E822 - Your Podcast Does Not Need To Sound Like Everyone Else - What a Lighthouse and a Podcast Have in Common

0:00Hey, welcome back to the Hottopodcast series. It's Dave with you. Hope you're doing well. Now recorded an episode in the backyard this morning and now I'm recording in the house because everyone just left to go do shopping and stuff. I'm about to do our meetup in a little bit, so I'm like, well, before I go to the meetup, I want to spend some time with you. And I want to talk to you about your podcast does not need to sound like, look like, feel like, me like everyone else is podcast. What a lighthouse and a podcast has in common. We're going to shed some light. Oh, that was very good. Shed some light on this topic. And I think you need to stand out. You need to stand out. You need to be noticeable and point people in the right direction. And yeah, you're pretty bright. So here we go. Okay, I love lighthouses. I got a chance to go to Nova Scotia a few years ago. Check out the lighthouses there. I've seen we have a lighthouse here in St. Catherine's Port Delusy area where if you love Rush, that song, Lakeside Park,

1:06there are that's where the well in Cannell used to go into Lake Ontario. Still Lake Ontario. And we have lighthouses there. Lighthouses are great. They're beautiful. And they're there for reason. They're the warn people, but they're also there to be a direction. Shionelite, help, sailors, all of that fun stuff, right? So there's a lot of reasons why I love lighthouses. And I have some random lighthouses around the house as well. The reminder to myself how much I love them. So yeah, if you love lighthouses to you and our buddies, I want to talk about this idea that we could be a lighthouse and not just to not just any other thing out there. We need to stand out and be different as podcasters. If you do exactly the same thing that everybody else does in podcasting, you use the exact same tools. You have you follow the same trends. You use the same templates and

2:07the same process, the same gear. You use the same hooks and titles and SEO hacks. You follow all the advice and put into practice everything you've learned from everyone else in podcasting. And you're doing exactly the same thing as every other show. What makes you stand out then? What makes you different? Better. More interesting. More attractive. What is your lighthouse? As a podcaster. When you do everything the same as everybody else, it's really hard to stand out if you just do the same thing as everyone else. It's kind of like a photocopier. There's the original and there's just copies, right? And that reminds me of a podcaster and this is his whole thing. This is what he does. He just makes copies. So there is a podcaster out there who's going to charge you $2,000. You go through his course. He'll give you a made up fake designation that you're now a certified podcaster. And he gives you all of his content that he's done in the past and encourages

3:15you to just recreate it on your new show about podcasting. So that's what we need yet another podcast about podcasting says the guy who has one. And he sends you off into the podcasting world take my stuff and just redo it on your show under your name under your brand. Congratulations. You're a podcast specialist. You are a podcast guru. And people listen to these shows and go wow this guy, this person, this guy, this girl, they really got this figured out. And then you ask them how long you've been podcasting? Oh, two weeks, three weeks. I've been doing this for two months. And you're like, okay, just a quick question here. If you've been doing this for that short amount of time, how did you get all this knowledge? Well, I paid $2,000 and I'm certified. Certified by who? And like a college or university, a competitive, vetted course? No, no, just a person with Canva

4:16created this and I'm like, oh boy, whoo, talk about taking the fast pass. So that's something that you can do as you can just do that. But all they're doing is just recreating and copying what their guru gave them as they're just using the same transcript and just repeating it. That's a bunch of sameness. And a bunch of sameness does not stand out. Especially when the person who's teaching the courses already covered all this on their show, you're just recreating some. There are no awards for being the same as everybody else. It doesn't happen. The people who get awards are the people who do something creative, unique and different. They stand out like a lighthouse. So if we're going to be different than everybody else, what do we lean in on? We lean in on who we are as people. That's something that's unique and different than everyone else. You're not sharing someone else's story. You're not repeating what someone else has said. You're not doing someone else's show. You're doing

5:18your show. And that's what makes you different. That's what many people are looking for as you. Your experience is perspective. Your own sets of humor. What makes you weird and different. The things you laugh at, the things you love, the things you hate. All of these things come through on the microphone to your audience and that's what they identify with. There are tons of podcasts about podcasting. And thankfully, you're here. I don't know how I won your attention, but whatever I did to do that, I'm grateful. And I'm glad you're here. And I hope that as you listen through the episodes in the past and in the future, you're going to get a sense of who I am and how I see the world. And I hope that something there aligns between you and I. And that makes you come back. And that makes you tell people about this show. Because again, like I said, there's a lot of other people who talk about podcasting. Some of them I love, some of them I just detest because of why they do what they do and how they show up and how they how they present themselves and the the wake, you know, when a boat comes into the arena,

