Why you should put podcasting profit first.
Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast.
I'm Daniel J. Lewis.
Monetization is not the only profit you can get from podcasting and you shouldn't be
the only one to profit either.
Nonetheless, here is why I think you should put profit, P-R-O-F-I-T, first in every aspect
of your podcast.
If you would like to follow along with the notes, they're a simple tap or swipe away
inside of your podcast app or at theaudacitytopodcast.com/profitfirst.
But before we can focus on podcasting profit, I want to revisit how I've taught the five
podcasting cornerstones for several years, because this is totally relevant here.
I've taught content, presentation, production, promotion, and profit.
Content is what your podcast is about.
Presentation is how you share your content.
Promotion is the technical side to reduce distractions and increase understanding.
Promotion is how you market and grow your podcast.
And profit, P-R-O-F-I-T, is how you and your audience benefit from your podcast.
Despite the fact that these cornerstones have always had an alliteration problem with no
suitable solution, I realized recently that it had an even bigger problem.
I realized this while I was getting ready to speak at the National Religious Broadcasters
Convention to teach podcasting there.
The problem was the order.
Profit should not be last.
It should actually be first.
But stick with me on this and please don't tap away or swipe away or don't touch that
dial if your podcast app for whatever reason has a dial that takes you away from this podcast.
Don't do that!
Because you may be tempted to think that, well, since I'm talking about profit, this
doesn't apply to you if you're a hobbyist podcaster or you're not interested in earning
money from your podcast.
But profit isn't only about money.
So before I can explain why profit should be first, I want you to understand what it
is and why I keep spelling it. And if you look at the notes for this episode at the
audacitytopodcast.com/profitfirst, you'll see that I've made it over-obvious that
it is spelled, it's an acronym, actually it's an acrostic. That's the podcast profit
paradigm, as I call it. Several years ago I was inspired by a typo I let go to press
in an advertisement for my now temporarily retired Podcaster Society.
As a result of that typo, I wanted "profit" to stand for something, not only in the metaphorical
sense of "profit stands for something" but also literally as an acrostic.
Now it's my Podcast Profit Paradigm, P-R-O-F-I-T, which is a list of ways you can benefit from
your podcast. P-R-O-F-I-T. Popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, and tangibles.
P-R-O-F-I-T. Popularity is growing a following, being an influencer, or becoming known. Relationships
like gaining friendships, building community, and finding your "tribe". Opportunities.
Opening doors for things like public speaking, travel, testing products before they're
released, and such. Fun. Simply having a good time, with or without laughter even.
Income, yes, earning money does have a place in profit.
And tangibles, getting things that you get to use or keep,
which is especially profitable
when they're relevant to your podcast topic.
Like I am recording this podcast right now
while I'm speaking through an ElectroVoice RE320
that has a shock mount on it,
and I'm recording into a first-generation Rode Rodecaster Pro.
Those were given to me because of this podcast.
So I've received tangible benefit and I use these products and they were given to me because
of the relationships I've built within the podcasting space and because of the popularity
of the Audacity podcast and because of the relevance and because I'm such a big fan
of these products and I was before I even owned them.
Except for the Rodecaster Pro, I didn't really know much about that before I actually
owned one.
But now I'm a huge fan of it.
I would have purchased these things eventually anyway.
But they're now tangible profits for me from my podcast, among many other ways that
I've profited from my podcast as well.
So while most people think of profit meaning money, I challenge you to change your thinking
and look at the much bigger ways you can profit from your podcast.
P-R-O-F-I-T.
That's why I make profit stand for something.
Popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, intangibles.
And think of all of those things especially if you don't care about monetizing your podcast.
Because you don't have to monetize if you don't want to.
The other paradigm shift is that your podcast should not only give you profit but also offer
it to your audience.
And I'll explain that more in a moment.
Profit is for all podcasters, not only professionals.
