Reimagining Podcast Sponsorships: Ethical Approaches and Creative Packages with Traci DeForge [Ep. 168]

 
 

Click play to reimagine podcast sponsorships:

 
 

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Here’s what to expect from this episode:

Podcast sponsorships are an incredible way for any podcaster to monetize their show. Some of you might feel like this is out of reach because you don't have a big enough listenership, while others of you may just have no idea where to start when it comes to sponsorships.

Today's guest, Traci DeForge, is here to share how you can reimagine podcast sponsorships and gain sponsors in a way that's ethical and on-brand for your business. We talk about ways to integrate sponsors into your show, create sponsorship packages even if you don't have thousands of downloads per episode, and secure sponsorships before you even launch your show.

Traci also shares how to build sponsorship packages using your existing marketing strategy and her thoughts on buyout episodes (AKA blackout episodes).

If you've only ever heard of the more traditional CPM sponsorship route before, I hope this episode gives you some new ideas to consider for your show! There's a lot of opportunity out there for podcast sponsors, and it's possible to make it a win-win-win for you, your sponsor, and your audience. Remember that your podcast is your own; you can be creative in the way that you go about gaining podcast sponsors and make that your own, too.

I would love to hear if you are going to go for sponsors for your show! You can always send me a message on Instagram @podcastingforeducators or if you're in the Podcasting for Educators private Facebook group, post in there if you need some help brainstorming who would be a good fit sponsor for you.

Topics Covered:

  • Maintaining the integrity of your content and sponsorship segment placement

  • Landing sponsorships without thousands of downloads

  • Building sponsorship packages with your existing marketing strategy

  • How to launch a podcast with sponsors

  • Traci's advice for getting started with podcast sponsorships

Resources Mentioned:

podcast-sponsorships

MEET Traci:

With over three decades of expertise in Broadcast Media, Executive Management, and Fortune 500 Business Consulting, Traci DeForge is the founder of Produce Your Podcast, a premier podcast consulting and production agency that incorporates podcasting into the digital marketing strategy of B2B and B2C companies. With a diverse career spanning startups to Fortune 500 giants like Google and Hilton, she's renowned for business development insights that drive innovation.

As CEO of Ladies Who Launch, Traci pioneered the Franchise Media Model, supporting women-owned businesses. An international podcast expert and speaker, she created the Podcast Management Academy, the industry's only Podcast Management Certification Program, and co-founded the Podcast Professionals Association.

Traci hosts the" Growth Accelerator Podcast" and "Journey to There" and co-hosts the popular "Ask Brien Radio Show" in Los Angeles. Recognized by ABC, NBC, CNN, CTV, and American Express Open, Traci is a proud member of the Rolling Stone Culture Council, where she leads the Podcast Member Program.

Connect with Traci:

favorite podcasting resources:

  • Sara Whittaker 0:00

    Have you ever thought about partnering with sponsors as a way to monetize your podcast? For some of you, you might feel like this is out of reach because you don't have a big enough listenership, while others of you may just have no idea where to start when it comes to sponsorships, after today's episode, I think you'll find that podcast sponsorships are an incredible way for any podcaster to monetize their show. Our guest Tracy DeForge is here to share how we can reimagine podcast sponsorships and how we can get out there and gain sponsors in a way that's ethical and on brand for your business. We talk about ways that you can integrate sponsors into your show, how you can create sponsorship packages, even if you don't have 1000s of downloads per episode, and if you haven't launched your podcast yet, Tracy talks about how you can even secure sponsorships before launching. Here is a quick bit about Tracy with over three decades of expertise in broadcast media, executive management and fortune 500 business consulting. Tracy's the founder of produce your podcast, a premier podcast consulting and production agency that incorporates podcasting into the digital marketing strategy of B to B and B to C companies. Let's get started. Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business, but how do you manage it all? Bring in new listeners and convert those listeners into customers. That's what the show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whittaker, classroom teacher turned podcast manager, and I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators. Well, hey there, Tracy, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for being here today.

    Traci DeForge 1:41

    I am so excited to be here. Thank you for having me on today. Of course, I

    Sara Whittaker 1:46

    think this is going to be a topic that people are going to be very excited to hear about. We're going to be talking about podcast sponsorships, and hopefully for most listeners, this will give them some new ideas other than maybe the traditional route that they've heard about when it comes to sponsorships, because I think a lot of people maybe hear like the traditional CPM route, and they think maybe that's not something that would work for them. So I'm excited for you to give us some new ideas today.

