Morgan Franklin: I remember my first podcast got 100 followers
on Apple podcasts, and I thought, I have cracked the code
on podcasting. I remember I was on a vacation with my family,
and the podcast had about 15 episodes. I was on top of the
world. Now, what I didn't know is that, in the eyes of most
advertisers and other podcasters that actually knew what they
were doing, having 100 followers on a podcast is about as useful
as having 100 followers on any other platform. In this episode,
we'll talk about what options a podcast with less than 1000
listeners has for monetizing the strength of a loyal and targeted
audience, and what I do to share the value of my podcast with
advertisers, even though I have a relatively small listener
base. Hello and welcome to podcast 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. You
know, making money on the internet or anywhere for that
matter, is all about intentionality. You're not gonna
make a six figure business by accident, and you're not gonna
wake up one morning and your podcast is worth $100,000 I
think the concept of virality has tricked some people into
thinking that making content isn't about intentionality and
hard work and serving your audience. It's the luck of the
algorithm. And you know, while some aspects of that might be
true for social media, it couldn't be further from the
truth. For podcasts, there are rare situations where someone
might stumble across your podcast just organically,
without any effort or promotion from you. But I'm telling you,
those instances are very, very far and few between. But what
does this have to do with you making money with a small
podcast audience, right from the beginning, from day one, of you
either creating your podcast or deciding that you do want to
make money from this podcast, you have to think about the
value you can provide. This is where intentionality comes into
the fold, and you have to be laser focused on what you want.
So let's go back to Morgan that summer in 2021 realizing on
vacation that her podcast has 100 followers. So let me explain
something about this podcast. It's a community Lifestyle
podcast, and while we did have a targeted audience, we didn't
have a targeted audience to make money from, which is a very
important distinction you'll see in just a minute. We were
providing value, but we weren't providing a value that could
easily be turned into money. We were focused on improving the
listener experience and not really focusing on monetizing
this podcast. And again, this is why having intentionality is so
important. Because for us, in that moment that was okay. We
were growing a community of listeners, and we weren't really
too concerned with making money from them. Let's fast forward to
earlier this year, when I started this podcast that you're
listening to right now. From day one, I was focused on making
this podcast part of my client outreach and my business
marketing. So looking at the first 100 followers of this
podcast was essentially like looking at 100 potential
customers for my business. Now is that to say that all 100 of
my first podcast followers became my clients? No, no way
I'd say somewhere between one and five of them did. But that's
okay. Honestly, that's great. The point I'm trying to get at
here is that your intentionality and direction from day one is
critical to the long term financial success of this
podcast, because if people are coming for fun and entertainment
and to hang out, turning that listener into a buyer is gonna
be a long road. Is it impossible? No, of course not.
You buy from people that you're just hanging out with on their
podcast all the time, but will it take longer to convert them
into a buyer? Most likely, no matter how you're trying to make
money with your podcast, there's one thing all of us need to
remember. There is nothing more important than having an
audience that knows likes and trusts you for all my marketers
listening, I know this concept has been burned into our brains,
but I think that that's one of the most universal truths across
podcasting. People want to buy from who they know like and
trust. But how do you do that? How do you create an audience
that knows, likes and trusts you from your podcast? First of all,
if you can get them to listen to the podcast, I'd say that you're
at least halfway there. I mean, I'd be hard pressed to think of
too many situations where I listened to a podcast of someone
that I had no idea who they were and I didn't like them. So let's
just kind of take that out of the equation for a minute, we'll
say that this person is already listening to your podcast so
they know who you are and they like you well enough to listen
to your podcast. Now, how are you going to complete the Holy
Trinity and make them trust you, trust you enough to keep
listening to you, trust you enough to buy from you. How are
we going to build that trust? So here are a few things that I'd
focus on in the beginning, especially when I have under
1000 followers, because that is such a critical time for making
sure that your audience trusts you, that they want to come back
every week and listen to you, make sure that you're airing
episodes consistently. So many podcasters lose listeners and
lose their own confidence in podcasting because they're not
