How to Nail Your Podcast Advertiser Outreach

If you run a podcast, you might be thinking, “what’s the point of doing advertiser outreach? Brands who want to work with me will find me.” But it’s essential if you want to drive more revenue for your podcast and get onto the radar of advertisers who might not have considered podcast advertising a way to promote their brand.

According to the IAB, podcast advertising revenue is expected to reach $2 billion by 2024. The same report says that revenue in podcasting advertising has grown 75% year on year, compared to the total internet advertising revenue of 35% year on year. 

There is a huge opportunity here for podcasters and advertisers alike.

This article will go into more detail about the importance of advertiser outreach when you should do it, how to find advertisers who are interested in podcasting, and how to write effective emails to advertisers.

The Importance of Advertiser Outreach

There are many reasons why outreach is an excellent idea for a podcast, and one of the biggest is that being proactive is a benefit for the advertiser – they don’t have to do the work to find you. Especially if they are a more prominent brand – often, it can be difficult for them to invest time in finding relevant podcasters to work with. By approaching them first, it can help you get a yes.

It also means you’ll gain access to advertisers that might not have already considered podcasting as a way of driving revenue. Many brands focus on traditional content and influencer marketing to drive sales, and by proactively reaching out to them, they might be willing to experiment with this channel.

By choosing the advertisers you want to work with, this way, you will heavily target the ads to your podcast audience – this means that the chances are the conversion rate will be much higher than a standard ad from a brand that isn’t as relevant to your audience.

How to Find Advertisers Who Are Interested in Podcasting

It’s essential that you choose advertisers that match well with your audience, as you will have much more success with these advertisers. There are several ways you can find podcast advertisers.

• Podcast advertising networks are a great place to start as they will have advertisers who already work with other podcasters. You can sometimes list your podcast on these for free, and interested advertisers can contact you. If your podcast is a bit more niche, or you are still growing your audience, this might not be a good channel for you. 

Tip: Podcast advertising networks will often take a cut of your commission if you successfully partner with an advertiser.

• Listening to other podcasters in your niche can help you find advertisers that work with a similar audience to your podcast.
• Partner with a podcast hosting service. These can help you to monetize your podcast.
• Affiliate networks connect advertisers and publishers. Podcasters can utilize these networks to find advertisers who work on a commission basis and partner with them there. You can grab your personalized link and start promoting them.

Be sure to add your podcast to directories, as some advertisers will want to listen to your podcast before deciding to work with you. If you are easily findable, it can help you get a yes.

When Should You Reach Out to Advertisers?

Knowing when to reach out to advertisers is essential for success. With a podcast, you want to ensure that your listener engagement is high enough that it will drive sales to your chosen advertisers. 

Listener numbers are less critical for niche podcasts, but for more general podcasts, it’s more important to an advertiser as it can mean more revenue (for you and the brand you are working with). 

Suppose you have just started with podcast marketing strategies or just started your podcast itself. In that case, waiting until you have more listeners engaging with your content is probably better. There’s no magic number, but ensuring you have an engaged audience is critical.

How to Write Effective Emails to Advertisers

Knowing how to write an effective email to potential advertisers is critical to success. There are a few key strategies you can do to nail this. These are:

• Know who to reach out to
• Personalize your pitch
• Be clear about the value you offer
• Know which type of payment you are looking for
• Follow up

Know who to reach out to:

Finding out who is responsible for partnerships with content creators is a great way to ensure you get an answer. You can use tools like LinkedIn to search for the right person. If there isn’t anyone responsible for this, reach out to someone on the marketing team, as they will know who the right person is.

Personalize your pitch:

When you send a pitch, ensure you personalize it to the brand you are reaching out to. Be sure to use first names (not “to whom it may concern”) and tell them why their brand would be a good match for your podcast. A personalized message will succeed more than a generic copy/paste message.

Be clear about the value you offer:

When writing your email, ensure you are clear about what you bring to the table. Knowing your demographics, listener numbers, and conversion rate (if you already work with other advertisers) can help convince an advertiser to work with you. Let them know what placements you offer (pre-roll, midroll, or post-roll). By showing an advertiser what value you can bring, you are in a better position to negotiate. A media kit can help with this.

Know which type of payment you are looking for:

It’s also a great idea to know upfront what payment type you are looking for. There are a couple of options. Most marketers prefer a results-driven payment plan, but you can always try to negotiate.

• CPA – cost per action is popular among advertisers as there is no risk for them. This means that they would pay a percentage commission on any sales you are responsible for referring.

• CPM – cost per Mille, you get paid a set dollar amount per 1,000 downloads. This is only a viable option for more prominent podcasts with higher listener numbers.
• A flat-rate payment is when the advertiser pays you a set amount for the campaign.

Don’t hesitate to follow up:

Brands always have busy marketing departments, so don’t be afraid to follow up. Leave it between 1-2 weeks before you email them again. This way, it isn’t annoying, and you also jog their memory.

Build Relationships With Advertisers to Get Booked Again

Building relationships with your contacts is essential to get booked again. Once a campaign is over, be sure to share statistics with your advertiser and keep track of your campaign results.

 Keep in touch with them regularly and try to form good relationships so that they think of you for future advertisements or campaigns.

Start Pitching Advertisers Today

In conclusion, reaching out to advertisers is an essential part of podcasting. You can earn more revenue, reach advertisers who might not have considered podcasting and create more heavily targeted ads. 

To nail your pitch know who you need to reach out to, personalize the message, show your value, including how you want to get paid and follow up. 

By following these tips, you’ll be working with some fantastic advertisers in no time.

Ashley Howe works at Tapfiliate, a turn key affiliate, referral and influencer marketing tracking software. You can find here on LinkedIn here.