As podcast creators, our shows often based around a big goal or grand vision for how to make life better for a specific group of people.
That vision might be a refinement or improvement on the way things are currently done or a complete uprooting of the existing systems, structures, and beliefs of the people we’re looking to engage with.
Either way, it’s clear to us, at least, that our solution is the obvious choice to solve our audience’s problem, and we want to see our vision implemented on a massive scale for everyone our offer could possibly have the potential to help.
But how to get their attention and spread the word?
Our first instinct is to get our hands on the biggest megaphone we can find.
To shout our message to the masses, confident that once that message is heard, a queue of eager listeners (and maybe even customers, clients, or sponsors) will form and a movement will be born.
Movements, however, are not built on megaphones, mass-marketing, and top-down messaging.
Movements are built by speaking intimately to a small group of people, and then creating something for them specifically, that they can’t help but tell their friends about.
It’s not the type of marketing we typically think of first. But before we’ve built a strong foundation of fans and advocates, it’s the only type of marketing that works.
If you choose to follow this path, the starting point is simple.
Find one person.
Find one person for whom you imagine your podcast should be the absolute perfect fit for. If you can’t find one person, you most certainly won’t find a hundred, or a thousand, or a million.
Once you’ve found your one person, work with them to further refine your podcast until it truly is the best possible solution for the problem they’re trying to solve.
Then find ten people and repeat the process.
Hone your work until you have something truly worth talking about, something that each of your ten people can’t help but share with three (or five, or ten) of their friends.
You don’t need to get your message, your product, your service in front of a million people. You simply need to find the perfect ten who will help you get the snowball rolling.
You won’t win by shouting louder than everyone else. You’ll win by creating raving fans who whisper among themselves and do your marketing for you.
