2. Sell Products or Merchandise
If you want to monetize your channel on YouTube, there is no shortage of items you may sell. T-shirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, snapbacks, you name it, all have a secondary purpose beyond financial gain when sold as merchandise.
Selling merchandise helps you become more well-known because it extends your online identity into the real world, and it strengthens your connection to your audience because they are investing time and money in your endeavors. Products designed by Roman Atwood and other creators are available in his shop under the Smile More label.
It’s simpler than it seems to sell branded swag. You can get low-cost, custom designs made for things like t-shirts on freelance sites.
Alternately, you may team up with a pre-existing merchandising network for creators like DFTBA (Don’t Forget to Be Awesome). You can sell your wares on YouTube, but you’ll have to compete with other YouTubers and won’t have as much freedom as you would with your own e-commerce site in terms of stock management, pricing, promotion, and content integration.
Like Luxy Hair, which sells hair extensions by posting how-to videos on YouTube, you may take your business to the next level by producing and selling your own original items.
You, as a YouTuber with a built-in fanbase, will have an immediate leg up on the competition because to two factors:
- A source of constant customer interest that may be used to boost sales
- The respect of your target market, which you have won by consistently providing them with free material of your own design.
3. Crowdfund Your Next Creative Project
Crowdfunding is a viable option when financial resources are the only thing preventing an idea from being put into action.
If your audience and the crowdfunding community believe in your project, they will help you raise money to acquire better equipment, hire actors, and cover other production costs.
Creating a video describing your project or delivering a sample of what it’ll be like, like this popular Kickstarter for Kung Fury, a short film playing homage to ’80s action flicks, may be an effective way to garner support from the crowdfunding community.
Some of the more well-known crowdfunding platforms where YouTubers have had successful campaigns include:
- Kickstarter. Popular platform for raising money for unique goods and imaginative ventures. Remember that you won’t get the money unless you reach your funding target, so make it realistic.
- Indiegogo. A financing platform similar to Kickstarter but with greater leeway for donors.
4. Let Your Audience Support You Through “Fan Funding”
Setting up “fan financing” streams to collect contributions from your audience is quite similar to crowdsourcing a project.
If you’re a creator, you get to add your voice to the internet without charging others to listen. So, if your material is worthwhile, readers may want to stick around and show their support.
As a result, many fan-funding systems provide artists with another another avenue for content discovery, as well as a means to interact with and reward their most devoted fans.
While Wait But Why’s output consists primarily of written pieces rather than videos, the channel’s success on Patreon serves as an excellent case study.
If you decide to go the crowdfunding route, there are several guidelines you should stick to. Make the plans for spending the money public first. Doing so will get your audience emotionally connected in your tale or cause, which will lead them to actively support what you’re selling.
Secondly, you should dangle alluring benefits in front of pledgers who make particularly impressive commitments. It’s more likely that you’ll receive donations and larger commitments if you can make contributors feel like they’re getting something special for being devoted fans.
Among the most well-liked ways to raise money for fans:
- Super Chat on YouTube. When broadcasting live on YouTube, you may interact with viewers using Super Chat. Create a virtual jar where viewers may drop in anything they feel like as a tip whenever they want. Your YouTube channel must be monetized, so make the appropriate settings.
- A subscription to the channel. Subscribers may show their support for your channel on a recurring basis by purchasing a subscription in exchange for access to exclusive content. In the same vein as Super Chat, you need to be a part of YouTube’s Partner Program in order to use this function.
- Patreon. The subscription service that facilitates the collection of author royalties. For as little as one dollar a month, fans can subscribe to their favorite creators and have access to exclusive benefits.
- Tipeee. You can use this site to collect both one-time and regular contributions.
- Get Me A Coffee On The House. The makers and artists that use Buy Me A Coffee are able to collect membership fees and monetary donations from their audiences. As the “#1 Patreon Alternative,” it boasts over 300,000 content producers. The main distinctions between Buy Me A Coffee and Patreon are the ease of accepting donations, the flat 5% cost for all features (compared to up to 12% for Patreon), and the fast nature of rewards.
