It's all about the depth, baby!

Had a great e-mail from one of my podcast clients today, talking about the "monster" it's so very easy to create, when you've got a bunch of online initiatives going. With ezines, websites, podcasts, training materials, and more, it can be really, really easy to get swept away in the logistics. And it can really make your head spin, if you're thinking about how to get the most out of everything.

Same goes for me -- I mean, with no less than 16 different PEAPOD projects slated for 2006, I've got my hands full, and it's easy to spin wildly out of control on the adrenaline, alone.

So, what's the answer? Paradoxically, in this time of plenty, with all the varieties of information and info providers out there, the key to success in a crowded field is, doing more with less. That is, rather than trying to do all things with all your properties, turn your focus to doing one thing extremely well with a wide variety of properties.

I think of it as a "full spectrum" strategy -- you start out with a critical mass of core competencies and ideas you wish to put out there. With your intention, you "filter" and direct your interests into different areas of presentation -- like below.



Working off a common set of interests and ideas, you can transform them into different modes of communication, and get a full spectrum of exposure to your target audiences. But you need to know what your intention is. And you need to have targets to point to. Or, you'll just get lost in the crowd, like so many others.

But if you can target your offerings, and you add a little uniqueness to each piece of the communications spectrum, you can achieve far more depth in your communication, than you could do in print or web or audio alone. And if you throw in the in-person, too, well, then you've offered your audience a very robust set of "information packets" to digest in different ways, at different times of the day, with all five senses, not just their eyes OR their ears.

It's all about depth -- which is a rare commodity, these days.