Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Only 35% of podcasts make money. If I'm being honest, I thought it would be less. π¬
Most podcasts will never get out of the red - and it's not their fault! Podcasting is expensive, time consuming and everyone thinks they're going to make money from it. In this episode weβll talk about the two kinds of podcasts that actually make money. How to better align your podcast with one of these two strategies and why so many podcasters are never able to monetize their podcast.
Most podcasts will never get out of the red - and it's not their fault! Podcasting is expensive, time consuming and everyone thinks they're going to make money from it. In this episode weβll talk about the two kinds of podcasts that actually make money. How to better align your podcast with one of these two strategies and why so many podcasters are never able to monetize their podcast.
π Book Your 1:1 Podcast Strategy Call:
https://morganfranklin.media/contact-morgan-franklin
π©π»βπ» Shop My Podcast Template Store:
https://podcastsforprofit.com
π₯ Download 4 FREE ChatGPT prompts for podcasters and listen to the episode on how to use them here:
https://morganfranklin.media/podschool-steal-my-4-favorite-chatgpt-prompts-for-podcasting/
ππ½ Let's connect! You can find me on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Threads, and TikTok.
ππ»ββοΈ Questions? Comments? Ideas? Message Me:
morgan@morganfranklin.media
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 youβre 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 youβre 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 youβre 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: Earlier this
week, I was in between
recordings for a podcast that I
do on location at an office
building, and a man walks in for
the regular business this office
conducts, and he's asking about
the podcast equipment and what
we're doing. And this happens,
I'd say, a few times a day when
we're recording the podcast in
office, so I usually don't think
that much of it. But this guy
sits down, and after he asked me
about the equipment, he says, So
do you make any money off of it?
And of course, this made me
laugh, not because of the actual
question, but because, usually
we're not so straightforward
about asking people how we're
making money. I live in the
south, and usually this is not
something that someone would ask
the first time that they meet
you. So naturally, I'm laughing,
and I say, you know, most of the
money that we make goes back
into producing the show and
trying to grow it. So then, of
course, as this conversation
pretty much always goes, he
launches into a 10 minute pitch
to me about the podcast that he
has been brooding on over the
past five years. This
conversation inspired me to make
this episode because while most
of us understand the possibility
of making money podcasting, we
don't fully understand the kind
of podcast that makes money.
According to captivate.fm only
35% of podcasters will ever make
a dime from podcasting, and
honestly, I thought that it
would be way lower in this
episode. We'll talk about the
two different kinds of podcasts
that actually make money. How to
better align your podcast with
one of these two strategies and
why so many podcasters are never
able to monetize their podcast.
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. I
live in a smallish town in
Tennessee. I'd say about 40,000
residents, give or take. Growing
up, we had several different
locally owned grocery stores, a
few big name stores, but we all
more or less lived in harmony
together. Over the past 10
years, I've seen almost every
mid sized, locally owned grocery
store close expansion of our big
name grocery stores, and, you
know, the entrance of a few
micro farm to table markets,
those boutique, kind of tiny
little grocery stores, basically
either big and cheap stores that
have everything you would need,
or small and expensive and very
selective options. And to me,
this is the perfect comparison
to podcasts that make money you
have your big name, broad
coverage, podcasts like Joe
Rogan, call her daddy, Mel
Robbins, and then you have much
more niche, specialized
podcasts, like, for example, the
podcast that you're listening to
right now. All these podcasts
make money, but they make money
for different reasons and appeal
to much different audiences.
Normally, there are two kind of
podcasts that make money. The
first is the commercially
popular mainstream podcast that
is reaching a broad audience,
and I'd say, gets at least
100,000 downloads on new
episodes in the first 24 hours.
Again, that's podcasts like new
heights with Travis, Kelce,
Conan O'Brien Huberman lab
podcast consistently ranking in
the top 200 of the all category
on Apple podcast or Spotify.
Basically the celebrities of
podcasting, the other kind of
podcast that makes money besides
these really well known
podcasts, are the specific niche
industry or interest specific
podcast. For example, I think
about all the marketing podcasts
that I love to listen to,
especially as someone who works
in marketing and digital media,
these podcasts are very
important to me. I like them
just as much as the big name
podcasts, but they're probably
never going to be on the Apple
top 200 All Categories list,
right? And that's okay. They're
probably never gonna get 100,000
downloads in 24 hours. And
again, that's okay. That doesn't
stop them from making a full
time income and growing a team
around this podcast. Let me use,
for example, one of my favorite
podcasts about learning how to
market and grow your business on
Pinterest. It's called simple
pin podcast with Kate all and
Kate is incredible. If you guys
don't listen to this podcast,
you should, especially if you
want to get into Pinterest. But
she has so many ways that she
monetizes her podcast, and this
is just by me listening to her
podcast, knowing this and. Not
really. I mean, I've never
bought a service through her,
but I know that she has digital
products. I know she has
education, templates,
worksheets, workbook coaching.
You can hire her team to manage
your Pinterest or to run ads on
your Pinterest. They do it all.
