18min chapter

Podcast Marketing Trends Explained: Data-Driven Podcast Growth Strategies cover image

The Hard Truth About Growing A Podcast Today (& How You Can Beat the Odds)

Podcast Marketing Trends Explained: Data-Driven Podcast Growth Strategies

CHAPTER

Rising Above the Average

This chapter explores opportunities for podcasters to rise above the average number of downloads and create a compelling show. It discusses the importance of packaging, description, title, trailer, show structure, and microphone technique. The chapter also emphasizes the need to have a unique perspective and understand the competition in order to create the best show in their niche or industry.

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Speaker 4
Yeah,
Speaker 2
but at the time, Squares was just like, yeah, is the thing on PlayStation. So like this game, you are a ship with kind of like an arm and you can use this arm to kind of move the positioning of a weapon you pick up and pick up weapons. So this is a game where you, again, can take something from an enemy and use it against an enemy. So there are these different weapons. You might get some kind of grenades, like different kinds of guns. And in one instance, there's like a laser sword that you can pick up and you can hold them yourself and use them against the enemies that you've just like broken them off on and taken them from. So it's cool. It's cool to play a game where again, you're like, sometimes you see things that enemies are doing and you're like, Oh, I wish I could do that. Well, here's like another game in that realm. It is tough. There are like some ways to maybe make it easier for yourself. But I think it's still recommended in terms of a good entry within this genre and one that lets you use enemies' abilities. So I think it's good. Neat. That sounds super awesome.
Speaker 1
Yeah, I had not heard of that one and I saw you mention it on our email thread and I looked it up and was like, I'm very curious what her connection is. Which means this is Kirby, but I'm intrigued and this looks like a fun game. So thank you for making me aware of it. No problem. All right. Would anyone like to go next? I
Speaker 4
don't have as many as many games as you guys might have. So all I've been enjoying, I'm like literally writing these down as you guys are saying them. So I was like, Oh, I have to check this out. Um, this one now I know, like, it's well known game, but it is so similar to Kirby and I know it's mainstream, but Mario Odyssey. Oh,
Speaker 2
I was gonna put that one on my list too. Even though it's mainstream. Even though it's mainstream.
Speaker 1
I don't know that anyone necessarily needs to be like reminded that this game is out there. But it's worth. I mean, it's worth talking about. Yeah. And I know what direction you're probably going with this.
Speaker 4
Yeah. I wanted to mention it because I was like, I know I'm sure everyone is like aware of the similarities. But if you aren't, it's so cool because you have his hat, which you can throw onto various things, much like Kirby inhales either different objects or things and gets that power from them. Mario Odyssey is kind of, well I guess it is still more levels, but it does have a little bit of an open world theme. I feel like it's kind of a mix from what I remember playing last time of it. But the fact that you get to throw your cap on, you know, some of like the goombas and the different ways that you can use that ability to progress in the level. You can throw it on a giant T-Rex. Like all this goofy stuff very much makes me think of Kirby. Plus the music is absolutely fantastic. It's a very happy, poppy kind of fun soundtrack that mimics Kirby quite a bit. So yeah, I felt like I was looking through my list. I was like, I got it. I was like, someone's going to say it. It's either going to be me, or Bridget, or one of you guys just say it. So I was like, well, they probably have way cooler game ideas than I do. So that's why I say this one.
Speaker 2
No I love this one and I know it's mainstream but I feel like not enough people kind of connected to Kirby in a bigger way and it is definitely the Kirby Mario game okay. Absolutely.
Speaker 4
Plus I love like all the little outfits and stuff you can get, all the different, it's so fun. It definitely reminds me of, I know Kirby is just kind of a ball and it's more of his hat and maybe the object that he's carrying or whatever that changes, but in Mario Odyssey, you can kind of, I believe you can mix and match hats and like clothing. Like I know there is famous, it was like his like swim trunks. And it's like there was a whole hilarious meme thing with that because it was like Mario without a shirt on and everyone was losing their minds. That was such a weird time when that game. Yeah, I agree. But definitely, yeah, you're right. Definitely has that vibe. So Mario Odyssey, I know, I'm sure all of you have heard of it that are listening, but do try it out. If you've played Kirby games, and you weren't sure how you'd feel about playing Mario Odyssey, you'll definitely enjoy it.
Speaker 1
Gigi, did you have another one you want to mention?
Speaker 3
Yes. Actually, as we were talking, I realized I have a game that's probably similar to Kirby. And I didn't realize until now, which is I had in time. I don't know if you've heard of this one.
Speaker 1
Like, I've seen like the trailer for it and stuff.
