Okay, I’m not here to be negative, but I need you to know something: podcast and blog sponsorships are often fake. No, the other podcast with only 20% more listeners isn’t really pulling in the amazing sponsors they say they are. Are they lying? Not really. See, most of the sponsorships for podcasts and blogs are really nothing more than affiliate programs.
Having set up arrangements for Multinewmedia.com to have sponsors that include Amazon, GreenGeeks, BestBuy, and others, I can tell you first hand that none of them were actual sponsorships. They were all affiliate programs with explicit approval to use the word “sponsor”. Even when some of these companies use the term sponsorship, they still are running affiliate programs at the end of the day and not offering any of the value-add that a true sponsor would bring: money, equipment, ideas, content, etc.
For this reason, and the amazing success of A.B. Gamma (my newest venture) in its first three months of testing, I’ve decided to be my own sponsor for Multinewmedia. Yes, A.B. Gamma is now the official sponsor for Multinewmedia. The relationship is fairly limited, but it already builds a better and more lucrative relationship that any that I built with the aforementioned “sponsorship” programs. A.B. Gamma can offer Multinewmedia content ideas, short training videos, and discounts for listeners and readers. Multinewmedia, in turn, can provide increased visibility, conversions, and a testing ground for uncertain concepts.
If you’re running a podcast or a blog and are currently tied into affiliate-style sponsorships that aren’t converting or generating any interest whatsoever, try looking for smaller organizations to truly partner with. If a sponsorship isn’t right for either of you just yet, then try some basic collaboration or co-branding of a new product or service extension. Find where true value lives in two-way relationships rather than peddling advertisements in a one-directional push for the same old sponsors. Your audience will thank you for not making them hear about Audible, GoDaddy, or SquareSpace for the 10,000th time in a day.
