5 Ways to Lose an Audience

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Has your appeal to large audiences been trailing off lately? Are you getting fewer and fewer “likes” or “shares” on your content — none, maybe? Ugh. We all struggle with it.

We can blame changing algorithms, insufficient SEO, and the ever increasing shrieking noise of the online marketplace. But if your sales have been flat since Q1 2016, then consider something else — you, yourself may be to blame.

There are lots of ways to attract an audience, but there are even more ways to drive them off. I call them “audience repellents.” Here are five that I see most often:

(1) Bragging and Humble Bragging

Whereas, “bragging” is a self-inflicted wound, and “humble bragging” is pouring lemon juice on it.

We don’t like braggarts at a cocktail party, so it stands to reason we don’t like it from businesses, either. Humble bragging is bragging online about your business accomplishments, but pretending to be modest while you’re doing it.

A business humble brag usually starts with the words, “We’re just thrilled to announce that…,” Or, “We’re so humble and honored to have…”  

We all like attention for our business achievements, but when bragging is the main substance of almost all of your public interaction, and you feel you have to brag to get people to notice you, you become repellent in the minds of your audience.

I don’t think perpetual braggers are deliberately trying to turn people off.  You might think that your audiences will be impressed and even love you MORE. But actually, the OPPOSITE is true!

There is a Harvard business study that proves that people dislike and lose respect for companies and individuals who brag, and especially who humble brag. 

So, lighten up on bragging and opt for achieving “3rd Party Credibility.” People believe what other people say about you, not what you say about yourself. Send out a press release so that the media can make your announcement. If you’ve won an award from an entity, let the entity make the announcement on your behalf. Hide it on your website somewhere.

Just resist the urge to run out into the town square and shout, “Look at me! Look at me!”

(2) Failure to Connect and Engage

You can visit many social media business pages, websites and posts and see nothing but brags and self-serving sales messages, as if social media itself was created just so marketers could advertise for free. You will also observe that there’s not much of an audience there, either.

To attract an audience, you need to make the bulk of your communications strategy about delivering the information they want, not what you want. If someone’s not interested in you as an organization or as a solo professional, they certainly won’t care about your sales agenda.

(3) Failure to Understand Your Audience

I learned this the hard way, back when we were trying to make our rock band famous. More often than not, in order to pay the rent, we had to play gigs to please audiences who were more into hearing Top 40 music than any of my original tunes.

Once we were booked as an opening act for David Brenner, and his audience comprised the blue hair casino crowd who lived for Frank Sinatra and yelled “turn it down!” when their grandkids had the radio on.

Anxious to show off on a big stage, my band played mostly our original rock tunes. After each one, all we got were golf claps. But when we played “The Rose” at the end, back then a top-of-the-charts ballad, we got a standing ovation.

There’s something to be said for “givin’ ’em what they want.”

(3) Giving Up too Soon

It takes time, and lots of repetition, to get people to notice you. Unless, of course, you’ve just landed a jet in the Hudson River without killing anyone.

And by time, I mean months, even years. There was a saying long ago: “Just when you’re getting sick of your own messaging is when people start paying attention.”

Keep your communications frequent, relevant to your audience and consistently value-driven.

(4) Your Website Isn’t Media Friendly

Never forget that the “media” is one of your most important audiences. The people most likely to tell others about you and give you mass exposure are journalists, editors, TV producers, radio talk show hosts, podcast hosts, and thousands of bloggers. They’re always looking for experts to interview.

To research your company and judge whether you’re credible, they’ll look at your website. If you don’t have an online press room providing the kind of information a journalist needs to do his/her job, they’ll probably blow you off. Either that, or they’ll search LinkedIn for your leadership’s LinkedIn profiles. No LinkedIn profiles?

They will move on to another company or expert who has their act together. It wasn’t you.

(5) Failure to be Passionate about Your Brand

An audience-attracting brand regularly expresses genuine  passion for something greater than itself. 

Apple has a passion for beautiful design. Nike is passionate about athletes. Harley Davidson is passionate about freedom and adventure. Ben & Jerry’s is passionate about the earth and the environment.

Get your positioning team back together and commit yourself heart and soul to ONE ideal you can stand behind. Your passion is a magnet for people who share your values, because it inspires trust and a sense of loyalty.

A business without authentic passion resorts to humble bragging.

I am thrilled and honored that you have read this post.

