How Crowdfunding Can Pay for Your Next Podcast Season
What to Consider
Announcements
TOMORROW, May 24, 2023-Paid Subscriber Office Hours at 7:00 pm MTN/9:00 pm EST. I will send an email to paid subscribers tomorrow with the Zoom details.
How to Get Brand Partnerships Workshop. Deadline to sign up is this Friday, May 26, 2023. If you’ve already signed up, I will be reaching out to you this week. Keep an eye out on your emails. Do you need more information on what the workshop will cover? Click here. Head’s up-This will be my last in-person workshop until September and I won’t be available for coaching during the summer.
When is the workshop: Wednesday, May 31, 2023 at 6:00 pm MTN
Let’s Talk Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding has been around in various iterations for awhile now. In fact, when PBS, NPR and other companies run their annual fundraising campaigns-their funding model is incredibly similar to a crowdfunding campaign.
Put simply, Crowdfunding empowers people to make a funding request from the following:
People known to them
People who are unknown to them
Folks in their niche and immediate community
Via a crowdfunding platform such as:
I like to think of crowdfunding as venture capital for regular folks.
How to Strategize a Crowdfunding Campaign
These tips and ideas are for the beginning stages of a campaign-before you begin reaching out to the people who may end up contributing to your campaign.
Design a project or campaign and reaching out to people who you think would be aligned with the project mission. I’m currently in the process of working through this for a podcast season that I am VERY mission focused to record and distribute. It is a 17-20 season that will take a lot of energy, research and time to produce. I need to raise money in order to produce that season.
Before reaching out to people-think about what the deliverables would be for the different contribution tiers. How easy or difficult will it be to fulfill this part of your campaign? Unless you have a team of people assisting you, or a service that will fulfill this for you-avoid adding physical products as part of the incentives that you provide for your campaign.
Research similar campaigns on the different crowdfunding platforms. See what has worked and what hasn’t. Think about what you would do differently with your campaign.
Use the tools and guidance that the platforms provide-They have more experience than you do with crowdfunding. Learn from the experts.
7 Lessons Learned from Crowdfunding and Raising $10,000 Dollars to Host an Event
In 2019, I decided to host an in-person event called “Money on the Mountain” it was a very ambitious event and VERY expensive. So, I decided to reach out to people that I knew who I felt would support the event. On Thursday of this week, I will share a video about this experience for Paid Subscribers sharing what worked and what didn’t. But, I wanted to share some of the lessons learned in today’s newsletter.
Why was the event so freaking expensive? Let me share why:
Cost of the space. I hosted it at a bougie downtown Denver hotel with a view of the mountains and rooftop pool.
Minimum spend-You have to spend a minimum amount for an event based on the number of attendees.
Food expenses-If I’m hosting an event…I’m FEEDING my attendees. I ended up providing: breakfast, lunch, snack and coffee.
This was also an event with 30 attendees. It went really well and people asked me for years if I would host another one. Probably not LOL!
The 7 Lessons Learned
You would be surprised by who says “Yes” to your fundraising requests
Make it very clear why you’re raising funds-what is the money going towards?
Have a daily system set up for following up with requests and answering any questions that may come up.
Don’t randomly decide to crowdfund at the last minute! I didn’t call what I did “crowdfunding” but, that’s what it was. One of the biggest mistakes that I made was making basically a last minute decision to fundraise towards the cost of the event. I did well, but I imagine I would have done even better if I had given myself and the people I planned on reaching out to more time to make a funding decision.
Provide different tiers of support and anonymous donation options. Some people like to move in silence. Help them do that. Providing different tiers of support allows people to support at an amount that makes sense for their financial situation.
Be very clear about how your campaign connects to your overall brand mission. Clarity of mission makes it easier for people to support your campaign.
Do the work. I was not prepared for how much work it would take to successfully fundraise. I spent around 2 months working on this campaign. I should have spent at least 4 months working on it.
Working through my mindset
Sending emails
Sending follow ups
Making sure that I delivered agreed upon deliverables for funders TO participants.
End of campaign communcations-This was especially hard because you’re likely exhausted after running an in-person event.
Have a Vision
I like to think about the beginning stages of something great. For podcasters, there is so much that you can create with the work that you’re doing.
A new community
A safe space
A new vision
Commit to that vision because it will guide the hard work associated with the campaign that you’re working on and the content that you plan on recording.
May Monetization Strategies Review
Each week I will record and share some additional thoughts and strategies to consider based on the monetization strategy shared. I’ve made money with each strategy. Each monetization strategy has both benefits and challenges to consider.
Week #1 Affiliate Marketing (May 4, 2023-Shared)
Week #2 Solve One Problem (May 11, 2023-Shared)
Week #3 Brand Partnerships (May 18, 2023-Shared)
Make sure to sign up for the Brand Partnership Workshop on May 31, 2023 today! Cost: $97 (Sign up deadline is Friday, May 26, 2023)
Week #4 Crowdfunding (May 25, 2023)
Week # 5 Freelance writing (May 31, 2023)
Upcoming Events
Denver Podcasting Meetups
I’m hosting a meetup at a local coffee shop sometime in May TBA
Podcast Movement-Meetup tour will be held in Denver on June 30, 2023. See you there!
Click here for a free ticket/reserve your spot
Portland 6/26/2023
Seattle 6/27/2023
Vancouver 6/28/2023
Thank You
Finally, I wanted to say thank you to the amazing supporters of Podcasters Getting Paid. For those of you who are enjoying the free tier, the $5 tier, have made an annual $50 payment and Founder’s contributions-thank you so much for supporting this project.
My goal has been to create and grow an accessible tool that helps as many people as possible while allowing folks to learn from the case studies shared in this resource. Also, make sure to check out the presenting sponsors of the newsletter: Podcast Movement and Swell AI-I’ve included more details at the bottom of this post.
Presenting Sponsors
Swell AI
I’m so excited to be partnering with Swell AI. This tool is the way I like AI to be used:
Generate show notes
Create social media posts
Creates transcripts for PREVIOUSLY RECORDED content!
Podcasting can be so time consuming. Save your time and simplify your process with Swell AI.
Podcast Movement Denver
I’m so excited to partner with Podcast Movement this year. I love that it’s being hosted in my hometown of Denver.
Build your social and professional network
Share your expertise (even if you’re not a speaker)
Meet industry professionals
Learn from the community
And enjoy all of the parties! I love attending Podcast Movement and know that you will too.
