I’ve been working on my podcast since 2020, but it was only recently that I put together a simple media kit for the show. I was beginning to think about pitching sponsors and realized I needed to provide some numbers. Earlier this year I applied to work with a Podcast Marketing Agency that helps you find sponsors for your show, but was turned down because my download numbers weren't high enough. But since I've taken the show from twice a month to weekly, my reach has grown.
What numbers did I need to include in a media kit, though? My podcast is very niche, covering missing people and cold cases in North and South Carolina, so I feel like my download numbers are modest. But I think the statistics are subjective depending on who you talk to. When I told a local podcaster who also runs a niche podcast that I am averaging 1,000 downloads per episode, he said, “Wow, that’s really good!” But then I also hear that major brands don’t want to work with podcasts unless they have around 50,000 downloads per month. My podcast had nowhere near that kind of reach. However, I read on the website for The Podcast Host that if a podcast episode receives more than 484 downloads, it is in the top ten percent of podcasts. Really? There are a lot of podcasts out there!
I went to the website Canva because I’ve used their templates for various projects in the past. And lo and behold, they had a few free templates for podcast media kits. Voila! I took one of their simpler designs and tweaked the content a bit. On the first page, I put a logo of the show and added a mission statement. I included how many episodes have been produced to date, the total plays since launching in May 2020, and the number of plays as of now in 2023.
On the second page, I added in a few different reviews of the show. Then I went and asked my husband, who has worked in marketing and branding for various corporations over the years, if he could help me put together a chart showing the show’s organic growth since launching. The bottom of that page included the social media accounts for the show, the website, and a snapshot of our listener demographics.
What I didn’t include: I haven’t done a lot yet to grow my social media channels for the podcast, so I didn’t include the numbers of those followers, or those of my modest e-mail newsletter list. Instead, I focused on where the numbers looked more impressive, such as how the show has grown more than 54 percent year over year. Because I built the media kit in Canva, I can easily go in and update it each month with new stats and upload the new version to my website. You can check out the media kit
here.
Have you put together a one or two-page sheet for any of your writing products or offerings? I’d love to see other examples!
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4 comments:
You've done so much with this! You are actually tempting me to throw my hate into the podcasting ring.
I love your media kit, Renee! It's great to talk stock in your accomplishments and one way is by looking at your numbers, which have grown exponentially! I'm glad you posted your media kit on your site. I need to update WOW's downloadable one sheet. WOW has a page where advertisers can purchase newsletter sponsorships, and I've noticed that sales pages are more enticing than media kits. Like our Book Promotion Services tab on this blog. I think people like to know the basic pricing in advance and what they're going to get for that price. It's annoying when you have no idea of the ballpark and have to reach out just to see if it's even in your budget. You might consider adding a sponsorship page with packages and pricing to your MitC site to make purchases easier and more enticing. And then have a downloadable media kit, as well as online, because if it's a larger company or corporation, the marketing director can bring the PDF to show at their meeting as well as pricing, etc. I bet most people think it's super expensive to advertise on your podcast when it's probably pretty affordable. What I like about podcast advertising is once it's out there, it's out there long term and people who listen to archives will hear the ad, so the advertising has a longer reach and run.
Sue--Do it! I have plenty of resources I can show you if you're interested.
Ang--Good idea about having the downloadable PDF on the site, too. I went and took a look at the sponsorship page for WOW! and it looks great. I think part of me has been hesitant to put a set dollar amount on promotions because I haven't had my content calendar planned out way in advance yet AND I still feel like my reach isn't impressive enough (there's that imposter syndrome again). But who knows, it never hurts to try. For my limited series podcast about the cold case, I do want to put together a package to send specifically to people in the area where the show takes place because it's a huge travel and tourism destination and place for listeners who like good food and breweries. So much to do, LOL!
Renee, I love your media kit two-pager! It toplines your highlights and is skimmable and impactful. Nice work! As for hearing that your podcast doesn't have enough downloads, that sounds like the tired refrain of: "You don't have enough social media followers." Is there a more demoralizing statement? Ugh! I still don't buy into that. Just because someone follows someone else on social media doesn't mean they are going to buy a book from them. I think your podcast stats are great. Shout it from the rooftops!
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