PR & Communications Trends in 2018

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Next year, business communicators are going to work harder than ever to adapt to a radical shift in the consumer mindset, part of which is, “What’s in it for me?” The most crucial objectives are to stay relevant, understand new technologies, and give the market what it wants. But don’t fret – givers get.

Accordingly, expect to see the following practices emerge in 2018.

1. Battling the “me” epidemic in social media. We will be forced to move away from ego-centric, sales-focused marketing communication (humble brags, ninja advertising) and create content that the audience wants. The new objective becomes earning audience trust before moving in for the sale. This is where PR shines.

2. Hiring seasoned strategists to manage the social media function.Stronger writers and business strategists will take the reins of social media and apply more savvy approaches to winning the hearts of key publics with robust, multi-channel content.

3. Businesses as media outlets. While it will still be important to work with traditional and digital media outlets to relay messages to big audiences, resource-rich companies will leverage social media channels (YouTube, Facebook, blogs, mobile phone video, etc.) to create, host and distribute their own content.

4. The blurring of lines between public relations and marketing.  A larger portion of the marketing budget will be spent on audience attraction through brand journalism. Advertising budgets will shrink. Marketing professionals will acquire and apply public relations skills to fill the gaps.

5. Return to human connection. The more we rely on technology to communicate, the more we crave real, heart-felt human connection. Businesses will find creative ways to engage with audiences and devote more resources to building attractive personal brands for leadership and customer-facing personnel.

 

Brag Busting

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One of the most important goals of public relations-type communication is to secure “third party credibility.” This is when other people say wonderful things about you rather than your having to do it yourself.

When you do it yourself, you’re bragging and it’s tacky (always has been) and people ignore it. When other people talk about your importance and wonderfulness, it’s societal “proof” that you are important and wonderful. People believe what other people say about you, whether it’s good or bad, true or not.

Good “word of mouth” is the best thing your business can achieve. You’re not going to get it by bragging.

It’s a psychology thing.

Back in the day, when we wanted to guarantee people knew about us and why we were the right ones with whom to do business, we bought advertising. Advertising ensured that our message would be exposed to our target audiences. It was expensive, though. To get people’s notice takes frequency, and frequency (in advertising) takes money. Lots of it.

And, it wasn’t exactly third party endorsement. It was advertising. Period. There’s no free lunch in marketing, though bless us, we’re always looking for loopholes.

In days of pre-Internet, we secured third party endorsement by announcing our achievements and newsworthy stories via press releases and pitches to the traditional media. If the media presented you in a favorable light, readers, viewers and listeners automatically assumed you were important, credible and trustworthy. There were no guarantees that the media would spread the news, but when it did, the impact was impressive.

Low-budget businesses have always tried to get the word out to traditional media by disguising its advertising in press releases. It doesn’t work very well as a loophole — editors are hip to it and shut it down.

When the Internet came along, it opened the door for low-budget businesses to use free social media channels to promote themselves. Rather than strive for third party credibility, they’ve skipped the media relations and influencer marketing steps and have gone straight to the unfortunate tactic of telling the world how wonderful they are.

I’m so honored and pleased to have won this award… We’re so honored and pleased to have presented a check for $10,000 to a local charity… I’m thrilled to have been promoted to EVP…

You get the idea. The mistake with this “humble bragging” approach is that it has virtually no effect on your bottom line, because no one cares. Well, except for your mother. And maybe your board of directors. And well-meaning friends. And sycophants.

Even with the massive potential exposure available to us in the digital age, third party endorsement is still as important as it ever was for business success. It takes a lot of work and time to get it nowadays, but it’s most effective for achieving true success.

Blog Creation Tip: OPW (Other People’s Words)

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This is a quick tip for anyone who doesn’t have a blog because they:

a) can’t write

b) hate to write

c) don’t have time to write

d) don’t have anything interesting to write about

So here’s a good one — interview people! Have a Q&A session with someone who’s interesting, has particular expertise, owns a popular local restaurant, is someone you admire — any one of a million people and subjects your audience might find interesting.

If the interview is face-to-face, record it with your phone or a digital recorder. You can also record remotely using a free conference call service, Skype, and others.

Transcribe the interview. I use an online transcription service that charges $1.00 a minute. Clean up the text so that it reads smoothly and eliminates any parts where the conversation strayed off topic.

Ask your interviewee for a headshot and short bio. Add it to the beginning of the interview, after you’ve written a brief introduction.

