There’s one big disclaimer to all of this, and believe it or not, I’ve met both podcasters and advertisers who cannot seem to wrap their heads around it:
In my experience, endorsement-style advertising works best when the host is genuinely excited about the product or service AND the advertiser delivers a positive customer experience for the audience.
The risk that it won’t is why some hosts don't add their personal endorsement or experience to their ads. They’ll take the advertiser’s money and they’ll read the ad, but they’ll stop short of personally endorsing it. This is because they want an “out” if things go sidewise and the association could potentially damage their credibility.
(Of course, an endorsement is still inferred by the advertiser’s association with the podcast and its hosts.)
There are also some hosts/networks out there that will advertise and endorse any product or service that wants to sponsor their podcast. (I’m not telling tales out of school here. Some podcast hosts have bragged about this in interviews and during their podcasts.)
Regardless, if the audience has a bad experience with an advertiser, they are going to complain to the podcaster. In the eyes of the fans, a bad sponsor can seriously damage credibility.
The trust a podcast and its audience have is incredibly important. It’s why this medium works.
If you can’t do right by the audience, you probably shouldn’t be advertising on podcasts.
For podcasters, authenticity and excitement are key to delivering a message. If it’s a product or service that you can use personally, you need to use it and love it (and not just because you might get paid to).
If it’s something outside of what you have a personal use for, you need to be able to understand it and how it’s benefiting others. Either way, you need to be a true believer and excited to share it with your audience.
If you can’t do that for an advertiser, you probably shouldn’t be advertising them on your podcast.
The business of podcast advertising is about creating win-win-win situations: the advertiser wins, the podcaster wins, and—most importantly and always—the audience wins.