The bCast Blog

Let's welcome our guest writer Oleksandr Rohovnin!

In 2021, 78% of the U.S. population was aware of podcasting — compared to only 22% in 2006 — as the medium grew in popularity with 120 million active listeners.

As podcast audiences continue to grow, so have the marketing power and profitability driven by podcasts. Without a doubt, strategically placed affiliate links in a podcast can significantly boost revenues for the advertiser and commissions for the affiliate.

• White-label affiliate link tracking software from Phonexa will help you create data-driven affiliate campaigns, track the performance of your publishers, and issue fair and timely payouts, keeping you ahead of the competition. Granular reports, fraud protection, automated commission payouts, and other features within Phonexa’s unique lead management software suite will take your affiliate marketing to the next level.

Whether your podcast focuses on global warming, life insurance, or online gaming, you can make extra money through a relevant affiliate program. In theory, it’s as easy as promoting a coupon code or a trackable link from your advertiser. In practice, you must possess deep knowledge to choose a suitable advertiser, plan your podcast appropriately, and endorse the product in the right way at the right time to the right audience.

With no further ado, let’s take a deep dive into how you can make money with your podcast without sacrificing your reputation or dealing with other unfavorable consequences of promoting third-party products.

How Do an Affiliate Partnership and the Placement of Affiliate Links Work?

An affiliate partnership is when a publisher (affiliate, content creator) promotes an advertiser’s (merchant's) product in exchange for a commission based on clicks, views, or any other target action outlined in the affiliate agreement. For those new to the field, resources like The Affiliate Lab Review and Authority Hacker provide valuable insights and guidance on how to navigate and succeed in affiliate marketing.

Affiliate links in a podcast – or wherever they are placed – connect publishers and advertisers, measuring the profits the former brought to the latter. Likewise, affiliate links help advertisers collect statistics on the performance of their marketing channels.

Here’s how affiliate links in a podcast work:

1. You place a unique affiliate link in the show notes, on social media, on your website, or wherever your podcast is promoted or featured. This link records the traffic from your podcast using a unique ID assigned to you by your advertiser.
2. As your listeners purchase the advertised product using your link – or perform any other target action per the affiliate agreement – you earn a commission from the proceeds as per the affiliate agreement.

The good news is that as a content creator, you don’t have to worry about the technical aspect of tracking affiliate links. Most affiliate partners will track links and other marketing statistics using click tracking software such as Phonexa’s Lynx platform. You do, however, need to confirm that your advertiser is reliable and you can trust them (especially if you don’t get access to their software to check the statistics).

Step 1 – Find a Suitable Affiliate and Product for Your Podcast

The number one rule is that the product must be relevant to the topic of your podcast, your ideas, and your values. Otherwise, you would hardly make any sales and – more importantly – endanger your reputation.

Here’s how you can find a decent affiliate program:

1. Understand your audience. You must collect and analyze data from your listeners to obtain a profound grasp of your audience. But if you haven’t, here’s the data you need to customize the podcast for your target audience:

1. Demographics: location, age, gender, occupation, income, education, marital status, ethnicity, etc.
2. Psychographics: values, interests, attitudes, lifestyle, behavior, etc.

To understand whether a product is worth promoting, evaluate how many listeners may find this product helpful and whether it helped you (and if it didn’t, think twice about whether the product is a good choice). Advertising something you’ve tried yourself or, even better, are using daily will boost your credibility and sales.

2. Research available advertisers. Again, promoting what you're already using is the path of least resistance. For a podcast on traveling, a backpack or camera you’ve been relying on throughout your travels will be an excellent match. The unique product history and experiences sell the product on its own, thus eliminating the need for a hard sales pitch.

Alternatively, you can search for an untested product that addresses your listeners’ burning needs and wants or has incredible potential to improve their lives. Usually, finding the right match isn’t hard – the global market is abundant with unconventional products of untapped potential.

