Profit From Your Podcast

Patreon currently is one of the most popular crowdfunding platforms. For me, they take about 5%. With some creators, it can get closer to 10%. You can set different levels of supporting you with each level having their own reward. Here are some tips on creating rewards: Make sure they benefit the patron - not you Be careful with physical items as podcasting is a global audience Make sure you still deliver value, and that that fulfillment won't damage your original product Some things to consider are you might offer engagement where you do private webinars for members only.  Some people offer to spotlight their "Fan of the week/month" Insights into the creative process, so notes, sketches, demos. There is a reason lyrics on napkins are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. So you want rewards that benefit the audience, but don't lead you to burn out. If I Can Get 50% Of My Audience I Will be Rich You have 500 downloads an episode and you think that you can get 250 of them to donate $10 a month that would be $2500 a month or $30,000 a year. The bad news is you may get 3% if you're luck7 and the average contribution is $3 so you have 15 patrons for a total of $45 a month. I say this not to dash your dreams, but more so you don't quit your day job without knowing the facts. Tom Boruta runs a website called Graphtreon where he tracks how much people make no Patreon. According to a post on theoutline.com "Boruta’s numbers are based on the roughly 80 percent of creators who publicly share what they earn. Of those creators, only 1,393 — 2 percent — make the equivalent of the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, or $1,160 a month, in October 2017. That same article (Titled No One Makes a Living On Patreon) stated "In 2016, Patreon boasted that 7,960 users were now making over $100 a month, which struck me as such an insignificant monthly income to brag about. Around the same time, the company reportedly had 25,000 creators, meaning only 31 percent of Patreon’s users were making over a hundred bucks." Last month I made $254 on Patreon. They took $11.19 and left me with $230.11. I work about 20 hours per month on that show which means I make $11.50 which is higher than the current National Minimum wage of $7.25 That is before taxes. If I set aside 30% for taxes, that makes my "take home" 161.77. Using that number I make $8.05/hour.  In 2016 there was a private Patrecon where 40 Patreon creators attended. At that event, founder Jack Conte stated, "the Importance of making great stuff." https://youtu.be/zBSOLTlRPoE In this video, Jack points out how he spent a ton of time on creating a video that cost $10,000 and it made him $200. This is what inspired him to start Patreon.  Dig Deeper I see where the Deep Fat Fried Podcast just started their Patreon in January of 2018 and already have 500 patrons. If you dig deeper you also see they have 24,000 YouTube Subscribers. Crowd Sourcing: Step One Get a Crowd So many people start a podcast focused on the money. I understand that. We need money, but don't forget crowdfunding starts with the word Crowd. So step one is creating a crowd. You monetize your audience, and in a world of AM/FM, CD, Spotify, Netflix, HBO, Cable TV, Satelite radio, you need content that inspires people to tell their friends. You do that by making people: Laugh Cry Think Groan Learn Distracted If you can educate while you make them laugh, that's a win. If you deliver the content you can't get anyplace else that's a win. My biggest takeaway from this is you are not going to create what Michael Hyatt calls "WOW Content" by turning on a microphone and winging it unless you are insanely talented. That reminds me: If you're talented it is easier to grow your audience.  In a nutshell, you need  Good information Entertainment Quality production Time  I recently started noticing a pattern. Natali Eckdohl of bizchix.com really started crushing it in her business. Darren Dake started making close to six figures with his online courses, and Jeff Sanders is now selling more and more books. What was the pattern? Years. Natalie and Darren are three years in, and Jeff is approaching three.  You might say, "But what about John Lee Dumas? He got his sponsor in six months!" John Lee Dumas does the Entrepreneur on Fire podcast. He does it every day. So if you take John's six months that is more or less 180 episodes. If you do a weekly show, how long does it take you to do 180 episodes? 3.5 years. Does this mean that everyone should start a daily show? Hell No. John is one of the most organized, disciplined, and charismatic people I know. I know TONS of people who have tried to be John Lee Dumas and failed. Why? Becuase it comes to him naturally. Also, if you have a job, a spouse, and kids, you can't do a daily show and deliver good content (unless you are a Super Hero of some sort).  You Have to Treat It Like a Sponsor Even though some people choose to crowdsource over sponsorship, you still need to treat it like a sponsor and mention it in every episode. If your audience doesn't know how to support you, they won't do it.  Be Careful With Your Wording I've heard some podcasters say things like, "If we get up to a certain level we can kill the sponsors." This does not make sponsors feel loved.  Conclusion The first part of crowdfunding is getting a crowd and delivering so much value that they feel guilty for not supporting you. That takes time, effort, and dedication.

