FAQ: Podcast Sponsorship - Why No Ads? And How You Can Help Keep It That Way

I have a question for you. Have you noticed that there are no sponsored ads on my podcast? Maybe you haven’t even noticed or thought about it because there’s been no reason to. 

I want to take a minute to talk about the topic of ads and sponsorships, as I sometimes get these questions.

I hope to keep my podcast ad-free for as long as possible, and maybe indefinitely. I’m doing this because I personally hate listening to ads on podcasts, and I don’t want to put you all through that either. 

That’s not to say that I’ll never have sponsored content. Never say never. I have turned down several sponsor requests because, in all honesty, it’s not worth a few dollars for me to go through all the trouble of creating and managing ads. 

Don’t laugh at me if sponsored content pops up on my podcast at some point in the future though. However, I do want my listeners to know that I am very protective of you all, and I’m not going to promote something just because someone wants to pay me. 

I’m actually making it really difficult for someone to become a sponsor of this podcast and, to be honest, I’m not sure that anyone will actually make the cut. And I’m totally okay with that.

There’s several criteria to be met, in addition to the ad specifics. First of all, it has to be a product or service that I personally use myself and absolutely love. Second, I would have to believe that you all would also be interested in or benefit from the product or service. Third, the company has to be deemed as “good” in my eyes. For example, they are good to their employees and good to the environment.

Fourth, the ad space is going to cost a shit ton of money - an amount that I don’t believe anyone would want to pay - so there’s that. Fifth, I’ll not be following the traditional model of advertisements with statistics and formulas to calculate the cost. There will be a set price (that is going to be outrageous, mind you) for me to talk about the product in my own words and add it to the beginning of the podcast for a season. 

For example, if I were to do a sponsorship for my podcast right now, I might make between a few dollars and up to $300 a year, which is much less than my hourly rate, and I know that it would take me more than an hour to manage the sponsorship and ads for the entire year, so it’s just not worth it for me. 

And lastly, I’ll not do any baked-in ads or sponsorships that stay for the life of the podcast. The cost of the ad will be for the season that it is purchased and will go away after that time period. I do this because I want to have the peace of mind that if a sponsor turns bad, I’ll not have their content baked into all my episodes. So if we find out that so-and-so company that sponsored an ad on my podcast turns out to be evil, I don’t have to worry about it haunting me. 

Anyway, since I sometimes get questions about why I don’t have ads or sponsors, I wanted to address the topic. 

I do, however, talk about products that I love from time to time on my podcast and this is just to share the things that I’m currently enjoying with you. And, if you’ve been a listener since the beginning, you may remember the “What I’m Digging” segments from year 1 where I talked about products and services that I loved. A few of the things that I mention may have an affiliate link, and others do not. 

The same principle goes for any products or services that I’m an affiliate for. I’ll never recommend something that I don’t personally use and love. 

I sometimes lump affiliate marketing into the whole passive income camp. You’ve got to put a lot of time, effort, and energy for anything to become passive and lucrative. 

So I don’t do affiliate marketing or passive income streams to get rich. Far from it. I might get like $10 a year if you click on some of my links. 

I bring this up because I’d absolutely love to keep ads off of my podcast. And you can help me do that by showing your support. So, if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while and have found the content beneficial, I’d love it if you could show your support. 

Monetary support is always appreciated, however, there are many other ways of showing support that are just as valuable. 

Here are 4 options of showing your support that will only take a minute of your time…

Number 1: Telling a friend about this podcast. Someone who you think could benefit. I’m super stoked for each and every new listener.

Number 2: Sharing one of your favorite episodes on social media, whether it be on your personal or your business profile. 

Number 3: Following me on Instagram and Facebook and stopping by my posts to say hi. I’m grateful for every comment and share of my posts.

Number 4: Reviews are absolute magic and there are several ways that you can support me in this way. One is by leaving a 5 star review on Apple podcasts. Another is by leaving a recommendation on the Mountain Practice Journeys facebook page. And leaving a 5 star Google review for Mountain Practice Journeys would be absolute gold. 

Here are 3 options for monetary support…

Number 1: Clicking through some of the affiliate links for the products and services that I love. You can find a list of my favorite things on my website at mountainpracticejourneys.com/favorite-things 

Number 2: Purchasing some fun apparel at the Mountain Practice Journeys store. You can find a link to the store at mountainpracticejourneys.com/merchandise 

Number 3: Making a donation through the “support the show” link in the show notes. $5 gets me a scrumptious London Fog Latte at my favorite coffee shop, and $20 means that you will have paid for the Mountain Practice Journeys podcast to be up and running for an entire month. 

If you support me and the show by purchasing apparel or by making a donation, I’d love to give a shoutout to you on the podcast, as well as share a snippet about your business. So if you’re interested just shoot me an email at mountainpracticejourneys@gmail.com and let me know that you made a purchase or donation and let me know a bit about you and your business so that I can introduce you to my audience. 

All the ways that you can support will be detailed in the show notes for this episode. 

I truly appreciate you listening in and I thank you for helping me to keep the Mountain Practice Journeys podcast ad free.