Jay Acunzo On How Your Point Of View Grows An Audience

On this week’s Audience episode, Craig sits down with Jay Acunzo from Marketing Showrunners. The two founders and podcasters dig into why defining and sticking to a point of view is the key to building an engaged audience.

The episode touches upon why it’s OK to have a podcast that doesn’t speak to some people. And how to differentiate their negative feedback from the reviews that will help you succeed. Jay clues us into his team’s mantra and how it continues to serve as their guiding light to produce a better podcast.

Listen now to figure out why Jay asks himself if he’s teaching chess or checkers, and how to adopt his growth mindset for your show.

Broader Isn’t Always Better

Hot on everyone’s mind, especially for our Audience listeners, is growth. Almost ad nauseam, we always find ourselves back at the foundation of building a listenership: who is the target audience?

Throughout the episode, we found Jay shares our thought process. He believes the age of the “generalist” is over. Marketers and podcasters shouldn’t try to be a carbon copy of their competitors and aggressively follow the latest trends to grow.

Your podcast doesn’t have to appeal to the mass market. And Jay argues that brands who try to broaden their target audience will ultimately dilute their message and slow their growth. Instead, it all comes back to the niche listeners.

First identify who you show is for, and more importantly, who your show isn’t for. Then go deeper and deeper into figuring out how to better serve those specific people rather than following the latest trend. Naturally, your podcast will continue to innovate and be more engaging to the people who share your point of view.

For many podcasters, turning off potential listeners with a strong, decisive perspective feels counter-intuitive to growth. But Jay reminds us this is actually the foundation to building an audience.

Don’t Be Afraid Of Your Point Of View

If you continually articulate your beliefs clearly and loudly, your point of view gives people a way of saying your show is absolutely for them. You give their struggles and thoughts a voice that didn’t exist beforehand. Not shying away from your pathos builds loyal and engaged listeners who will routinely tune in.

A podcast’s point of view becomes a “trust accelerant”, creating visceral reactions that build communities and allows the show to generate a bigger impact.

But holding a firm stance will alienate some people.

This alienation can be scary but remember: if someone says something negative about your podcast, ask yourself if the commenter’s point of view aligns with your own. If you share the same mindset, then it’s a useful exercise to figure out how you’re underserving them. But if they aren’t part of your target audience, reset the thought process to remind yourself that their needs aren’t the ones you’re trying to satisfy. It’s OK for your podcast to not be for the checker players.

Resources Mentioned In This Episode

• Jay Acunzo
• Marketing Showrunners
• 3 Clips Podcast
• Marketing Showrunners on Show Bibles
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