Aim for one interview a week, then tell your contacts in social media that the blog is now available on your website.

Voila! It’s an interesting piece of content that took minimal time, strengthened your relationship with the interviewee, is something your interviewee is likely to share — there are so many great strategic benefits.

I do this all the time, and am happy to answer questions.

 

 

 

 

Social Media Needs Strategy

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Before you hire someone to “do” your social media, make sure they have a profound understanding of communications strategy and human behavior.

For social media to be effective in your business, it must be a good strategic fit for what you’re trying to accomplish. If you want to use social media in your marketing mix because you think it makes you relevant, or because you think humble bragging on Facebook is your road to success, or you think a 12-year-old is the perfect person for the task because they grew up with digital technology, STOP!

For social media to be powerful in generating brand equity and raving fans, it must be woven into the fabric of your entire communications plan. And it must be managed by a skilled strategist who understands what it takes to grow a business using sound communications principles and what motivates human beings to respond to your message. Consider these five pieces of advice:

Just because a person is young doesn’t guarantee proficiency in the strategic use of social media. Social media is a channel for the distribution of content that’s interesting and appealing to your target audience(s). If you’re going to hire interns or recent college graduates to work on your social media, be prepared to provide strong, strategic guidance. Be sure to keep an eye on the level of engagement they’ve achieved and how they’re branding you. (The more inexperienced ones go overboard on the humble bragging.)

If your audience isn’t using Snapchat, then you shouldn’t, either. Go where your audience’s attention is, and slant your messages according to the tone of the channel. Pinterest is a whole different world than LinkedIn.

Share content that has value to your audience. No one really cares about you unless you’re sharing something that’s relevant to them or is share-worthy. Offer lead magnets that attract people to your website. Do a mix of content types — written content, video, podcasts, pictures, etc. Share tips and information in your blog. Earn their trust in your skills and expertise. Share (curate) content that’s industry specific. If your wealth management clients aren’t interested in the latest sock market reports (ask them), stop sending them.

Have a strategy for preventing, and especially handling, social media crises. The Internet is full of stories of how crises were poorly handled by young, inexperienced people who were given sole responsibility for the social media function. Don’t hand over the car keys to your social media person and walk away if they don’t have a solid background in public relations, or in direct communication with an organization’s stakeholders.

Don’t abandon all other forms of marketing communications and use social media as your only outreach device. Social media is only a slice of your marketing mix. Focus on reinventing your website as a media outlet, and load it up with free downloads, video, images, a great blog, articles and more. Use relevant social media outlets to share this content and drive people to the source: your website. Don’t neglect networking, list building, public speaking, live events, media coverage and other attention-getting, trust earning tactics.

You Must Have an Online Platform

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My brother forwarded to me on Facebook recently the YouTube video of singer Michael Young belting out “Unchained Melody” in a voice so boomingly rich and powerful it made me gasp.

Aside from my amazement at his surpassing talent, I noticed that, incredibly, people in the subway station walked right past him, tapping away at their cell phones, as if he didn’t exist. Granted, this performance took place in New York City, which has been called, “the world’s most competitive city.” As the song “New York, New York” says, “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere.” This phrase has been taken as prophecy by the thousands of talented hopefuls who move to Manhattan every year seeking stardom or fortune. Many of them leave heartbroken and empty handed. Not all—but most.

Such talent deserves recognition. But in the talent-flooded marketplace that is The Big Apple, a predictable phenomenon occurs—-commoditization. According to Investopedia, commoditization is, “a process in which goods or services become relatively indistinguishable from competing offerings over time.”

In the business world, when what you’ve got has been commoditized, your ability to capture your audience’s attention has become severely compromised. In such an environment, your only advantage against your competitors is one of pricing. It happened in banking, car insurance, real estate sales and many other service-oriented professions. There are just too many of us. Only a few are willing to do the hard work and take the bold steps that will propel you over the ordinary.

This isn’t to dissuade anyone from pursuing their creative or entrepreneurial dreams. Quite the reverse. If there’s a “must do” in you, then you must do it. Just understand this—you’ve got to be better than everyone else at building a platform of devoted followers of you, not your products or services.

Your expertise, your reputation for delivering valuable content, and the frequency of which eyeballs and ears are exposed to your presence and messaging determines your success in today’s marketing environment.

