Podcasts for Profit with Morgan Franklin | Podcasting Strategy for Podcasters

So you're ready to monetize your podcast? Who are we kidding, you were ready before this thing even launched!

Since 2021 I've helped close over $200,000 in direct sponsorships and partnerships for my own podcasts and clients. Just a friendly reminder: advertisers will spend $2.37 billion on podcasts in 2024 and you deserve to get a slice of that pie. 😬

In this episode:
(2:02) The audience size you need before starting the monetization process.
(4:43) One thing you must know before reaching out to potential sponsors.
(6:13) Your formula to calculate what your ads or partnerships should cost!
(9:28) Standard podcast ad placements and how long they normally air.
(13:05) What your pitch deck and outreach message(s) should include.

Links in this episode:
Free Download: Pre-Interview Cheatsheet (10 Questions I Ask Every Guest!)
Podcast Rescourses: Equipment, Software and Everything You Need to Start
Book a 1:1 Coaching Call with me
Shop my EXACT Podcast Setup
Read this Episode's Show Notes

Let's connect!
You can find me on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok. 

Creators and Guests

Host
Morgan Franklin
Morgan Franklin is a podcast producer, strategist and educator. Since 2020 Morgan has founded and produced multiple top ranking podcasts from the health industry to beauty. Featured everywhere from Good Morning America to Martha Stewart Living Morgan's passion and knowledge for branding and podcasting have helped countless business owners and brands grow their impact and bottom line podcasting. Morgan is the Founder of Podcasts for Profit and Morgan Franklin Media, in addition to host of Podcasts for Profit with Morgan Franklin.

What is Podcasts for Profit with Morgan Franklin | Podcasting Strategy for Podcasters?

If you’re ready to create a podcast that will align you with experts in your industry, position yourself as a trusted leader and create another source of revenue for your business you’re in the right place. Podcasts for Profit will help you create and grow a podcast that cuts through the noise of social media and speak directly to your target audience. Stop letting the algorithm determine your social marketing strategy. Stop letting trends dictate the kind of content you’re able to create. Hosted by expert podcast strategist, producer and educator: Morgan Franklin, Podcasts for Profit is your step-by-step guide to creating a podcast that will transform your business, opportunities and life.

Morgan Franklin: From this day
forward, I need you to start

thinking of your podcast as a
business, either a business of

its own or a subsidiary of a
business that you already have.

Because truthfully, having a
podcast is having a business. It

takes equipment skills, capital,
labor, production, research,

development, marketing, and
sales and everything a business

needs to grow and thrive a
podcast also needs so why

wouldn't we call it what it is?

I started my first podcast in
February of 2021. That podcast

didn't launch until three months
later in May of 2021. And we did

not make our first dollar on
that show until September of

2023. quick math for you. That
was two whole years later, as

the host of that show would tell
you and I will sadly agree with

him. We weren't making great
business decisions during those

two years. Since that time, I've
helped podcasts of my own and

podcasters all over the world
close over $200,000 in revenue

directly resulting from their
podcast. This episode is all

about how to find your first
podcast sponsor and some of the

tips tricks and mistakes I've
made along the way monetizing

podcasts. Hello, and welcome to
Podcasts for Profit. My name is

Morgan Franklin. I'm a podcast
producer, strategist, and

educator. This podcast will help
you create and grow a podcast

that cuts through the noise of
social media and speaks directly

to your target audience. If
you're ready to create a podcast

that will align you with the
experts in your industry,

position yourself as a trusted
leader and create another source

of revenue for your business,
you're in the right place.

Alright, so no matter what stage
of a business or a podcast that

you're in, the most important
thing is to know the purpose,

the vision, the mission behind
what we're doing, right? Why are

we doing this? Who are we doing
it for? What are our long term

goals and outcomes? What are the
short term steps that will bring

us to those long term goals and
outcomes? The first thing that I

want you to look at is the size
and engagement of your audience.