We previously talked about the different ways to make money with your podcast. For me, let's get something clear. Most people do NOT make money from their podcast. Their podcast is a marketing arm of their business that builds a relationship with their audience.  Rob Walch the VP of Podcaster Relations shares stats about their network in their podcast The Feed, and in their January 6th episode he mentions that only 7% of podcasters get enough downloads for a "Major" sponsor.  Yet, so many podcasters dream of starting a podcast and getting a sponsor. If we do the math that means that 92% of them will not reach their goal. But this doesn't mean you can't get a sponsor. I just got a sponsor for my School of Podcasting show. Who is the sponsor? A Podcast event called Podcast Movement. Why did they sponsor my show? Because I have their target audience. The key here is I have a very specific audience: podcasters. The more niche you are the better pay you can get for a sponsor. Glen Hebert of the Horse Radio Network talks about how a company that produces electronic pitch forks (Used for cleaning out horse stalls) couldn't sell his product. He had advertisements in magazines, but it wasn't helping to push his product. Here is how you find a sponsor.  Deliver value to your podcast Grow your audience (this takes time) Call a publication that has the same audience and see how much it is to advertise in their publication Call the people who are actually advertising in these publications and offer them a better deal. 

Today we are looking at how podcasting helps your audience: Know you Like you Trust you When they do those things, do you know what else they do? They BUY stuff from you! Bill Strand from http://www.chameleonbreeder.com/ will buy cages that are more expensive than his competition, but they buy HIS cages because they want to support him Today I play a clip from Hall of Fame Podcaster Gary Leland of www.fastpitchradio.com on how he no longer spends money on Google Adwords. Gary created the show his target audience wanted to hear and Gary is his own sponsor.  John Dennis got so many leads (GIANT LEADS) from his Smart Time Online podcast, he had to quick his podcast!  I got great feedback on a product that is going to allow me to create a NEW product to meet a segment of my audience Keep in mind you need to deliver value. Nobody tunes into an infomercial on purpose and it is way too easy to tune out of a podcast the minute you waste their time.  Ready to Start Podcasting? Come visit me at www.schoolofpodcasting.com Already Have a Podcast? Check out the book More Podcast Money and start earning some extra income today. 

Let's say you have a product that is meant for people who participate in Triathalons. You could exercise in Fitness Magazines, Biking magazine, Weight Lifting Magazines, TV, but you're hoping that the tri-athlete is maybe watching or reading one of those items. While more people listen to radio than a podcast, each year radio listening is going down and podcast listening is going up. With a radio station, you can only reach as far as your signal. You might say, "But hey Dave I can get my station on the iHeart Radio App." This is true, but when you go to listen in the car you are streaming the show, chewing up your phone's data package. With a podcast, you can download the file to your phone while you're on wi-fi at home and then listen to the episode without chewing up your data. Radio and Newspaper people will ask, "But how do we know if they are listening?" To that, I want to say, "How do I know if someone saw the story on page 6? Here is a fun fact, in the Apple Podcasts app if you don't listen to any of the last five episodes of a podcast it will stop downloading it. How many listeners would radio have if they missed five programs in a row, or how many subscribers have if every page wasn't read? People in the media who are afraid of podcasting taking over their territory (rightfully so by the way) try to hold podcasting to standards that they themselves couldn't pass. There is no spam in podcasting. If you don't want any more information from me, with a single swipe and click you are done getting content from me. I canceled my SiriusXM subscription last week. I go through periods where I will subscribe and then unsubscribe. I've been through this routine. They ask me why and try to give me a huge discount, and give you time to second-guess your decision. There is no second-guessing in my scenario. I know the drill. I told this to my support person and still, they read off their cards and try to sell me and get me to stay. This annoyed me so much I may NEVER go back. The Power of the NIche What if spending all that money on magazines, radio, and TV you started a podcast like http://triathletetraining.com/ where this podcast is designed specifically for people who are tri-athletes. Now because of the niche of this podcast their audience will be smaller than a general weight loss show, but the audience will be more engaged because the audience is thinking, "Oh man, I thought I was the only person into this, and they will download your back catalog." Subscribe to the show in iTunes or Android and get the next episode as soon as its ready, or buy the book More Podcast Money on Amazon today.

Today we talk about the ways you can make money with your podcast. Sell Your Stuff Sell other Peoples Stuff Sponsors Donations and Crowd Funding Free Stuff Of course, all of those rely on you having an audience. If you're looking for more options, that is it. You're either going to sell a product or service that you have created, sell other people products (through affiliate links using sites like shareasale.com, donation and crowdfunding tools like Patreon, and you might get free stuff from companies. We will dive deeper into these options as we move forward, or you can read about them in the book More Podcast Money at Amazon