You must embrace the Internet as an important medium in your marketing mix for building your platform. Why? Because it’s where people’s attention is. At the same time, you mustn’t abandon traditional awareness building channels. Find out how your audience consumes content, and then go there to provide value.

As for Michael Young, the man with a singing voice as powerful as a speeding freight train, demonstrating his unique talent on a subway station platform (traditional, non-Internet attention getting device), and capturing video of the performance for YouTube (digital channel), was sheer genius. This particular YouTube video has been viewed 1.7 million times, not counting “shares” on Facebook.

In one week’s time, his video’s notoriety won the attention of the media, earning Michael the opportunity to sing “Unchained Melody” on the “Late Show with James Corden.” The video was viewed an additional 7.9 million times. All told, it’s estimated that the video was seen by more than 40 million viewers.

It’s all in the strategy, moxie, determination, talent, creativity and willingness to follow and serve your market’s attention, wherever it wants to go.

Social Media Crisis & Trolls

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A social media crisis almost always is started by a disgruntled customer who went online, perhaps on Twitter, to post his grievances, and his complaints went viral. It’s not a crisis in the traditional sense, but still, you need to prepare in advance and have policies in place to ensure they’re handled properly and to your best advantage.

According to the Institute for Public Relations, there are four different kinds of publics who use social media channels: (1) The people (creators and influencers) who post information about a crisis to inform the stakeholders; (2) the social media followers who consume this information from the creators; (3) People who aren’t active in social media, but get their facts via word of mouth from the people who are; and (4) trolls, who Wikipedia defines as, “people who sow discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion, often for their own amusement.”

Scan your social media channels regularly so you can spot when people are chatting about you. You need to be aware of these conversations so that you can step in to diffuse any negativity early and fix problems. Be aware of the rumors, and try to reverse them if you can, but not on social media. Other channels are better for this: op-ed pieces, your blog, letters to the editor, and if the rumor is particularly damaging, in a press conference.

Don’t get emotional; remain calm. Assess the situation to find the origin of it. Get the facts straight. There are trolls out there who chime in sometimes to stir up discord or spread gossip. People are generally good at spotting trolls, and if you have a good reputation, their nonsense won’t be taken too seriously.

If, however, you sense that a consumer complaint is legitimate, you must fix the problem as soon as possible. Respond with transparency, respect and caring, and take the conversation off line. Never engage in a public battle.

How to Handle the “Brain Pickers”

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This post is dedicated to the service providers: writers, publicists, web designers, graphic artists, marketing consultants and others who want to help businesses succeed. We are the ones who want to rescue David from Goliath, i.e., help the little guy. Am I preaching to the choir when I say that there are some new business owners you ought to avoid at all costs, because even though their market presence cries out for help, they may not be ready, willing and able to pay for advice.

Let me tell you a story.

My anti-hero’s name has been changed to disguise the identity of a solopreneur who doesn’t do the work (whether through design or lack of know-how), and then complains he’s not getting enough leads. Let’s call him Nullen, of the firm Nullen Void. Nullen is an amalgam. Have you met him yet?

He’s a nice enough guy, really, but at heart, he’s a slacker. He barely squeaked by in college, never cracked a textbook until the night before an exam. He got his girlfriends and starving student ghostwriters to write his papers for him. Professors cut him slack because he was on the football team. He’s a firm believer in his own “likeability,” and has been trading off of it for years to get what he wants from people.

After years of working in middle management jobs for a series of small service businesses, Nullen decided to start his own business. He does just enough work to pay the bills, though he often dreams of bigger things. He puts in an 8-hour day, five days a week, doing paperwork, getting his annual CEU credits, hanging out in local leads groups (getting leads, but not giving much), answering the phone when it rings, hoping it’s a new client, and little else.

But the phone rings less and less these days, and he’s become increasingly frustrated, because suddenly, it’s not easy anymore to get new business. He had to do something to drum up business, so he called me for a free, 30-minute consultation to “pick my brains.” (That’s code for someone who wants your advice but doesn’t expect to have pay for it. Good old Nullen.) He invited me for lunch and offered to pick up the tab, which is a first for him. And he played the, “You’re an old friend, and you’re brilliant” card. He almost sounded like he was begging, which is also a first. So I took pity on him and agreed to meet. Maybe he’d since realized the world wasn’t beating a path to his door, and maybe our pal, Nullen, was growing up. Maybe this time, he has a budget.

Before our meeting, I researched Nullen’s internet presence, knowing what I’d probably find. Sadly, I was correct.

