Welcome to PodOn, the podcast where we share stories from other podcasters and talk with them about the challenges we all face when beginning the podcasting journey. If you are a podcaster, we would love to hear your story and your feedback. If you love this podcast, please subscribe and share it with your friends. 

Today, podcasting has become a source of income for thousands of creators, so what’s their secret to land deals with sponsors? On this PodOn episode, we chat with Heather Osgood, True Native Media’s founder, and CEO. A long time podcast listener and head of a podcast representation agency, Heather is a passionate expert and leader of the advertising game in the industry. Listen now to learn all you need to know about the podcast monetization models, and how your podcast can transform into the desired environment for ads. Indeed, the podcast ad space is an ever-growing, exciting place to be! 

Jump straight into:

(01:04) - On Heather and True Native Media’s mission to help podcasters focus on creating content - “The more I listened, the more I was perplexed at why there weren’t more ads in all of these shows.”

(03:52) - On the growing numbers of shows, audiences, opportunities and sponsors in the podcasting industry - “When we reach out, they no longer say ‘What’s a podcast?’, they say ‘Thanks for emailing because we’re interested in learning more’.”

(09:43) - Podcast Monetization 101: the power of host read ads and dynamic insertion - “They’re going to trust when the person is genuine about the product that they’re pushing.”

(15:48) - Excited about advertising? We are too! But reflect on this first. - “Take time to look at the flow, at the peaks and valleys of the content that you are creating, and figure out how to make natural transition points into ad reads.”

(20:16) - The importance of knowing and understanding your numbers - “You have to look at the tactic that you want to take to get advertisers.”

(23:08) - How to make your project desirable form brands - “If your show sounds bad, people aren’t going to want to sponsor it.” 

(26:04) - How affiliate marketing is a great first step in the podcast revenue plan - “There are definitely really good affiliate partners out there, I’ve talked to a lot of podcasters that make a lot of money on those.”

(29:55) - How to determine if a brand will renew a partnership with your podcast - “Most advertisers that we work with, are evaluating the success of a podcast based on how many customers they get.”

(32:07) - Put a price tag! How to objectively determine your ad pricing. - “The more targeted your audience is, the more you can charge for it.”

(35:07) - The main differences between a network and a representation agency all curious, scrappy podcasters must know - “A good network really should be providing you with information about how to grow your show.”

Resources

Connect with Heather 

Monetize your podcast 

The Podcast Moneymaker Course 

IAB’s U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Study

PodOn is hosted by TJ Bonaventura and Julian Lewis, founders of the full-service podcast company based in San Francisco, StudioPod. If you want more details on how to record and produce your podcast with our services fully, you can reach us at http://studiopodsf.com, send us an email