Some podcast genres are so popular that they have hundreds of shows that are pretty similar. So what are some ways to make sure yours stands out in the crowd? I'm Jordan host of Podcasting Q&A, where we answer your questions about how to start, grow and monetize a podcast. This week's question is from Joshua.
Josh:Hey, guys Bandy here from the 4th and Flex Fantasy Football podcast. First of all, I just want to say thank you Q&A, so much, you guys have helped me out tremendously. And I just appreciate everything you guys have done. But my question today is being in a niche that has a lot of competition, what's something that we can do to help us stand out? Thank you guys so much.
Jordan:Thanks for your question, Joshua. To help me answer it, I've invited Arielle Nissenblatt, from Earbuds Podcast Collective, and Squadcast on Podcasting Q&A. Thank you so much for coming, Arielle.
Arielle:I am pumped to be here. How are you?
Jordan:I'm good. Okay, so this is actually a question that comes up so much in podcasting. And I feel like it's a level of doubt that plays into podcasters, where they're just like, I'm in a niche, and there's so much competition, there's so much competition, how am I going to stand out? And I almost feel like it's an insecurity kind of question. But I'm so interested to hear what your thoughts are on why this question gets asked so much.
Arielle:First of all, it's a smart question, because it means that you're aware that other shows exists in the world. And that your show, while it's great, it might not be the best in its category, but it does need to be the best in its category, or it needs to be in its own category in order to stand out because there are so many podcasts to choose from. This comes up all the time when I think about community management because I manage the community as podcasts. And what that means for us is we want people to spend time with squad cast on the internet outside of the time that they spend in their recording sessions. And that's great. But they're also being asked to spend time in 15 other communities in the Buzzsprout community in the I don't know, there's so many different Facebook groups, Slack channels that they can possibly be a part of, not to mention real life, real people, real friends, and even internet friends in real life. There's so many places for people to spend online. So the question that I asked myself often is like, why should people spend time in the squad cast Slack channel rather than the Buzzsprout? Facebook group? Or both? Or neither? Or maybe they don't want to be on the internet at all. Same goes for your podcast. Why do people want to listen to your football podcast over somebody else's? Is your football podcast specifically for the Cleveland Browns? I'm not even from Cleveland that's just came to my head. Is your podcast about college football? Is it about drafting? Is it about NFL fantasy football? This is really beyond me. But I am pulling things out. This is. So yeah, it's really it's really about figuring out what that niche is maybe trying out several niches before you lock one down. What are your thoughts on that?
Jordan:My thoughts are, and I love using this analogy, especially since Joshua, who's asking the question he does have I believe it is a fantasy football podcast. Oh, amazing. Yeah. So you nailed it. One of the things that I think about is, you know, especially with interests, and television, and movies and things like that, for example, when somebody is a fan of Marvel, well, they're not just going to say, I love the Thor movies. That's it. And that's ongoing to watch, they're going to watch all the Thor movies are in a watch, like all the guardians of galaxy, they're going to watch everything that's in that Marvel Universe. And they might even be such a fan just of the kind of superhero comic culture, that they will also watch the Agents of SHIELD television show that's out, they'll also watch, like DC movies and TV shows and things like that. So when people are fans of something, they want to get as much content of that thing as they possibly can. And so, you know, with being in a football podcast, with being in that niche, I don't think it's necessarily that there's like a lot of competition. And maybe it's more of like a lot of people in that community, a lot of people in that niche that aren't necessarily competition, but kind of like CO creators. And if we think about it more from like a collaborative standpoint, you know, when somebody is a fan of football, they don't just watch the football games of their favorite team. And that's it, they're probably going to watch a lot of different types of games of that sport, and they're going to watch like the college games and things like that. They're going to consume as much as they can. So in my mind, it's not so much that there's a lot of competition but maybe a lot of like opportunity for collaboration for lifting up other podcasts in your niche guesting on those podcasts is a great way to do it. Yeah. So I kind of think it might be like a little bit more of a, you know, a shift mentally.
Arielle:I think that's exactly right. I think I tend to shy away from the word competition when it comes to podcasting, and definitely go more towards collaboration not to be all like lovey dovey about it. But I really do think we're in a space where within the podcast world right now we're in a place where people are more willing to collaborate than they are to compete with each other. And sometimes that is as easy as finding their email address and saying, Hey, our podcasts are pretty similar. How about we collaborate or in your own head, you could think about how do I find a way to diverge from them, because I don't really want to step on their keywords or on their fan base. And I know that there are more listeners out there. And I know that I can definitely target people who are different. Why don't I figure out what they do well, that I do want to emulate and what they do that I don't love that I could go in a different direction for my biggest piece of advice here to our caller is to subscribe to a bunch of different podcasts, newsletters, subscribe to sports podcast newsletters, if they exist, please let me know. And be aware of other shows in that niche. So you know, check out on castbox I believe castbox has a sports section and a lot of different apps have sports section. So have a watchful eye on that section, see what is doing well try to analyze why that's doing well and shows that might be within your reach to collaborate with reach out to them and say, Hey, love your show. Here's what I love about it, you know, make sure you're not just spamming them with a request to collaborate, but really something serious, something genuine, that is showing them that you like what they do. Let's work together to spread audiences, from mine to yours, and from yours to mine.
Jordan:I love that. Yeah, find the top podcasts that show up, listen to one to two episodes of each one of those podcasts. And just kind of keep like a list of things that you like, and then also things that you don't like and why you don't like them and what you could do better. So if you could possibly, like Ariel said, find what kinds of things you can emulate and what kind of things are missing, you might be able to make something that's just like really superb.
Arielle:Yeah, I think within that there is an element of even if you think it's specific, there is going to be an audience for it, especially in fantasy sports. So maybe you're the only fantasy sports podcast with a Dad and son duo hosting, I don't know that that's your situation, per se. Come up with something that makes it your own use that in marketing, it doesn't necessarily have to be plastered all over your social handles and all over your cover art and all over your email templates and things like that. But that's what you know. And when you talk about it, that is your differentiating factor and that's going to get your car.
Jordan:Thank you so much for coming on the show. I appreciate you taking your time out to help me answer this.
Arielle:Thank you for having me.
Jordan:I hope this episode of Podcasting Q&A has been helpful to you. If you have a question you'd like us to answer on a future episode, go to podinbox.com/buzzsprout or click the link in the show notes to leave us an audio message. And as always, keep podcasting!