Nullen’s social media is a ghost town

I found him on Facebook and LinkedIn. He posts occasionally (not personally, however), mostly curated content. Most posts have two or three likes, always the same people who work at the social media firm he hired because they were cheap. The posts are inane, either with little relevance to his business or not noteworthy in any sense. Whomever is posting on Nullen’s behalf has little understanding of the business he’s in and/or the audience he’s trying to reach. Further, evidence suggests that Nullen isn’t engaging with anyone on social media—there are no “likes” or “comments” from him on anyone else’s posts. What he’s done, obviously, has handed over the keys to student drivers.

Nullen doesn’t understand social media. He never studied it, never tried to figure out what channels are most strategic for him. He just figured it’s something he ought to be involved with, because everybody’s doing it. In truth, he doesn’t believe in it and thinks it has no value. It’s like sausage, he figures. He doesn’t need to know what goes in it. And so, he doesn’t participate. Too much work, anyway.

His LinkedIn profile is glaringly incomplete. No summary. No descriptions of his previous positions. His photo is obviously a crop job. I can see a friend’s disembodied hand on his shoulder.

When he buys me lunch, I will give him the “you’ve got to engage if you want your social media to be effective” speech. I will ask him why he’s using social media in the first place and what he hopes to gain. And I will say, “No, Nullen, I will not do it for you, unless you’re willing to pay my going rate.” Brain pickers usually run away at this point.

His web site is static

His home page seems to say, “Move along folks; there’s nothing to see here.” In the “about us” section, he lists his products and services but tells us nothing about who he is. There’s very little substance, no interesting content, no blog, no newsletter.

The red flags were everywhere. I don’t need to look at the rest of his marketing communications to know that Nullen is just phoning it in. I’ll let him buy me lunch, give him my dime-store advice, then walk away, hoping to have made a difference.

Have you encountered people like this in your search for clients? How do you handle requests from people who want to “pick your brains?”

Episode 3: Michael J. Mika

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Welcome to Episode #3 of the Media Pro Spotlight podcast. In this episode, Mike Mika, former executive editor at Today Media’s Delaware Business Times and digital media expert, explains why all of us must think of ourselves as digital publishers, why print is still important, and how to cut through the incredible clutter with your story pitches.

Listen to the Audio

Some of the key takeaways from Mike’s presentation are:

  • Everyone is now a publisher
  • Who, what, when, where, why and how are still important
  • Why you need to have a digital footprint
  • Know your key messages
  • Engage in social media dialogue with your media contacts

Read the Transcript

You can download a complete, word-for-word transcript of this episode here.

Episode #3: Mike Mika Transcript

Links & Resources:

Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeljmika

Mike on Twitter: @MichaelJMika

About Dana Dobson

Dana Dobson is CEO of Dana Dobson Public Relations, a boutique PR firm that helps businesses with creative publicity and customer communication strategies. She is an award-winning B-2-B business writer, specializing in producing compelling, persuasive content for businesses in the services sector. She is the creator of the PR Breakthrough Publicity workshop series, an online training program that teaches you how to launch your own successful publicity campaigns, and she is also the host of the Media Pro Spotlight podcast, featuring interviews with top media talent.

Who Would You Like Us to Interview?

Is there a member of the media you’d like to know more about? Perhaps someone you’ve been trying to contact but have been unsuccessful, or someone whose work you admire? Are there any particular questions you’d like us to ask media professionals during the interview? I’d love to hear from you.

Subscribe to the Podcast

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe!

Spread the Word

If you enjoyed Media Pro Spotlight and find it useful, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review, and share it with friends and colleagues.

See you next time!

 

Images, Videos & Podcasts

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With all the talk about content these days, and how you must become a content making machine if you hope to establish your brand in a competitive, noisy marketplace, take this to heart—content isn’t limited to the written word.

That’s the first thing we think of, isn’t it, when we hear the word “content?” That we have to write it? That we’ll have to sit down in front of the computer and pump out crazy amounts of words? But we don’t, because we hate to write or believe we’re not good at it, and our excuse is we “don’t have the time?” You have the time.

It’s not like content is something you can run away from, or that it’s a task you can get out of if you pretend it’s not there. If you’re in business, and you want to stay in business, and you want to do more than just eke out a living, generating content is as essential to your existence as oxygen. If you don’t believe this, then stop reading.

Still here? Awesome.

