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.
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,
you are getting a direct revenue stream from your subscribers from the show episodes themselves.
Regular listeners of What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know The Podcast, know that I’ve used the free podcast and free podcast with advertisers or sponsors business models for the first 60 episodes of my podcast.
As part of my year-end business planning, since 2009 was the year of my first offerings in my information product/service line—my book What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know, and my private coaching services--I knew that 2010 was to be the year of fleshing out the full line. So it was time to apply my own 6-point infopreneur business model to my own material, and move to some premium content offerings.
This will date myself of course, but then again many people younger than me have watched The Brady Bunch. There was an episode where Peter’s voice started to change just when The Bradys were becoming a brother and sister musical act. So they figured out how to work in his erratic changing voice by doing a song Time To Change that included the lyric “When it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange who you are into what you’re gonna be.” Well it’s time to change for me as an original content infopreneur to add in some premium content. Fortunately though my voice is just fine.
So for starters, I kicked around whether or not I should go for the premium podcast model for the show. I’ve enjoyed knowing that my message has been heard tens of thousands, upon tens of thousands of times by listeners worldwide, and there definitely has been back-end purchases by many of my loyal listeners. Still, there’s a lot of work that goes into each episode of What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know, The Podcast, even if it is a labor of love. Plus, there’s a whole other level of content I’d like to do for my podcast that would be longer, delve deeper into the issues, be even more step-by-step, and address content that’s frankly just too good to give away in a free podcast, that I’d like to create for my fan base.
I’ve also wanted to start a membership site for those who want to get access to in-depth premium training content from me on a regular basis in all different formats—written, audio, video and interactive. For those of you who don’t know, a membership site is just what it sounds like—a controlled-access website or blog that is accessible only by its members who pay on a subscription basis. Think of your gym membership if you have one. You get access to the Club by paying your monthly dues.
And then another item I’ve wanted to add was group coaching services for those who wanted an opportunity to get their questions answered by me, but couldn’t afford private, one-on-one coaching.
So as you can see, there are three new offerings that could expand my What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know information product and service line. I could do one of them, I could do all of them, I could do none of them.
So what I decided at this time, as I so often do, is to add a new premium content offering, but to do a hybrid offering, so I’ve now introduced the What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM) Coaching Club.
I hope you’ll consider becoming a Charter Member of The What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know Coaching Club because it’s a great opportunity to not only get incredibly valuable content from me, but it’s a small investment to make to see exactly what I’m doing, step-by-step ongoing, to make the big bucks from this offering.
For starters, study the way that I’m doing this offering. I’m going to be continuing the free version of my podcast, but I’m going to cut the free episodes (and the corresponding blog posts), down from weekly to bi-weekly), and my Coaching Club members are going to get 2 extended episodes of high-level content—premium podcast episodes that will not be released as part of the free show.
I’m going to have monthly in-depth, step-by-step audios or video trainings that will give my members more in-depth knowledge than I could ever offer in a podcast episode.
I’m going to address the group coaching aspect by having a monthly group coaching session which will allow my Coaching Club members to ask me all their burning questions on infopreneuring. self-publishing, marketing, public relations, social media and new media.
And then to seal the deal, my members will get access to all the What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know information products I create in digital format and all the trainings I give by teleseminar and webinar ongoing for as long as they are a member. Which by the way I learned from a membership site that I participate in myself from one of my mentors Paul Colligan—his New Media Inner Circle—see what you can pick up by being a member of someone else’s membership site?
Between the fresh content and the fact that members get access to all that I create in digital and virtual formats, I’m addressing one of the issues that many premium content offerings face—how do I get my members to stick with me? In my case it’s a no-brainer.
Now when you look at how I’m introducing this, you might wonder why there’s no free trial, or join for $1 like some other membership sites do. For me the answer is simple. I’ve already shown I’ve got the goods in 60 free What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know, The Podcast episodes, lots of What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know The Blog For Infopreneurs posts and lots of free teleseminars. And those of you who already have your copy of What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know certainly know it from the more than 300 pages of information-packed material. So there’s simply no need for a trial offer, since my free content has been my trial offer. Besides I’ll let my members cancel anytime, but since they’d just miss out on the next great content, I doubt many will want to do so.
See how nicely this all falls into place? And it’s nothing that you can’t do yourself with your own infopreneuring topic of expertise with top-quality content, solid marketing, a built-up following and a passion for sharing what you know with others.
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Happy Infopreneuring!
--Melanie R. Jordan, The Expert At Making Money From What You Uniquely Know, Author of What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know™ - Achieving The Life You Were Meant To Have By Making Money From What YOU Know! and Host of infopreneur podcast What You Know Is Worth More Than You Know(TM), The Podcast Available 24/7 at: http://www.WhatYouKnowIsWorthMorePodcast.com
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