Chemda is from the very popular comedy podcast “Keith And The Girl“. Their fans are so into what they do that they have had over 100 people get tattoos with their logos, and they didn't even ask for it. Why? Because their fans love them so much!
Now – don't go out there and tattoo Become a Blogger on yourself ;), but I think there's A LOT we can learn from what they have done to end up with raving fans.
I was able to snag Chemda aside and ask her a few quick questions to help us all grow our blogs and get our audiences Super Enthusiastic about what we do. We also add a few extras in there.
Enjoy!
Transcript of This Video
(Some people like to be able to read a transcript while watching the videos, or just read the transcript without even listening. If you are one of those people, not to worry – We’ve made the transcript available for you below.)
LESLIE: Hey, this is Leslie Samuel from BecomeABlogger.com. I have another exciting interview for you here at Blog World Expo in New York. I'm here with Chemda. Chemda, how are you doing?
CHEMDA: Good. How are you doing?
LESLIE: I am doing excellent. Now, you're from a very popular podcast called Keith and the Girl.
CHEMDA: Yes.
LESLIE: That's correct.
CHEMDA: Yes.
LESLIE: I'm assuming you're the girl.
CHEMDA: Most days, yes.
LESLIE: Most days, okay. Except Fridays.
CHEMDA: Well yes, depending on how the hair is looking.
LESLIE: Oh, yes. Good. Now, your podcast… it's interesting because you've been able to get some really loyal fans.
Connecting with Loyal Fans
CHEMDA: Yes. We're really excited about the loyal fans. We have tens of thousands of people on our forums. We always have a discussion all the time running there. We have people in our chat room a lot of times. We didn't get people to do this. They did this on their own. They got tattoos of our logos. We have over a hundred tattoos and two brandings of our logo.
LESLIE: How do you know that they actually have those tattoos?
CHEMDA: They send us the information. We ask them now if they're going to do it to send before and after, and during pictures, and recently, actually, yesterday, we just found out that somebody got a tattoo, and never reported to us. They reported to our chat. They're chatting with each other about it, and somebody in the chat lets us know, which is weird. You have our logo on you, and you didn't share it with us.
LESLIE: I got to ask this question. How in the world did that entire, “I'm going to brand myself ‘Keith and the Girl Type of thing,' the tattoo and stuff.” How did that get started?
CHEMDA: Oh my God. I don't know. I think this is a better interview for the people who actually did it. We have been growing the community. We really love our community. We love our listeners. We connect with them because we share a lot of personal stories.
When Keith and I first started, we were dating. Then, we broke up, did not stop doing the during the break up. We moved, we everything. We shared all the information with our listeners, so they know us personally.
I feel like there is a connection aside from the brand. The brand just represents what people think and how they feel about it. We're very lucky to have people email us about how we helped them through cancer, we helped them through really difficult breakups. We made them laugh when they were crying every other time. It's really beautiful.
Be Personal
LESLIE: I have to ask this question because obviously, you guys are really resonating with your fans. Can you give some tips, the people that are watching this are bloggers. It's all about building a community and so on.
Can you give me some tips about how to go about getting that really passionate and loyal fan base?
CHEMDA: I think like I said before, to me you have to be personal. If you're ever at a restaurant and your seat is a little too close to a couple next to you, and they're fighting? And, you tell the person that you're with, “Sshh! I got to listen to this thing.” Because we can chat anytime. But, I got to hear the drama that's happening over here, and one of them starts crying, and oh! It makes your night.
It's like people eavesdropping. That is a really personal thing that these people are sharing with you now. Even if you're teaching them how to do something, even if you're just talking about completely impersonal things, even if you have a blog that is about monkey ranches, you have to share personal experiences with your listeners, with your readers about how you use the item that you're trying to talk about, how you failed at some things that you try to do, how you were embarrassed as a kid, whatever it is, because I think that's what people connect with. That's the fun stuff about life. It's the ridiculousness.
LESLIE: Got you. I like it because it's all about being personal, and people really identify with you when they can see that, “Hey, this is a real person. They go through real issues, real struggles,” and all that kind of stuff. Sweet.
Next thing I want to talk about really quick because I know you have to run and do all the other things that you have to do.
CHEMDA: Oh, yes.
How Do You Make Money?
LESLIE: You guys have been pretty successful when it comes to monetizing your podcast. What are some of the best ways to go about doing that? A lot of people think about a podcast, they're just talking. They're just sharing stories. How do you make money? I guess that's the question.
CHEMDA: Well, once you build your audience, and you do have to build an audience. You do have to build some episodes of your podcast. You do have to get some readers of your blog, I think the quickest answer to that, and I'm doing a whole hour on this, but the quickest answer to that is whatever it is that you're selling for free, you sell as bonus content.
Take whatever you're doing to the next level, and that will be a paid content. For example, since we do comedy talk shows everyday, we can do a live event, video tape that. Now, you're getting this bonus thing. You're getting to see these guests that are on the show, and we can sell it for a cheap amount for download. It's something that you're already connecting with us. You already know us as human beings.
Now, you get some next level thing. It might be worth $0.99, $5, whatever it is that you're comfortable selling, that's going to be your bonus content.
Offering Premium Content at Such Low Price!
LESLIE: I'm hearing a lot of people talking about charging these low prices on a recurring basis. When I hear that, the first thing I thnk is, “Yes, but it's only $0.99, it's only $1.99, $2.99.”
Why did you guys decide to go at such a low price point as opposed to saying, “I'm going to go with really, really premium content,” even though it still is premium content, but charge a higher amount. What's the philosophy behind there?
CHEMDA: There are two things. One, we sell a membership that you can pay for $15 a month, but it has over 1500 episodes. It has Keith and The Girl TV shows… It has really bonus contents, spin-offs, and things like that.
But, a couple of years back, we wanted to raise the money, so we did an experiment where we asked all our listeners to just give us a dollar. Every single listener, it's something that you're not going to think about. It's something that you would hand to somebody if they ask you on the street. If they're stranded, “Can I get a dollar from you?” Something as simple as that. Four thousand people responded.
So, boom. You suddenly raise… Because it's a number that people don't think twice about. It's less than your coffee. It's about the price of your coffee. It's something that you, that is a no-thought…
LESLIE: Negligible.
CHEMDA: Yes. But, it's also what you're comfortable with. For a premium content, we're comfortable selling it at $15. We think we're worth $15 a month. Again, it's something that is not going to kill you financially, and it's something our listeners can do, and it's something that also we need to survive on. We need $15 from our guests to survive on.
It's whatever you're comfortable with and whatever you need to build your business with.
LESLIE: Awesome. Excellent tips. I hope you got a lot of value — no, I know you got a value from that because that was some awesome content. So, Keith and the Girl, is it KeithandtheGirl.com?
CHEMDA: Yes.
LESLIE: Okay. If you want to find out more about Chemda and her podcast, and have some fun because it's a comedy podcast, you want to laugh? Go to KeithandtheGirl.com. This is Leslie Samuel from BecomeABlogger.com. Until next time, take care and God bless.