    Traci DeForge 2:15

    Yes, it's one of my most favorite things to talk about, to podcasters, for podcasters to really encourage them to have the optimism that monetizing your podcast really at any phase is possible. You just have to like anything else. It's not a big secret. It's just that if you don't know, you don't know. So I'm on a literal mission to get this information out there to podcasters so they can start really growing their show and formulating it in a way that they can monetize, and then really feedback. The whole ecosystem of podcasting for creators, for businesses, for anyone who's really trying to drive revenue from their podcast is a perfect candidate to try to leverage their podcast for monetization, either through their own products and services or by getting sponsors in a way that goes beyond just the cost per 1000. Absolutely

    Sara Whittaker 3:10

    perfect. And yes, I think I mean monetizing your podcast and having something that you can directly track versus maybe some people are buying the things that I'm talking about. Maybe they're not, but being able to have that, you know, direct route back to revenue is always a goal for probably all of the podcasters in this audience. So tell us a little bit about how you can go about reimagining sponsorships.

    Traci DeForge 3:36

    So where do you really want to start is examining, first and foremost, the format of your show. Okay? So one of the things that is incredibly important is that you want to maintain the integrity of your content within your episode, because if you are continuing to put out really great content, your audience is going to not only stay with you, but they're going to share your show, and it's going to grow your show. So what we're going to talk about today is really focused on balancing the content integrity of your show with the integration of bringing in possible sponsorships. One of the things that we like to recommend when we're doing our sponsorship coaching is okay, let's take a look at the format of your show, and where can we integrate those sponsors in a way that, again, doesn't disrupt the integrity of the content. And the best way to do that starting out, is to add in a special segment or a special content focused segment inside your show, if you don't already have one. So one of the examples that I give a lot is we work with a show called salad with a side of fries. And their tagline, in fact, is wellness without the weirdness. And it's the general content of that show is all about health and wellness. When we were starting to build out that show for monetization, one of the things that was added was what's called a nutrition nugget. So it is a small. Piece of independent content that can stand alone on its own, if you wanted to extract it or repurpose it, or if you wanted to integrate it into the show itself. Another example is a show that we work with, the NHL wrap around and inside of their show, they have the human side of the story. And again, it's a piece of content that's really engaging. It's entertaining. You can extract it out, repurpose it as a video or an audio clip, and that way, a sponsor has an opportunity to be inside the action of your show without you having to necessarily stop down and break up your format or break up your content. It also allows you to add that sponsorship mentioned. So you can say, for example, the human side of the story is brought to you by DraftKings. And then, in addition to that, they can have a live read, and they'll be really involved in all the other promotional aspects of the show. So that's a very granular detail, like we're jumping right in there tactical suggestions, but it's a great place to start first, because if you're not used to building an audience for sponsorship and talking with brands and things like that, attaching them to a special segment inside your show is an easy conversational point for you to have with a brand, because It's likely a piece of content that you're really passionate about, along with it adds value to the brand itself.

    Sara Whittaker 6:27

    I love this idea. I've never I don't think I've ever really thought about this before, and as you were talking about, like, being able to do this while maintaining the integrity of your podcast, I think about, like, I like to listen when I'm on a road trip, like, to True Crime podcasts, and it'll be like, really serious, sad subject matter, and then all of a sudden, there'll be this random ad for something completely unrelated to their content that just, hello,

    Traci DeForge 6:50

    fresh, yeah, I'm like, while we're while we're telling you this story about how family was brutally murdered, because you like to make dinner

    Sara Whittaker 6:59

    exactly like What who thought that this is a good idea, and it just makes you, like, step back and think about what you're listening to. I'm like, this does not fit. So I love, I love that you've kind of come up with some solutions for this. And as far and I love the idea of having these segments, it just it seems so natural to be able to have sponsors fit into these segments. Do you as far as like placements for these segments within episodes? Does it kind of just depend on the content in terms of like, where you might put this, like, beginning, middle, end of episodes, or is that kind of a case by case basis?

