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[PODCAST BRAND]What Is Your Superpower? – Episode 210
Have you defined and developed your superpower? If you want your podcast brand to stand out from others and be the podcaster that comes to mind first when thinking of your niche, you need to have a superpower. It is what makes you different.
I was in a strategy sessionwith a podcaster the other day. We were discussing his podcast and how he will stand out from the crowd.
Aaron has a new podcast that is all about building your online brand. Sales is his background. He had a successful sales career and is now making the pivot to online business.
The podcast will allow listeners to follow Aaron’s journey as he makes the transition. Listeners will get to learn from his success and failures as he pivots. It will be a fun show.
In the next month, he will use his one-way ticket to Europe to visit his sister and decide where his journey takes him. Aaron will become a true nomad entrepreneur with a freedom lifestyle that will allow him to live anywhere he would like.
Just search Apple Podcasts. There are many podcasts about online business and personal brand. How can Aaron stand out from the hundreds of other shows with a unique podcast brand?
It is all about his superpower. He has an amazing career in traditional sales. He can transfer those skills to online business. He is a millennial. On top of that, he will be living a traveling lifestyle that will allow listeners to live vicariously through him.
His stories of travel is probably Aaron’s biggest superpower. You don’t know what will happen next. Where is he in the world? What is he encountering? Do people around the world know him? This all creates some anticipation, unknown, and a sense of uncertainty. What will happen next? This has the makings of a great podcast. Definitely unique.
What is your superpower? How do you develop it into a powerful, podcast brand?
BE MEMORABLE
If you want to keep your listener coming back show after show, you need to make them remember to come back. You need to remain top-of-mind for your listener. That is the purpose of audience engagement. Make your listener remember you for something specific about your show.
As you build your show and podcast brand, make it about one thing. Find one particular thing that will be remembered. If you try to be all things to all people, you will water down the show. Everything will be nice. However, isn’t usually truly memorable. You will get lost in the millions of messages your listener receives on a daily basis.
Find one point that you can make amazing. Take it over the top. Make it the “goodbye” scene in “Titanic”. Make it the “I am your father” scene in “Empire Strikes Back”between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Your particular point could be the point where you assure your caller that everything will be ok. It could be the fantastic story of your brush with celebrity. It is your show. Find the magic.
Stir emotion. Make it amazing. Bring your listener back. Be memorable.
YOUR MENTAL FILE DRAWER
There is one file in your listener’s mind that you occupy. Your podcast brand can’t occupy multiple files. You must pick one. Define that file and do all you can to support that image. That is the essence of your podcast brand.
Where does McDonald’s fit in your brain file? McDonald’s is probably the “Fast Hamburgers” file? Does it also fill the “Milkshake File”? Probably not. Sure, they serve milkshakes. However, that file is probably occupied by your favorite ice cream shop.
Where would Cheetos fit in your brain file? It would go in the “Lip Balm” file, right? Of course not. However, Frito-Lay launched Cheetos Lip Balmin 2005. It failed miserably, because Cheetos occupies the “Cheesy Puffed Snack” file in your brain.
Your podcast brand can only occupy one file. Pick the one image your brand can own? Define your brand.
Do not try to be all things to all people. What is the one thing for which your brand can be known? What is your file?
YOUR STYLE
Create everything you do in your own style. You can only stand out among all other shows when you create your own unique style. You must then make sure everything you do is consistent with that style.
Many new broadcasters try to emulate the style of their hero or mentor. They attempt to imitate the styles they hear from other broadcasters. Unfortunately, copying doesn’t create a unique style. Copying typically creates a watered-down version of some other style. When creating your content, be yourself and find your own style.
Some of the greatest broadcasters didn’t start the ascension to the top until they abandoned the attempts to broadcast in the style they thought others desired and began being true to themselves.
Oprah Winfrey quit trying to be a traditional news anchor. She also quit doing the typical tabloid, daytime talk show. When she began to create the show she always desired, she went to the top of the game.
Howard Stern began as a radio DJ sounding like every other radio DJ. He was playing the records and spouting the lines written by management while going nowhere. When Stern decided he was going to do radio his way, he began to make a name for himself. He also went to the top.
Rush Limbaugh followed a very similar path. He had a cheesy radio name. He followed the format designed by somebody else. Limbaugh made every attempt to fulfill the typical radio DJ stereotype. He also got fired again and again. When he decided to broadcast in his style and true to his beliefs, he began his rise to the top.
Adam Corolla made his climb when he took full control over his style and show. He was climbing the DJ ladder in Los Angeles. Corolla had some decent television work. He then decided to create his own show in his own style via podcast. That began his rise as one of the biggest podcasters in the world.
All of these broadcasters made the decision to stop copying others. They all created shows that were true to their style.
They each also stay true to their style in everything they do. You will never hear Rush sound like Howard. You’ll never mistake something Oprah says as something Adam might say. Being true to their style isn’t something that takes conscious effort. It comes easy to each of them, because it is true to who they are as people.
Be true to yourself. It will make it easy to create everything you do in your style.
I would love the opportunity to help you build your podcast brand. Check out the video at podcasttalentcoach.com/coaching and see what it can do for you. The strategy session is absolutely free. Be one of the 1,000 podcasters I help over the next year. Let’s lay out your plan.
The video is at podcasttalentcoach.com/coaching. It explains the whole process to you.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.