So lest you think profit is only for those people who podcast for business purposes or
to try earning a living from their podcast, money is only one part of the podcast profit
paradigm, the "I" for income. The other ways could complement that income, but there's
nothing wrong with podcasting simply for the fun of it, and fun is the "F" in profit.
When I hosted a clean comedy podcast, the profit we were after was primarily to laugh
and to help others laugh too. And along the way, we also formed relationships. We were
We were given fun tangibles from our audience and we even made a little money on the side.
But our main focus was just having fun.
And if you are podcasting to build a business, don't neglect the other aspects of profit,
P-R-O-F-I-T.
It's okay to have fun with professional subjects.
And always look for ways to position yourself for opportunities and more, even if you're
not in this for the money.
But look for those opportunities anyway, no matter why you're podcasting.
So why should profit come first?
It needs to power your decisions for podcasting.
Because it's actually more important than your content.
Consider the cornerstones that I mentioned in this way.
Content is what attracts an audience.
Presentation is what keeps the audience.
Production is what makes your podcast stick.
Promotion is what brings an audience to you.
And then profit is the impact your podcast makes.
how you change the world, even if you're changing the world for only one other person.
Simon Sinek wrote a great book. I highly recommend that you read or listen to the audiobook.
The book is Start With Why, How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. And that
"why" word is another way to think of profit, especially with these two questions.
Why are you doing this podcast? And why should anyone listen or watch?
When you start with profit, P-R-O-F-I-T, in mind, then you can pick the right content
to share that helps get you closer to that profit.
And the other cornerstones then build from there.
After you know your why and your content to support that why, then you can decide on the
best way to present it.
Like should it be an interview show, a solo show, a roundtable show, a Q&A show, an audio
drama, or whatever other formats you might be interested in.
Then when you know those things plus the format, then you can decide on the best way to produce that.
The best microphones, the best software, the best editing technique, whether you're doing
audio or video, all of that.
And then you have the things that you need, the content, all of that produced together
which can help you decide on the methods to promote it.
But when you don't start with profit, you won't know what content to share, you won't
know the best way to communicate it, and you certainly won't know how to produce it, and
frankly, you wouldn't offer much value worth promoting if you're not starting with the
value in mind.
Here's a series of questions that follows this podcast profit paradigm to help you podcast
the best way.
1.
Why do you want to podcast?
What value will your podcast give your audience?
2.
content best enables your profit goals? Number three, what's the best way to present the content
that moves you toward your profit goals? Number four, what's the best way to produce this that
leads you and your audience in the right directions? And number five, whom should you
promote your podcast to and what are the best ways to reach them? This is why profit should be first.
But remember, profit is also for your audience.
I've heard some people say, "Podcast for yourself.
If you're having fun, that's all that matters."
I've heard other people say, "You're podcasting for your audience, so focus on
their needs first."
While these might seem contrary, they're actually complementary and simply different
sides of the same profit coin.
Both you and your audience need to get value from your podcast in order for your podcast
yourself and your audience to improve and grow. But the problem I see most often is
that podcasters forget to focus on what value they offer their audience. Instead, they often
fixate on the value they want from their audience or on how they can essentially sell their
audience to get value from someone else, like an advertiser. But as Jesus said, "Give
and it will be given to you." That's from Luke 6:38 in case you're interested.
Some podcasters also obsess over the production aspects of podcasting without investing the
same time and money into improving the more weight-bearing cornerstones.
I see this a lot in communities where people are obsessing over what's the best microphone,
what's the best editing software, what's the best this or that, or what are the best
tools to use for this.
And really, we should be starting with why do you want to podcast?
Okay, now that you know why, then what is your podcast going to be about?
Then how are you going to present that?
Then we can think about how are you going to produce that.
It's fine for your podcast to make you popular, but how are you helping your audience to be
popular too?
It's great when you can foster or form new relationships because of your podcast, but
how are you helping your audience foster or form new relationships too?
It's great when your podcast opens opportunities for you, but what opportunities do you help
your audience find and pursue?
