As podcasting becomes more and more crowded, being intentional about your show’s positioning ever more important.
If you’re not familiar with the concept of positioning, essentially it explains the space your occupy in an industry or niche relative to your competitors.
One of the most powerful marketing techniques under the umbrella of positioning is called “Onlyness,” a concept developed by legendary brand strategist Marty Neumeier.
The idea is that, if positioned correctly, your podcast should be “the only [something]” in your niche.
Here’s how to do it.
The formula for crafting your Onlyness Statement is fairly straightforward:
What: [Podcast name] is the only show…
How: that [what differentiates your show from similar shows]…
Who: for [your target listeners]….
Where: in [geography if applicable]…
Why: who [what your listeners are looking to achieve]…
When: during [underlying societal trend].
As an example, here’s the Onlyness Statement for this newsletter:
Scrappy Podcasting is the only newsletter that delivers a single, unconventional, 2-minute podcast growth tip every week for ambitious creators who are eager to do the hard work to create truly singular shows.
Writing this statement for your show might seem fairly straightforward at first glance.It’s easy enough to fill in the blanks in a way that sounds good and maybe even flatters your show.
But once you’ve written your statement, there are two tests to run it through:
- If you substituted any of your competitor’s show titles would the statement still be true?
- Is your show actually fulfilling the promise of this Onlyness Statement?
If you answered “no” to either of these, you’ve got some work to do.
In some cases, that work might be related to rephrasing the Onlyness Statement itself.
More likely, however, there’s work that must be done on the show behind it.
As Neumeier says, “If you can’t say why your [podcast] is both different and compelling in a few words, don’t fix your positioning statement…fix your [show].”
Shows that grow are unique. They’re the best in the world for an ultra-specific group of people. They’re the only one of their kind.
What’s the space in your niche that you can own?
And what’s the Onlyness Statement that reflects that?
