Looking over the past two years in Zimbabwe, so much has happened. Some bad, but there have been some considerably good developments. Today we shall be discussing an area that has been steadily rising lately. I am referring to the emergence of podcasts in Zimbabwe. Since 2019 I would always mention podcasts as a content creation option. However, I would mention it loosely because it was still not a thing in Zimbabwe. Now we have several local Zimbabwean podcasts. Let us delve into business models you can adopt for a podcast in Zimbabwe.

Advertising Model

This entails other brands paying for ad placement during your podcasts. The terms of how that is done will be up to you and your agreements with clients. Typically, such a business model involves slots allocated as ad space during podcasts. Broadly it can slot just before a podcast, during, e.g. at, strategic breaks, and after or as a podcast rounds off. It is usually recommended for ad slots to range from 10 seconds to 60 seconds. The amount of money you can make from this depends on your following size. The bigger it is, the more you can charge for ad placement.

Sponsorship Model

This business model is when a brand pays a particular amount to be featured throughout a podcast. Some may even offer to pay for a specified period of podcasts, e.g. over six months. Then you can agree on how that brand will be featured during your podcasts. There are many ways in which this can be done. Airing of ads is, of course, one of them. The other one is branding the podcast set on strategic items – if the podcast is streamed as video. Exploring the sponsorship business model more is important since it is often the most lucrative. Get to examine other established podcasts to learn more closely.

Direct Sales Model

This one entails you are selling your items using the podcast as a platform to generate leads. The items you can sell are up to your discretion. A basic example is pushing sales for another business that you own. For instance, let us suppose you have a clothing sales business. You can push its sales by tapping into your podcast’s followers. Another approach is to sell items such as merchandise. Your followers would want to buy branded items, especially if your podcast has grown into a huge brand. You can even sell online courses or digital products; endless possibilities exist.

Affiliate Marketing Model

Affiliate marketing has become one of the most common revenue models in many contexts. This usually entails selling other brands’ products or services and earning a commission. Commission can be per sale or a fixed amount you get for setting up affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing in this context typically involves the use of custom links. This means a custom link is created that prospects can click on if they want to buy the brand you are pushing. That makes it easier for the brand in question to know the click-through rate and sales originated by you.

In some cases, no links may be involved. For example, the operating environment in Zimbabwe may not be conducive for custom links. Thus affiliate marketing arrangements can be premised on fixed amounts. Overall it is up to what you can agree on with clients, but revenue potential is abundant.

Subscription Model

This business model usually follows the freemium model. This refers to free access to a certain degree and advanced access to premium content. The premium content is what one would have to pay a subscription for. The idea is to use free access to appeal to the audience’s curiosity. If your content is good, people will eagerly pay to access the premium content. This business model takes time to get to. Some may never graduate to get to this level. This is because your content must be exceptionally good for people to be willing to pay for it.

These are the business models you can adopt for a podcast in Zimbabwe. You can adopt them exactly as I laid them out. You can also tweak them and even come up with creative business models. You can and must adopt a multi-business model approach. Settling for just one business model can limit your revenue potential. It is important to not just settle for a business model. Let empirical data from market research back up your decision. I believe we have barely scratched the surface regarding podcasting in Zimbabwe. I say so because many of the current podcasts are still too ordinary.