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Podcasting for Fun and Profit ...
A How-To Guide for Voice Actors
By Frank Frederick
Voice Talent/Producer/Director/Author ©2007-2008 Legend Corporation, Park City, UT. All Rights Reserved. Hear Podcast  In the voice-over business, we all do it - the "IT” being talk. Many of us have been in radio or television and have voiced commercials, infomercials and educational presentations for companies large and small.
But most likely, we’ve never created profitable productions for ourselves. Today you can change that situation by podcasting for fun and profit.
PODCAST POTENTIALS Create a radio-type show - a podcast - and place the file on the Internet for people to download. Do a little marketing, and then hope people listen to what you have to say. So where is the profit, you ask? Here are some ideas to create income streams from your Internet broadcast. You might find another career as a Podcast Broadcaster… First and foremost, begin podcasting NOW! Do not wait for an obscure reason. Start today. Explore the requirements you will need to create a podcast and how you might host the broadcast on your web site.
To start, consider the content of your podcast. Give your podcast meaning for listeners. Offer current clients and prospective customers a reason to listen to your voice-over talent and to visit your web site.
GET A SPONSOR The first step to earning money is: Get sponsorsed! The traditional broadcasting business often solicits "sponsors” for a part of their content, something that sounds like this: "...News You Can Use is brought to you by Monster Energy - Unleash the Beast … and by Honda - the company that defines performance ….”
A sponsor pays a fee to be included in your podcast. Your sponsors will require your podcasts to have enough value and listenership to make it worth their while, of course. INTERVIEW CLIENTS Here is something that does not necessarily produce a direct income, but works quietly by getting you more voice-over business. Interview your clients and prospective customers about their businesses. Making connections with the people who can use your services is a great way to introduce yourself and your voice-over talents. People love to talk about themselves; it is human nature. Allow your clients to talk about themselves and what they do in their business. Let them be the "expert” in their business and show them that you are the professional in yours. When these businesses require a commercial or voice-overs for their company, who do you think they will call? SERVE OTHERS Start a full-service podcasting company where you offer the services others need. For instance, you might offer:
CHARGE FOR LISTENING
Charge a fee for premium podcast content. If the content of your broadcast is valuable, why not get paid for it? Here’s how that might be done: Create two podcasts. One, a general overview of things of interest; and a second podcast with specific, "premium” content that is not available to everyone for free. For the second podcast, charge a nominal fee. You’ve heard of Pay-Per-View? Think about Pay-Per-Podcast. The simplest way to earn money with podcasts is to charge a small fee for each cast - say fifty cents or a dollar - or, to offer subscriptions to your podcasts for longer term income.
If there is enough valuable information in your podcasts, people will pay for it. ASK FOR DONATIONS Public radio and television station do it all the time, and you could, too: ask for donations. If you have developed a loyal following, ask listeners to help defray your costs. You will be amazed at the amount of funds you can generate this way. All you need do is ask. To make it easy for listeners to give you money, add a PayPal application to your web site. This lets people donate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. ADVERTISING INCOME Charge a nominal fee for podcast advertising. Commercial radio stations charge fees to place messages on their broadcast frequencies, so follow this lead by charging a small fee - say $10 - for each commercial you place in a podcast. You might also charge a fee to create the commercials for your client, or allow them to supply you with a pre-made advertisement. This concept necessitates having a listener/subscriber base for your podcast, though, so get out and market your online radio show today. PODCAST QUALITY If you offer advertising in your podcasts, think about your listeners.
Keep your podcast short; approximately 10 minutes is a good length. The average attention span for an adult is only 12 minutes, so make your point and make it quick.
Now that you have the information for creating podcast income, all donations, tips, subscriptions fees, and 15% of your income will be cheerfully accepted. Funds may be sent to Frank Frederick and VoiceOverXtra.com.com at….
Frank Frederick, The Voice ™, is a veteran voice talent, producer, director, author, and marketing/branding consultant. His book, Love Notes: Branding & Marketing for VoiceOver Artists, will be available as an eBook in April 2008.
Email: frank@ispeek.org
Skype: ispeekup
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Comments (1)
Michael Ramson
2/24/2011 at 5:48 PM
Great information. I just took the Voice Acting workshop with James Alburger and Penny in San Diego 1 week ago. I flew in from Chandler, Az. I will definitely keep up with these posts in order to get into this field. Thank you soooo much.
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