Speaker 3
I was, it came to my mind, I started like reading again about it. And it's like, it's an alien girl in a spaceship trying to go back. And she attacks me for with an umbrella, I guess, but it's like a pair or so. And you can get new hats. And there's you can also get some like new abilities by like collecting stuff in some stages. And it's overall like it's a little girl like running around in like fantasy words and doing stuff. It's more like the gameplay is more like Mario and other 3D platformers, but like I feel the vibes and the thing like you can just get different hats and outfits and just it's really... it has a really cute vibe too, so I like... that's kind
Speaker 4
of Kirby, so I just want to say it. Oh, I can definitely see it. Definitely. And
Speaker 2
getting hats with your ability is definitely Kirby, I think. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3
It was like, yeah, well, actually that's really Kirby. And something that I sometimes pay attention and was remembered because of that. Some of the music I feel is also like it has a similar vibe to Kirby. It's difficult to explain, but like the music in the stages are like really cute and like relaxing and then you get to a boss and suddenly the music is really intense and you go like, man, what? It's like Kirby. Interesting. Nice.
Speaker 1
Yeah, I remember my brother was interested in that one, I think before it came out. I don't know if he ever actually played or not, but he was the one that first mentioned it to me. And it looked like something that would be up my alley. It looked like a fun, it's kind of a collect-a sort of game, right? Yes.
Speaker 3
Yeah, you have to collect the timepieces. I guess it's more similar to Banjo Kazooie in that sense. But yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1
And
Speaker 3
I know it has DLC, but I haven't played the DLC. I played only the base game. And it's be a while. But yeah, it's similar to Kirby. It's probably something Kirby fans will enjoy.
Speaker 1
Nice. Yeah, I should definitely check that one out again. My next recommendation is gimmick, which is actually kind of a an auspicious time to be getting into gimmick because after years of there being nothing with this series, just within the past few years, we got a rerelease of the original gimmick. And a sequel just came like a few days ago. Oh,
Speaker 4
wow.
Speaker 1
But gimmick was a Famicom game that came out in 1992 and it was never brought to the US or really to that many different parts of the world. It came out in Scandinavia, which is kind of odd where it was called Mr. gimmick, but it had a very limited release. And so it's a pretty under the radar game, probably because it came out so like kind of after the Super Famicom was already out and the Super Nintendo was already out. And it just wasn't as good a market for new Famicom games. But it many ways, it still looks great, it has excellent music, and it was intentionally designed to hold its own against the 16-bit games that were coming out. So you can tell a lot of attention went into it. But with Gimmick, you play as Yumetaro, who is a Japanese yokai, who was mistaken for a toy, and he's given to this girl as a birthday present or something. But then at night, the girls' other toys come to life and take her away to another dimension. So Yuma-Tara has to go and rescue her. So it's sort of a reverse toy story situation, I guess.
Speaker 3
Toy story, not the dimension.
Speaker 1
It's just the toys all like kidnapped Andy. But Gimmick looks similar to Kirby. He's this little round green guy with big eyes. And the gameplay is very clever and how he creates these stars on his head that he can shoot out. And it's a very physics-based platformer where the star will bounce around. And you really want to get the right angles with it, hit enemies with it. But the star is also a platform. So you need to ride on it to access areas too. And it takes a lot of dexterity with the character to use the star to maneuver around the world and use it as a weapon. And it's a very hard game. I think that's maybe another reason why maybe it never was as popular, even though it's a very well-made game. And I believe that I haven't played the re-release of it. But I believe they added more things that let you rewind the game and save states and things like that. They'll probably make it much more palatable now. But it's a very demanding game. I talked about this game a few years ago during the pandemic. I was teaching a history of Nintendo class, and we did a day about games that only came out in Japan or just games that didn't come out in the US. And I was playing this in a browser, so I guess not the most legal way. But there's lots of legal ways to play in a game. And the class watched me try to get through even the first section of the game, we tried to get through that together. And it's tricky to even get on some of the very first... It's not hard to just go through the game, but there's just traps everywhere. There's hidden items in every level that really require a lot of sleuthing and very careful use of the star platform. But it's a very fun game. Again, very charming. And all the characters, even the enemies are cute. Even the evil toys are cute. And I think people who like Kirby, even if this game is a lot harder than Kirby is, will like the atmosphere of this game, will like the clever platforming, and will like the personality that this game has. And if you like Gimmick, there is a Gimmick 2 now that just came out that has updated graphics and looks very modern. So yeah, I recommend people check out gimmick.