Notice I said size and
engagement, because there's

really no magic number. And I
really think that this gets to

some people before they even get
started. Have you ever caught

yourself saying or thinking any
of the following things. I'm

going to monetize when my
audience is bigger? When I have

more downloads all try to find
sponsors. I haven't had enough

episodes to start reaching out
to brands yet for sponsorship

deals, or generally anything
blaming the numbers of your

podcast for the reason you're
not trying to get sponsors yet.

I was working with a podcast I'd
say about a month ago that still

has not launched like at the
time that I am recording this

podcast that podcast has still
not launched. And it's this

person's first podcast. They
hired me to put together a deck

and some pitches for prospective
sponsors. And to help me

position the current brand they
have to sell advertisements on

this podcast. Did you hear that?

That's the sound of all the
excuses for you not reaching out

to potential sponsors or brands
because your podcast isn't big

enough flying right out the
window. Because here's the

thing, this podcaster is
pitching their podcast before

their first episode is even
live. Now, let me preface that

with saying that this person has
an established following already

with engaged followers. And
they're betting on those

followers that that engagement
will follow them to the podcast.

And that's a perfectly fine
strategy. I think we as

podcasters tend to underestimate
the power of our full online

presence when we're pitching to
brands, because we're so focused

on the downloads and the charts
and all the things that mean

something to us. But guess what
brands don't know crap about

podcasts like, I wish I could
scream that from the roof.

brands don't know anything about
podcasts, they really don't.

They're looking at what they can
understand. So if you're coming

to the table with, let's say
25,000 followers on LinkedIn,

and you're showing them your
download numbers, they're

probably going to be putting an
equal amount of weight on to

your highest converting social
media. So in this example, the

25,000 followers on LinkedIn,
because they actually can see

that with their own eyes and in
their marketing experience. They

know what that means. Like I
said earlier, your podcast is a

business and you need to think
like a business. If you're a

podcast or pitching to a brand
to work with them. You need to

understand your podcast is here
to provide value to another

business. That value in most
cases is going to be exposure

and brand awareness from your
podcast audience. So here comes

the next thing I want you to
work on. Knowing your target

audience. If you don't know the
people who are listening to your

podcast, you pretty much have
zero value to provide to a

potential sponsor. That's why
they're working with you. That's

why they're giving you money.

They want to know their message
is falling on ears of listeners

who are aligned with their
missions and polls have the

resources and accessibility to
purchase and will hopefully

convert into paying clients. So
I need you to have a rock solid

view of what your target
audience and listener

demographics are to share with
potential partners of this show.

Who are your listeners? Where do
they live? What are their age?

What is their gender? Roughly?

What's their income and career
demographic? Why did they listen

to your podcast? And what are
the other podcasts that they

listened to. So some of this
information you'll be able to

find on your podcast hosting
website, and some of it you'll

be able to find on Apple
podcasts connect and Spotify for

podcasters. If you haven't set
those accounts up, I encourage

you to do so immediately.

Because really, those will give
you the individual demographics

that your hosting website
probably can't. Some of this

information will come from the
knowledge that you have of your

show and who you're making it
for. One of the hardest things

about podcasting, in my
experience, and pitching a

podcast to sponsors is the
inconsistent information we have

to share. But my best advice to
you is to do some internal

reporting for yourself, compare
it against the information you

can find on Spotify, Apple
podcasts, your own hosting

website and go from there. The
last thing before we start

talking about pitches is to
evaluate how much time money and

resources it's taking you right
now to make this podcast, I'm

gonna go back another time to
your podcast being a business,

but you need to have a profit
and loss. And you need to know

what these partnerships or
sponsorships need to look like

from a financial perspective,
that is actually going to make

sense for your show. So the
first thing we're going to do is

something that I would guess a
lot of podcasters probably

haven't done, but is a critical
part of business. And that is

adding up all your monthly
expenses. I'm just making these

numbers up. But to give you a
better idea, I've tried to go

and look at how much these
things actually cost so that

together we can kind of figure
out okay, what are we spending

on this podcast every month. So
let's say you have Adobe

Creative Suite, that's $60 a
month, your podcast hosting is

$20 a month, you hire a part
time audio engineer at $80 An

episode and you have four
episodes a month, so that's 320

a month, your equipment spend
out over the year, so that's

broken up is $66 a month. So
that's keeping up with buying

new microphones and equipment
when you need it. And you know,

when randomly your headphones
die, it's replacing that and

doing those different things
throughout the year, you pay for

chat GPT plus, that's $20 a
month to help you write blogs

and episode descriptions. You
have Riverside for virtual

interviews, that's $15 a month.

