A conversation I recently had with a fellow podcaster.

Fellow Podcaster: SO, I will need to ask you again, where should my podcasts be listed for the most exposure (yes, I have a Myspace but I don’t have many friends) and what should I plan to accomplish as far as raw numbers are concerned?
Fellow Podcaster: Essentially, my goal is to turn my podcast into a syndicated column/podcast.
Fellow Podcaster: My other show can remain a once-a-month fun thing with 200+ Fellow Podcasters.
Financial Aid Podcast: Well, our discussion centered around where your audience is.
Fellow Podcaster: WHAT’S THE MAGIC!!????
Fellow Podcaster: Sorry to yell.
Financial Aid Podcast: if it’s newspaper editors, etc., look to professional journals and association directories.
Fellow Podcaster: But it is more likely the brainiacs and power-brokers in the journalism and literary world.
Financial Aid Podcast: right. where do they congregate online?
Fellow Podcaster: No idea. I think they’re too focused on following Diggs and other indicators of the next hot thing.
Fellow Podcaster: Trouble is, I have been removed from Wikipedia (that’s a story) and I don’t get dugg at all.
Financial Aid Podcast: that’s what you need to find out first before you can craft an effective strategy.
Financial Aid Podcast: because you really don’t care about Digg etc.
Financial Aid Podcast: if your audience doesn’t hang out there.
Financial Aid Podcast: random traffic just chews up bandwidth.
Financial Aid Podcast: targeted, focused traffic delivers results.
Fellow Podcaster: But I believe that editors check that out to see what’s happening.
Financial Aid Podcast: find out – you currently have an editor, right? for your column?
Fellow Podcaster: AND they are definitely focused on traffic because they equate that with popularity and readership.
Fellow Podcaster: Yes, my newspaper column is monthly and goes through an editor at the paper.
Financial Aid Podcast: find out where she hangs out online.
Financial Aid Podcast: because I’d bet she’s fairly representative of old media.
Fellow Podcaster: That’s a good idea.
Fellow Podcaster: Let me ask her.
Financial Aid Podcast: ask her, and ask her also to recommend some other people in the industry she trusts as knowledgeable professionals.
Fellow Podcaster: I don’t know if she does even hang out online. She might be a print media maven who reads magazines.
Fellow Podcaster: I will. You’re smart.
Financial Aid Podcast: something I learned from Sudha Jamthe at BarCamp Boston:
Financial Aid Podcast: ask for money (or a transactional equivalent) – you’ll get advice, maybe.
Financial Aid Podcast: ask for advice, you’ll get advice plus money.
Financial Aid Podcast: so ask her for her advice and help, and it may well pay off with connections.
Fellow Podcaster: Perfect.
Financial Aid Podcast: use the “where do you hang out online” as the opener.
Financial Aid Podcast: and you might just find yourself talking to editors directly.
Fellow Podcaster: Will do. I actually sent her a note before the holidays with the comment that we hadn’t connected in person in ages and I’d swing by the office in January to reconnect with her.
Fellow Podcaster: She was thrilled. I’ve been writing for her since the early 90s.
Financial Aid Podcast: there you go.