Spotlighting The 4 Professional Lacrosse Leagues

My name is Hutton Jackson and my co-host Adam Moore and I started the Pro Lacrosse Talk podcast to spotlight the 4 professional lacrosse leagues. Adam and I both played NCAA Div. III lacrosse and are fans of both college and professional lacrosse. Our listeners are fans of the pro version of lacrosse.

We started this podcast because because the professional game was not being covered nearly as much as we felt it should. There also wasn't a site/podcast solely devoted to pro lacrosse and we wanted to fill that void. We started May 2019 and we were the first podcast to cover all four leagues (National Lacrosse League, Major League Lacrosse, Premier Lacrosse League and Women's Professional Lacrosse League). We are currently still the only podcast to cover all four and only one actively covering the women's pro league. It took us a week to produce our first podcast and a month to get our website up and running. In less than a year, we have produced over 80 episodes and have interviewed more than 50 players and coaches. We also launched a Fantasy Lacrosse platform and have been a part of breaking major trades and news during that time.

We release 1-3 episodes per week. It takes roughly 4-6 hours to produce an episode (including time spent recording, interviewing, editing and producing the social media posts associated with promoting it.) Adam and I both work full time, 40 hours a week jobs, but we find time because to us it doesn't feel like work. We will often both spend long hours up late recording, editing or writing content for the show and website but we enjoy every moment of it. We have spent around $400-500 in equipment but mostly have limited our expenses. We use Anchor to host our show for free and generate ad revenue and we have taken a organic, grass roots approach on social media to promoting our podcast. We also utilize SEO practices and our website to drive traffic to our podcast and vice versa.

We have become affiliates with several brands such as Anchor, Stitcher, Tomahawk Shades and Live Polar. We are currently exploring further sponsorships and revenue streams such as selling merchandise and adding ads to our website. Our first sponsorship was the standard Anchor sponsorship you get when immediately starting. We have reached out to brands and had other brands reach out to us about affiliate programs since then. We gain little so far in terms of financial gain, but have made countless connections with pro coaches and players in the lacrosse community and that to us outweighs any monetary gain.

We use the Adobe Creative Cloud (Premiere, Photoshop, Illustrator) to produce the podcast and its cover art. We use Yeti and Rode mics to record and will interview using Skype and over the phone. We have been reaching out to guests either directly through social media and email or through the league and teams' PR reps. To prepare we create a "rundown" of questions and make sure to research each guest's background to create detailed and informed questions.

We market by promoting on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Reddit. We also publish corresponding articles on our website and make sure our podcast is available on every major platform (currently on 39 platforms). We find Twitter and our website the most useful, but are preparing to utilize an email list as well. We have a breakdown and right now it is 48% Apple, 9% Spotify and 43% other.

Just start recording and continue to try new ways to engage. Don't be afraid to reach out to guests who may seem to be in a higher class than you. You'll never know which high-profiled guests are willing to come on your show. Be genuine with the people you meet and embrace the grind. It takes time, but the more content you push out, the more respected you will be. Find the balance between quantity and quality but don't let either dominate. Listeners want frequent content but they also want it to be of a quality they expect.

You can visit our website prolacrossetalk.com, email us at prolacrossetalk@gmail.com or reach out to us on social media (Twitter @HuttonJackson and @AdamMoorePLT).