It's fun to have fun, as the cat in the hat said, but is your audience having fun too?
*cough* *cough* professional comedian podcasters who podcast with other professional comedian
podcasters and sit around and not be funny.
*cough* *cough* *cough* Sorry, that's something I'm going to throw out there.
Earning income is definitely rewarding, but how are you helping your audience earn more,
spend less, save more, or be smarter with what they have?
And it can be exciting to get new tangibles, but what tangible benefits are you helping
your audience gain too?
See, it's not all about you.
You need to remember the profit for your audience as well.
So it really comes down to this one word to define podcasting profit.
P-R-O-F-I-T.
The one word is "why".
Yes, start with "why" indeed.
I highly recommend that.
Think "why" are you podcasting?
Why should your audience keep consuming your episodes?
It's all in what profit, popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles you
pursue and you offer.
Yes, people are attracted by the content, but it's really the profit that changes them
and impacts the world.
If you'd like to review these notes, then please go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/profitfirst.
I also have a link there to Simon Sinek's book on Amazon if you'd like to purchase it.
It is an affiliate link so I do earn commissions through that link, but I've read the book
myself and I recommend it because it's a good book regardless of whatever I earn from it.
But if you want the link for it, it is there in the notes.
Tap or swipe away or on the website at theaudacitytopodcast.com/profitfirst.
Let's go visit the community corner.
I just made things easier for me and you with Podgagement.
Go to podgagement.com and you can check this out.
Now you and I can both do this if we're using it.
We can easily copy all of the text from a review or a piece of feedback with only two clicks.
Well, two clicks and a keyboard shortcut for pasting.
You can copy it in markdown, you can copy it in HTML, or an iframe embed.
And soon there will be a JavaScript embed that will make it even more native to your
website with working with whatever CSS classes and styles that you want to put in.
So it's super easy and I used that myself to very easily, very quickly paste a review,
I want to think, into this community corner.
In the past what I used to have to do is I would select the text of the review, I'd switch
over to my notes, I'd paste it, then I'd switch back to podgagement, copy the name of the
person, switch back to my notes, paste that in, switch back to podgagement.
So I'd be back and forth, back and forth.
Now I did it with just two clicks.
I click copy, then I clicked copy as single line plain text, and then paste.
And that was it.
So this review that I wanted to mention is from Marshy76 in Apple Podcasts in the United
States who loved the episode about podcast loudness normalization.
And what they said in their review was basically that this really helped them to learn how
to better normalize the loudness of their episode.
And I think that's a very important episode looking back at things because consistent
loudness is so important.
And so I'm really glad that I was able to help Marshy with that.
Thank you for that kind 5 star review.
And thanks to Alan C. Paul, Jason Pickle, Rich Bennett, D.R., and Julio Fernandez for
all the great ratings on GoodPods.
And I didn't know I had so many ratings on GoodPods until Podgagement supports GoodPods now.
So Podgagement found all of those for me.
So I thought, I just want to thank everyone who's given a rating for different episodes.
Some of them gave multiple ratings because you can rate individual episodes on GoodPods.
You're not just rating the whole podcast, but individual episodes you can give 1 to
5 stars.
So I'm really grateful for these episode ratings from these people.
And also thanks for more streaming stats from Dave Jackson, Alan C. Paul, and Dwev.
I believe that totals to 1,716 stats that I've received since the last episode, and
that's currently worth about $1.15.
So thank you so much for that support.
If The Audacity to Podcastgives you value, I would be grateful if you would put that
in a number and consider giving it back in some way, either through a one-time gift or
streaming Satoshi's back. And you can do either of those with the Modern Podcast app
that you could get from podcasting2.org/apps. Or check out Podgagement at podgagement.com.
And now that I've given you some of the guts, taught you some of the tools, and pontificated
about some of the profit, it's time for you to go start and grow your own podcast for
passion and he are oh F I T. I'm Daniel J. Lewis from the audacity to podcast.com. Thanks
for listening.
[MUSIC PLAYING]