"Hey man, I started a new podcast and thought you would enjoy it."
"Nice, what's it's about?"
"It's just me talking with people I haven't talked to in a while. And then I can use that for content too."
Depicted above is my conversation with a friend who makes music.
With optimism, I opened Spotify and turned it on.
The episode begins abruptly and goes on for 10 minutes with directionless chatter.
*Click off.
I'm not going to waste my time listening to a podcast with no premise (the journey it's going on).
This made me think: How many of us disrespect our audience?
I see this happening in two ways:
- We create shit content (far below the quality threshold), or
- We share content with people it's not created for (i.e., telling my grandma about my newsletter)
The first is an easy obstacle to overcome.
Put some damn effort into it.
Create a unique premise for your content. Make it worth the listen.
The more difficult barrier to hurdle is the second.
To guarantee you share your content with the right people, you need to have a clear premise (Mine: quick emails around improving marketing).
But you also need to deeply understand WHO needs that content.
My grandma does not need to improve her marketing. That's why I did not ask if she would subscribe.
If I were writing about theological or deep spiritual topics, then I would ask her.
It's not hard to respect your audience.
But once you disrespect them, your chance to get their attention is almost zero.
There's a 2% chance I'll give my friend's podcast another listen.
Focus on creating content worth consuming and sharing it with people who need it.
🧠 // JO