Okay, take a breath. Let’s talk monetizaition.
You already know about selling adverts, acquiring sponsorships, & asking for donations…
But the best attraction to your listeners is: what YOU can offer.
Your offer is simply a solution (service, product, course, software) that helps solve one of their challenges or concerns.
In return, you build a loyal audience who are happy to purchase from you.
If you can create an offer that actively benefits your listeners, you’ll have much better chances of helping more people and making more money.
A common mistake is to spend valuable time creating an offer only to find out that nobody actually wants it.
Here’s how we can avoid this mistake.
Starting Narrow
To get started, take stock of what problem you could help your listeners solve.
Generally, these are “big” problems. They are difficult, expensive, and complicated.
If you’re struggling for ideas, look back at what you were doing 3-4 years ago, and think how you could help your younger-self fast-track to your current position.
Based on what you’ve done in the past, you might:
- Help people securing a job at top companies
- Help eCommerce businesses improve their SEO.
- Help creators earn more revenue through better converting landing pages.
When you know the “big” problem you can help people solve, don’t put together an offer right away.
Instead, start with a lead magnet.
A lead magnet is a free asset or service that you give away that has mutual benefit:
1) The prospect solves a problem
2) You collect their contact details.
Your lead magnet should solve a “small” problem that, when solved, opens up the prospect to the larger “big” problem that you solve.
For example, if you help creators earn more revenue through better converting landing pages, consider a 15-minute on demand video where you teach them how to write the best landing page headlines.
By solving that “small” problem, you build authority and trust.
But what about constructing the page properly, using the right images, the best calls-to-action, displaying testimonials, writing copy, and so on?
One problem solved. Many more opened up.
And guess what? You’re now in a position to dig deeper with your audience.
Collect Data
Don’t send the people who opted into the lead magnet to some generic thank you page.
What a missed opportunity.
This adds very little value for your prospect, and does basically nothing for your business.
Try sending them to a page with a simple survey that’s positioned to help them.
The answers here are helpful in learning what your prospects actually care about.
Not what you think they care about.
Build Your Offer
With this data, you can now build an offer that your prospects are already telling you they want!
You can put this data into a simple ChatGPT prompt to get a nice little pitch to put together (and sell) your new offer.
You can simply email the people that took your survey (and match the criteria) to ask them if they’d like to buy it on pre-sale.
And if enough people do?
Then go build it.
Congrats, you have an offer your audience actually wants (because they told you).
Traditional podcast monetization is still available.
But, this way you build a sustainable community of customers.