    Traci DeForge 7:35

    Well, it can be, but there are definitely some recommendations. So one of the beautiful things about podcasting is that you get to create your own show. You don't have to follow a strict format clock like they do in broadcast radio formats, but there are some guidelines that you want to follow, and if you are a interview focused show, so if the majority of your show is a q, a, like what we're doing right now, your audience is showing up for that specific conversation, probably based on what the show is titled and what the episode title description, and all of those things. So you don't want to disappoint, right? So you want to deliver what it is that you are bringing to your audience in a way that they're and meet their expectations by adding in this special segment of content, you are still able to do that because it's an alignment with your show, with your guests, ideally, topic and information, as well as your overall show content. So that's not necessarily a disruptor, but I would recommend, if you're just starting out doing this, to isolate and time at the towards the end of the show like you're going to be wrapping up, and that is this special segment piece of content, and then you close another producer, because we are producers as well as sponsorship coaches from the production element side of that. It's also a really good way to give your guests a heads up that you're about to wrap the show. So if you have somebody who's a super chatty person, kind of like me, if before you start recording, you say to them towards the end of the episode, the cue to you that I'm about to wrap is that I'm going to do a rapid fire questions of you know, biggest takeaways for for sponsorship. So then I know as a guest, when you transition to that as a host, I know. Oh, okay, we're about to wrap up. So it's a nice production element as well. But in terms of placement for brands, they want to be associated with the show and involved in the content and the action that's going on in the show. So you can place, as far as they're concerned, you can place that where it works best for you, as long as you're delivering the what's committed to as part of the sponsorship. You also don't want to overload your show with too many special segments, so there is that fine balance. But what we have seen successfully is that sell out the first segment first, and that's usually, again, three quarters into the show before you wrap up and then. Then once that inventory is sold out, then look at adding a special segment, or some level of an opportunity to have that maybe come at the beginning of the show, maybe 10 minutes in, and then that way you again. You really want to be strategic about it, because it needs to make sense with the flow of your show. But let's say, if we were doing this in your show, for example, maybe the end would be the tactical tips that you would be putting out there. But at the beginning, maybe, if you are interviewing mainly people who are speaking to podcasters, to educators, then maybe your opening is the three a hot minute with our guests. Let's just like we're literally doing this in real time. Yeah. So let's say you had a hot minute with your guest in which you wanted your you wanted me to be able to your audience, to get to know me on the front end of the podcast. So you asked me, What's your favorite podcast, who was your favorite teacher, and what did you like most about your summer vacation, break from school, right? So that does a couple of things. That hot minute gives me an opportunity to kind of show some fun, personal stuff about me, but it's also engaging for your audience to say, hey, like she's interesting. That's everybody has a favorite teacher, so that also is a relationship builder. And then that particular Hot Minute could then be brought to you by or presented by a brand, but it's going to flow so easily into the conversation and how you open your show. So now we've gotten two sponsorship elements for your podcast, and you haven't changed a thing, but you're still showing up to record. So it's it just feels easy because it is once you understand that you're looking at production values, and you're looking at brand values. Yeah,

    Sara Whittaker 11:43

    I love it. And great on the fly example there. That was perfect. I love examples as many as we can give. So that was awesome. And this is great, like, this is something that I'm not seeing people, especially in the education space of podcasting utilizing at all. So I know people are going to be really excited about this. So okay, let's keep going here give us some more examples of because I know you talk on using special series or buyout episodes to build sponsor partnerships. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Yes,

    Traci DeForge 12:16

    so when we're talking about special series and buying out episodes is the term that people use, but I really prefer to use maybe more language around like a bonus episode of also the language use blackout episode. But what that basically means is that you're adding an episode into your content calendar that's a little bit more precise and more niche, focused than a regular episode might be, for example. So there were talking about two different concepts. So with the buyout blackout bonus episodes, whatever that is, that's something where you could be looking and talking to a potential sponsor. In fact, I literally had this conversation yesterday, so it's so much easier for me to use examples. So I was having a conversation with a brand that was interested in in one of our shows, and one of the first questions they asked were, well, we'd really like to be involved in this show, but can we be a guest on the show?

    Sara Whittaker 13:14

    I was gonna show your thoughts on this. Yeah.

    Traci DeForge 13:17

    So I'm not an advocate for what's called pay to play, or, you know, you can pay $1,000 and have a guest episode that's really doesn't feel like that's in alignment and integrity for really either party, but most importantly, for your audience. So what we like to recommend is that you're looking at building a relationship, and if you think about it as a triangle, you're looking at building a relationship between the potential sponsor, the audience and yourself. So as you start to bring in a sponsor, and let's just kind of keep this formula walking all the way through, so you've gotten someone to sponsor your special segment, you're introducing them to your audience, they're starting to get to know this brand and this product and this service, because you're doing a live host, read about this product in association with a content segment that your audience really loves. So that relationship starts to be built. And then as that starts to be that awareness with your show, with the products and services that they provide with this special segment of content that they like, then they are building relationship alongside you with this particular brand product or service. So then as that continues to evolve, it would make sense to introduce this brand or product or service to your audience, because you've already had an opportunity for them to get to know them. So bringing them on is like bringing a friend on saying, like, Hey, I've got a great friend. You need to meet them. We've been talking about them, you know, for a few weeks now. And now you get to know them in person. And it all of a sudden it's it goes from just a infomercial guest showing up on your show out of the blue. Being kind of random to Oh, I feel like I kind of know about them and and now I really want to see the face behind the brand. And so having a guest appearance integrated into your sponsor package is the way that I like to coach people through sponsorships, because I think at that point you're doing a service for both the person who represents the sponsorship and your audience, because you're connecting them, and that's really, really the key is being able to connect the audience with the brand, with you as the conduit, because 73% of people who listen or watch your show are likely to take action on a product or service that's recommended by you inside your show, but it's just like any other social situation, yes, again, 73% right? Yeah. But think about just natural human interaction if you were bringing a friend to a cocktail party or business networking event, even more specifically, if you were bringing me, for example, to a networking event and you are a live event with your audience, you would not take me and physically shove me in front of a person and go, she knows a lot about sponsorships. You should hire her like it would be so bizarre and weird and uncomfortable and awkward for everybody. Yes, yes, but if you walk through the flow that I just laid out, it feels natural, it feels human, it feels connecting, it feels Interesting.