6:25there's usually a sign that says no wake zone. And basically that is just come into the arena where all the parked boats are docked. And you come in slowly. Don't create a lot of waves. Don't make all the other boats start bobbing up and down. You come whipping in here in your big fancy boat and driving way too fast. Causing waves that make people very uncomfortable. No wake zone. I think at podcasting, we need a no wake zone. In that, we don't just come rushing in with our opinion. We don't come rushing in with negativity. Being harmful to other podcasters with like some podcast gurus are we need to pick a no wake zone approach to what we do in podcasting. And I hope that's what you get here. I hope you get that feeling. And again, I'm glad you're here. Thousands of podcasters out there using the exact same microphones, using the same editing process, the same AI tools, the same episode title, formulas to win the algorithm,

7:35the same social media, the same monetization. And there's nothing wrong with learning from what works in podcasting. But if your entire podcast is built on copying what everyone else is doing, you're going to end up competing with everyone else for the exact same attention and the exact same audience. I want to challenge you to stop trying to be another boat in a crowded harbor. I want you to be a lighthouse, to be a voice, a perspective. And I want you to be a personality on your mic. Beyond the words that you say, beyond the script, beyond the content, beyond all of the packaging, I want a personality from you that people can identify with, follow and love with and follow. It's your personality. Content's important. What you say and how you say it's important,

8:38but really when it comes down to it, people identify with your personality and who you are, how you make people feel. Do you build people up? Do you tear people down? Because it's both in podcasting. There's both in how to podcast shows about podcasting. There are both types of people. You did pick the right one. And I hope again, I hope I win that choice for you. When we look at this, our personality and leaning into it, it's the thing that spots the difference for a listener. It's how they decide what they want and who their person is, who their podcaster is. There's a crowded water problem in podcasting. In podcasting, there's a lot of boats. There's a lot of boats in podcasting. Just bobbing around, some fast, some slow, some big, some small. There's just a lot of boats, a lot of noise, a lot of clutter, a lot of competition in podcasting. It really is. And all these podcasts are looking for a short cut to growth

9:46on how to get faster, get there faster, get there sooner than everyone else. We're told that there's a right way to create a title for your podcast. There's a right way to market your show to the world. There's a right way to edit and wrong way to edit. There's a right way to post your show. There's a right way to interview. There's a bad way to interview. There's a way to monetize your podcast. And there's a way to not monetize your podcast. And I could kind of feel safer just to imitate a successful creator than it is to reveal more about ourselves and what we feel are inadequacies as a podcaster. Beginners especially may believe that they need to sound polished. They need to be perfect. They need to be professional before they can be worthy of any attention at all. The problem is not using tools and frameworks and best practices or being more educated beyond our intelligence and podcasting. The problem

10:49begins with every decision about your podcast comes from outside of you and the influence of others. I think a podcaster can use the exact same microphone, the same hosting platform, the same tools, the same social media scheduler, as all of the other ones. But those things make production possible but they don't make it automatically a memorable show for your audience. That part lands solely on your shoulders. We have the same inputs and they often create the same outcomes when we use all the same things that everyone else is doing. If everyone uses the same generic episode title template, every episode begins to look just like everyone else's show. If everyone asks, guess the exact same predictable questions that all the other shows do, then every other show starts to sound the same. It becomes really predictable and really monotonous. If everyone follows the same trend,

11:54because the algorithm likes it, they may gain a few views, but they're not going to gain the right audience. Having a bunch of people listen to your show who don't care about you is not a win. It's not a win. They'd rather have far less listeners who care about my show than a bunch of people who don't care about my show that randomly press play here and there. You can't build on a bunch of rendos. You want to have a bunch of people who actually care about what you do. If every show is built around someone else's personality or format, then the host eventually feels exhausted, trying to maintain a version of themselves. That's not real. It's just a carbon copy of somebody else. You can borrow a strategy, but you can't borrow someone else's soul. And the soul of the person is something an AI can't replicate. Tools can help. You publish. Tactics can help you. People find your show, but the only your point of view gives people a reason to stay with you.

