EP325 - Podcast Update For Listeners: Sponsorships Are Coming To The Podcast

We have a big format change coming, and we wanted to tell you before you press play on Friday and hear something new. After running weekly since March 2020 as a fully self-funded passion project, we are accepting sponsorships on the podcast for the first time. It is a step we have considered for years, and we are only doing it now because it feels like the right moment to grow the show in a sustainable way without losing what makes it yours. 

Here is what matters most: the sponsors will be aligned with what we talk about and with what you actually do in your garden. You will not hear us promoting something random or irrelevant, and you will not get blasted with jingly, annoying audio that breaks the flow. Any advertising is kept natural, read in our own voice, and chosen to fit the audience and the theme of the podcast. 

We also explain the practical side, so there are no surprises. You may occasionally hear pre-roll before the main content, mid-roll during the episode, or post-roll at the end. It will not be on every episode, and it will not change the regular content or the weekly rhythm. If you have been with us for a long time, thank you for the support and trust, it is the reason we can take the next step. If you are new, welcome to Master My Garden. Subscribe, share the podcast with a fellow gardener, and leave a review, it helps more than you think.

Transcript

A Quick Heads Up

SPEAKER_00 0:12

How's it going everybody? So this is just a little note to let you guys, the listeners, know about some upcoming changes to the podcast. So podcast has been running basically on a weekly basis since March 2020, so quite a long time now.

Why Sponsorship Starts Now

SPEAKER_00 0:32

And it has been, I suppose, a passion project, all self-funded up until now. But I'm delighted to announce that I am accepting sponsorships on the podcast for the first time. Over the last number of years, there have been various offers and approaches from companies to sponsor the podcast in various ways. And for various reasons, I never felt the time was right. And I've sort of paused on all of that. But now it's kind of time to, I suppose, take a thing, take things to the next level. And so yeah, I am accepting sponsorship. And from this Friday, from this week's episode, there will be sponsors on the podcast. And yeah, I'm kind of excited about it because it it'll mean that hopefully going forward I'll be able to expand the reach a little bit. Um so for the last number of years, you know, we've listeners all over the all over the world, particularly focused on Ireland, as you guys know. But I suppose this will just give a little bit more um opportunity to expand that reach a little bit further. And I suppose, as I say, this has all been self-funded up until now, so maybe uh get something back from the podcast as

Keeping Ads Relevant And Natural

SPEAKER_00 1:49

such. So yeah, it's it's something that I didn't, you know, the decision that I didn't take lightly because I respect you listeners, you know, and I respect your time, but these will be very, very much aligned. The they won't be jingly and uh won't be that type of an ad, it'll be still in my own voice and all of that things, all of that sort of thing. So it'll be a very, very natural feel to it. And as I say, aligned companies, you know, I'll work with aligned companies to you know bring their message onto the podcast. And and that's kind of the the the idea of it. Uh I felt it was important not to just spring it on you guys on Friday and just have a you know a little little note beforehand to to tell you what was happening so that when you listen to your regular episode you know and you hear a different format that you know what it is. And so that's what it is, as I say, for almost six years, just over six years now, I've been doing this podcast on a weekly basis, and yeah, there has been lots of opportunities and offers to have sponsors on previously, but now I feel it's the right time and yeah, it'll it'll help it'll help you know expand the reach, as I say. It it is definitely it's important that you know sponsors will be aligned with what we talk about on the podcast as well, so it'll all be re very relevant. Like you won't hear me advertising something that has absolutely no relevance to you guys in your garden. So relevant, aligned and and you know, suitable for for the podcast in my own voice and not jingly and annoying in the middle of an episode.

Where Ads Will Appear

SPEAKER_00 3:37

But there will be so there'll be pre-roll, so before we get into the main episode, there will be sometimes ads there, uh mid-roll, which is kind of in the middle of the episode again. Sometimes there will be ads there, and post-roll at the very, very end. Occasionally there'll be ads there. They're not it's not going to be there all the time, it won't be there on every episode, but um it is something that's come to the podcast, and I have some lovely sponsors for the first couple of weeks. So I just wanted to let you

What Stays The Same

SPEAKER_00 4:06

guys know that. Um, yeah, as I said, listeners are important, your continued support is important, and but it is time to, I suppose, start to push out the podcast a little bit further, and you know, taking sponsors on board will help me do that. So just wanted to let you guys know, um won't change the regular content, won't change the regularity of the content, it still still will be you know weekly at least. And you know, the the type of content won't change, the episodes won't change, but it will just have that little that little kind of ad will be built in and stitched into the episodes, hopefully in a very natural way, that it will be seamless, but also something that's going to be beneficial because I'm going to be bringing the the company's credentials and products to your eyes and ears, and you know, hopefully they'll get something out of it, you guys will get something out of it, and everybody wins. So that's that's the that's the message here. I just wanted to, as I say, I didn't want to spring this just on the first Friday that you know that I have sponsors on because this Friday there is sponsors coming on, and I didn't want to just spring it on you guys, the listeners, um, because yeah, I as I say I you know have a have a loyalty towards you guys and uh wanted to let you know before before it it sort of hits you. So that's uh essentially it.

Closing Thanks And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Looking forward to Friday's episode where you will hear from sponsors for the first time. It's an exciting time for Master My Garden podcast, and yeah, personally I'm really looking forward to the next couple of months of this. So that's been this week's episode, and thanks for listening. Until the next time, happy garden.