Your Secret Tool for Success with your Next Book, Blog or Show
Ready to begin your next book? Your next podcast? Your next talk? There’s a key tool to help you find success—defined as people connecting with your content.
Have you ever been in a meeting and heard someone say something like this? “I love this topic of Christian Dad feather-weight-lifting so I think we should do it.”
What is the actual subtext to this statement? Something along these lines: “I am one listener/reader/viewer who likes feather-weight-lifting so we should broadcast/write/produce just for me—even though I don’t know of anyone else like me—or maybe just a few. The bottom line is that I don’t know who my audience is and I don’t have any idea of what she wants to hear/read/view—but I’m interested, I think it is important, so let’s go!”
That’s risky. So very. Think purchases, radio tune-out, TV channel switching, digital choice. As a famous cartoon character says, “Good grief!”
What’s a better way? Research. Knowing who your target audience really is—and what their preferences are, how they consume, where they consume and where there could be a match with your specialty and what God has laid on your heart! Research is a gift when playing its proper role—helping you define, refine and shape your message. Perhaps your message would be better served in a different channel—or with a different length—or with a different age group in mind.
What if we spent about an hour a week reviewing research pertinent to what we do? What difference might that make in our thinking and our ultimate impact for God?
Right now, while you are praying over your next project is a great time to begin. There are multiple sources for research that could impact your world, and you will want to begin to collect your personal list of sources.
But to get you started, here’s several that have proved useful. Keep in mind that some of these will have more bearing depending upon your delivery approach.
- Pew at pewresearch.com
- Nielsen at Nielsen.com
- Edison at edisonresearch.com/media-research
And here’s one final one I’m very familiar with that will help you within Christian-formatted radio.
- Finney Media Why Listen?® at finneymedia.com
This is a short list to get you started—but with a great deal of depth. So grab your calendar, schedule a time, and prepare to dig in…
Jan Shober is a media analyst, blogger and Vice-president for Strategy for Finney Media, specializing in helping you create experiences that cause your audience to come back for more.
Jan began her media journey as a ten-year old with a neighborhood newspaper—and continued shadowing her love of words to work in radio. She spent time in South America working in international media and about twenty years with Focus on the Family first in creative for audio then in distributing media.
Her big reason for her work? Her life mission to help more people grow in Jesus. See more about Jan’s journey at: http://finneymedia.com/about/our-team/
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