What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know (TM) - The Blog For Original Content Infopreneurs

Infopreneuring In Action: Moving To Premium Content

In September 2008, my hit show What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM), The Podcast was born.  Many of my listeners have been with me since the very first episode, and some of them may be checking out my podcast this week for the first time, and I've really appreciated the time they spent with me. 

 

Every podcaster has to consider whether or not their show should be free content, free content with advertisers or sponsors or premium content (meaning the show requires paid access).  Let’s take a look at each one:

 

1.  Free Podcast Business Model

 

You’re deciding to sell indirectly, assuming that the back-end marketing you’ve set up will provide you with the revenue you seek.  So the call to action, is to take an action that puts the podcaster in a position to stay in touch with the listener ongoing, such as subscribing to the podcast feed, joining them on social media sites or subscribing to their e-mail list.

 

2.  Free Podcast With Advertisers Or Sponsors Business Model

 

Here you have backers who pay upfront (directly, or perhaps in a promotional consideration or barter scenario), to support the show which produces you with a guaranteed income stream, regardless of whether or not any back-end sales occur.  And of course, having both is the sweet spot.  Traditional radio and television, as well as newspapers and magazines all work off of this business model.

Some podcasters allow what is known as dynamic insertion for ads to be inserted in pre-designated spots, which they often don’t have much control over, to be included in their podcast.  I never have been interested in doing this myself, as I prefer the control of when, where and if ads are going to be included in an episode of my show.

 

3.  Premium Podcast Business Model

 

Here you have people who pay for the privilege of getting your content.  This is the pay-per-view, on-demand or premium channel (like HBO or Showtime) television model.  So for every episode you have of your podcast,

 

How To Get More Credibility Online In One Simple Step

Back in my real estate days, one of the things that always cracked me up was the real estate agents who would think that they were getting internet friendly by having a website or blog, and on their business card it would be listed as “JaneRealtor.usingfreeblogsite.toocheaptogetarealdomainname.com” and that was accompanied by an e-mail address at Yahoo or Gmail or AOL.

 

In Orange County, CA before the real estate bubble burst, ordinary people were buying million dollar homes, which meant that an agent’s typical commission on such a deal could be anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 (3 to 6% of the deal depending on whether they were just the selling agent, or both selling and listing agent.  Is it any wonder that everyone and their brother had a real estate license?  And by the way, I was in real estate operations and training so I didn’t make those megabucks from that endeavor.

 

Back to the point though, here’s someone making tens of thousands of dollars on a deal and they were marketing themselves, in a field where personal branding is so important, in a way that was less than professional with the generic blog site address and the un-businesslike e-mail address. 

 

Now you might say that well if they were making that kind of money on a real estate deal, it probably didn’t matter.  Yes, but look at where real estate is today.  In the toilet in the U.S., and in many countries throughout the world.  Real estate agents are killing each other to make a fraction of what they used to, and I’ll bet those that were savvy enough to have their branding working for them back in the good times are the survivors today.

My CNNMoney.com Interview Experience - Public Relations In Action

About a month ago, while doing my daily public relations activities, I responded to one of the media leads that wasn’t really a direct match for marketing my book What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know! but it was for something I had experienced personally, and when I saw it was a reporter for CNNMoney.com that was making the inquiry, I figured why not?

 

Public Relations experts are split between whether or not it makes sense to be a source for a story that is not a direct tie in with your main work, but I think that the more opportunities you have to get your name out there in traditional and new media, the better off you are.  Many times, if you’re an author, they’ll mention that and the name of your current book anyway, which is always great.  Later on to be able to say you were featured in major media, even if it was not for your main topic, is still advantageous.

 

Responding to media leads is a numbers game, while you’ll be a match for many stories, it doesn’t mean you get selected.  But the more you pitch on things you’re a match for, the more you’ll have success. So I sent this particular response off and since more than  a week had gone by with no word, I figured nothing was going to happen with it.