Episode Summary
If you’re operating a business in 2021 and you’re still not podcasting, it’s almost like not having a website.
Podcasting is a vehicle for engaging with prospects, customers, “your value chain, your partners, influencers, investors,” says Christopher Lochead, named by The Marketing Journal as “one of the best minds in marketing.”
Christopher, who hosts two award-winning podcasts, isn’t afraid to share his opinions. For starters, he says, “roughly 90% of what we get taught in marketing and entrepreneurship is completely fucking wrong.”
When it comes to podcasting and marketing, Christopher is adamant that creators need to “niche down.” Your project can’t be anything and everything to every person. Instead, you want to become something indispensable for a small group.
A recognized expert on category design, Christopher explains that category and brand are connected, “but the category makes the brand.” On this episode of Recorded Content, he applies a career’s worth of lessons about harnessing the mind’s need to categorize brands and products to podcasting — and specifically, how to stand out with your podcast.
“By being known for something specific — and this is the part that’s a head fuck for most people — we can have broad appeal,” he says. “And the more tight the niche or category design, the bigger the opportunity to stand out.”
Also discussed: how to niche down in podcasting, and why you have to take a stand (but only when you really feel it).
Guest Profile
- Name: Christopher Lochead
- What he does: Christopher is an acclaimed marketer and podcaster who hosts the shows Follow Your Different and Lochhead on Marketing. He has advised more than 50 venture-backed startups, and was CMO at three Silicon Valley public companies (Vantive, Scient, Mercury Interactive).
- Noteworthy: Christopher has co-authored two international bestsellers, “Niche Down” and “Play Bigger,” a #1 Amazon Business book.
Key Insights
- Podcasting is not saturated. Despite the ever-crowding marketplace for podcasting, Christopher says there is plenty of room for new shows. The key, however, is niching down — finding a specific need or desire that an audience has and fulfilling it. “I would rather matter to a thousand people than be irrelevant to a hundred million people,” says Christopher.
- Define the role of editing in your podcast. Christopher discusses the difference between two types of interview formats — interview podcasts and authentic dialogue podcasts. According to his definition, interview podcasts involve more planning of the conversation and heavy editing after the fact, allowing producers to craft a narrative. The listener hears a “manipulated conversation.” Dialogue podcasts, however, aren’t edited for structure and showcase an authentic conversation. It’s the format Christopher uses for Follow Your Different. One pro he notes: Guests like it because they don’t worry about their remarks being used out of context.
- If you have a stance or opinion on something — share it. Sharing authentic takes, even if others disagree, can actually help you grow your audience, especially with younger people who increasingly expect brands to take a stand on social issues. After the pandemic, Christopher says, we’re facing “the biggest game of jump ball for the future in human history. Everything about the way we live, work and play is potentially up for grabs is up for redesign is up for massive innovation is up for brand new category creation and design.”