    Sara Whittaker 16:29

    Yeah, and I as great points, and I would imagine also, if you do bring a guest like that on your show to share about whatever, whatever the product is, it's also about the way that you approach the content in that interview too. So not just them coming on and selling whatever their you know, whatever their product is, but coming at it from a different lens to make sure that it is beneficial to the listeners as well. Yes, 100%

    Traci DeForge 16:54

    it needs to be entertaining, educating. Ask them their passion behind the product. Why did they get involved, if they're the founder or if they launched the product? What's their story? What's been some of their biggest challenges in getting the word out or getting people to utilize their service? What are people raving about? Like, just it's all about the storytelling, because that's the piece of it that will remain intact in the audience's mind when they leave and go about their day, or when they jump on their next zoom call, you might be able to learn something really super interesting about that particular guest and that particular product and service. And the ideal, best, most optimal scenario for any brand is to have someone share a story that's really positive about your brand on the next zoom call that they get on. Like, that's the power of podcasting, and that's the power that brands and products and services can really benefit from podcasting, is because it's such a natural way to continue the conversation with people who can get to know more about

    Sara Whittaker 17:54

    you, absolutely. And so you would use those types of episodes as, like, a bonus episode for your podcast.

    Traci DeForge 18:02

    The reason why we talk about it in turn, and then again, this is a strategy from in terms of your content and your editorial calendar, so to speak. So you do not have to integrate it as a bonus episode if it's going to fit into your regular content calendar, if it's going to fit into the regular types of episodes that you put out, if it's not going to have that shocking kind of in the face scenario, then if you have enough inventory and enough availability, then you could integrate the guest appearance into a regular recorded episode schedule. The reason that you can utilize blackout buyout bonus episodes is more of a strategic way to have more than one type of guest appearance or type of sponsor. So if you had your entire like, if you release 26 episodes a year, twice on average of twice a month, let's say, and you already had your entire sponsorship sold out, then you don't want to lock yourself into not being able to monetize more. It's a great problem to have. Yeah, so that's where the buyout blackout bonus episode, the strategy comes into place, because you could still be introducing them through products and services, through live reads in the regular, regularly scheduled episodes, and then you can add in, in like, a third episode a month, for example, could be a guest appearance that's attached to the sponsorship plan.

    Sara Whittaker 19:28

    Perfect. Now I know that as we're talking about this, a lot of people are probably thinking, Okay, this all sounds amazing, but what if I don't have like, this crazy number of downloads? So what like is it possible for people to land some good sponsorship packages, even if they don't have 1000s and 1000s of downloads every month?

    Traci DeForge 19:50

    I am so happy you asked that question, because the answer is yes, yes and more Yes. My new phrase that I recently came back from attending a podcast conference where. Where the focus was a lot on monetization, and there were a lot of bigger brands in the space. And so what was being talked about so much is that, in order to really be represented by an advertising agency for podcasts or dynamic ad insertion through a big platform, is that you have to have 10,000 downloads per episode in order to be able to benefit from from them placing a live host reading into your show. Okay, that so what happens to the other 99 or less, right? And so I, you know again, we talked about this. I'm incredibly passionate about getting this information out there, because it is about the quality of your audience, not the quantity of your audience. The quantity of your audience is an old model that's left over from broadcast radio, from television, where you reach the most for the minimum, right? So if you're looking at a cost per 1000, and it's 23 $25 is the average end of average industry standard right now. You got a lot of 1000s to get any to really make it worth it, not only to your bottom line, but also to compromise the integrity of your show for a live read that you may or may not even really be super excited about, right? So this strategy that we're talking about and how to get there is designed for people that have very niche, focused content, that are either utilizing it for their own products and services or bringing in sponsors that they have relationships with into their show. And the conversation is not about the downloads anymore. It's about, I have a highly engaged audience of 150 people, 350 people, 1500 people, 3000 people that listen to or watch my show regularly and they need access to your products and services to make their life better, their business grow faster, their health increase, their family Focus be better. So you have to connect the dots between what you can bring to them in terms of audience and what the audience can bring back to them. And that's the center of that is where the value lies. And if you literally can have the conversation about, if you had the opportunity to stand in front of 150 people every week, consistently for 13 weeks, 26 weeks, 52 weeks. What value would that be for you? Because it doesn't necessarily take a tremendous amount of conversions if you're consistently talking to a highly engaged audience that wants to know more about your product. So I think this whole myth buster mission that I'm on is that it's not about the conversation about the downloads is important, but it's how you talk to people about your audience that's more important, because that's what podcasting does. It's outside of radio. It's the only medium where you're inviting a stranger into your kitchen, into your laundry room, into your car, into you know, people are building relationships with the hosts of these shows that feel very personal to them, and so they want to support this businesses that are supporting their hosts.

