value for value – Podcastreporter.com

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In this episode of The Podcast Reporter, we discuss a relatively different strategy for monetization via a membership, with additional feedback and additional content where the chief objective seems to be more than just money or financial success.

The podcast from Evo Terra called Podcast Pontifications announced that they would have a membership of those who signed up for donating to the show via the buymeacoffee.com/evoterra .

How is this slightly different to the usual donation by other podcasters requesting money from buymeacoffee.com?

In this case, Evo will still continue to deliver FREE content on his main show of PodcastPontifications.com. However, instead of donating a one-time delivery of $5 for a cup of coffee, he is now welcoming his listeners to become a MEMBER of his coffee-club. In this way, he has set aside a premium podcast aspect of his show for those who will purchase a yearly donation to his membership system. And then, he will offer additional content to those who sign up for this membership.

Well, for this podcaster, since I have always followed Evo (even though I may not agree with him on various topics he brings up — but I still respect his right to pontificate his thoughts on his show, and I listen to him with an open mind on all things — even though I understand his point of view but reserve my right to disagree due to my own critical thinking). Thus, I signed up for this membership and waited to see what type of additional content and additional deliverables would be coming to the “members.”

The answer started to come in almost immediately. I received an email from Evo not only with his gratitude for signing up, but also with his brainstorming ideas as what type of content would be great for the membership, based on their feedback. So I looked at what he had conceived and I quickly sent an email reply back with MY OWN VALUE-BASED ideas of additional content or follow-up actions for members that Evo could deliver.

The reply from Evo was almost immediate. And I saw that he was offering different ideas, based on feedback from myself and others who joined the membership. And I responded with an email that thanked him for his planning, and I said that his ideas seemed good enough for me. And to this day, I am waiting to see what the results will be, for I know that Evo does deliver to his audience — especially when he is able to monetize the podcast and its infrastructure for his audience to provide more VALUE.

Now, will this be a trend for other podcasters to do so?

Or, will the podcasting community go along more with Adam Curry’s “value-for-value” model in his show No Agenda with John C Dvorak (which is also being used by Ryan Bemrose and Darren O’Neill of the Grumpy Old Bens podcast (as well as other podcasts on the noagendastream.com)?

The answer is that time will tell to see which strategy will be adopted by other podcasters (or perhaps there will be NEWER strategies that will be implemented — and how successful they will be). I will be anticipating for that. And I also plan to report on the strategy from Evo and my opinion of the deliverables that will be sent to myself and others in this new “coffee-premium” audience.

So, if you wish to join a “coffee-premium” program, then you may want to listen to the podcast show PodcastPontifications.com with Evo Terra and decide if you want to join. Or you may listen to other shows on the noagendastream that are implementing a “value-for-value” strategy to see if you may want to go that route — or you may want to plan out, contemplate about, and START YOUR OWN VALUE-BASED premium program.

We hope that you will become successful in whichever way you decide to monetize your show and deliver even more VALUE to your audience for your own show’s success.

Thank you for your attention.

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In this episode of the Podcast Reporter, we discuss an article in medium.com by Denis Murphy called “Why would anyone listen to your podcast?”

Obviously, the main focus of the article is the value that your podcast episode can deliver to your listeners. For myself, the word “value” has such diverse meanings:

it can mean any emotional VALUE to the listener — e.g., happiness, joy, elation or sadness, tragedy, concern;
it can deliver entertainment VALUE to the listener — such as fictional or crime stories that are now popular;
it can deliver educational VALUE to the listener in the area of “how to” information or training (e.g., I myself delivered a six-month course of personal productivity in a premium audio podcast back in 2007-2008 that delivered skills in being able to do more in less time with better results while reducing stress);
it can deliver relaxation VALUE to the listener by just publishing either music or non-stressful content that can help one relax;
and many other types of VALUE.

Now, this article by Denis Murphy has the subtitle that states that it took him 115 episodes to realize why an audience member would listen to his show.

He starts off by stating the obvious — that the beginning of your show will be the toughest and the slowest for growing an audience of loyal listeners. As a matter of fact, he uses the term “slog” which can signify inertia in the development of your show to a set of growing fans. As he says: “You want an audience of dedicated listeners. You want to see messages of appreciation from some of them. You want to feel like you’re helping them come unstuck in the same way you came unstuck in your life.”

But then Denis reassures you that the “slog” won’t be forever, and that consistency in the production and publication of episodes that provide value to your audience will be the key to eventual decrease of the “slog” and the uptick of popularity, acceptance and finally subscription from fans to become loyal listeners.

In summary, he has these sections that highlight his thoughts:

Accept that you will suck;
Your job is to make listeners think;
Why do you, yourself, listen to your favorite podcasts?
As he states, your job is to make your audience FEEL and think: “Focus on making your audience think and feel.
- Share your most helpful, raw and honest thoughts and opinions.
- Genuinely take an interest in having a conversation with your guest.
- Allow your personality to evolve with the podcast organically.

Do these things, and you will get to one hundred episodes and beyond. Do these things, and your podcast will become a vehicle for your personal growth.”

For this podcaster, consistency is one of the greatest skills and characteristics that your podcast can show. It gives you the symbol of being a prolific podcaster that is in it for the long term (i.e., not just a fly-by-night hobbyist that can get disappointed if you are not making six figures in monetization with thousands of downloads each episode within a few months).

But this also means that you have to create good content and deliver exceptional VALUE to your targeted audience (i.e., NOT everyone, but your niche audience that is waiting for your content that is directed to them and not the masses in general). It is this value that Adam Curry from the No Agenda show calls “an outstanding product” (in this case, PRODUCT is the content of your show) — and Adam has had success in both growing a loyal fan base, delighting producers (for he does not have “listeners” — everyone is a producer) and successfully monetizing his show for over a decade, and still growing.

And for myself, this means giving thoughtful attention to the VALUE of your content to your listeners. You can monitor this by surveys, opinions, reviews and feedback. You can also put together some strategies for monetization to see what VALUE will be in the minds of your listeners. And you can now refer to the updated book by Dave Jackson called Profit from your Podcast to see which strategy may work best for you to create revenue streams. One such strategy that has been successful for Adam Curry is the “value for value” model (which is also being used by the Grumpy Old Bens show). You may wish to listen to the episodes of No Agenda to find out more in detail about this.

So, whichever method you use to review your content and assure that REAL VALUE is there for your targeted audience, we hope that you can then plan your strategies for longevity and become the prolific podcaster that Denis Murphy describes. And we hope that you can grow your audience — and that perhaps it will not take over 115 episodes to finally understand this.

We wish you all the success to have the audience you desire in the shortest time with the value you provide from your great podcast show.

Thank you for your attention.