airing episodes consistently. And think about this, why would
you invest in a podcast or a podcaster that you didn't know
if they were going to be posting new episodes? You wouldn't and
so this is the first line of building trust, even in real
life, we need to know that people are gonna be where they
say that they'll be and do what they say they're gonna do next
is having thoughtful and interesting information on your
podcast episodes. This can mean so many different things, so I'm
not necessarily meaning it to mean any specific thing, but
don't just talk about what you want to talk about, figure out
who your ideal listener is, and start making content for them
and them only the most powerful thing that you can do as a
podcaster is have episodes people actually want to listen
to, and I know this is groundbreaking, but make sure
that your listener wants to subscribe and hear more. Here's
my challenge for you. I want you to at the end of every month,
when you're looking at your downloads and you're trying to
figure out how you did in the past month, sort your episodes
from most downloaded of all time and most downloaded that month,
and look at what people are downloading. Try to figure out
what your audience wants to hear from you, and this might change
over time, and that's why I say look at your entire podcast and
then look at what's being downloaded this month. Lastly,
have a measured approach to selling your own products or
anyone else's. Don't recommend products if you don't use them
yourself, especially in the beginning, we are being sold to
as consumers and listeners and buyers. 24/7 Don't be the
influencer that you can't stand. And when you're selling do it
from an earnest place. That's okay. I love to hear people's
genuine recommendations. And if you're partnering with a brand
that you don't know very well, get to know them. Know the
product. Know why you love the product, if you are selling,
sell from the heart. So after you've taken a hard look at your
podcast and your audience and how to build trust with said
audience, how are you actually going to make money with less
than 1000 listeners? Like I said earlier, there's a big
difference between 1000 listeners that are following you
for a variety of reasons. Let's say that you have a podcast that
speaks to a lot of different demographics and listeners, and
you'll just randomly pick up people here and there. There is
a big difference between selling to a wide net audience and a
highly specific targeted audience, the more that you can
move towards that highly specific targeted audience, the
easier that it will be for you to find advertisers, to find
partnerships and affiliate codes and To sell your own products
and services and even to create value with your podcast. No
niche is too niche. I'll tell you about a podcast I produce
for hairstylist entering the beauty industry. Now, most
people would think if you're creating a podcast for
hairstylists, it should be speaking to every hairstylist,
right at every different phase that would have so many more
opportunities to grow listeners and make money and everything
else. But that is not true. And you know why? Because New
hairstylists going into the industry have a totally
different set of problems and opportunities and questions than
stylists that have been in the industry for five or 10 or 20
years, these are all people at totally different parts of their
journey. And why would we try to put it all together, to not
speak to any of them? Because what about the week we do an
episode for the stylist that's been in the industry for 20
years, and then the next week we do one for the stylist that has
been in for 10. Years, and then the week after that is for the
stylist that's been in for five years. And guess what? We've
totally lost that new stylist, and they're gonna go look for a
podcast that is actually giving them what they want and is the
information that they need, because they don't care what the
stylist that's been in the industry 20 years. They don't
care about their problem. So you've just lost your listener
because you are not speaking to them. Don't be afraid to go into
your niche and dig into your message and speak to that one
person at that one time. You're not losing out on having more
listeners by doing this, you are telling that one person that you
created the podcast for. Hey, I made this for you. And then when
you're selling to them, it's that much easier to have 100
listeners that you've cultivated and say, Hey, I made this
podcast for you. And then you proved over time by building
their trust. Remember the know, like and trust, that is how you
are going to make money with 100 listeners, when someone with
10,000 listeners can't sell anything a friend to all is a
friend to none. So make sure that you know exactly who you
want to be friends with through this podcast and speak to them
directly. Speak to them every week. Speak to them from your
heart, and speak to them when you're selling if you have less
than 1000 followers, of course you should be working every day
to build your audience and to grow the right listeners. 1000
listeners will open the door. 100,000 listeners will build the
house. But there's still some things that we can do at every
point of our podcasting journey to make money with our podcast.
