, but you've got me thinking about what I could possibly sell through this podcast. Is that silly?

To which I replied, absolutely not. It is incredibly smart. After all, she was investing her time and money into this podcast, building it from the ground up. She might as well look at ways to reap the benefits, right? So we chatted through the plan for her and decided she would build a website and offer speaking opportunities and one-on-one coaching. We also got her signed up with affiliate opportunities and we talked about running an online course at some point as well.

So you can see how a podcast actually has a snowball effect, whereas yes, you can go into it with a product or service already ready to sell, or you can find a product or service to sell once you establish what your podcast is about. Now, let's get back to you because that's why we're here. You are here because you are thinking about starting a podcast or are looking to grow your podcast.

If you've done your due diligence, you've created a podcast niche.

AKA, you're helping a certain demographic overcome a big struggle they're experiencing. Whether you're a business or not, creating this podcast niche will help you stand out in a crowded market and make you the go-to podcast for your dream listener,

AKA, your dream client. So if you haven't already established your product or service, start by writing down a list of possibilities of how you could make those people's lives easier.

Are you a school teacher with a knack for wellbeing? Consider offering a wellbeing workshop to schools. Are you a personal trainer who is passionate about training moms? Consider offering an online boot camp and nutrition plan for moms. Are you a nutritionist who specializes in IBS? Create a course to help other nutritionists understand IBS and how to treat clients with IBS. Write down a whole list of products or services that you can offer and then narrow it down to two or three.

These will become your bread and butter. It's the way that you'll start and build the foundation up and a solid way to make money from your podcast. Now, because your podcast has a strong niche, your show quickly becomes an opportunity to showcase your expertise. By sharing tips, advice, and insights, you'll not only provide value your listeners will appreciate, but also start to elevate your level of expertise in your particular field.

Every episode becomes an opportunity to seamlessly integrate your offerings. Share success stories, discuss the science behind your workouts, routine or diet, and drop hints about the incredible benefits your product or services bring. By the end of the episode, your listeners aren't just entertained, they're curious about what you have to offer.

And because you're offering this content for free, we'll talk about paywall episodes in a bit, your audience will feel gratitude toward and your brand for the valuable content that you provide, which in actuality creates a psychological phenomenon called gift of reciprocity. It will actually make your audience want to buy something from you in exchange for the value you've provided to them for free.

So that's a win-win. I've talked a lot about how a podcast can sell your product or service with ease, but I also have a few more monetary ideas you can run with within the first few months of launching your podcast. My best recommendation and it's the one where I personally have made money through within the first couple of months of my podcast being live, is affiliate marketing. This is your opportunity to partner with companies or programs that align with your podcast concept.

Sign up for affiliate programs and strategically weave these promotions into your episode. If you genuinely believe in a product or service, your endorsement carries weight. Your audience trusts you and makes them more likely to explore your recommendations.

For example, I am a huge fan of my podcast equipment setup. It is so, so easy to work with. I literally just plug and record, but it took me months to figure out the best mic, the best boom arm, the best recording platform, et cetera. So once I landed on the best, I became an affiliate for these places that sold these items. The biggest one to look into is Amazon Associates Central.

You can sign up for $0 and get up and running immediately. Coming back to my example, my Rode Podcaster mic is offered on Amazon as a listing. So what I do is I use my affiliate link in my show notes and any listener like yourself who needs a good podcast mic can click on my Rode Podcaster link and click purchase. What happens is that I then receive a small, small kickback from Amazon. I think it's about 1% of the sale price.

First of all, I think we're all happy when we can have a tiny market share in the conglomerate that is Amazon. So I feel really good about not only offering affiliate links to my listener, but I think listeners feel good about it too because frankly, we're all working toward putting money in the hands of people who deserve it. The podcasters like you who are investing their time and money to create an entire show for free.

So really every time a listener clicks on one of these links, they're supporting you as the podcaster, not just a huge business like Amazon. And it's not like you're being fake here. These are real recommendations that you feel really good about offering to your listeners as an affiliate. I'll share a few other affiliate ideas when I get to my five hacks coming up soon in the episode.

In addition to affiliate programs and products and services, I'd love to mention bonus episodes as an opportunity to start making money pretty quickly as you get started. Patreon, Apple Podcasts, and other similar platforms provide an excellent opportunity to offer premium content behind a paywall. Your most dedicated listeners, those who want a deeper connection or exclusive insights, can become patrons. What you'll want to consider here is how you could create bonus episodes, behind-the-scenes content, or exclusive Q&A sessions. '

Your community is willing to invest in the value you provide and a program like Patreon makes it easy for them to support you financially. You also could simply do a crowdfund option on a site like Buy Me a Coffee. So instead of creating exclusive or bonus episodes people would pay for, you instead ask your listeners to buy you a coffee quote unquote or quote unquote pay for a shout out, et cetera. This allows a direct way for your listeners to thank you without them having to sign up for a full product or service.

And believe me, this is 100% achievable. There are so many listeners that understand the value that you're providing in your podcast and will want to support you on the backend. Now we've come full circle to advertising and sponsors. To be clear, your podcast absolutely can achieve sponsors. It does generally mean you'll have to aim for a higher listener count. Specifically, you are looking for downloads per episode.