3. Choose the program that resonates with you. Besides the relevance of your advertiser, their spotless background, and verifiable track record, consider the following technicalities:

1. The toolkit. Joining an affiliate program isn’t just about getting a promotional link. Many advertisers will share creative materials, give marketing insights on the product, and even share access to the software if it can help you promote or ensure that the affiliate is fair.
2. The payment model. There are several ways you can earn your commission – for clicks, views, sales, impressions, and more – allowing you to choose what fits your business model and the spirit of your podcast. 
3. The cookie window. The cookies window indicates how much time your customers have to purchase the product until it is no longer counted as a commission sale. Obviously, the more purchase time your listeners have, the better for you.
4. The affiliate agreement. Perusing the affiliate agreement is a must before committing to an affiliate program, as the language and the level of detail in the agreement can say a lot about an advertiser.

The ultimate advice is to play to your strengths by choosing a product that is a natural extension of your podcast. In the end, the most valuable product will prevail.

Step 2 – Promote Affiliate Links in a Podcast Wisely

How to advertise a product on your podcast depends on your niche, audience, the subject matter of the podcast, and many other factors, rendering any one-size-fits-all strategy useless. However, some ideas might help.

Here are some key strategies you can use to advertise affiliate links in a podcast:

• Dedicate a podcast episode to promoting affiliate products. A separate episode focused on an affiliate product is one of the least risky ways to advertise, as it will likely attract high-intent listeners. In addition to that, you may also garner interest from low- or medium-intent listeners who regularly listen to your podcast.
• Insert an ad block in the podcast. Breaking the podcast for an ad block may be effective, but only if it reinforces the topic of focus. For downloaded podcasts, though, isolated ad blocks are frequently skipped.
• Invite an expert to talk about the product. Inviting an expert — be it a scientist, celebrity, or another notable figure — to talk about the product will help you draw more sales and boost your credibility.
• Place affiliate links in the show notes. Show notes are the most organic place to feature your call to action, cross-promote, interconnect your podcasts, and SEO-optimize your content to make it visible on Google.
• Localize your links. If your advertiser promotes to an international audience, make sure to localize your links so listeners from Australia will land on the Australian version of the website, not the European one. Likewise, keep an eye out for changes and broken links.

Last but not least, as much as you might be tempted to disguise your promotion, it’s usually better to openly declare that the advertised product is affiliated and that you will earn a commission from each sale. If you do that, your listeners won’t feel deceived, and the transparency will further enhance your credibility.

Top-tier Affiliate Programs To Start With

Here are the three reputable affiliate programs you can start with:

• Amazon Associates. Amazon Associates allows you to receive up to a 10% commission from any product in their catalog. Since a payout is triggered when your customer adds a product to the cart, an actual purchase isn’t needed to receive your commission.
• eBay Partner Network. eBay Partner Network is less rewarding than Amazon Associates – up to a 4% commission from a sale, capped at $500 ($500 is the maximum cap; the actual upper limit depends on the product) – but is generally a good choice. Like Amazon Associates, eBay Partner Network allows you to advertise any product they sell.
• ExpressVPN. Around 75% of internet users in the United States proactively seek ways to protect their privacy online, making a VPN a versatile choice for promotion — and not just for cybersecurity podcasts either. You don’t necessarily have to advertise ExpressVPN – it’s just that they sell a VPN router in addition to the VPN software, which may tip the scales in your favor.

But then again, the name of the brand behind the program is less important than the freedom to promote the product you want the way you want. You may even choose a local product if it appeals to you and your listeners.

Focus On Being a Podcaster, Not a Salesman

Regardless of how you execute your affiliate marketing, don’t forget that you’re a podcaster first and foremost, not a salesman. It is the quality of your content that triggers affiliate sales and – more importantly – makes people follow you.

The Bottom Line

Not only can affiliate links recover the production costs of your show, but they can become one of your main income sources. However, this secret marketing weapon will only work if you’ve laid the groundwork for it: segmented your audience, targeted your show, and made sure your links add value.

Last but not least, remember that any promotion, including affiliate links, puts your reputation on the line. Put quality first to grow your listenership and earn more as an affiliate.