    Sara Whittaker 23:15

    Yes, yeah, and these companies will pay to get their content in front of the right people that, like you mentioned, having a nice show is great because you know that the right people are listening, and you know who's listening. So I would imagine that you all look at like when you're doing your sponsorship coaching, look at stats and maybe listener surveys and things like that, to really gather the right data that you can share with sponsors. We

    Traci DeForge 23:42

    do, and we also look at the show holistically, of how it fits into your overall marketing strategy. That's one of the things that, you know, we got real, which I love. We got really into some of the pragmatic details of it. But if you kind of back up, you know, and go up about 5000 feet, you really want to look at that only again, the format of the show and how you can integrate the sponsorships. But then you want to look at your overall marketing strategy. Where else can you provide value for this potential sponsor? Can you include them in reels and shorts? Can you include them in your audiograms? Can their logo be included in your show notes? Hyperlink? Is there a call to action that could go into your show that provides a promo code, is there an opportunity for them to be quoted and featured in a blog post? And by the way, that's a super easy thing to offer, because if you take the transcription from the let's say, their guest appearance as part of their package, and then once their guest appearance has been released, then that episode gets transcribed, gets converted into a newsletter article, a blog post, where you're quoting the person that represents the brand. So again, it's like, more value, more value, more value. So they're getting a lot more exposure for their product and services outside of just. Happening in that 30 to 62nd live read that you might be putting in pre roll, mid roll, or at the end of the show. So it's again, it's how you have these conversations. And I think that that's why I appreciate being able to have these types of conversations, to really help people break it down, to say, Okay, I could feel comfortable doing that like I could feel comfortable saying, Yeah, I'll include you in my social media. We have X amount of followers. I'll include you in our newsletter. Our newsletter. I'll include you in our show notes on our website, you know. So that value starts to stack up way beyond just how many downloads you get per episode.

    Sara Whittaker 25:32

    Yeah, absolutely. I love all of these examples of other other things that you can include in your packages, other than just the actual read inside of the episodes. Would you be able to give us, kind of like an example package? If you can think of one of of what you might pitch to a sponsor, like what you might include in a package?

    Traci DeForge 25:53

    Well, it's not all that much different than what I just laid out. I mean, what we're going to look at is we're going to look at what opportunities are there to integrate your business into our marketing strategy, right? So I would look at, if I was building a package, I would look at, first and foremost, what's available inside the show, because that's where the meat and potatoes of the engagement occurs, and that's where you have that authenticity, in terms of how you can message everything, and then start going outward from there. And I'm saying this to serve dual purposes, because a lot of podcasters, they may not have a full service agency like producer podcast who's doing all of these things for them. So I want to be really respectful of the fact that you also have to be you're a podcast host, your booking guest, you're also marketing your show. You're, you know, there's a lot going on, yeah. So start first with the marketing that you're already doing, that you're already investing either in someone to support you, or that you're already doing yourself. So if that's show notes, if that's episode graphics for each show, if that's a newsletter, if that's uploading to the website, all of the things that you're already doing to market your actual podcast start there and start being able to layer in a sponsor in that way, then go out from there. What else are you doing to market your business or your brand? Are you showing up and are you guessing on other podcasts? I do not have a podcast that's sponsored right now, but if I did have a podcast that was sponsored, I could utilize in the point of our conversation. I could bring in and talk about like I did with the NHL wrap around inside with side of fries and the other shows that I mentioned, I could bring them in and say, I'm really grateful for the support of this particular sponsor who helps me be able to do what I love to do. So so you can, you can, if you're guesting on other podcasts, it's a fine line, but if you're strategic and you're authentic, then it could work there. We often do promote the shows that we produce inside guest interviews. And when we do that, we typically clip that and send it to our client just to say, hey, you were featured today. We really appreciate you. Same with your sponsor. Maybe that's not something you build into your package, but if you have the opportunity to tout their praises. It's always reaffirming to let them know that you did it. Little bit of a rabbit hole there, but

    Sara Whittaker 28:07

    you know, no, that, no, that's super smart. Yeah, I like it. I like the strategy there.

    Traci DeForge 28:12

    And then you're looking at, what other opportunities are there for you to extend your audience and continue the conversation with your audience. Are you hosting webinars? Are you doing live events if you're a locally focused podcast, is there a possibility that you could host a live event in your town? Can you bring sponsorships with you into live events that go beyond your actual show itself? One of the conversations I was having with someone in our sponsorship circle last week, as a matter of fact, is they're very locally based show. So they're talking to healthcare providers, real estate agents. They're talking to car dealerships that really just want to build business from their own backyard, and in doing so, they can actually bring them into being the spokesperson at the car dealership or doing a special health and wellness segment that ties back into a healthcare clinic. So it's just all about visibility, and you just want to think creatively about how you're going to produce and run your show anyway, and then layer those brands and products and services on top of that, so you're not going to a lot of extra work for yourself?