So first and foremost, I think you know what I'm gonna say,
it's selling your own products and services. Now, what if you
think of Morgan, I don't have any products and services. And
you know what I'd say to that you don't have any products and
services yet. Not yet. Okay, so if you have a podcast, there is
not one reason that you are not offering some kind of consulting
on the thing that your podcast is about. If you know so much
about this thing that you have made a podcast about it, why are
you not consulting for people in that field? So step one is you
are not letting people pick your brain for free. You are a
consultant in this industry, you are going to have an hourly rate
that you tell people when they ask you, Hey, can I ask you
about this? You're gonna say, Hey, I have an hourly fee. I
mean, this is a huge, multi billion dollar industry. Just
take a little bit of time if you are not doing consulting
already, and look up, hey. How can I become a consultant in my
field? Again, if you have a podcast about something, I don't
really see a reason that you also do not have a consulting
fee to go along with it. Next. And again, I know that. You
know. I'm gonna say this is digital products. I have a whole
episode on digital products. I will link it in the episode
description. I also have a tool that you can use that will email
you 10 ideas for digital products, but do some research
on digital products. What could you create that would make your
listeners life easier, or that they actually need take some
time to think about that and think about how you could
actually help your listener and what you could create for them
when we look outside of what we personally can offer so with our
own products and services, this is where, again, you have to be
so intentional and so Bristol clear on what your podcast is
offering. Do you want a partner for your podcast? Do you want
ads? Why should someone buy ads from you, if you have less than
1000 listeners, what else can you provide to me to let me know
that I am someone that you should advertise with? There is
such a power in micro influencers. But what is your
power? What do you know about your audience? What proof do you
have of the influence over your audience? That's what you need
to be able to communicate, especially if you're doing cold
outreach to brands. You need to know what influence do you have
over your audience, even if it's a small audience. Think about
this. Think about Rode Microphones for just a minute.
Would they rather advertise with a smaller creator like me that
creates only content for podcasters? Or, for example,
would they like to advertise with Joe Rogan, the biggest
podcaster in the world. Lots of people that might want to become
podcasters that listen to him, right? I mean, I believe it
would make more sense for them to advertise with me or someone
like me, because while I have less listeners, I have a greater
impact. But then it becomes my burden, especially if I have
under 1000 listeners, to prove to them why I would be the best
use of their money. Because even though I have a more specific
audience, how much do I actually speak to my audience? So taking
that all into account and figuring out, okay, hey, how can
I explain this to someone who I want to part. With me to have an
ad on my podcast, and I think one of the easiest ways to do
this is to have a media kit. I have a media kit template that
you can customize, or you can make your own, but show up
looking like the person who is someday going to have a million
listeners show up like the podcast that you want to be. The
next thing is affiliate marketing, and whether you're
doing it with a brand that has a bigger program, or you are
asking a smaller business to give you a promo code, start
with affiliate marketing, especially if you are not
getting any bytes from traditional ads, they only have
to pay you money when they make money. So usually, businesses
are way more open to giving smaller creators a chance, and
that's why I always bring this up when I'm trying to help
people who are new podcasters get some kind of revenue coming
through their podcast. Think about affiliate marketing. Think
what you can speak on passionately and that you could
actually get people to buy because, you know, it works so
well. Ask these people if they have affiliate marketing, and
how can you get involved with their business? You have to ask
for what you want, and you have to ask for it directly,
especially as a smaller creator, especially when you don't have
the clout that other podcasters might have. But the beauty of
podcasting is it's still a very new industry, and most of the
time, people don't fully understand how it could be of
value to their business or brand. So you could be the
person that explains, hey, this is why you should partner with
me. This is why you should have an ad on a podcast. So take it
from that side. Take it from the fact that many people don't
really know what it would look like to advertise with a
podcast. So if you have a beautiful media kit and you come
and you say, Hey, this is what my audience looks like. This is
what I am able to do with my audience that can be their
introduction to podcast advertising. You don't have to
worry about all those bigger podcasts because they've never
even talked to a podcast before. Before we go, there are two
creators that I want you to look up sometime this week, or when
you're done with this episode, if you don't know them already.
The first one is Jay Klaus. I hope I'm saying his last name
right with creator science is his podcast name. The other one
is Lloyd George. He is a UGC expert, and I think that they
just both have so much information to share with small
creators on how to make money, and, more importantly, how and
what it will take. I'll link the information for both of them in
the episode description. If you have less than 1000 listeners
and you want help making a monetization plan, please book a
free 30 minute exploratory call with me. I'd love to help you
out. I've been where you are. I know what you're going through
if you want to use my digital product idea tool that will also
be linked in the episode description with my customizable
podcast media kit. 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 the show.
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