Back in the 1990s, NBC had this perfect little plan for its super-powered Thursday night lineup. It would run Friends, then some other show, then Seinfeld, and then some other show, then ER. In the "other show" slots, NBC would place its not-so-popular products that hadn't yet learned to stand on their own. They were incubator spots. And that's my recommendation to you if you're looking to grow your audience.
If you're a medium- or small-size blogger or podcaster, find the content that is most similar to what you're talking about. Start commenting, contributing, and finding ways to augment instead of seeming like a cloned product. Look for the things others are not covering and make that your deeper specialty. (Side note: If you feel you're truly unique, that's either really awesome or it's going to stink for you.)
Don't latch on like a leech, but do see if you can at least establish a conversational relationship.
Essentially, TV shows that attempt crossovers suffer. So do comic books (ask any comic writer and most fans). Make sure you're your own product and that your product stands alone really well. The model at NBC was that the show in between Friends and Seinfeld either succeeded and graduated to its new date and time, or it went dead quickly.
Consider how your blog improves someone's day. In fact, here's homework: Look at your blog as if it's a book on a shelf. Now, imagine that bookshelf is in Barnes & Noble (or in Chapters, for my Canadian friends) and that you have music, video, and other things to contend with.
Be holistic about this. Think about your audience's time. Are they reading, watching, consuming you and several other blogs? Or do they even have much time for blogs with work, TV, school, kids, spouses, and hobbies that don't involve keyboards (I've heard some exist). How can you make your product so good that it becomes "appointment viewing?"
That's what you need to target.
The products I stick with, blogwise, are informational and deliver value repeatedly. The video blogs and Internet TV shows I like all hit me hard and keep me wanting more. In all cases, I feel like I'm learning, that there's very little deadweight in the output of the product, and that I'm getting the best return for my time spent.
You must think about your own stuff the same way.
I already mentioned that your product has to stand alone and that crossovers on TV and in comics stink, but what I didn't say and should is that audience crossover is magic. Wherever you can find ways to get a big product's audience to interact with you, it's good. Don't get onto someone else's blog and just pimp the hell out of your blog. That won't work. It just comes off as seeming way too self-serving. But it doesn't hurt to quickly write a follow-up topic that augments a blog whose audience might really love your stuff.
Product crossover is bad (usually). Audience crossover rocks. Know the difference.
I've recently started a personal "side blog"[112] where I can do "lab" projects, where I can talk about me for my own sake. Why split it out? Only because my goal, first and foremost here, is to deliver value to you, and that means ruthlessly cutting some of what I feel isn't of value.
Yes, it's cool to know more about the people you read and experience, but pound for pound and bang for shelf space in my personal virtual store, I want you getting what you come here for, and I want to engage you.
I don't find telling you about my little Twitter experiments engaging—until they are.
But the lessons NBC gave us live on. See if you can work some of this into your own media making, and let me know what you think. How does your product compare, compete, and complement other products out there? Have you thought about it much? What can you share?