The more listeners you have, aka downloads per episode, the more attractive your podcast will be to advertisers and sponsors. You can actually get sponsors directly through your podcast listening platform, like Acast, which is my top recommended podcast hosting platform, and yes, I'm an affiliate. But you'll need to be achieving about 1,000 downloads per episode in order to have that happen. That said, there are a couple other ways advertisers and sponsors will pay you and aren't based on how many listeners you have.

Specifically, they can pay you with a cost per acquisition model, meaning that the pricing structure is based on the number of desired actions listeners take, such as signups and purchases. Sound similar to an affiliate program? It sort of is. And you might have heard this in a podcast that you've listened to. The podcast host might provide a specific referral code to offer 20% off of your first year, et cetera.

So this is actually your opportunity to give something back to your listeners, offering a bigger discount than if they were just to go directly to the website and sign up directly. The other way sponsors could pay you is via a flat rate cost model, where a fixed fee is charged for a specific duration or number of podcast episodes.

These two ways are something you can achieve much earlier on in your podcast lifespan, because ultimately you're selling your demographic over your download count. For example, if you have a high concentration of moms that listen to your podcast because you're a personal trainer who trains moms specifically, then any brand or company that sells products or services to moms would be lucky to sponsor your podcast due to the high concentration of their target audience listening.

Honestly, I have so much to talk about in regards to this, but I know I need to wrap up this episode. So why don't we finish off with the hacks and then I'll come back to you within the next couple episodes and dive into even more ways that you can monetize your podcast, things I haven't even mentioned yet.

So without further ado, it's five hacks time.

Hack number one. A smart way to connect with your audience and keep them interested is by using something called lead magnets.

These are essentially attractive free offers that you give to your listeners asking for their email address in return. The trick is to make these offers related to your podcast concept. For instance, if your podcast is about fitness, offer a guide on how to start a consistent fitness routine.

Mention these during your episodes, highlighting the benefits. This not only helps gather emails, but also creates a community. It's like giving your audience a taste of what you offer, making them more open to your products or services when you introduce them later.

When finishing your episodes, encourage listeners to visit your website and grab those appealing offers. It's a win-win. They get something useful and you get to build a connected audience beyond just the episodes.

Hack number two. When you start sharing affiliate links, make sure to add a disclaimer about being an affiliate in your show notes and website.

It's crucial to maintain transparency and build trust with your audience. By clearly stating that you're an affiliate for certain products or services, you're letting your listeners know about any potential financial arrangements. It helps you adhere to legal requirements, ensuring that you meet regulations regarding affiliate marketing disclosures as well. If you want to use my disclaimer, absolutely fine. It's at the bottom of my show notes for you.

Hack number three. Speaking of affiliate program options, my top recommendations, including checking out Amazon Associate Central, like I mentioned earlier, but also Shopify Collabs, which connects you with Shopify merchants.

And there are so many merchants out there, so I highly recommend checking that out. And another option, Clickbank, which features digital products like eBooks and online courses with a focus on information marketing. That could be hugely valuable to your podcast listeners, depending on your niche.

I also highly recommend checking ShareASale, which is a giant network with a 40 plus consumer categories and new programs that join every month. And it's great for beginners due to its user-friendly interface.

Hack number four. For paywall episodes, here's a few clever ways to get people to sign up for your monthly subscription.

Offer extended interviews and deep dives that provide an in-depth exploration of topics, giving subscribers access to valuable content beyond the standard episodes. Or you could engage your audience with ask the anything episodes creating an interactive and personalized experience that fosters a sense of community.

Another strategy is to provide early access to episodes, granting subscribers a sneak peek before the general public. Or you can offer an ad-free listening experience for those seeking uninterrupted content consumption. Or you could even curate an exclusive series that can be accessed by subscribers only, showcasing specialized and premium content that sets your platform apart.

Hack number five. Remember that the key is to diversify. Don't rely solely on one revenue stream.

Mix and match these strategies based on your podcast's unique identity and your audience's preferences. This way, you're not just waiting for sponsorship deals, you're actively building a sustainable income from day one.

There you have it. Thank you again so much for joining me on your podcasting journey. Don't forget to subscribe and if you enjoyed this episode, please leave a five-star review. It helps people like you find this podcast as well. Until the next episode, keep those conversations flowing and keep being the amazing powerhouse that you are. And as always, remember that consistency, authenticity, and promoting your podcast are key to your success.

The key is to diversify. Don’t rely solely on one revenue stream. Mix and match these strategies based on your podcast’s unique identity and your audience’s preferences. This way, you’re not just waiting for sponsorship deals; you’re actively building a sustainable income from day one. Remember, your podcast is not just a marketing tool - it’s a powerful marketing tool. To learn more about how to promote and monetize your podcast within 3 months, check out the Cash Positive Podcast Intensive.

Are you ready to start monetizing your podcast?

Monetizing your podcast can transform it from a hobby into a profitable venture. From affiliate marketing to crowdfunding, there are numerous strategies to generate income. Sign up for our 'A Guide to Building a Profitable Podcast' webinar to discover these monetization secrets and start earning from your podcast today!

Happy podcasting.

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