How To Find Podcast Sponsorships

Sebastian Rusk 00:02-10:01
Welcome to Podcast Suck, a podcast about starting a podcast, where we dive headfirst into the wild, wacky, and sometimes frustrating world of podcasting. If you've ever sat down with a microphone, hit record, and thought, what on earth am I doing? Or if you're just curious about the magic behind your favorite shows, then you're in the right place. Get ready for laughs, insights, and a whole lot of what not to do advice as we embark on this podcasting journey together. Let's dive in. What's happening to podcasters. Welcome back to the show. Welcome to the show. Glad you took a few minutes out of your day to hang out with me to learn what you don't know that you don't know about the world of starting a podcast and also growing, producing, et cetera, et cetera, your podcast. Now, if you're just joining us for the first time, go back to the beginning. So you go step-by-step, you go through step-by-step through our entire process of launching a podcast. If you're already like, I already have a podcast, long-time listener, then welcome to the next episode. Cause we're going to dive into a little bit more around the topic of monetizing your podcast. We did an episode two episodes ago. It was the last episode, monetizing your guests, the audience of one. Today, I want to talk to you about making up your own rules when it comes to finding people that will support your show and sponsor your show. What do you mean by that, Sebastian? Let's just say you launched the podcast. It's starting to get some decent traction, couple hundred downloads per episode. nothing to write home about, but there's something there that allows you to at least say, Hey, listen, Mr. Perspective Sponsor. Hey, listen, Mrs. Perspective Sponsor. Here's what I got going on with my podcast. And you create your own sponsorship packages. We've got a gold, silver, and platinum package. The gold package, premium package, or let's start at the bottom, our silver package, 99 bucks a month includes a 32nd clip on one episode a month. We got a, we got a, a bronze package. That's two 99 a month includes three 32nd spots on the show. And then we've got our gold premier package. That's $499 a month. And that includes four ads spots, whatever you want to call it, 32nd spots, on each episode every single month. In addition to that, we're going to put you in our branding. Every time we talk about an episode, we're going to tag you. Every time we post something that is a graphic or a piece of content that we can include you on, it's going to say brought to you by. So we're all in this thing together as far as getting the word out, not just about the show, but who supports the show. We're going to tag you on social media on three posts every single week. We're going to include you in our newsletter. We're going to put you, we're going to drop an email to our email list and make sure there's links that everybody knows about you. You see, it's so much more than just the 20 or 32nd spot, which could be boring. By the way, if you're going to do that, make sure it's part of the show, maybe interview the sponsor on one episode. And then after that, Just make sure it's not, this episode is brought to you in part by, I think everybody's tuned that out because we can fast forward or we can turn off or we can get away from any of that jargon. Joe Rogan does an exceptional job as well. Actually he does say this episode is brought to you by, but he doesn't care. He can do whatever he wants. But if I kick this web, here's an example. If I kicked this, if I kicked an episode of this show off and the episode was about podcast hosting, I could simply say something like, and it's like an editorial read, I think they call it. It's like the official name, but I'd be like, well, welcome to this episode. We're going to be talking about podcast hosting, you know, and speaking of podcast hosting, my favorite platform is buzzsprout.com. Not only do I use it for all of my shows, we use it for all the shows that we launch here at the podcast launch lab. They've got a lot of bells and whistles while all podcast hosts operate for the same function to host your podcast files and to get them into distribution platforms like Apple and Spotify. Buzzsprout just has a couple more bells and whistles that I like and it costs me 12 bucks a month and I love that. So if you're looking for a new podcast host, I highly recommend buzzsprout.com. They are a supporter of this show. It had been for quite some time. Use the link in the description of this podcast episode to get 20 bucks for signing up. That's right. You can check them out. They have a free account too, but you have like, I don't know, an hour of time total for 12 bucks. You get like four hours. So if your episodes are 30 minutes long, that gives you another, you can be doing eight episodes a month. Pretty good deal. So be sure to check out the link in the description of this podcast episode. to get your free 20 bucks to check out buzzsprout. We get 20 bucks