馃攳
How We Make $1M A Year From Our Podcast - YouTube
Channel: Leveling Up with Eric Siu
[0]
Today, we are going to talk about
how we make $1 million a year from
[4]
our podcast.
[5]
So the podcast I am talking
about is marketing school.
[9]
So that is the daily
marketing podcast that I do.
[11]
I've done it for about three years.
[13]
I have a cohost for that podcast.
[15]
The way we do it, I'll give you a
couple of practical tips, but I'll
[17]
talk about the deal itself.
[18]
So the deal we have
is the annual deal.
[21]
And it's close to
a million dollars.
[24]
It basically pays us a
month, but it is a contract.
[26]
So what I learned initially, what
we learned, I should say, is if we
[30]
can publish a daily podcast,
because a lot of people pay based
[33]
on not necessarily the number of
downloads per podcast, but they pay
[38]
on.
[39]
The downloads we get per month.
[40]
So right now, because we're getting
$1 million a month, let's say we
[43]
charge a $60 CPM, a CPM is
cost per thousand impressions.
[47]
So 1000 times 60
is $60,000 a month.
[50]
$60 CPM is very high.
[52]
But the other thing I'll say is if
you have a podcast, it's getting a
[55]
lot of downloads and it's in
a, it's in a niche that is
[57]
very relevant.
[58]
So we're in marketing and if we
talk about software or whatever,
[61]
people are going to
listen to us, right?
[62]
If you can make it daily, do it.
[64]
The way I do it daily is we batch
our episodes, my cohost and I, we
[69]
have busy schedules.
[70]
So we will do it, you know, once
or twice, three times, maybe three
[73]
times a month.
[74]
And from there, we're able to
constantly be ahead by months.
[77]
Do you want to make sure that.
[78]
You are, at least for us, because
our, our frequency is above.
[82]
That's how we or our
frequency is daily.
[85]
That's how we're getting
so many downloads.
[86]
We do get about 20 to 25,000
downloads per episode, which is not
[93]
so not so bad.
[94]
If you are starting out, if you
have some kind of audience, let's
[96]
say, have an audience on YouTube,
you have an audience on Instagram,
[99]
you have audience.
[100]
Or you have an email list as well.
[101]
Utilize those audiences.
[103]
Tell them that you're launching
this podcast and when you launch,
[105]
you want to get on
new and noteworthy.
[107]
But the way you get a new and
noteworthy is that sure you're
[109]
having a lot of people talking
about it and a lot of people are
[111]
listening to it, but you're also
consistent, meaning that when you
[114]
launch.
[115]
Lunch with five
episodes if you can.
[117]
If you're not going to do daily,
do weekly, but launch at the same
[120]
time.
[120]
It's almost like a show, like
a, like a TV show, right?
[123]
You want to launch in like the
same, typically the same days,
[125]
maybe, maybe around the same time
herself, but that way people know
[129]
what to expect and if you're in the
new and noteworthy, that's going to
[132]
give you a bump as well.
[133]
Usually when people launch and they
get on a new and noteworthy, they
[135]
shoot up on a list and then
eventually they settle back down,
[139]
which is fine.
[139]
Right?
[140]
And the other thing I'll say too is
if you want to make good money on
[143]
your podcast.
[145]
You can use a host.
[145]
I mean, we use Libsyn, and then we
post, whenever we post one podcast,
[149]
it goes to Spotify, it goes to
Apple, it goes to Google play.
[152]
It's basically publishing to
seven different areas at once.
[155]
So you want to take
advantage of that.
[156]
You know, you want to make sure
that you're repurposing to all
[158]
those channels and where you're.
[159]
Where it's very native to those
channels as well and consistency.
[163]
So what I'll say about my first
podcast, which is those of you that
[167]
are listening to this right now
does actually go to the leveling up
[169]
podcasts.
[170]
After the first year, I was only
getting 9 downloads a day and I was
[172]
spending six hours a
week on the podcast.
[174]
After the second year, I was
on getting 30 downloads a day.
[176]
I wasn't making any money at all.
[178]
But what I learned was that I was
consistent because I was going
[181]
after the right goal.
[182]
My goal was to learn, and even when
I interview people right now, still
[185]
on the leveling up podcast, which
you should listen to as well.
[187]
I learn something new.
[188]
I get like today, I was
interviewing in in the morning and
[192]
we set up some collaboration deals.
[194]
I'm probably going to speak
at this guy's conference.
[195]
This guy might speak at
my conference as well.
[197]
I'm going to be in his magazine,
we're gonna try to do other
[199]
collaborations as well.
[200]
It's just, it makes sense.
[201]
It's a very, it's a very
symbiotic relationship.
[203]
I had another
interview this morning.
[205]
basically we're just
talking about investing.
[209]
We're just nerding out on stuff.
[210]
And then we're talking about, you
know, potentially hanging out in
[212]
LA.