12:58We need to define what our unique you really means in podcasting. Your unique value is not necessarily a gimmick to exploit. As somebody it is, it's an unusual accent. It's a shocking opinion or completely new topic. It can be found in the combination of things only you bring to your podcast. Like your lived experience, your personal stories, your values, and what you stand for as a human being your sense of humor, your unique weirdness, your questions, your answers, the way of explaining complicated ideas to somebody in a simple way, your professional experience, your community, and the people who care about what you do and who you're serving, your energy, your calmness, your hilarity, your funny, your curious, your practical, your reflective, your

13:59challenging, your encouraging, or just boldly direct with people. There may be thousands of podcasts about business, books, parenting, true crime, fitness, all these things, but there's only one person who has your unique combination of life experience, belief system, communication style, stories, and even a reason for showing up. And that sets you apart from everyone else. So why this lighthouse metaphor? Like why this? Again, like lighthouses, but the other part is that it's kind of the heart of this episode and why I wanted to do this today. A lighthouse does not chase every boat. It does not move itself into every harbor. It does not flash a different color every week because another lighthouse seems more popular. It doesn't have to be taller or brighter. It just needs to be a lighthouse. Instead, it stays visible, it stays consistent, it stays in one place, and it's clear about what it does and who it does that for. That's what a lighthouse does.

15:06That's the difference. A lighthouse is not trying to shine everywhere. It shines clearly enough that the people who need it can find it. What are some practical ways for us to become more recognizable as a podcaster? Give listeners an action oriented section and encourage them to use the tools, but add themselves back into the process of what you do in your show. Like write a one sentence belief statement about your podcast or create a only I can say this in this way. List, add a recurring personal element to your show. That's uniquely you. Review your last five episodes and ask yourself could another podcaster in my category have made this exact same episode, or is this unique to me? Use AI templates as assistance, but not as a replacement for you in your soul. Choose your listener before you choose your trend. Ask yourself, will this help encourage

16:06challenge or entertain the people I want to serve or is this just for me? There's a gentle reality check here for you as a podcaster as well. Make room for the fact that standing out does not always mean instant viral success. Being authentic is not a magic trick that you can pull out to entertain people at parties. That does not guarantee a million downloads, just that it does give you something that's more sustainable. A show you can keep making a message that you can stand out against all of the other messages out there. An audience that connects with you for the reasons a competitor cannot easily copy. That is the, but is especially important for independent podcasters, a smaller engaged audience that trust the host can be more valuable than a larger audience that only arrived because of a passing trend or the algorithm sent them your way.

17:08My challenge for you this week, do not ask yourself, what is everyone else doing? Ask yourself, what can I share that only I can share? Learn from the host, from the best, use the tools, study, what works, test and iterate. Do not disappear inside of someone else's formula. Don't just buy what's fancy and what's available. Be different. If you do what every other podcaster does, use the same resources, copy the same format and chase the same trends. You may get the same results that everyone else is getting. You become one more voice in a very crowded space. Learn the tools, but do not lose yourself in them. Your job is not to be louder than every other podcaster. Your job is to become a lighthouse. Clear, consistent, recognizable, trusted, a valuable resource to the people who are looking for exactly what you offer in your show,

18:13whatever your topic is, whatever your content. Use AI, use templates, learn from successful creators, but before you hit publish, ask one question. Does this sound like me or does it sound like everyone else? Do I sound like myself or do I sound like AI? I think this concept around a lighthouse in podcasting speaks directly to the common podcaster frustration of working hard, following all the advice, buying all the tools and still feeling invisible. It reframes this differentiation that we have as something accessible. We do not need a bigger budget. We do not have to be have celebrity guests on our show, expensive equipment, all the gimmicks and all the tools and all the hacks. We need the confidence to bring our own voice, our own values and stories and perspectives forwards consistently. I just think this message is really just aligned with the idea

19:20that every voice in podcasting matters. It's the underlying reason why this show exists. Every voice matters, not just the people that are the loudest, sometimes the quietest voices matter, the most as well. I think this episode can really help remind us that our uniqueness is not our weakness. It's actually a way to polish away all of the things that make us sound like act like it seemed like everybody else. The most valuable asset that our podcast has is us. The most valuable asset of the How to Podcast series is me, Dave. The most valuable asset about your podcast is you. Lean into that, be a lighthouse. Be something to look forward to. Be something for somebody's bad day. That they look forward to hearing your voice. Be that one thing that gets people direction. Give them an answer

20:22for the questions they're searching for in their life, in their heart and their mind. Be that light that says to the person you can get help. And here's the resource. Be the resource that helps in author reach an audience and sell more books for a musician to reach more listeners. Be the resource that encourages somebody to take a better path in life than the destructive path that they're on. All of these things are within your capability as a podcaster. And as a lighthouse, you're going to reach so many people. But make sure your light is working. And make sure that you show up. You shut off that light. You put everybody in danger. You got this need help out of podcast.ca. Thanks for listening. Talk to you in a more.