    Sara Whittaker 29:22

    Yeah, that's such great advice to kind of start where you are and think about what you're already doing. I think a lot of you who are listening. I know a lot of you are, Instagram is like your main platform, and a lot of you have Facebook groups as well. So those would be kind of two places that you might be able to build into sponsorship packages. Now, what about if somebody's listening who maybe hasn't launched their show yet, is, are these packages and sponsor partnerships? Is this something that they can build before they even launch their show? Or do you recommend having a podcast for a certain amount of time before going for this? Yes,

    Traci DeForge 29:57

    absolutely. Well, the answer to. That question is 100% contingent on the network that you already have. So for example, we've worked with actually a handful of shows in pre launch that because what they brought to their audience was an already existing, pretty strong network, either through other social media outlets that they built. So maybe they already have a really large Facebook group following. Maybe they already have a lot of Instagram followers, and so the podcast is going to be supplemented and added on top of an already existing audience that they've curated and built. Maybe they've been blogging for years, and their blog is very popular in the industry space. So getting sponsorship dollars pre launch is easier for them because there's an already existing track record of an audience building that the audience is already supporting, liking, engaging, consuming their content in other areas. So that's where you would really begin having the conversations with I'm adding a podcast to my marketing strategy. That's how you would start that conversation. I'm starting a podcast. I'm adding it to my existing marketing strategy. You already again, it's this whole idea of the phrase that we use is the implied affiliation. So they already have a know the quality of your work, they know your stature in the industry, or they know you as a brand or individual that's had track record of quality success and quality work in your space, so you're able to say to them, essentially, my podcast is going to be an extension of everything else that I've done. Would you like to basically grow along with me and have this first opportunity to really be aligned with me in my podcast strategy. So that's one area that you can start these conversations right away. And you can say, of course, because you're going to leverage that other audience to market your podcast, they would be included in all those other areas. The second way to do that if you're literally just starting out, and maybe you've worked for another company for a lot of years, and so building your own audience maybe wasn't necessarily a priority for you, because you were raising kids and going to work and working for that company. And now let's say you've started your own business and you're you're doing fine, but you don't have this audience that you've already amassed. In that case, you want to look at your personal network, and your personal network can be defined by people that your vendors that you've done business with, that again, they know you, but they know the audience is also going to want to get involved in the products that you sell. So talking to vendors that you already do business with, talking to people that like your CPA, your accountant, like people that know other people, you can ask them, I'm starting a podcast about this very specific niche topic. Do you know a business that might be interested in being marketed in this podcast? And so you want to have the conversations with people in your inner circle first, if you're just launching or if you have the smaller audience numbers, especially because they understand that they're taking a chance, yes, but it's a very low risk because of everything else that you bring to the table, they're willing to take that chance on you. And maybe it's something that you price lower for the first three to six months as your audience grows, and then they have the right to renew it, but at a higher rate that makes more sense as your audience has developed.

    Sara Whittaker 33:24

    Yeah, great ideas. And how cool would it be to start a podcast and already have a sponsor? That would be amazing, yeah?

    Traci DeForge 33:31

    Well, we have actually launched a podcast with over $28,000 in sponsorship monies, and they had zero social media following except for an X account, but they had very strong support of brands that they had built relationships with over the years, and those brands knew that they wanted to be aligned with these hosts, because these hosts were going to really represent their brand well. And three months into the sponsorship, one of the type the premium sponsorships, had already generated $17,000 in revenue from a promo code that was delivered only on the podcast. So those are the kind of stories that you you love to hear. Now I also kind of feel like it's like a weight loss commercial. These results are not typical, but they may not be typical, but they're factual, and that's why I like to share them, because that's what it's possible, yeah, and it has literally happened, and we talked about that, win, win, win for the win for the brand, win for the host, win for the audience. Everybody won in that the brand took the chance. The hosts were able to monetize out of the gate. The audience was able to get that promo code that was very was not disclosed anywhere else, and the brand, then the the cycle full came full circle, and they were able to make money on what they invested. So that is, to me, like the ideal scenario that's

    Sara Whittaker 34:58

    amazing. Yeah. What a great case study right there. That's fantastic. And yeah, hopefully that gives some of you hope that, like, you should go out and try this. Like I said, I'm not seeing people do this, especially in this education space, and I think there's so much opportunity and possibility, and it's really exciting to think about. If you don't mind me asking Tracy, as we kind of wrap up here, if people are listening and they're they're excited about this and they want to give this a try, could you maybe give them one piece of advice for them to get started with this process?

