TWiT does it.

How? They give it away for free and hope someone puts something in the tip jar.

And, as I understand it, they’re far from profitable.

Wow. This is exactly what I was preaching at a large conference last week. People looked at me like I’m crazy. Yet it does work.

I wrote a book because of my podcast. It is basically unpublishable, and wouldn’t have a huge audience anyway so I decided to give it away. It has more than paid for itself in my mind at this point. Beyond that I have attracted sponsors and am going after more. My audience base is expanding and my collegues are looking at Podcasting in a whole new light. Perhaps I haven’t made a fortune, but my stock is rising and that can’t be bad.

If you freely give information away and establish yourself as a resource than people will come back to you and chances are they will contribute to value added media–books, supporting your business, hiring you to sponsor or promote a product or be a spokesperson.

This is the newest form of advertising and self promotion. If you consider how many clients, listeners or contacts you can make this way–for next to nothing–you will find that many of the traditional forms of advertising for your business will fall away and you won’t have to pay for them anymore–money in the bank. And there you are, ahead of the game already.

Podchef - welcome to the conversation! Thanks for joining in.

I understand and appreciate what your saying, but wonder if that is “freemium” - or just giving away some content to get your audience hooked. Freemium is the book is free but you have a for-pay version.

Or am I missing something?

The thought of giving a little away for free is exactly why I do MarketingOnlineLive.com and PodcastTools.com - but I don’t see them as Fremium at this point.

“How? They give it away for free and hope someone puts something in the tip jar.”

They don’t just accept the tips blindly. All emails are added to the exclusive supporter’s forum that Leo and the rest of the cast frequent. He has candid discussions in there and makes himself more accessable to fans.

Also, supporters get the episodes BEFORE the weekend as opposed to Monday. Diggnation uses a similar model (in combination with advertising) where supporters get the video feed 3-5 days earlier.

I will also add that no, these tips are probaably NOT making them any bit of a profit, especially since Leo puts all the money back into equipment, prizes, and plane tickets for guests. However, the profitability that this show brings these guys in terms of exposure has got to be incredible. Every guest is given ample time to plug anything they are working on or supporting. The advertising value is what is really benefitting the TWiTs.

FWIW, I added my $2 to the pool a day or two after they announced and never have been (to the best of my knowledge) notified about special offers, etc. Of course, I’m on the road, and don’t have my whole email history with me.

But, as you mentioned, the model is “NOT making [them] any bit of a profit”

I love TWiT - it is one of my favorite Podcasts - but the model ain’t there. If it was, they wouldn’t be looking for advertisers so hard.