to full disclosure. You get 20, we get 20. That's just how it works. I love those folks over at buzzsprout. So be sure to check them out. All right. So there's actually a lot of truth to that. If you're looking for a new podcast host, hit the link in the description, but do you see the example there of how it's a read? It feels like it's part of the show. I'm not, Hey, we'll be right back. This isn't the Dr. Phil show. We'll be right back. Nobody wants to be right back. How much content right now? I want it yesterday. I don't want to wait. I want it right now. That's where we live in instantaneous gratification. I want it yesterday. Why? Because I said so. So. back to the topic of sponsorships, making up your own rules. Yes. Put together a couple of sponsorship opportunities. Go out to people that you know, like, and trust that know, like, and trust. You can see the vision of the show. You're not looking for tit for tat type of individuals going, I'm going to give you 200 bucks. How much money is your show going to produce for me? The correct answer is, I don't know. I would be lying to you. But I do know that you're not currently being exposed to my podcast listeners and audience. You're not currently being exposed to my email list. You're not being currently being exposed to my newsletter or my social media feeds or the people that are sharing that. And for $200, it sounds like a phenomenal opportunity to tap in to all of those resources. Wouldn't you agree, Mr. Jones? Wouldn't you agree, Mrs. Smith? A little bit of sales involved with the process, but you're just breaking it down and explaining to them. You're not selling a pipe dream, spend 500 bucks a month to support our show and sponsor our show. And you're going to make a bazillion dollars. That's a bold face lie. Invest in your business, invest in the vision that I've been able to present to you today and what we're doing. You don't have a podcast. You're not actively on social media as much as you could be. We are. Let us take you into our sandbox and introduce you to who we know in our community through our podcast, through our content, through our posts, through the tagging, through our newsletter, through our email. Does that make sense? Now, yeah, this is going to take work. It is. but not that much. You can literally put together a PDF, open up a Google doc, put together your sponsorship, put your logo on their sponsorship opportunity. One sponsorship opportunity to don't give them too many options. They're always going to take the cheaper one anyway. Maybe you just come up with one option, but if you're making a hundred bucks a month from your podcast and you weren't previously making any money from your podcast, guess what? You've monetized your podcast. I don't care if it's $99, it's more money than you were making on your podcast before. Does that make sense? So it's another way of the world we're living in, of being able to blaze our own trail, create our own rules and say, this is the way it's going to be. Because I said it is, these are our sponsorship opportunities. And I'm going to sell you on where the opportunities are within all this on coming alongside us and supporting us. Does that make sense? All right, that's a wrap for this episode. Defining your own rules, creating your own sponsorship packages, getting out there and identifying people that are a fit for those and getting them on board to support what you're doing. Again, anything is better than nothing that we currently have coming in from the podcast right now. We talked about monetizing your guests. The best strategy there is next up, making up your own rules. Next up. So we're going to talk about an affiliate program, selling merch, all kinds of other bells and whistles you can do to monetize that podcast. If you're willing to put in the work. So questions, thoughts, ideas, concerns about this episode, any of the episodes on this show, please send me a DM on Instagram. At podcast suck. That's two S's podcast, plural or Sebastian Rusk over on LinkedIn or on Facebook. I do respond to each and every one of you lovely people. It is my distinct pleasure. Oh, by the way, I'll include a link in the show notes for this too, but our YouTube channel is a extremely, extremely valuable place to find answers to all of your podcast questions. I literally rack my brain every week as I have for the past three and a half years, trying to figure out what people want to know about the world of podcasting. everything A to Z. So be sure to check that out youtube.com forward slash podcast launch lab. That link is included in the show notes. I will talk to all of you incredible people next time. Thanks so much for tuning into this episode. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. That's the way we get updates as new episodes become available. If you feel so inclined, please leave us a review and share the show with someone you know should start a podcast or may already have one. And remember, podcasts suck if you don't have one. Until next time, friends.