I attend a lot of old media, social media and web video events. From The Streamy Awards to NATPE to NAB to BlogWorldExpo I go to as many events as I can. Some are more social than others but almost everyone has something to do with monetizing online video or social media. While I’m there people often ask me what I’m working on, when the next episode of French Maid TV will be coming out, and they ask how they can make money with online video. My question to them is, How much money do you want to make?

You would be surprised at the looks that come over their faces as if I had just asked them to show me their underwear or something. It amazes me that people don’t know how much money they want. Why would you make something that you want to sell and not know how much you want to charge for it? Would a farmer grow fruits and vegetables and not know how much they are going to sell them for? I don’t think so.

So why do people stumble on what they are going to charge to advertise or sponsor their video or audio podcast? There are several reasons.

Reasons People Don’t Know How Much Money They Want for Their Content

1. Most independent producers are not sales people.

If you want to sell advertising or sponsorships on your downloadable media you need to have a “Come to Jesus” talk with yourself about the word “Sales.” For some reason we creative types hate the word, “sales.” We are scared of the word, “sales.” To creative people, the dirtiest word in the English language is, “sales.” In working with several of my clients I’ve found they warm up to the word, “pitch.” If fact many of them love the word, “pitch.” Come on, You know you want to, “pitch” your show, so replace the word, “sales” with the word, “pitch” and get on with pitching your show and your show’s inventory to potential advertisers and sponsors.

2. Indie producers don’t have a handle on their inventory.

Producers know how to produce. No one ever told them what inventory was. Inventory is the available spaces (or “avails”) you have for someone else to advertise or sponsor. Watch other people’s shows, see where the ads are, see if you have similar places to advertise on your

show and then ask yourself how you are going to deliver ads in those places. Are you going to have to edit in ads each time you sell them (not recommended) or are you going to be able to dynamically deliver ads in and around your content? Next make a list of all your avails, and when they are available, and a deadline for the sponsor to get you materials.
3. There is no public marketplace set up where content producers can see what other producers are charging.
Who knows if and when we will see a solution to this problem. One work around could be doing your own research and finding out how much it will cost to advertise your show on someone else’s show. This will give you idea of what to charge. The ADM is working on some tools to help advertisers and sponsors reach ADM members but we are a few months away from launching those tools.

This is not rocket science. You know how long it takes you to produce your show, you know how much it costs you to produce your show and you know how much you would like to make for your time. If you aren’t able to get an advertiser or sponsor to at least cover those costs you should think twice about what you really want.
I’m happy to answers questions. Please feel free to contact me at 1timstreet at gmail dot com or visit my blog http://1timstreet.com