Photo Taco Sponsorship Information
About The Host
My name is Jeff Harmon. I am married and have three incredible children who all come first in my life. I am a full time Information Security professional who has worked in technology (mostly software development) for over 30 years. I first picked up a camera in December of 2011 and have been passionately learning and shooting ever since.
About Photo Taco
I have been hosting the Photo Taco podcast since March of 2015. The show originally launched under the Improve Photography Podcast network owned by Jim Harmer. Even back in 2015 there were a large number of photography podcasts. To make Photo Taco stand out our idea was to have it be a short format (under 10 minutes) show that provided “photography tips in about the time it takes to a eat a taco.” At launch I did weekly episodes and was a frequent co-host on the weekly Improve Photography Podcast.
I quickly found that to cover a topic the way I wanted to I needed more time. I tried sticking with the short format idea for a while, cutting the topic up into two or three episodes. Listeners were loving the episodes but let me know they would much rather have a topic covered in a single episode no matter how long they would be. The length didn’t matter. I decided within a few short months of launch not to worry about the short format and take whatever time was required for me to cover the topic of the episode fully.
I produced shows on the things I was learning as a photographer. With my technical background a huge portion of the topics tackle the technical aspects of photography but there are a lot of non-technical episodes as well. The show quickly grew an audience of photographers eager to learn how to better use their gear and do post-processing.
In July of 2017 Jim decided to change things with the Improve Photography Network. The Improve Photography show continued to release episodes weekly and the other shows on the network would release episodes monthly. This change worked a little better for me personally as it was difficult to have a full time job (not podcasting), host Photo Taco, and co-host Master Photography every week. Though this is the strongest criticism I get from listeners, they want more Photo Taco episodes!
In April of 2018 Jim made a career pivot to focus on other business opportunities. He very generously turned the Improve Photography network over to the hosts that had shows on the network. We re-branded that network Master Photography. The Master Photography Roundtable show continues to run weekly (I host 95% of the episodes), never skipped a beat in the transition. Photo Taco continues to be a monthly show.
Why The History of Photo Taco Matters
I give you that history of the Photo Taco podcast because one of the important things I think a sponsor should consider as they look for a podcast partner is how likely the show is going to be around to realize the full benefit of the sponsorship. There are over 800,000 podcasts listed in Apple’s podcast directory (the definitive podcast directory today). Fewer than 50% of those podcasts are releasing at least one episode within a three month period. If you partner with the wrong podcast it may be that the podcast won’t be around in a few months.
Not only is Photo Taco one of the longer running photography focused podcasts, the content is nearly always evergreen (a topic that is always relevant to photographers). Rarely are episodes focused on photography news. Instead, episodes tackle mostly technical photography topics with the objective of making that topic easier for photographers of all skill levels to understand.
Why Are Photo Taco Episodes Listened To For Years?
It is unusual for podcasts to have this listener behavior, but Photo Taco episodes tend to be downloaded for years after release. There are two primary reasons this happens. The first is the extensive show notes. I spend a significant amount of time writing blog posts for each episode of Photo Taco. These aren’t a transcript of the exact words I say in the episode, thought that would be better than what most podcasts produce. These show notes are formatted with the intention of communicating the same information in text that was delivered in the audio – but done differently because we read differently than we listen. Google loves the show notes and as people do Google searches on photography topics Photo Taco episode show notes often show up as high ranking results.
The second reason Photo Taco episodes are downloaded for years is the search capabilities of the Photo Taco website. I stress in nearly every episode that if the listener liked the episode they should use the search bar to find other topics they may have questions about. With the length of time the show has been producing and releasing episodes I have covered a lot of photography topics and it is very likely I already have a show that covers their question – especially if it is technical. I have worked really hard to make sure that search box is prominent on both mobile and desktop.
Sponsorship Partners I Am Looking For
I am so glad to have you be interested enough in sponsoring Photo Taco to have you reading this information, but I will be investigating you as much as you are me if you continue forward. Photography is definitely my biggest passion as a hobby, the thing I most look forward to doing in my spare time. Next to that, rapidly becoming a VERY close second, is teaching others about photography and Photo Taco is the primary way I do that.
