Monday Memo: Podcasters, Tell the World
By Holland Cooke
Consultant
BLOCK ISLAND, RI — It is, after all, what we used to call “a Worldwide Web.”
- Broadcasting techniques I recommend are proven to extend Time Spend Listening (“TSL” in radio lingo); and they can earn you more-loyal listeners, and the friends they share your podcast to.
- But your mission is different than – and arguably more-opportune than – broadcasters:’ Unlike AM/FM radio, you’re not just local.
Your road map to success…
…might well have been written by Wired magazine co-founder Kevin Kelly: “1000 True Fans.”
Do the math: “As far as I can tell there is nothing – no product, no idea, no desire – without a fan base on the Internet. Everything made, or thought of, can interest at least one person in a million – it’s a low bar. Yet if even only one out of a million people were interested, that’s potentially 7,000 people on the planet.”
Think narrow
While broadcast content must be mass-appeal, your topic can engage followers – everywhere – if it is specialized and high-affinity.
- If your topic is “Gardening” you’ll get lost in the weeds in Search. Do a podcast about indoor vertical produce gardening, you’ll click.
- Topic: Dogs? You’ll get crickets. “Making your shelter rescue feel right at home?” Woof! Think “narrowcast.” More than one-in-a-million will be interested.
Invite sampling via Social Media
Here are a couple useful lists of promotional tactics:
Holland Cooke is the author of the E-book “Multiply Your Podcast Subscribers, Without Buying Clicks,” available from Talkers books (click the banner on this page). He is a consultant working at the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. And HC hosts “The Big Picture” TV show Friday nights at 7ET on RT America. Follow him on Twitter @HollandCooke
Category: Advice
