Ghosts, guts, and great positioning 👻

Happy Thursday 🐔

If there’s something you probably don’t know about me (and may regret learning), it’s that I’m obsessed with ghosts.

I love horror books – The Shining is one of my all-time favourite films – and more than ANYTHING else, I’m addicted to Danny Robins’ Uncanny podcast.

If you haven’t come across it yet, it’s hands-down the best – from ghostly phantoms to UFOs, Danny and his team investigate real-life paranormal encounters, with Team Believer and Team Sceptic battling it out.

You might be thinking, who the hell listens to this nonsense?

Turns out, a sh*t tonne of people.

It’s racked up millions of listeners on the BBC (5 million listens, 3 million downloads). It was so popular it spawned a US series, then a TV series (now in its second season), a UK-wide live tour (25,000+ tickets sold – including one to me!), and an all-day comic-con-style event, Uncanny Con, at London’s Southbank Centre.

Fun fact: when I went to the live show, I grabbed an ice cream at the same time as Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar (Goodness Gracious Me legends), and at the interval, Sir Lenny Henry was standing right behind me in the never-ending bar queue.

But what’s really fascinating is how Danny Robins has built an entire cult-level following around one core idea: investigating the paranormal.

Every format he’s launched – the podcast, the TV show, the live tour, Uncanny Con, even his West End play 2:22 A Ghost Story – follows the same theme:

•  Here’s a case that needs solving, told by a seemingly credible witness.

•  Let’s examine the evidence.

•  Are you Team Believer or Team Sceptic?

He’s repeated the same powerful idea, over and over, in different ways. And by doing so, he’s built an audience (including me) who can’t stop consuming his content – even if it means losing sleep.

And that, my friend, is exactly how strong positioning works.

Your business has a mission.
You have something to sell.
The key is to find different ways to say the same powerful thing again and again.

Be known for one thing. Own it. Reinforce it in every format, every piece of content, every touchpoint – in a way that truly speaks to your audience.

If you need help nailing that, you might be interested in Bravebird Boost – a strategic positioning and copy project designed to focus your messaging, with done-for-you website copy delivered to you at the end. Want to learn more about it? Just shoot me a message.

PS. If you want to devour this podcast here’s the link to my all-time favourite episode.

Tania 🐔