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What Is the “Product” of the Creative?
Monetization... That's the golden term of our age.
Podcasting is kind of like a digital gold rush. Back in the 1800's, a few people discovered gold in the Klondike region of Alaska and Canada and were instant millionaires. So thousands upon thousands of people rushed to the area in hopes of finding some gold. Towns in the area sprung up overnight. Some of the great poetry and literature of the 19th Century by the likes of Jack London and Robert Service was inspired by this insane rush for gold and instant riches.
A lot of folks made the trek, left everything behind, only to arrive in the Klondike and realize all the claims on land with gold had long been, well, claimed. And the folks who claimed those parcels of land weren't eager to share. I'm sure some of them, when they realized they had to actually work to find gold, got discouraged and gave up.
Today, people see the likes of Tim Ferriss, John Lee Dumas, Ben Greenfield, etc. who have seemingly struck gold with their podcasts, and so there's been a mad rush to basically copy the superficial elements of their shows, thinking they're going to get rich just like those folks have. They find it's not that easy.
Here in 2021, things seem to have calmed down a bit. In 2015, when I got started in the podcasting craft, the blatant copycattery of people like JLD (who I followed very closely at the time) was unbelievable. People set up their shows exactly the same way, asked the exact same questions, tried to mimic his tone, his energy, even his posture and cheesy smile for their social media profiles. I'm chuckling to myself as I type this, just thinking about the complete absence of originality those folks had. (And John is a friend of mine, so he won't mind me poking fun at him, I mean the guy is a tad bit cheesy...)
Where these dim folk who copied John completely missed the mark is what goes on under the water that made his business successful, even 9 years after he began it. They mistook his podcast as the "product" he was selling, when in reality what he was selling was...
Wait for it...
Community.
People who listen to John's show feel connected to him personally. Same with Ben Greenfield, who does an amazing job of making complete strangers feel like they belong to the tribe just by pressing play on his show.
It's that we should be looking to build, not a better podcast, better album cover art, more perfect intonation, etc.
When we build a tribe of folks around that which we're creating, and communicate with them regularly (like daily emails, a daily Facebook post, a daily email turned into a podcast, etc.), it's a no brainer when you have something to sell, be it a podcast, a course, a book, an album, what have you. They'll buy it without even reading the sales page, because they love you for who you are.
There is gold in them thar hills, mate. But it's not going to dig itself.
BTW, I interviewed JLD for a little podcast project I produce for clients and would-be clients of our podcast production business. I think you'll enjoy it. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/bfc11ad8-ee84-45d7-8460-4d6324887e24 (Listen here).
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By James NewcombMonetization... That's the golden term of our age.
Podcasting is kind of like a digital gold rush. Back in the 1800's, a few people discovered gold in the Klondike region of Alaska and Canada and were instant millionaires. So thousands upon thousands of people rushed to the area in hopes of finding some gold. Towns in the area sprung up overnight. Some of the great poetry and literature of the 19th Century by the likes of Jack London and Robert Service was inspired by this insane rush for gold and instant riches.
A lot of folks made the trek, left everything behind, only to arrive in the Klondike and realize all the claims on land with gold had long been, well, claimed. And the folks who claimed those parcels of land weren't eager to share. I'm sure some of them, when they realized they had to actually work to find gold, got discouraged and gave up.
Today, people see the likes of Tim Ferriss, John Lee Dumas, Ben Greenfield, etc. who have seemingly struck gold with their podcasts, and so there's been a mad rush to basically copy the superficial elements of their shows, thinking they're going to get rich just like those folks have. They find it's not that easy.
Here in 2021, things seem to have calmed down a bit. In 2015, when I got started in the podcasting craft, the blatant copycattery of people like JLD (who I followed very closely at the time) was unbelievable. People set up their shows exactly the same way, asked the exact same questions, tried to mimic his tone, his energy, even his posture and cheesy smile for their social media profiles. I'm chuckling to myself as I type this, just thinking about the complete absence of originality those folks had. (And John is a friend of mine, so he won't mind me poking fun at him, I mean the guy is a tad bit cheesy...)
Where these dim folk who copied John completely missed the mark is what goes on under the water that made his business successful, even 9 years after he began it. They mistook his podcast as the "product" he was selling, when in reality what he was selling was...
Wait for it...
Community.
People who listen to John's show feel connected to him personally. Same with Ben Greenfield, who does an amazing job of making complete strangers feel like they belong to the tribe just by pressing play on his show.
It's that we should be looking to build, not a better podcast, better album cover art, more perfect intonation, etc.
When we build a tribe of folks around that which we're creating, and communicate with them regularly (like daily emails, a daily Facebook post, a daily email turned into a podcast, etc.), it's a no brainer when you have something to sell, be it a podcast, a course, a book, an album, what have you. They'll buy it without even reading the sales page, because they love you for who you are.
There is gold in them thar hills, mate. But it's not going to dig itself.
BTW, I interviewed JLD for a little podcast project I produce for clients and would-be clients of our podcast production business. I think you'll enjoy it. https://player.captivate.fm/episode/bfc11ad8-ee84-45d7-8460-4d6324887e24 (Listen here).