We’d like your helpful insights about Beach Walks.
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h3. About Today’s Show
Beach Walks has become such an important part of our day. Now we are looking at how to keep it going and growing, as a cash-positive experience instead of cash-negative. Since you, our viewers, have left so many brilliant and caring comments, we wanted to tap your minds and hearts for ideas. Here’s a summary of what Lexi and I mentioned in the show. Please comment or email me ([email protected]) with your opinions.
# Would you buy stuff? T-shirts, Lexi mouse pads, DVDs of Beach Walks shows, ??
# What would you think of advertising? What kind of sponsors would you think would be a good fit? Did you like the spots we did for the Contest Sponsors?
# Would some sort of membership or subscription, with benefits of course, be appealing to you? What would you value as a member? Any idea what value it would have for you?
# Have you discovered the “Tell a Friend” feature at the end of show notes? It helps us with advertising the more viewers we have, so we appreciate your spreading the word for us. We also have free postcards! Email me (beachw[email protected]) with your address and we’ll send you some.
# What would you suggest? Who do you think would get value from Beach Walks? We’re all ears!
Hawaiian words
haʻi manaʻo: to state opinion
Manaʻo: idea
Be in Touch!
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- Call the Conch line via skype:roxannedarling or 1-949-544-1456 and share your thoughts.
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- Our wonderful theme music is from The Ukulele Experiment
I’m all for supporting “Beachwalks” in anyway – I’d go for Beachwalks swag like Lexi mousepads, buttons, tee-shirts, coffee cups, etc. like the DVD idea too. I’m a fan of PhotoshopTV videocasts and like the way they integrate their numerous sponsors in their episodes in a fun way. (They have also recently started selling a DVD collection of their past episodes.). The subscription idea is a good one too, like at TWiT, the donations are voluntary and for those subscribers Leo has a separate forum for those listeners. Perhaps for Beachwalks subscribers you can offer up “special edition” videos or the daily vlogs (and for nonsubscribers a weekly or fewer episodes per week). The quality of Beachwalks production certainly deserves some type of monetization to make it an on-going business.
I like the idea of using socially responsible advertisers.
If you do a subscription, then you will limit the audience to those who can afford your message. This will cut down on the diversity of the conversation and curtail input and dialouge and may turn off many viewers. I think Beachwalks could have a broader appeal than this.
A PBS style fundraiser to supplement the ads would be an interesting approach.
It goes without saying that y’all deserve to reap rewards for the great job you do!
You did wonderful work on the sponsor ads. You may be able to attract higher paying sponsors if you agreed to play a shorter ad clip at the end of each beachwalks episode. This way, viewers have a choice to watch it or not watch it. Since you are in the ad (and produced it), people are more inclined to continue watching. You could alternate sponsor ads every day. You could even advertise a special “beachwalks coupon” link for the sponsoring company. Viewers would appreciate hand- picked companies that you endorse, rather than the annoying adware and popups one usually encounters.
Without a doubt, make some Beachwalks stuff to sell! With your international fan base, I’m sure they would love to have things to remind them of you words of wisdom and aloha. (But please make shipping reasonable- as an ebayer it makes me sick when people try to make money off shipping!)
I agree with Jen about the subscription idea…
Anyhow, keep up the fantastic work! I am certainly a fan!
Aloha!
1. I would buy things like t-shirts (cut for women), especially w/Lexi on them, or hawaiian themed items. But probably not DVDs. How about a screensaver, for those of us who just like to look at the ocean and Lexi of course!
2. I thought the spots you created for the contest sponsors were fantastic. I wouldn’t mind watching the show w/local hawaiian advertisements, or other ones that fit into your beliefs/recommendations. Ads for techie gear could work.
3. I’m not sure I would subscribe or purchase a membership to the show as it is now. But one of value might be a video “seminar” on how to create a video podcast – software, hardware, etc. Or a travel segment for those interested in visiting hawaii and finding the “hidden” locals spots.
4. I have seen the “tell a friend” button, but keep forgetting to use it. I have told friends word-of-mouth, and will use the postcards I received.
5. I will ponder the last question, and comment if I think of anything else.
Best of luck! Aloha.
Mahalo nui loa for your comments everyone. I appreciate your time, care and thoughtfulness! We are all pioneers here, trying to figure out sustainable models that inspire and reward us on both sides of the transaction. I think I must be from another planet as I often prefer to pay for things rather than have advertising support it. That assumes a fair price though and is based on old ad models, where the item being advertised really did not have much to do with the feature. Hehe I feel a show topic brewing though! To be continued…