Why I Am Making A Premium Product For My Community

The world of independent publishing is evolving quickly. Algorithms are reducing our organic traffic to nothing and social media hides our content from the very people that subscribed to see it.

To adapt to these algorithms I believe heavily that we have to start building products and events for our community. Content is one of the many revenue streams that we will need to build and this is why I am working on building a premium product for Retro Dodo's community.

I previously built a coffee table book for our audience, which generated over $100,000 in sales and our second book is launching in just a couple of weeks. That kickstarted the need to build our own product, a product that doesn't have a revenue split with a publisher for example.

I will write about why I think you should (& shouldn't) build a book for your audience in the coming weeks, so subscribe if you want to read that.

Products & events are one of the many parts of the publishing funnel that I follow. It plays an important part in staying nimble, but also providing even more value for your community. Find a product they want, and make it.

This funnel that I have built and follow is what I believe the future of independent publishing will look like. We as publishing creators can no longer rely simply on ad-revenue, which is why many of us, and myself included are struggling right now.

Content is king

Traffic is king... or was anyway, but now we have to provide real value to the shrinking traffic that we are now obtaining. The great thing, is that the traffic that we are now receiving are typically from highly passionate readers/viewers within our niche, and convert higher than someone who hasn't ever heard of us, or aren't searching for us.

Traffic to our content that's converted into ad-revenue is great, keep at it, this won't go anywhere, everyone needs content to consume. Although I do believe as the years go by ad-rates will decline, but that will take a good while.

Affiliate is queen

The next step in the funnel is to create high quality content that converts readers into affiliate commissions, using reviews, recommendations, best lists, features and sometimes even news.

YouTube is one of the biggest drivers of affiliate revenue for us too, it's a more personal touch, and a form of content that is more trusting.

The first two parts of this funnel is very easy to do, anyone can do it. There's no barrier to entry here, anyone with a laptop can do this, and this is why the typical "niche website" strategy worked back in 2022, but it's very hard to do that now because of the aggressive algorithm changes.

The next few stages of the funnel is where true brand comes into play, and has a much higher barrier to entry, something average website builders struggle to build, and this is where we have to flourish.

It's also an area that large media companies struggle with because they lack personal connection and real community.

And this is why I believe independent publications who are authorities in their niche that are run by real humans can flourish.

It's our time to build community, personal connections and real relationships with our audience.

It's time to build a "real" content brand

This will help expand the next stages of the funnel. Brands are getting much stricter with who they work with in regards to sponsorships, and are looking out for true brands that have built trust with their community. Building a reliable, trusted brand will increase the chances of working with sponsors.

I have worked with some of the biggest gaming brands in the world because of this, and drives a considerable amount of revenue throughout the year. It will play a very important part in keeping your publishing business alive, but the only way to do is by creating a trustworthy, high quality content brand.

Typically we have a higher sponsor rate across our YouTube channel. Brands are moving heavily into video, so if you can build a great niche YouTube channel alongside your website, I believe you will have a good chance of working with incredible brands on sponsorships.

Products/Services is the future of content brands

Next is one that I am finally dipping my toes into, and that's products. I am building a premium display for our audience called The Dodo Display, something I have wanted for a long time as a retro gamer, but also one I believe our audience will enjoy.

It allows you to stack your cartridges on a modular wooden peg display which will also come with additional accessories and an acrylic transparent dome to protect your games and consoles from dust.

Designing, manufacturing and learning about shipping something like this has been an incredible and difficult learning curve. It has taken up a lot of my time, but I believe it will be mandatory for Retro Dodo to thrive over the coming years.

I plan to launch it on Kickstarter and use all of my contacts that I have obtained over the last years to push as much attention to it as possible once it's ready.

Once it's out in the wild Retro Dodo will become a wierd mix of publishing and e-commerce, especially if it goes well and we create more products. But that's okay and I really believe that's what many media companies and publications will end up doing.

Look at Epic Gardening, ran by Kevin Espiritu. It's one of the best gardening content brands in the world, but evolved to build its own products a few years ago and then started acquiring other e-com brands in its space.

Once you have a product you can then funnel your traffic, your subscribers and your email community into that product. There's also other benefits too, you'll start seeing content creators talk about you, other publications link to you because of the products, you can go to events to sell directly to your audience etc.

Or even better, make your own events to partner alongside your products...

Build the experience that your community wants.

Before Retro Dodo was made invisible in Google, I was planning on making an event for our audience called RDX, an expo for retro gamers to explore the history of games, alongside the ability to buy/sell and test products from our contacts that we have made of the years.

It's basically one location, over a weekend jam-packed with stalls, products, food/drink and good vibes, with well known creators in the space joining to chat on stage etc. A typical expo.

But I decided it was best to wait... To wait until I have an actual product to also sell to the audience that come through the doors. I can use it to sponsor the event, I get to pick the best stand location of the entire hall and talk face to face with customers.

You can see that this combination is undoubtedly a good one to keep doing every 12 months (or less). Not only are you building an event for your audience to enjoy that generates revenue, you have a product to sell to them physically, customers can talk to the maker directly, ask questions, touch the product and even get it signed if needed.

Your true fans.

Finally you have memberships. An area of your brand that is locked off, and requires a small monthly fee to access. I use Patreon, but I know there's a few other methods, any works.

This is where you create incredibly high quality content, perhaps early access, exclusive podcasts, limited merchandise, monthly Zoom calls, discounts to your products or services etc. An area for your true fans who are more than happy to support you.

You won't get many become members, but it's still a great way to provide for your community and generate a recurring and reliable revenue stream. It does require a bit of work, and continuously which is sometimes the thing that trips me up.

I'll forget to update my members after a week or so, and i'll feel bad. So making sure that you really are on top of them helps retention.

I post an exclusive video podcast to our Patreon, alongside early access to videos and frequent updates about what we are working on behind the scenes, for example our products, videos and reviews etc.

Eventually these members will get free access to our events and a % off our products as a thank you.

I believe sponsors, products/events and memberships is an area we will all have to focus on heavily over the next 5 years. It's our light at the end of the tunnel. It has a high barrier to entry, requires real brand building and larger media companies will struggle doing it right too because they lack relationships that us as founders of the brands can give our audience.

This is our advantage, use it while you can. Get building those products, create physical experiences and relationships for your audience, and fast.