And I'm sure that she has a very
lucrative business and podcasts
that work in tandem together.
The story that I was telling you
earlier in the episode about the
guy that came into the office
where I was recording that
podcast isn't connected to a
business. It gets about 40,000
downloads per month and doesn't
have any kind of business or
service that we could sell.
However, we've been very
intentional about knowing our
audience and keeping that
audience local and specific. We
know exactly who is listening to
this podcast every week, and
that's why we're able to sell ad
slots to advertisers and make
money off this podcast, even
though it's not as big as those
big name ones, and we're not
selling anything through a
business. You either need to
have a wide enough audience that
brands want to advertise with
you because you have a big
audience, or you need to have a
specific enough audience that
brands see the value in knowing
exactly who listens to your
podcast. You know, if I could
tell every podcaster who wanted
to make money podcasting one
thing, it'd be that either you
work hard enough and get lucky
enough to have a huge podcast
where you need to be specific
enough to know exactly what kind
of audience you have. This is
why, when people tell me that
they want to start a podcast
because they think they're
funny, or their friends have
tons of stories, or whatever it
may be, my first question always
is, who will listen to this
podcast. That's the reverse
engineering practice that every
podcaster and content creator
needs to exercise. So let's talk
about strategy number one, which
is basically the rock star
approach. You're going to grow a
big enough following and have
enough people listening to your
podcast that brands want to have
blanket advertisements with you.
Great. The first thing that you
need to do is focus on at least
four social media outlets, and
whether that's Facebook,
LinkedIn, Tiktok, Instagram,
whether it's x, Pinterest,
substack, YouTube, I don't
really care, but I'd be working
and building on those platforms,
posting every day, multiple
times a day, trying to get as
many followers and engagement as
you can. If you want a podcast
with a big following, you need
to either have a full time
content creator or be a full
time content creator yourself.
And I know that that's not easy
and it's not cheap, but there is
no one, except maybe someone
that was already recognized as a
celebrity that can start a
podcast and grow that podcast
without having any other way to
promote it. You have to use all
the tools in your tool belt. The
second prong of this approach is
guesting on other shows and
getting the best possible guest
you can get on your show if I
was going to try to get a top
ranking show, I would be
reaching out to PR teams
managers, trying to get any kind
of celebrity or celebrity
adjacent person that would give
me the time of day. You need
star power and you need name
recognition. This is not a time
for having your friends as
guests. Lastly, even if I was
trying to get a wide audience, I
would still be niching down.
Let's see. For example, Candace
Owens, on the day that I'm
recording this episode, she's
eighth on the Apple podcast
overall chart. If you don't know
who Candace is, she's a
conservative podcaster. She
talks about politics and pop
culture and conservative
ideologies, she never misses an
opportunity to capitalize on
political friction here in the
United States, she is trying to
reach a wide audience, but she's
making her opinions and
interests well known. I've said
this many times, but a friend to
all is a friend to none. And if
you want to grow quickly on
social media or digital media,
share your opinions now, that's
much easier said than done, and
if you're sharing political
opinions, you are going to get
backlash, no matter which side
it's coming from. But if you
want to speak directly to an
audience like you, share what
you think going for the broader
reach podcast approach is the
most difficult, and isn't one
that I normally recommend to
clients, unless you have an
audience following you from
somewhere else, or you are a
celebrity in some capacity, it's
like saying that you're going to
be an influencer, and it might
happen, but there is a much
greater probability that it will
not so what would I recommend to
you, if you aren't a celebrity
of some kind already, I'd
recommend that reverse
engineering approach, where you
ask yourself who your listeners
are and why they're listening.
Why are they coming back every
week? What value are you?
Providing for them. What
specific interest or industry do
you want to represent through
your podcast? What do you want
to be known for? All these
questions can be answered of a
new or existing podcast, and I
don't want you to think because
you already have a podcast
that's not serving a specific
audience, that you can't become
a podcast that answers all these
questions well, because you
absolutely can, and I would love
to help you. I'll include the
information for working with me
in the episode description, but
I have strategy calls that are
made for this exact reason. As I
said in the beginning of the
episode, 65% of podcasters never
make a dime from podcasting, and
I'd say most of them go into
debt making the podcast. You
will never just make money from
podcasting. And I think that's a
really big misconception that's
never going to just magically
happen. I think the day and age
we're living in, we think if we
just make enough content that
eventually it will be worth
money. But that's just not true.
There's no build it, and they
will come guarantee. And you
know, all that being said, I
truly believe that every
podcaster can make money
podcasting, every podcast can be
a success if you know how, and
you stay persistent in trying,
if you want to work with me, one
on one to see how your podcast
could monetize, or what you need
to do to start building an
audience that's monetizable. My
contact information is in the
episode description. Or you can
send me a message at Morgan, at
Morgan Franklin, dot media, I
love to hear from you, 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.
New episodes air every Monday
morning. And if you found this
episode valuable and you want to
help other business owners and
podcasters, will you leave me a
five star review. It helps the
show rank higher in the charts
and brings more entrepreneurs
the information they need to
start making money on their
podcast.