With the audience Photo Taco reaches I am approached regularly by potential sponsors. I turn most of them away. I have worked very hard to grow the show to be what it is today with thousands of photographers trusting me. It is very important to me that any partnership I make be something I truly believe in and has obvious benefit to the Photo Taco community.
I am open to all discussions about with potential sponsors, but you should expect I will be checking out the products you would like advertised very thoroughly and have to find them meeting a high standard.
Photo Taco Ads
There are a number of options available to sponsorship partners. The strongest way to reach the Photo Taco community is by leveraging all of the advertising options and I discount the cost of the advertising when partners opt to leverage more of those options.
Pre and Mid-Roll Host Read Ads
Very common with podcasts, I offer pre and mid roll host read ads to sponsorship partners. With each Photo Taco episode I offer:
- 30 second pre-roll: 30 second ad that will happen within the first minute of the episode
- 60 second mid-roll: 60 second mid-roll ad that will come approximately half way through the episode
There are only two spots for each type of ad per episode.
These are host read ads, which means I do the ads in my voice. My physical voice but also my voice in the pattern and style I say things. If I choose to partner with you these ads will be genuine and the listeners can tell when they are. You can provide ad copy to me that tells me the information you want included in the ad, and I will work very hard to make the ad fit as naturally as possible into the flow of the episode.
With most podcast players supporting a 30 second skip forward this is the best way to get listeners to not do hit that skip button. I do not place pre-recorded ads in Photo Taco episodes.
If you buy a pre or mid-roll ad you will also get a sponsorship box added to the show notes for that episode that will live there permanently. Anyone who finds that show at any point in the future will see that ad.
Website Ads
I also offer ad space on the Photo Taco website. With the show notes I have mentioned above, Photo Taco has a rapidly growing blog audience where posts are high ranking results in searches about photography topics. I offer three types of ad space:
- Persistent top ribbon. This is a ribbon that is shown just below the header on EVERY page (not just every post) on the website. It remains visible even when the page is scrolled. The ad can be fully contained in the ribbon with a link to a page of your choosing that will open in a new browser tab, or it can be a link to a page I would create on the website that offers more information. The ribbon is shown on every page on the site for the duration that is paid for. Only one persistent ribbon ad is run at a time.
- Right navigation. This is space on the right side of the website that is included with every post when viewing from a desktop computer (it is shown at the bottom of the post on mobile). It will be just under the search bar. It does not stay visible as the post is scrolled. The ad will be there for the duration that is paid for. Only two of these ads at a time.
- Inside a post. The very traditional ad placement on websites with the ad located somewhere in each post. The ad will be there for the duration that was paid for. I will only run two of these ads at a time.
Social Media
Photo Taco has a large, engaged, and curated (listeners have to prove they listen to the show before being allowed to join) Facebook Group. There is also a Twitter account for the show. I create posts to both of these social media accounts as I release every episode. If you buy a pre or mid-roll ad, or an ad on the website, you can also purchase an ad in these social media locations. I only do these ads once per month for partners who really want to make sure we do everything possible to reach the Photo Taco community.
Sponsorship Pricing
Photo Taco has a listening audience larger than 95% of all podcasts on the Internet today, and consistently in the top ten of photography specific podcasts. The size of the audience gets larger when you include photographers finding the Photo Taco website as they are searching for help with their photography. There is not a lot of overlap between those two audiences.
Though I think there is value to the history and the engagement level of a community, the podcast industry uses a 45 day download average to price sponsorship ads. The number of downloads an episode has within 45 days of release averaged over a 12 month period. The pricing of ads for that number fluctuates over time, so I can’t list the pricing here.
If we do work out a partnership it means I truly believe you offer something valuable to the Photo Taco community and I want to do all I can to help them know that. Studies have shown that even when a person is interested in the product from an ad, on average it takes seven times of seeing that ad before action is taken. Therefore, the longer you sponsor the podcast and the more ways you choose to sponsor the podcast, the more I will discount that advertising.
If you are interested in starting a discussion about sponsoring the show please contact me using phototacopodcast@gmail.com. In the course of the discussion if I am interested in a partnership I will be happy to share the download numbers that go into the pricing of these ads.
