This is an archived page from 2019. Find out more
(By Meagan Francis) As co-hosts of The Mom Hour, an indie podcast that launched in 2015, and co-owners of Life, Listened, a podcast production studio and creative agency, my business partner Sarah Powers and I bristle when we hear self-proclaimed experts expound that real money “can’t” be made in podcasting by real people.
For us the proof is in the podcast pudding: over the past year, our company has brought in more than $200,000 in revenue, and the majority of that money is made via sponsorships and advertising on The Mom Hour. Our show is still relatively modest in size - about 18,000 downloads per episode (though that number is quickly growing), and we’ve been steadily monetized since 2017, when our listener base was less than half its current size.
We don’t have a celebrity host, the support of a major network, or the resources to hire a full-time staff. We also don’t have a fancy studio (Sarah podcasts from her kitchen table in southern California; I’m in my bedroom in Michigan), a long background in radio production, or even expensive equipment.
What we do have: an engaged, loyal audience, a track record of consistency and innovation, and streamlined systems, which have made it possible for us to nurture over 150 brand relationships so far, and continuously invent new ways to deliver value to the sponsors we work with.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of the things Sarah and I have learned as we built this business from the ground up in the hopes that it can help fledgling podcasters start on solid footing. In this column, I’m focusing on what we did right from day 1 - and what we’d do differently if we were starting all over.
What We Did Right, Right From The Beginning (And You Should Too):
We weren’t afraid to do things our own way. From day 1, we’ve rejected the idea that there is only one way to work with sponsors, and refused to enter a race to the bottom. We created a streamlined sales process that allows us to spread our inventory across several agencies and direct sales (we self-sell about 60% of our ads.) We invent new products all the time, like special series with a title sponsor or dedicated episodes that include a tie-in between a topic and the sponsor’s messaging, and lean in hard on our other offerings, like custom social media and blogging. We aren’t afraid to price our show higher than what’s been thrown around as the “industry standard”, because we know we do a great job with our ads and that they deliver results.
We chose a marketable topic and made our show extremely discoverable. Clever show titles can be fun, but when it comes to ad sales, I’m partial to simplicity. There’s no doubt that “The Mom Hour” has made it easy for a busy, overwhelmed mom audience to find us, and easy for sponsors to understand who we’re reaching.
We were consistent and patient. For most of us, the road to podcast dollars is slow and steady, not a sprint. We focused on delivering the best audio quality we could afford and publishing consistently, and have slowly improved our sound and added new kinds of content as we’ve grown. Just showing up for your audience reliably will put you ahead of the pack: consistently put them first, and you are on your way.
What We’d Do Differently If We Were Starting Today (Please, Learn From Our Mistakes!)
We’d make a plan to retroactively monetize our back catalogue. In 2015, I had never heard of “dynamic insertion”, and it never occurred to me that anyone would go back and listen to our first episodes. Now, some of our very earliest episodes continue to be our most popular overall, and the majority of episodes from the first two years are completely unmonetized. We have a plan to go back and create ad breaks retroactively, but it’s going to take a lot of work. We could have put ourselves on a much faster track to make passive income through dynamic ads or affiliate relationships, had it occurred to us four years ago that people would still be listening to those episodes now!
We’d make space for ads, right from the first episode. We were extremely scattershot about securing sponsors until 2017. Not only did we leave a ton of money on the table, but when we finally got around to taking sponsorship seriously, we had to restructure our show to accommodate ads, which was a hassle. We now tell fledgling podcasters to leave room in every single episode for ads - even if, in the early days, those “ads” are on trade, are affiliate partnerships, or are simply time set aside to promote your own products, ask for ratings/reviews, etc. By starting out acting as though your show is sponsored, you’ll have time to practice delivering ads, and your audience won’t suddenly be surprised by your first ad spot 30 episodes in.
If you’re a fledgling podcaster who’s been told you can’t expect to pay your hosting bill unless you’ve reached a million downloads, I hope our story gives you some encouragement! Next week, I’ll share how our processes have changed since we started hitting our stride with sponsors, and how we’re setting ourselves up for success as this industry grows.
Meagan Francis is the CEO of Life, Listened Podcast Studio & Network and can be reached at meagan@lifelistened.com
Comments:
This is the advice that should be listened to rather than the advice of so-called “consultants” These ladies understand what works!