[212]
So think of what your
goal is for your podcast.
[215]
Don't necessarily think about
just making money off the gate.
[217]
Cause if your initial
goal is to make money.
[219]
You're probably not going
to make money, right?
[221]
Unless you're like a large, you
know, NPR or something like that.
[225]
You, you've already got the
audience and then you're, you're
[226]
optimizing for revenue goals.
[227]
But the vast majority of you that
are listening to this right now
[230]
focus on the goal.
[232]
The goal could be learning.
[233]
And then from there, eventually,
once you start to build an
[235]
audience, then you can
think about monetization.
[236]
Because for the marketing school
podcast, we did it for three years.
[239]
Imagine this, we were getting
hundreds of thousands up to a
[242]
million or plus downloads a month,
and we didn't monetize it for the
[246]
longest time.
[247]
We didn't see a reason to.
[248]
We just want to keep
building the audience.
[250]
I didn't monetize leveling up
podcast for the longest time, and
[253]
now it's finally monetized.
[255]
But just keep in mind like you are
playing the long game here and to
[259]
build the network, to build a
community, to build up content.
[262]
It just takes time.
[263]
All good things take time.
[264]
And the other thing I'll say
too, is listened to the feedback
[268]
recently.
[269]
Had someone message me on, I think
it was Twitter, and one guy's like,
[272]
I'm so sick of your sinuses, Eric.
[274]
So he, he sent me a link to buy
a neti Potter or neti Porter or
[279]
whatever.
[280]
Neti pot!
[281]
So I have a neti pot sitting at
home right now, and now I'm going
[283]
to have to use the thing because
the guy gave me the feedback and
[285]
he's like, please just
use this thing first.
[287]
I could've said, F you- F you.
[289]
That's not nice, but
it's real feedback.
[291]
So I'm going to take, I'm going to
take advantage of that feedback.
[293]
And the next time when I actually
start using it, it's still in a box
[295]
right now.
[296]
But whoever's listening to this
that I forgot who said it already,
[299]
but you can bet your ass
I'm going to sound amazing.
[302]
All right.
[302]
Now find the right partner.
[304]
Most podcast deals are maybe for a
month or three months or so, but if
[307]
you can find a deal
where it makes sense.
[309]
So for example, DreamHost sponsors
the leveling up podcast, they
[312]
sponsored market school podcast.
[313]
But it makes sense because a lot
of people listening, they are maybe
[316]
looking to, they're building new
websites or maybe they're looking
[318]
to start a business.
[319]
A lot of people are starting out.
[320]
So it makes sense given the, the
marketing school brand that we
[324]
have, and also at the same time, it
makes sense given that, you know,
[328]
the stuff that we're teaching, it
just, it's the right audience at
[330]
the right time.
[331]
So if you're going to negotiate a
deal, you can say, Hey, you know
[334]
what?
[334]
Let's negotiate something for one
month, two months, three months or
[337]
so.
[337]
If it goes, well, let's
extend it to a year.
[339]
So you want to set a contract off
and say, Hey, we'll do it for three
[341]
months.
[341]
If it looks good after three
months, let's come back to the
[343]
table and let's make
an annual thing.
[345]
And that's how we made
it an annual thing.
[346]
If you can't do that, if you don't
want to, if you don't know who to
[348]
look to.
[349]
You can always use a, you can
always use a service like advertise
[352]
cast.
[352]
They actually have, salespeople
that would go out there and they'll
[355]
go sell stuff for you.
[356]
Advertise casts actually is a
sponsor on our on the single grain
[360]
website as well.
[361]
So just full disclosure there,
there's a lot of different services
[364]
out there that are like that.
[365]
The final thing, I've kind of
touched upon this point already,
[366]
but try to do annual, if you can,
again, set the deal up where they
[370]
get a taste of it and if they feel
good about it, then they'll renew
[373]
for annual.
[373]
And then you also want to build a
relationship too, because what we
[376]
added on top of the podcast.
[377]
Is we added the ability to get
access to the conference that we
[381]
have coming up, and we also gave
access to other things that we
[384]
typically wouldn't give people
access to, such as a meeting with
[387]
Neil and myself to help with, you
know, kind of quarterly planning
[390]
around marketing and
giving the right tips.
[392]
Because this is, this is a big
company where if we help pull a
[394]
couple levers, they're
going to grow a lot faster.
[396]
So it's actually really worth it
for them to, to do a deal like this
[400]
because they should
be getting at least.
[403]
You know that amount in value,
if not a multiplier on that.
[406]
All right, so let me know what
you think in the comments.
[408]
Do you think I missed anything?
[409]
Do you have any other questions
about getting to you know, helping
[413]
to build a podcast to, to monetize.
[415]
And, if you're coming from YouTube,
don't forget to check out the next
[418]
video over there and
don't forget also YouTube.
[420]
Hit the subscribe on the bell
button and we'll see you tomorrow.
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage