Duct Tape Marketing: Making Money from Podcasting

This interview is part of my series “Making Money from Podcasting” (read summary “9 Successful Techniques for Making Money from Podcasting”) where I interview podcasters who are actually generating revenue from their podcasts. There are many techniques, and here’s one person’s tale of how he’s making money from podcasting.

Build your brand to sell your services

John Jantsch is a marketing and digital technology coach and author of “Duct Tape Marketing”, which is also the name of his podcast and his company. He started the Duct Tape Marketing brand, a template for small business marketing, about seven years ago and two years after that, launched his podcast. Jantsch is amazed how just having a show, even though completely unknown at the time and with very few listeners, gave him tremendous access to well known people and authors. It was a great way to make an introduction. He simply sent an email that said, “Interview request.” Not knowing who Jantsch was at the time, many well known people, including social media luminaries such as Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki, agreed to be on his podcast. Those interviews initiated relationships that resulted in both Godin and Kawasaki contributing to Jantsch’s book.

Interview (Time: 9:51)

[audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/davidspark/Making_Money_From_Podcasting-Duct_Tape_Marketing.mp3]

Download MP3

Interviewing major industry heavyweights increased his recognition and built his brand and cache within the industry. It’s unclear where the brand building really came from – the book, the blog, the speeches, the podcast. Jantsch says it’s all part of one giant soup that’s been a very exciting journey for him.

Not only has he generated revenue for his business with an increased brand recognition, but the audience he’s built with the sponsorship has resulted in several six-figure podcast sponsorships, says Jantsch.

The Duct Tape Marketing brand has exploded in the past five years. Since starting the podcast, things have changed dramatically. Jantsch estimates that his business has grown more than 500 percent and he works a lot less. How did he do it? By first working really hard. Listen to our interview.

More episodes of “Making Money from Podcasting”

• Never Not Funny (Technique: “Partial show for free – full show paid”)
• Personal Life Media (Technique: “Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it”)
• Pregtastic (Technique: “Get your own sponsors”)
• Elsie’s Yoga Class (Technique: “Sell an iPhone application along with your podcast”)
• Mac OS Ken (Technique: “Give away five shows for free, make them pay for the sixth”)
• Alaska HDTV (Technique: “Get your own sponsors”)
• ScreenCastsOnline (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
• Izzy Video (Technique: “Give away every other episode. Make them pay for the rest.”)
• Slate Gabfests (Technique: “Integrating sponsorship with the show’s editorial”)
• Wizzard Media (Technique: “Got audience? We’ll get you sponsors. Or, get sponsors on your own and we’ll insert the ads” PLUS “Sell an iPhone application along with your podcast”)
• Premiumcast.com (Technique: “Build an audience and sell premium podcasts”)
• Manager Tools (Technique: “Build your brand to sell your services”)
• ESPN (“Build your own media network of programming and sell advertising against it”)
• Mevio (Technique: “Motivate your audience”)

David Spark, a partner in Socialmedia.biz, helps businesses grow by developing thought leadership through storytelling and covering live events. Contact David by email, follow him on Twitter and Google Plus or leave a comment below.