How Narrowcasting Can Increase Your Readership and Customer Base

Narrowcasting is both a subset and the opposite of broadcasting, which is the wide scale dissemination of content through electronic and traditional media channels, in order to reach a large audience.

Narrowcasting focuses on spreading messages to smaller niche audiences that are defined by their demographic profile, individual preferences and values.

This means you should intentionally target a specific group of potential consumers by giving them customized messages only applicable to their interests or profile. The aim of this is to provoke a direct response from them, be it to purchase your product or perform a specific action (spread your message, donate money etc).

I’ve mentioned this technique in my recent post on The Persuaders, a documentary on how marketing and advertising influences the way we think or see ourselves. In the film’s context, narrowcasting was used in presidential election campaigns to reach potential voters and elicit support for the specific candidate.

Now let’s take a look at how narrowcasting can be used in the context of blogging or internet marketing. This aim of this article is to give you some ideas on how to narrowcast messages to groups of people in order to achieve maximum results.

Narrowcasting V.S. Broadcasting: Three Key Differences

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Let’s start with some obvious differences between narrowcasting and broadcasting, which will give you a good idea on how each method differs from the other.

1. Content Availability. Broadcast content is available to everyone and people are generally able to access it easily. Narrowcast content may only be made available to a select audience who chooses to receve it.




2. Target Audience. Broadcast content does not target a specific audience profile and hence may communicate similar messages to multiple demographics at once. In narrowcasting, different messages are disseminated with a clear idea of what audience you are specifically targeting.




3. Message Relevance. Broadcast content may not be pertinent to the interests of those come across it. On the other hand, narrowcast content is always highly relevant to the user’s interests; not only is the message crafted for a specific profile, users will themselves opt in to receive such messages.

How to Create Narrowcast Channels Through Your Website

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Both push and pull, narrowcasting is something you can perform on a large scale (ad campaigns targeting different demographics) or a small scale (email newsletter for subscribers). The main aim of narrowcasting is to disseminate a message that is ultra relevant to the audience’s interests or needs.

Blogs are generally regarded as broadcast platforms because anyone who connects to the internet may view it. Your message is openly displayed to all who comes across your webpage and most bloggers do not go beyond a broadcast model.

The additional of narrowcasting options can greatly enhance the benefits you’ll derive from your blog and online business. Just as internet marketers will create multiple sales pages with different copy for multiple visitor profiles, blogs and businesses can extend the depth of their reach by using narrowcasting channels.

Here are some examples of narrowcasting channels you can develop:

1. Email Newsletters. Opt-in subscription newsletters are a terrific way to expand your website’s reach and are particularly useful if you want to zero in and expand on topics that currently explored on your blog. They are a good add-on for all retail or service businesses and can be used to blast out product updates/special online offers as well.




2. Premium Content. Provide excerpts of your content in the broadcast channel in order to get people to purchase your premium content in the narrowcast channel. This is often used by academic journals and online newspapers. You can also offer premium content for free as well, in the form of a value add-on for longterm visitors or customers.




3. Members-Only Networks. Private members-only forums or social networks are a useful way for businesses to leverage the brand interest of existing and potential customers. By providing a channel for readers/customers to provide feedback, you’re allowing them to talk about your brand. This added activity and interaction has the benefit of developing visitor loyalty.




4. Social Media Mullets. The Mullet is a social media marketing strategy which involves the creation of targeted content away from your main channels, in order to appeal to specific social media websites or communities. Your regular users are not able to access this content as it will only be narrowcasted to social media community.




5. RSS-Only Articles. This involves the production of content only viewable by users who subscribe to your web feed. This is useful if you want to encourage subscriptions and I do think it can be combined with the mullet for extra promotional strength. Here’s a tip on how to create RSS-only articles.




6. User-Generated News. Social news elements can be added to existing websites to provide relevant news for the community. Visitors can participate in the organization of content by voting for news which they find interesting. User-generated news and individualized customization will also allow you to promote your site as a resource hub.

The goal is to get people into these narrowcast channels, which will allow you to send out customized messages which are far more targeted and relevant. For instance, you can publish articles on your main broadcast channel and then use narrowcasting newsletters to provide affiliate recommendations or support.

Narrowcasting can also be understood in terms of specialized content development. You can see this in action by looking at most American television networks:

A network, for example, might target young viewers by programming back-to-back futuristic space programs on one night, while on a different night, feature an ensemble of ethnic-oriented programs. This strategy allows the networks to reach the overall mass audience cumulatively rather than simultaneously.

To narrowcast your site audience, simply target several audience profiles and create content which caters to their interests. After which, integrate these content types within your editorial calender and repeat them regularly. Combine them with the narrowcasting channels listed above and you’ll have a usable long term strategy.

Narrowcasting allows you to reach audiences that may not interested in your broadcast content. It’s an effective method to build deeper relationships with your audience and will also help you easily get more readers and customers as well.

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