    Traci DeForge 35:32

    Yes, I think that to start where you are. And I think I say that phrase a lot, and I noticed that you said it in the course of our conversation. So I wanted to circle back to that like I've given so many exciting and enthusiastic examples of how it can work, but the thing that the absolute secret to the success of it working is how it's going to work for you. And what I mean by that is how it's going to work for you in that How comfortable do you feel having these conversations? And if you are uncomfortable having the conversation, what is a version of the conversation that you could start that you would be comfortable with? And if that is talking to a friend that owns a business locally that you've known for a long time to get feedback on whether or not they would be interested in sponsoring your show, just start a conversation, because getting feedback is going to give you confidence, and the more confidence you have, the more conversations you're going to be willing to have. And so I think, like just if you can lower the barrier and the concern around downloads and look at very diagnostically, look at your own show and what you bring to the table and what you can offer a brand. And then get super excited about having that conversation and figuring out a person to start having it with, that you feel comfortable having it with, and then grow from there. Because I just think that the majority of the things that are keeping people from doing this are time and bandwidth, and that's that's real. I can't change that for you. But even more so than that, sometimes time and bandwidth is procrastination around fear. And so if you can just give yourself permission and have grace to know that you might have to have this conversation a couple times before you even feel confident about it. You may have to have this conversation five or 10 times before you'll have somebody that'll be interested in coming back. So you've got to show up, you've got to follow up, you've got to follow through, and then you got to show up again, because you may do all of that and still not get to a yes, but the more you do it, the more comfortable you're going to be. And once you get that yes, then the possibilities are endless. Yeah.

    Sara Whittaker 37:47

    I mean, what like really? What do you have to lose but getting out there and talking to people and getting these conversations going? And I think a huge piece of it is, you know, finding the partnerships that would be a really good fit for you and your audience, that you're because if you feel good about who you're partnering with, and you really believe in what you're talking about, then you're going to feel good about presenting that to your audience. And so you know, if you can take a step back and think about who brainstorm who might be some good partnerships and get those conversations going. Such good advice. Thank you so much. I feel like, like my mind is kind of spinning with so many of the ideas that you talked about. And I know I've said it already, but I just think there is so much opportunity here, and I'm grateful for you coming on and having this conversation and sharing all of your knowledge around this before we really wrap things up. I like to end with a little, kind of, just for fun segment. So I like to end with what you're loving and what you're listening to. So what is something that you're loving lately? It could be, you know, anything, a routine, a recipe, anything.

    Traci DeForge 38:56

    Well, you know, it's ironically. I have recently discovered audio books. Oh, which is a very funny answer, because I've spent the majority of my professional life in broadcast radio and almost a decade in podcasting, but radio and podcasting are totally different than audiobooks, and so I I was recently on a workshop and personal travel, six week travel tour, if you will. And so audiobooks. I had train rides and some things like that, so I wanted to take a break from all the podcasts that I normally listen to, and I started digging into some audiobooks. So I just think that's kind of a fun thing to share about me. Personally. It's like, what do you mean? You're just discovering audiobooks. You've built your entire career on audio, but audio is different, though, yeah, yeah. And I just really love, like, I'm one of those people that love a tactical like, book and the pages, and I like to highlight and, like, Fold corners and all that kind of stuff. So audiobooks were never interesting to me because I couldn't hold them right on them, highlight them, yes. So that's probably my new my new thing. And so what was your second question? Yeah.

    Sara Whittaker 39:59

    Love it. What's something that you're listening to? So if you want to tell us an audiobook that you've listened to recently, or or anything else, it could be a podcast. It could be an audiobook. Okay, well, I

    Traci DeForge 40:09

    do listen to so many podcasts, but I think my new favorite that, and this is one of the larger podcasts, but I really, I'm a big fan of David Duchovny, and so his podcast around failure from a production side of things, I really love his personal genuine like delivery, how he shares personal stories within his show that make him so much more real. But then I love a production element that I'm seeing a lot lately, that we've actually built into a lot of the Discovery sessions for our own podcast, without me knowing he was doing this is how he does a recap at the end and shares the takeaways that he has from his guest and I, and I just think it's a very well produced show. I'm not loving that it has such a high ad overload in it, because there are multiple, multiple minutes of live reads in there, and that's why I'm hoping people really took away from this episode today about how to bring sponsors and ads into your show without disrupting your content. Because sadly, I do feel like that that is a disrupter but, but that is one of the the 10,000 downloads or more, yep, trials and tribulations you run into. So yeah,

    Sara Whittaker 41:17

    I haven't listened to his podcast. I'll have to check that out, but I agree. I mean, so many, so many of the, especially the bigger shows. Now the ad overload is insane, and it really does like there's definitely been shows that I've stopped listening to, because it just feels like it's every every few minutes there's an ad. So

    Traci DeForge 41:35

    one of the reasons people left radio to go to podcasting was because of that. And now that's happening, which, I guess it's your third question was, What's your biggest soapbox right now? That box right now? Yeah, but you know what? Remember why I broke the first time? Yeah.

    Sara Whittaker 41:51

    I've also seen, though, a lot of backlash from listeners like I've noticed a more ramp up on like reviews on Apple podcasts, a lot more people saying that in their reviews for these shows that are really overloaded, like it's definitely bothering people. So, you know, hopefully it'll swing back in the other direction, and people will take some of the advice that you've given us today.

    Traci DeForge 42:12

    I hope so.