And for your transcript and
editing, you have D script and

that's $24 a month. Okay, so
let's talk about you personally

and the time and effort that you
are investing into this with

your own sweat equity. Let's say
that you're putting in 20 hours

every month into outlining,
writing, recording, doing pre

and post production, and you're
gonna give yourself a very

modest, let's say $20 an hour
for the value of your time.

That'd be $400 a month. When we
add that all together, that's

925 a month, which if we're
rounding it up is about $12,000

a year reasonably to run your
podcast. So why are we talking

about all this? Why are we doing
this? Is it to stress you out

about how much it costs to run a
podcast? No, it's to help you

realize that even a small scale
podcast operation has

reoccurring expenses, you have
expenses to making a podcast is

not free content, even though
there are some people that will

try to treat it like that. And
that's why I'm trying to break

this down so that you can really
see your podcast, even without

any listeners is worth something
because it takes money to make,

which leads me into our next
segment of the episode crafting

the pitch. Before we make a
pitch, we need to take what

we've collected about our
audience size and engagement and

target audience and monthly
expenses, and lay it all out in

a pricing guide to send to
potential partners. This is

where some podcasters start to
fall apart. But it truly is all

in the data that we've already
collected. So don't worry, you

shouldn't have to guess what a
partnership with your podcast

should cost. It's all there
already. So if you're totally

new to this world, I want to
walk you through a few of the

different options that were
normally selling for podcast

advertisements. And the most
popular for brands is normally

an ala carte option or pick your
own of pre roll mid roll or post

roll or they buy the whole
episode. So let me kind of

explain what this is. These ads
are respectively so pre roll is

going to be before your episode
starts. So when you first turn

it on, you click play and that
ad plays and you usually skip

through it. That is your pre
roll ad. mid roll is going to be

halfway through the episode.

Post roll is at the end of the
episode after the episode

finishes. Typically these ads
range anywhere from 30 seconds

to two minutes with one to two
ads per slot. So for example,

you might have one two minute ad
in the pre roll Before the

episode to one minute ads in the
mid roll in the middle of your

episode, and to 32nd ads in the
post roll after the episode

finishes. When it comes to
placement and permanence of ads,

you have two different options.

Normally, this ad can either be
baked in, and that's the

terminology that we use for when
it's going to be forever part of

the recording. Or you can have
dynamic ads. Those are temporary

ads that sponsors pay for for a
given time slot. So let's say

they buy all your pre roll for
the next month, every single

podcast for the next month.

We'll start with that sponsors
ad, no matter the episode, but

after that month, that ad goes
away. So to recap, baked in is

part of your total podcast mix
and will never leave that

specific episode. It is
permanent. And dynamic podcast

ads are temporary and only last
a certain amount of time and

usually span all episodes.