If you’re someone who hates to write, and who thinks of it as a nasty chore, I invite you to look at content in a whole different way. Start with this idea: Content isn’t just words.

Content is the expression of something through any medium: words, pictures, video, art, dance, graphs. With content, our aim (in this era of marketing communications) is to attract ears and eyeballs via the myriad of channels available to us on the Internet. So you, dear non-writer, today have fun and exciting options for convincing people that you are someone with the knowledge and expertise they’ve been searching for. It’s what content is all about.

What trips some of us up when it comes to producing good content is that, in order for our content to be truly effective, we must pump it out there frequently, regularly and consistently. It’s not easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is. The people who reach the top of the mountain are the ones who keep climbing, pushing, driving, while the rest lose their stamina and fall into the abyss. Producing interesting content is a grind, almost an obsession (it has to be), and not everyone can (or wants to) stay the course. You have the ability. You just have to find a content strategy that’s doable for you. You’ll stick with it if you think it’s fun.

One more thing, before I get into specifics: When you launch your content strategy, be prepared for the long game. Have patience. Your audience will grow one person at a time, and eventually, if you keep at it without looking at your stats every five minutes, you will reach critical mass and you’ll be so busy with new business it’s silly. With content, you’re building a following, and it takes time.

Here are a few options for producing excellent, regular content:

Make short, daily videos with your iPhone or flip cam

These daily video updates are becoming very popular. Deepak Chopra does a couple of minutes every day, usually early in the morning, sharing brief insights or explaining concepts. These aren’t fancy. He’s usually wearing a tee-shirt (one of them says, “Spiritual Gangster”). Check it out, if you want to see an example of a video made with an iPhone.

You have so much to talk about! Your purpose is to share ideas, insights, education, knowledge and expertise, most preferably with a common theme. If you’re a landscaper, for example, you could talk for two minutes about a particular weed and how to get rid of it. If you’re a landscaper who offers environmentally safe weed-killing solutions, you could talk about environmental preservation in general.

You don’t necessarily have to talk about your business or industry. Let’s say you sell life insurance. If you like coaching kids’ sports, talk about that every day. There are millions of parents out there who love that topic, too. You don’t have to be up in our face that you sell life insurance. We’re going to know that already. What’s more important is that you’ve shown you’re a decent, smart person who shares a common interest with a large audience of followers, and guess who they’ll think of when they need life insurance?

Same goes for wealth managers or financial planners or anyone else who works within the confines of a heavily regulated environment. You don’t have to talk about your industry. Perhaps you’re someone who really appreciates craft beer. Or fine wine. Or horses. Or sailing. Talk about sailing every day, where you dock your boat, where you sailed last weekend, sailing tips, great places to sail, etc. etc. Shoot your video (or several at a time) while you’re at the wheel. That’d be fun!  If I’m someone with a lot of money to invest and I love sailing, then you’re the guy who’s going to capture my eyeballs and perhaps manage my portfolio.

Make a podcast

There’s a rising tide of millions of people who are on the go and to prefer “listening” to content. I listen to podcasts while I’m driving, hiking or taking my daily walks. Others listen at the gym while they’re on the bike or treadmill. By listening to podcasts, insanely driven entrepreneurs can accomplish two things at once: exercise, travel AND stay on top of their game.

If you’re not comfortable with the way you look on camera, and if the thought of writing makes you want to throw up in your mouth a little, then doing a podcast may be a great solution for you.

My podcast, “Media Pro Spotlight,” (launching soon) is an approximately 30-minute interview with a member of the media to learn what kinds of stories they cover, how to contact them with story ideas, and what their daily professional lives are like. They dish about the challenges they face and what the future holds for anyone who wants to attract mass media attention.

You could do something similar—record interviews with leaders in your industry or other kinds of experts who have information your audience might find interesting. I have a client who’s a wealth manager, and he’s also a very talented musician who has played with some of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll musicians of all time. I’m encouraging him to create a podcast wherein he interviews these greats.

You don’t have to interview people on your podcast. If you’ve got the gift of gab, a sparkling personality and a strong point of view about something, you can simply talk in depth about something that no one knows more about than you.

I would be delighted to brainstorm ideas for you to create visual content. I can help you know what tools you’ll need to get started and about all of the moving parts you need to assemble. Honestly, if I can do it, you certainly can. Ask me questions in the comment section below, or reach out to me at dana@danadobson.com.

Action!