Hyperlocal Podcasting

Fuzz Martin 0:00

Good morning podcasters. Let's talk about local podcasting. My name is Fuzz Martin and this is Good Morning, Podcasters! A show about marketing, advertising, social media and public relations topics as they relate to podcasters. And we try to make it as actionable as possible, because nobody likes a guru.

Fuzz Martin 0:27

Let's talk today about local podcasting or specifically hyper local podcasting. So what is hyper local podcasting? Well, it's a show that's focused on a very small geography, it could be a show that's focused on all sorts of things within that geography. So it's not necessarily focused on talking about the geography, it could be focused on things within that. So maybe it's news, politics, the local music scene, food, hospitality and travel, nonprofit organizations or charities, businesses in the area, interesting people attractions, entertainment, the art scene, a specific local industry could be any of those things in so much more.

Fuzz Martin 1:16

There's no real geographical limit either to being hyperlocal. It doesn't mean that it has to be a certain size or diameter, it could be a city or region, a smaller municipality. Something of that nature, I like to think of hyper and hyper local as meaning that the listeners know that the show is focused on them. So it can be hyper local to something like the entire tri state area. But those listening outside of the area would just be observers. Outside the fishbowl and not any focus of the show. The people inside that fishbowl would know that this show is about them and their community makes sense.

Fuzz Martin 2:01

For instance, I host a show called Fifteen Minutes with Fuzz, it's solely focused on positive people places and things in and around Washington County, Wisconsin, Washington County only has a population of 137,175 people. And I want each of them who listen to feel like the show is for them. I've had guests ask me why don't promote it to all of Wisconsin, or at least, to all of Southeastern Wisconsin. again, going back, I want my listeners to know that I am focused on them. And what they hear is going to be meaningful within their community, not a broad based entertainment piece.

Fuzz Martin 2:45

There are some cool positives that come with running a hyperlocal show. So people who are guests on the show are very likely to share it with their friends and family. Within the community, they're likely to share it on Facebook, they're likely to tell people about it at the grocery store or at work, or while they're getting coffee at the local coffee shop.

Fuzz Martin 3:06

People who don't typically listen to podcasts will find a way to tune in to hear that whether it's on your web browser, that's what I've found a lot is that people listen through a web browser if they're not typically podcast listeners. But even this year is podcast Spotify wrapped, I had 25 People whose main show that they listened to is 15 minutes with fuzz. In comparison, James Cridland from pod News Daily had said that seven people had said his podcast was their number one podcast according to Spotify wrapped.

Fuzz Martin 3:43

So when you get into the hyperlocal space, it's really easy to get in front of people who don't listen to a lot of podcasts, the advertisers that you can pitch as a hyperlocal podcast or become very clear, all you have to do is drive around your community and see who you think would be a good fit. And you can actually get out of your car or you could walk and walk into the store or walk into that business and talk to a real person about why they should advertise on your podcast. You can reach out make your offer, show them the value. It's very much like local radio advertising, except you don't have a bunch of overhead so you can keep your prices lower and you get all those funds. There's not a lot of overhead to give out other than your podcast hosting fee and all this cool equipment that you can buy. Another positive about doing a hyperlocal podcast is that you'll become known for what you do. Like people will know you in your community. They'll say oh you're you know, Fuzz. You do that podcast about positive things in Washington County. Oh, you're Jack, you do a show about country music in Evansville, Indiana. You can be well known for that. And also it's very easy to advertise your show. So not just finding out revisers but actually advertising out, you know, if you're doing a hyperlocal show about something in your community, it's really easy to run some Facebook ads or Instagram ads in your local market. And people are always interested in hearing about those things that are going on in their area. And I will tell you, they're more likely to click on a podcast about something going on in their area than they are about so many other things.

Fuzz Martin 5:24

There are though some negatives about hyperlocal podcasting. One, your local listening population is finite. This isn't a huge deal of your hyperlocal is like Manhattan. But when it's Podunk USA, don't expect a million listeners per episode, you might even consider less than 100 a success. But if you're connecting with people within that community, it will be successful.

Fuzz Martin 5:50

now, cost per Millie cost per: 1000

Fuzz Martin 6:25

A third thing and negatives about hyperlocal podcasting. If you piss somebody off, everybody's gonna know about it. As they say on the hit Canadian TV show letter Kenny. Bad gas travels fast in a small town. And finally, you know, you're likely not going to see big numbers with a hyperlocal podcast again, unless you're you're hyper local is a big city. However, when people do find your show, they're more likely to listen to your back catalogue and find out what you talked about, that they're familiar with. And that is important to them.

Fuzz Martin 7:07

If you have a hyperlocal show, and you want to tell me some of the things that worked for you, send me an email fuzz@goodmorningpod.com Or if you're looking to do a hyperlocal show and you want my opinion, send me an email again fuzz@goodmorningpod.com and we can share some ideas. Thanks for listening to Good Morning, Podcasters. Get in touch by going to goodmorningpod.com We've got a new episode of Podcasting Sucks with Jeff Townsend tomorrow morning. If you're listening on the Friday that this came up. Podcasting Sucks comes out Saturday mornings right here on the Good Morning Podcasters RSS feed. Otherwise you could find all of the episodes for Good Morning Podcasters at goodmorningpod.com and we will talk to you again tomorrow morning. Right here on Good Morning, Podcastersthanks for listening