Okay, so we know there are essentially three ways to monetize a media business:

  • Free publications (monetized via ads and affiliate deals)
  • Low priced paid offerings
  • High priced paid offerings

The thing that makes me nervous about Rambler is that the path to monetizing is a little less clear than it would be for a typical tech/business newsletter.

The mechanics are the same. But early in the process, I’m wondering if I could ever get a big enough audience, or a valuable enough audience to make significant money from this project.

After all, there has to be a reason no one’s really cracked local media yet.

Actually… I take that back. I’m not sure if someone’s cracked it. I shouldn’t assume they haven’t.

Anyways, off the top of my head, I have a few ideas…

Ads: If I target a higher-income audience, ads may still be viable. Local attorneys, realtors, architects, co-working spaces, conferences, etc. I should look through the other Austin lifestyle magazines to see who advertises.

Affiliate: Similar to the way Newsette highlights 4 Amazon products per week, there will be opporunities to add affiliate product revenue. Should test different programs to see what works best.

Paid Drips: An interesting concept I’ve seen someone talk about on Twitter. Basically you set up drip campaigns to fire to all new subscribers. Then charge advertisers to be in the drip somehow (either in an email, or the dedicated subject of an email). Dunno, but worth thinking about.

Job Listings: Similar to ads. This might be worth it if it’s relatively hands-off.

Local Listings: Similar to an Angie’s List – round up recommendations for certain services, and drive lead-gen to them in exchange for a fee. This feels like kind of a volume play though, and I’m not sure I’m interested in that.

Referrals: Similar to the above, maybe just a more bespoke version. Build partnerships with a few key service providers in town – marketing agencies, executive search, realtors, etc. Connect readers 1-1. Not sure if all those industries can even pay referral fees, but since I’d be talking to so many people, it feels like there’s some opportunity to connect them.

Events: Could think up some cool events, organize, and sell tickets. That’d be fun.

Selling Fine Furniture: Let’s say you can build a desk that sells for $20-$30k. Ten of those per year could be a pretty great income.

Newsletter Advisory: If my readers are mostly business owners, some may be interested in consulting for their brands’ own newsletter.

Course: Let’s say I find a reliable way to get ads up to like $250k per year. Rather than doing that in multiple cities, I could license the playbook. Longer term, but that’s probably how this gets big. Similar to Hormozie’s gym play. But he had a ton of reps in launching gyms. I’d need to find some way to prove to myself the model really works reliably.

Mystery Box: I have this suspicion that every new type of media model that really succeeds, succeeds because they find a completely novel way to provide value. I’m not sure what this is yet, but I don’t think the key is to just replicate the normal media model on a local level. Something about the economics of that feel shaky to me. Instead, I think there’s something slightly hidden, like the way Craig Fuller has found a way to monetize outdoor sport magazines via insurance products.

X-Factor: Merely by publishing on a regular basis, you open yourself up to unforsee-able opportunities.