Speaker 2
Yeah, I haven't
Speaker 3
played it, but I remember seeing people talk about it. And I saw many people comparing to Kirby like the design. So that's why I know because people were like, oh, there's this WSCRE game that never released outside of Japan and the other country And it looks like Kirby and I was like, that's interesting. I had no idea but yeah, it was really wild when I saw the sequel because Like having a game that's really old and then suddenly there's a sequel. It's really surprising like but that's nice because I think it's Nice to see a different franchise revive. It's really nice. Yeah,
Speaker 1
to get a sequel 32 years later.
Speaker 3
Yeah, that's crazy. It's cool. So
Speaker 1
I guess never give up. If there's some game that you love that you feel has flown under the radar, you just have to wait 32 years and there will be a- oh god. Don't give up hope. Do
Speaker 4
I
Speaker 2
have that much time? Yeah. I have uh, I still have some but I don't I don't want to you know take up a lot of time or whatever. Oh good go for it. Go for it. Go through some of them real fast. I'll put some of these together. So I had mentioned in hander, but I'll also recommend cotton 100% or the cotton games. They're like shoot them up, but they're on the easier side if you like those segments in Kirby games. I'll recommend Avenging Spirits for the Game Boy. And this one's an interesting one because this, it's funny, it has really cute graphics, like you're a cute little ghost, but the story is something intense where you're like a guy, you're like, oh, here we go, the plot. During a walk with his girlfriend, the player is ambushed by agents of a mysterious crime syndicate who take his girlfriend away and shoot him to death. Just like in a Kirby game. Just like in a Kirby game. So now as a wandering spirit with the ability to possess most others, he is summoned by his girlfriend's father who researches ghost energy and is given the mission to save her. So the way the gameplay works is that he could possess one of four characters with unique abilities at the start of the game. But the library of enemies expands with the changing levels. So you'll have different abilities depending on who you possess. You know, if you possess like kind of a karate master looking character, you'll be kicking and all that. I think there's like a dragon or something like... Oh, wow. Oh, you might be like a gangster in one of them. I don't entirely remember, sorry, I don't want to give it away. But like, you know, you basically have different enemies that you can control. And that's very Kirby ish. So I threw that in there. That's on Game Boy. If people want to check that out. Anyway, you can. And then I'll also just include Taruru Tukun. Oh
Speaker 4
wow, I would mess up pronouncing that constantly.
Speaker 2
Yes, I hope I don't have to ever say it again. But this one is actually based on an anime, but it got a Sega Genesis game. And like the anime is about this kid who's a loser and everyone hates him. So he's so upset he wants to summon like a Wizard or something and he mad he summons magical Tarrou. Oh, here we go magical Tarrou Ruto, a koon. Who's like a little wizard and his but his only ability is that he can make items live like sentient, I guess. So in the game, you just can pick up items and throw them and give them a face and throw them. You're just like throwing things essentially. But it's very Kirby ish with the like an inhale, exhale type of attacking. And it's like pretty, it's pretty easy too. It's like pretty on the chill side and very colorful and cute. Like it has very nice graphics. I think the person who did the music for it also worked on some Pokemon games. So you might find the developer was Game Freak. So there you go. I
Speaker 4
think
Speaker 1
they did work on some Pokemon games.
Speaker 4
Yeah, just a couple. In
Speaker 1
case you heard
Speaker 2
of a game. And then one more here before I maybe mentioned another one that maybe Gigi might want to also talk about. But before that, Dora me fantasy Mylan No Doki Doki, is a Super Nintendo game that never came out to the US, but is very charming. You're like a little like kind of link looking like a boy with the green and you have the ability to kind of shoot out these bubbles and you can throw the like hit touch those bubbles to hit other enemies with them. So you kind of grabbing it like taking enemies and using them against other enemies too. It's also on the easier side, very cozy, very cute, very nice graphics, very interesting music that's sometimes like atmospheric, but very interesting for how cute it looks. And yeah, folks should check that one out. Oh, and Bomberman is in this game. Oh, yeah, of course. Of course. Okay. Because I remember playing it and getting to a point where like Bomberman, it's in Japanese, like I didn't know what he was telling me, but he must have needed my help. So yeah, check all those games out. A lot of them are retro, a lot of them maybe aren't so accessible, but in a way they're pretty accessible. So you know, check them out if you're looking
Speaker 4
for more.

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