I have a super interesting and exciting episode for you, negotiating podcast sponsorships. I have a few sponsors now for both of my podcasts, and they all came at the same time. I just learned about negotiating sponsorships in the last few months. It all began with the interview I had with Gillian, which is the episode that went live last Monday. If you haven’t listened to it yet, check out that interview because she had some really good tips about working with sponsors.
In this episode, I want to tell you a little bit more about what I did to negotiate a sponsorship, what to look out for, and some tips that can work for you. I got a few questions about this on social media, and I think this is the perfect opportunity to address those questions.
Make Sure That They’re A Good Fit For You
When talking to a potential sponsor or negotiating, you should make sure that what they offer speaks to you and your audience, that their values are aligned to your values. You always have to think about your audience, if this sponsorship will be of interest to them, and does it reflect your brand as a podcast.
This will make you professional and will build a trusting relationship with your audience because it means that you are after their needs and not just offering products or services just because you want to earn money from the sponsorships.
Think Before You Jump
On any call with any potential sponsor, think about what you would like to offer and think about the pricing. You should also think about the sponsorship model. There are a few different models that you can choose from and I have a different model for both of my different podcasts.
For the Podcast Babes Podcast, I have included a sponsorship snippet mid-roll in some of the episodes, and I included a link in the show notes which will be there forever. A year from now, if people still listen to this episode, they will still hear about this sponsorship.
On my other podcast, I have a different sponsorship model. I am using dynamic ads on my podcast, which basically means that I upload a sponsor snippet to host-read ads, where I tell the listeners about the product, then I upload this to my hosting, to all episodes that are live, and also all-new episodes that go live in the time that I have the sponsorship. There’s also a link in the show notes. The cool thing is, I can just take this out when the sponsorship ends. And so make sure your hosting platform allows you to do that because some platforms do allow it and some don’t. And that will cause a ton of work to go into every single episode and take out the sponsor’s snippet manually.
Don’t Underprice Yourself, And Don’t Overprice Yourself
Think about what model would be best for you and for your podcast, how you can explain it to the sponsor, and then also pricing-wise. Think about this because like I said, if there is a sponsorship snippet in your podcast forever, you can also genuinely tell your sponsor I have proof that people are listening to all our episodes a lot, then that is very valuable. So don’t underprice yourself.
Another thing I learned from the interview with Gillian that came out earlier this week, is also don’t overprice yourself. That was a key tip that she had, she said that she started quite low in her pricing. And that was very strategic because she wanted to make sure that she could overdeliver. By doing that she was really building a relationship with the sponsor. You have to find a little bit of a balance. The key tip here is to make sure that it’s slightly uncomfortable, but at the same time not too crazy from a business point of view.
Give An Update To Your Sponsor Or Ask For A Feedback
To build a lasting relationship with your sponsor, make them feel valued. For me, I gave them an update and asked for feedback. By doing that simple gesture, the sponsor appreciated the effort and I was able to give an extra bit of service that made me stand out.
As your podcast grows, as your relationship with your sponsor grows, and it becomes more stable, they will see your value.
Takeaways
I hope you got some takeaways from this episode. I hope that this will give you some more insight. And even though you don’t have a ton of downloads, make sure you communicate the value of your audience very clearly to your sponsor. That means that even though you don’t have 1000s of people listening to your podcast if the right people are listening to your podcast, it can still be extremely valuable to your sponsor. Don’t forget that.
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For full show notes, head over to thepodcastbabes.com/podcast
This podcast is sponsored by BrandFace. Find out more at LearnAboutBrandFace.com.
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