Alright, so the last thing is
pricing. What should your

podcast pricing be? I can tell
you what Google will say. But

what does Google know? I can
tell you one thing. Google

doesn't know anything about you,
or your podcast, or what you

bring to the table. And to be
fair, neither do I. But you know

who does you you have to be your
own advocate and you have to be

the one doing the math both
literally and figuratively, to

figure out what is best for your
podcast. Just like in business,

the only person who is going to
be putting you first is

yourself. And if you give
someone else the keys to drive,

they will. Alright, so I'm going
off my example from earlier of a

podcast that costs roughly
$1,000 per month to

operationalize. Let's say you
want to have a profit of $500

per month. In addition to that
$1,000 of operating expense,

that's a total of $1,500. If you
have four episodes per month, or

one every week, that breaks down
to 375 per episode you'd need to

make from ads with sponsors. To
give you some context here, pre

roll or the ads that come before
the episode are normally the

second most expensive. mid roll
ads, the ones that play in the

middle of the episode are going
to be the most expensive and

typically the longest and post
roll ads, the ones that play at

the end of the episode will be
the shortest and the least

expensive. So with all that in
mind, if we're looking to make

375 An episode, I might price it
at 130 for the pre roll 165 for

the mid roll, and 80 for the
post roll. This is of course

completely dependent on your
audience behaviors, how your

episodes are laid out, and the
value you're bringing to the

sponsor. For example, I have a
podcast that I produce that

always has a special question at
the end of the episode, which

makes our post roll ads worth
more than another podcast that

just ends the episode in a
casual way. So keep in mind your

own podcast and also what your
sponsor is looking for from this

ad. So once you have a good idea
of your ad structure along with

everything that we've talked
about before, it's time to start

putting together your pitch deck
and your PDF to send out to

sponsors. This can be as simple
or as elaborate as you want it

to be truly my best advice is to
provide the information in a way

that will quickly show potential
sponsors the core values of your

podcast in an easily digestible
way. You need to include who

they'd be aligning with through
your audience, your digital

reach your podcast, monthly
downloads, and your average

individual episode, download
rate, why you think they should

partner with you and of course,
your pricing, you can quickly

put together a pricing guide in
Canva, or lay it out in a Word

document. Like I said, this can
be as involved as you want it to

be. But remember showing the
potential sponsor what value

they will be getting as a
partner of yours is the ultimate

objective. All right, so it's
the time we've all been waiting

for. It's time to start pitching
your podcast. Podcasting is a

relatively new medium for
advertising, but a gift

something most other social
medias can't. And I believe

that's a true personal
connection. That is really the

magic of podcast partnerships.

When you're partnering with a
podcast, you're speaking through

the host, a host that a lot of
the time this listener has spent

dozens, possibly hundreds or
1000s of hours listening to.

That being said, it's critical
for you to look for brands and

companies that are aligned with
your podcast. They're aligned

with your listeners. They're
aligned with you as a host.

Start by reaching out to the
products that you already use in

love and that maybe you've
already talked about on your

podcast for free. Don't be
afraid of getting ghosted. I

know this is scary. You are
going to get ghosted, you are

going to hear no, it's just
going to happen. And it's not

personal. Again, this is just
business in the beginning And

I'd suggest for you to reach out
to 10 brands slash companies per

week. Ideally, you're going to
do this via email to send your

pricing PDF and all that
information. But sometimes you

have to reach out to people via
DM. And that's okay. But in my

opinion, try to get out of their
direct messages as quickly as

possible. If you're dealing with
a brand, I'd say, hey, is there

someone in your partnerships
team that I can talk to? Is

there someone in your marketing
team I can talk to, like I said,

sometimes you can't find these
email addresses just by

Googling, sometimes you can, It
just all depends on how often

they usually do partnerships. If
they're open to people pitching

them or not, you might have to
put in a little bit of extra

work for this. But just
remember, this is really all

just a numbers game. And it is
going to take some time and

patience on your end, very, very
few podcasters are ever just

offered sponsorships out of the
blue. Normally, people aren't

just knocking down your door to
give you advertising dollars.

Make sure that you're keeping
track of who you're reaching out

to. I just make a quick Excel
spreadsheet or something in

Google Drive with the name of
the company who you reached out

to the day that you reached out
to them and the day that you

followed up. Also, you need to
be following up at least one

time. That way you can keep
things organized and make sure

that you're hitting that goal of
reaching out to 10 people per

week. Just remember, your
podcast is a business. And

businesses take time to grow and
make money. It takes most

businesses 18 to 24 months to
break even so give yourself some

grace. Keep trying. Keep going.

And as always, I can't wait to
listen to your podcast. Hey,

thank you so much for joining me
on this episode. If you enjoyed

the podcast and you'd like to
hear more episodes like this

one, go ahead and subscribe to
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