    Sara Whittaker 42:14

    It's been a pleasure. Awesome. Well, before we go, Tracy, can you just tell everybody where they can find you online where, where they can learn more about you all of that good stuff.

    Traci DeForge 42:23

    Yes, well, the best way to connect with me is at produce your podcast.com and there's actually in our navigation tab, there's a tab that's growth. So if you click on the growth tab, you're going to be able to see lots more information. You know, around the sponsorship circle, our sponsorship coaching program, you can absolutely Connect for a call to learn more, to ask any questions, and just there's so many resources on that website, from everything that we talked about today, from production values to brands and sponsorships and monetization. And it's really a robust website. So I encourage you to visit producerpodcast.com and if you want to connect for a call, you can book it right there on the site. So we'd love to hear from you. We'd love to have you continue this conversation with us.

    Sara Whittaker 43:12

    Yeah, and great domain there that you got produce your podcast.com, how perfect.

    Traci DeForge 43:18

    Yes, that actually came out of so I was launching my first podcast in 2015 and looked around for a full service podcast production agency to help support me, and there wasn't one at the time. And I was like, I cannot believe that there's nobody that can help me produce your podcast. Oh my god. And then GoDaddy, and 10 years later, here we are. So it was, it was, has been an amazing journey. And my first podcast was journey to there. And I have to say this, this pathway in podcasting has been one of the best journeys of my life. It's been amazing the impact that you can make using your voice. I encourage everyone to share their voice, and hopefully they can align with brands that can help to support them in doing that, and that's really fundamentally what it's all about. Yeah,

    Sara Whittaker 44:05

    amazing. Gosh, I wanted to ask you one more thing. Oh, so do you all work with people, even people that maybe you're not producing a show for? Do you do exclusively sponsorship coaching with? Yes, people we do so

    Traci DeForge 44:19

    that. Thank you for clarifying that. So we do have a full service podcast production and marketing agency that we can do everything. Soup to nuts, yeah. But our sponsorship circle, which is our sponsorship coaching program, we work with podcasters of all sizes, and they do not have to be our production clients to participate in the sponsorship circle and the small group. Sponsorship circle is a combination of one on one and small group. And then we also can excel, have a growth accelerator on top of that, if, let's say, if you just really want to, it's a the sponsorship circle program is a six month program. But if you want to have an Excel. Accelerator version of that one on one. If you're coming up against a launch date, or if you have a special program or summit or something that you're doing that you really need some accelerated pace, quicker than the six months, then we can do an accelerated version of that one on one. So either of those options are available at any time. It's a rolling program, and you do not have to be a producer podcast client to benefit from that. So I'd encourage anyone, if they're interested, just to definitely check it out and connect with us. And we are typically all at any month. We can roll you into the program depending on when the live call is scheduled that you want to participate in. Perfect.

    Sara Whittaker 45:39

    That's amazing, and I will put all of those links and all of your information in the show notes so people can check that out. Well, Tracy, thank you so much. This has been a lot of fun. Thank you.

    Traci DeForge 45:50

    Well, thank you, and I just absolutely appreciate this opportunity to help people understand and feel less intimidated by having these conversations around sponsorship. And I am really want to be a tool and resource for you. If you've been listening today and you just are, like, really wanting to go to that next level, I hope you'll reach out and connect. Perfect. Yeah, I

    Sara Whittaker 46:09

    know that I've had some discussions about sponsorships with people who have been interested, and they just, they don't, they're kind of, you know, that paralyzed feeling like I don't know where to start. So head to Tracy's website, and I'd love to see some of you guys implementing this

    Traci DeForge 46:23

    Absolutely. We'll have to come back and do like a case study recap. Yes, I

    Sara Whittaker 46:28

    would love that. That'd be so fun. Thanks again to Tracy for sharing all of that great information about podcast sponsorships. A big takeaway for me was to remember that your podcast is your own, and you can be creative in the way that you go about gaining podcast sponsors. There's a lot of opportunity out there for podcast sponsors, and it's possible to make it a win, win, win for you, your sponsor and your audience. I would love to hear if you are going to go for sponsors for your show. You can always send me a message on Instagram at podcasting for educators. Or if you're in the podcasting for educators, private Facebook group, post in there if you need some help brainstorming on who would be a good fit sponsor for you. Thanks for being here today, and I'll catch you here next week. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. To keep this conversation going, connect with me on Instagram. At podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support in launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course, the podcasting for educators prep school. At podcasting for educators.com/prep, school. I'll see you here next time you

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Podcasting for Educators is the podcast for TpT authors and other online educators. It's a show that will help you get your podcast in front of those who need it most - teachers, counselors, literacy specialists, SLPs, parents, and more! Each week, Sara Whittaker and her guests will share top tips and actionable strategies that you will need in order to launch, manage, and grow your podcast. You’ll learn how to leverage your show to build long-lasting relationships with your audience and promote your TpT resources, courses, and memberships, all while providing valuable and accessible content!

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