The Why of What’s Up Next

The What’s Up Next Podcast

As with any new venture, there were a lot of tactical errors made at the launch of The What’s Up Next podcast. We had no real knowledge of branding, marketing, or promotion. There was a certain if you build it they will come sort of atmosphere. We felt certain that if we created engaging content, listenership would grow and expand. And, for the most part, it has. Not that there haven’t been bumps along the way. But to understand truly what has worked and was has not, you kinda have to understand the why of what’s up next.

Why did Paul and I start the podcast anyway? What did we expect to accomplish? Who is our audience anyway/

Next Level Discussions

There is no shortage of great content out there about financial independence. Soup to nuts, you can’t beat such great sights as Fiology and The White Coat Investor. There are no greater resources then the ChooseFI and Fire Drill podcasts. The field is crowded with incredibly smart people creating very useful information.

And neither Paul nor I are experts in the mechanics of financial independence. That is not our wheelhouse. Yet, we felt like there was room to talk about that next level of understanding. To go past the basics and dig deeper. A sort of graduate level discussion.

In many ways, with The What’s Up Next Podcast we want to replicate the fascinating discussions taking place at local meetups, gatherings, and national conferences. High level discussions between people who have already tackled the basics.

Defined Audience

With our why of what’s up next clearly defined, we were ready to take on the world. Yet, knowingly, we were committing a cardinal sin of content creation. We decided to preach to the choir. Our target audience, by nature, is limited to those who have already taken a deep dive into personal finance. Newbies will probably not find the information they are looking for here. They will not learn how to save, invest, or retire.

Graduate level courses may just not be that interesting if you haven’t gone to college yet.

The name provided equally complicated problems. We are very proud of our podcast name. It captures perfectly what we are trying to accomplish. On the other hand, browsing through titles, you would have no idea what the show is about. It could be just about anything with that moniker.

Does It Matter?

Ah, the big fat juicy question. Does it matter? Does it matter if we have narrowed our audience? Should I care if randoms browsing for new podcasts pass us up because the title is not more explicit? Better yet, should we rebrand?

As with every aspect of content creation, it is complicated. The why of what’s up next remains constant. To create engaging next level discussions with panels of community members about financial independence.

As our audience grows and the feedback comes in, it is a natural consideration of whether to expand and change to make our episodes available to a larger overall audience.

I’m not sure I know the answer.