6. Making Your Subject Matter Too Broad
A couple of weeks ago I was encouraging my good friend Giles to start podcasting. (Incidentally, I've been begging him to start a cast for 2 1/2 years. He would be so amazing.)
We talked about what kind of cast he could/should do. He has a fair amount of expertise (and a whole lot of entertaining opinions) in several arenas, not the least of which is 70s soft rock. :)
My main piece of advice for him was to pick as narrow a topic as possible. Sports? Way too broad. Pro baseball? Still too broad. Pirates baseball? Maybe, but given the competition w/ sports radio, ESPN, and websites, that's probably STILL too broad.
How about updates on the Pirates farm system? Or bios of new and upcoming players? (I would love a Dodgers cast that gave me background info on new players . . . Somebody want to do that one?)
Why would you want to be so narrow in focus?
1. You can actually be an expert in a narrow band of content. It's hard to be a true expert about Pirate baseball, but there's not a lot of competition to be THE source of information on their farm system.
2. If you're generating ad revenue, narrow is an easier sell to most advertisers. If I have an online store that sells Pirates memorabilia, I'm advertising on this cast long before I'm advertising on a general baseball podcast.
3. Your content stands out from the crowd. How remarkable is another baseball cast? Not very. But a cast that features bios and interviews with up and coming minor leaguers? That has the potential for remarkable. It's just interesting. You have a much better chance of getting noticed if you're, well, noteworthy.
Comments