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Your podcast is unique.

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Just like every other podcast.

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Or just like every other podcast tries to be.

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The truth is figuring out your show's unique point of view is hard.

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But asking these four questions can help.

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That's Gumball.fm.

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And tell 'em Evo sent you!

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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

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When I ask clients, "Who is your podcast for?"

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I typically find that they're casting far too wide of a net.

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Some of them actually say, "Everybody," which tells me

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they effectively mean nobody.

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Now, they usually adjust quickly after that and start getting more

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specific, which, in turn, helps me help them create a better podcast.

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Or this can help me help them refine their current efforts to

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make their existing podcast better.

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An element of understanding the answer to "Who is your podcast for?"

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is figuring out your unique point of view.

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And yes, I think that you and your podcast should certainly have a point of view.

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You're not Wikipedia, you're a podcaster.

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Finding your unique point of view is hard.

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For many, it's one of the least fun things about podcasting.

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But it's also a critical piece of the puzzle, especially if you want to have

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a show that stands out from the crowd.

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Now, my friend, Pam Slim, recently shared four questions that she uses

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when helping her business customers.

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These are questions that I think and I know will help podcasters who

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haven't quite nailed down what it is that makes their show special.

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These questions will help them figure out what it is that makes their show special.

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Perhaps what makes your show special.

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If you already have all of this stuff figured out for your show and you've

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nailed it down, then keep these in your back pocket for the next podcast you

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start because we do that in podcasting.

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Be sure to take notes on this one, or better yet, just go to the

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article which will be posted at Podcast Pontifications very soon.

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Or even better than that, if you subscribe to Podcast Pontifications in Your Inbox

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- that's a free service that you can get to from podcastpontifications.com - you'll

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get the article, which has all of these links and notes, all emailed to you,

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nice and handy for when you need them.

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All right, with that, let me ask you these four questions.

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Number one, what is missing from the conversation?

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Of all of the podcasts that also cover the exact same topics you

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cover, what aren't they talking about?

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I'm going to use Sounds Profitable as an example.

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This is a newsletter and a show that I've been involved with since it began.

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Now, you know there are lots of podcasts about podcasting, and many

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of them do talk about the business of podcasting and how to monetize a podcast.

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But none of them were talking about podcasting ad tech specifically.

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So Bryan Barletta, host of the show, writer of the newsletter, took his

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years of podcast ad tech experience and made a show that stands out as its

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own, apart from everyone else in the podcasting space, just by figuring out

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what's missing from the conversation.

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Question number two, who's important voice, or whose important

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perspective, is not being shared?

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When you listen to podcasts that are similar to yours,

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whose voice is underrepresented?

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There's an obvious play here and large opportunity for those from

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underrepresented groups or minorities, yes, but it doesn't have to stop there

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or doesn't have to be isolated to that.

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I'm going to take The Bangkok Podcast as an example.

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That's a show that I co-hosted a few years back with seventy-some-odd

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episodes that I helped with.

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When I was living in Thailand, obviously.

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Now there are, as there were, plenty of travel shows that do focus on Thailand

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and Bangkok as a travel destination.

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But Bangkok is home to hundreds of thousands of ex-pats, and even more

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people who call Bangkok their second home.

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They travel there every single year.

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And that's an instant audience of people who don't really care about

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the travel aspects, but want to know the city better that they've

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chosen to live in - an important perspective that was not being shared.

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Question number three, what obvious truths are being ignored?

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There may be a lot of podcasts talking about the topics that you cover on your

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podcast, and many of those podcasts talk with plenty of enthusiasm.

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But are they ignoring something that is blatantly obvious and

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needs to be brought to bear?

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I'm going to make up an example here.

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It's something I've thought about for a while.

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I want to create a podcast that exposes the crappy B-grade movies and television

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shows that Netflix foists upon us and tries to make us think are good,

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that these movies aren't really bad.

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But they certainly are not good.

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And I think we should point to them.

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Again, this is in the ideation phase and I probably won't do it.

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So please, if this sounds appealing to you, steal my idea,

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and uncover this obvious truth.

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Question number four, what critical steps are not being covered?

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This is especially important if your show exists in the how-to or

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knowledge transfer space within the niche that you already occupy.

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And so with that, here's another free idea in the podcasting

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space because we have plenty of how-to-get-started-as-a-podcaster

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podcasts, but there are very few, if any, that are talking

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to the mid-level podcaster who was on the verge of turning pro.

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I know there are several pro podcasters who listen to Podcast Pontifications.

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I know there are many people who are professionals in podcasting who work

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at or on pro level shows who also listen to Podcast Pontifications.

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Maybe one of them, maybe you, will take the impetus here and create

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a show that is focused on turning podcasters into pro podcasters.

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That's a critical step that is not being covered.

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Now again, I encourage you to check the episode details for a list

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of those four questions because you were driving or walking or

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washing dishes and whatever else.

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It's all available at podcastpontifications.com.

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While any of these questions can really help you nail down your

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show's unique point of view, ideally you'll consider all four of them.

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Most importantly, you'll have answers to all four of them because if you

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can't answer, it might indicate that you've a bit more research to do around

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the niche you're trying to occupy.

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Study the others making podcasts in your niche because this

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landscape is constantly shifting.

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Let's do a quick Boostagram.

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Now it's time for the boost-the boost-the boost- Boostagram Corner.

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Boostagram Corner.

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I don't know a thing about crypto.

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"Anonymous" used PayPal to send their value-for-value payment

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with the following message:

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"I love your little tweet threads and I'm always learning.

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I hope this helps."

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Indeed, it does help.

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Thank you very much, Anonymous.

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And thank you for calling out those tweet threads.

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They certainly do take me some time and effort, but I also know that there

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are people like you who are very busy, who, for whatever reason, their own

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reasons, can't listen to the show, can't subscribe to the newsletter.

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They just don't work for them.

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But the Twitter threads are a nice way for them to get at least the

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highlights of the content and when necessary, dive a little deeper.

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So I'm very glad that you enjoy those and have called them out specifically.

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Thank you.

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And if you're getting value out of this show, articles I post, the videos

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that I make, the Twitter threads, any of that stuff, anything related to

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the content that I make, please visit podcastpontifications.com/valueforvalue

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for simple ways you can support the program.

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No episodes for me on Friday.

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So with that, have a fantastic weekend.

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I shall be back on Monday with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

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Cheers!

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Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.

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He's on a mission to make podcasting better.

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Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes

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section of your podcast listening app.

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A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at

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podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected

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transcript, both created by Allie Press.

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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.