Nobody wants to watch SNL reruns on Turner Movie Classics

by Dan Green

Mortgage Planner

Author website

There’s a reason why certain shows play on NBC versus CNBC versus Bravo.  Different types of programming attracts different types of viewers.

Over the past 12 months ago, Bloodhound Blog has defined its programming and it’s now clear to me that the “viewers” are largely industry insiders that want to get a leg up on the competition.  There are passers-by in the crowd, too, but for them, BHB is just another channel in the 300s to flip through between commercials. 

Real estate professionals tune into Bloodhound Blog programming the same way that sports fans do with ESPN and celebrity-watchers do with E!.  And while the real estate pros are here, they’re treated to in-depth, throught-provoking programming that keeps them tuned in and coming back.

This concept is important because many Bloodhound Blog viewers have their own blogs somewhere else on the Internet and can learn from the concept of “knowing your audience”. 

When you know your audience, you never run out of things to write and you never lose relevance.  Your message is clear, consistent and constant — three goals in every good marketing campaign.  Over time, your message actually begins to define your audience. 

You soon write to your exact target audience because that is who is reading your blog.  It’s not a coincidence that people who like food watch the Food Network.

Now, as a real estate professional, you get paid in one of three ways:

• You sell a home
• You sell a desk
• You sell a system to sell homes or desks

If you make your living selling desks to real estate agents and you blog, your blog programming should be written to attract your target audience of real estate agents. 

By contrast, if you make your living selling homes to people and you blog, your blog programming should be written with the consumer in mind.

Very few network mix-and-match their programming.  Nobody wants to watch SNL reruns on Turner Movie Classics, after all.  Heck, even HBO has seven different channels for its movies.

Some bloggers know this inherently, some learn it the hard way.  Some never figure it out.  But if you look around at the blogs that you love best, it’s a certainty that each blog has a specific target audience and every post is written with that same audience in mind.

Take the exercise a step further: find your favorite blog in the RE.net and describe it in one sentence:

“My favorite blog, __________, is written for __________ and focuses on ________.”

Your blog should be as easily identfiable, too.  If it lacks a theme, change your programming.  If it lacks a style, you’ll soon find it when you start to focus.  Identify how you make your living and then use your blog to support it. 

Create a channel that attracts the viewers that you want.  Blogging is about having the right programming to attract the right audience. 

It’s a page taken straight from the Network Television playbook.

(Image courtesy: So Good Blog)