Niching down will open up your small business podcast listenership

It can be tempting to want to attract "everyone" to our small business podcast. 

But your podcast and your business are NOT for everyone. You service a very specific niche. So talk to them. Trust me, others will listen but that's not your focus. Your focus dear solopreneur is on your niche. By being specific you'll be more relatable. Let's dive into this some more. 

When I interviewed Hao Wu in 20219 for Geopat, I never would have guessed that what he said about focusing his livestreaming in China documentary "People's Republic of Desire" would apply to my 2023 small business podcasting clients. 

But it does. It 100 percent does. 

Here's what he said: 

"It's like, is this film trying to going to give the US audience the same stereotypical views about China again? But I think for me, any piece of great art will tell a very particular story.

Hopefully that particular story will also be able to convey something more not universal is the wrong word. It's like more representative of what's really happening in the society. Right? So if you look at People's Republic Desire, the group of people that's been portrayed in the film, the host, the loser fans, as well as the rich patrons, they by no means represent the entire society of China."

In Hao's documentary he focused on two livestreamers. He had many he could have highlighted but in order to dig into the topic for one film he chose two. And, as he told us in the interview, he spent two years filming them AND four years editing. That kind of focus and dedication to our niche could do us all in the small business space some good.  

​How does this apply to your small business podcast

It's simple. 
And difficult.
But here it is. 

Stop trying to include everyone. 

I know!

We live in a time of inclusion. I'm NOT saying be rude or ignore people. I'm saying focus on who your small business serves. And ignore everyone else. 

Can I share something with you? 

For example: 
I'm bucking every online course convention I've seen and read about by adding the dreaded "I" to my course titles. 

• How I connect my podcast, YouTube, socials and more for audience growth
• How I write a simple podcast newsletter in 30 minutes
• ​How I've found podcast editing work in the past 3+ years

I'm supposed to want everyone interested in podcasts to buy my courses. But that's not who they're for. Two of the above are for you, the small business person with a podcast as part of your marketing plan. The other is course I made to help fellow podcast editors. As you can see, I had very specific people in mind when I made them. I tried to use big picture titles for the courses but they felt wrong. They didn't convey the content. So I switched. And the feedback I'm getting is leading me to believe that this was true. I create these courses from my own solopreneur experiences so why wouldn't I use "I" in the titles? 

This is a course example but can be transferred to your small business podcast easily. 

So, my question for you is this:

Who are you talking to? Who is that focused group of folks that you want to buy your product and/or services someday? 

and

How can you tell title your messaging (podcast episode titles, podcast name and description, etc) to make sure they know you're talking to them? 

Okay, that's more than one question. Feel free to take your time with this. It's important. 

Feel free to add your answers below, I'd love to read them.