Conversation Hub Strategy
Own a category by building the hub its influential people want to join.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 97%
The Conversation Hub Strategy starts with a positioning choice: identify the single industry conversation you most want to be part of. The goal then moves beyond participating personally to making your company relevant when you are absent. Instead of competing head-on with dominant shows or personalities, build the hub at the centre of the category and invite influential people from its different corners to contribute. Their participation gives them a reason to share the platform and draws their audiences toward it. The resulting asset becomes a blue-ocean route to authority: the brand connects the market's spokes, earns access that its original channel could not secure, and becomes associated with the category itself.
Origin
Steve Olsher developed the approach after deciding podcasting was his chosen conversation and realizing his shows alone could not make him central to it. Podcast Magazine became the hub.
Core principles
- 01Choose one conversation to own
- 02Authority means being discussed when absent
- 03A category hub attracts participants from across the market
- 04A differentiated platform can open doors that a conventional product cannot
How to run it
- 1
Choose the conversation
Identify the single industry discussion your company most wants to enter and be known for.
Pro tip Choose a conversation with participants you genuinely want to serve for years.
Watch out Trying to sit at several tables weakens the positioning choice.
- 2
Define absent-room success
Describe what people would say about your brand when you are not present. Make category association, not personal attendance, the objective.
Watch out Your own content reach is not proof that the market discusses you independently.
- 3
Map the spokes
List the creators, companies, experts, and subcommunities already participating in the category.
Pro tip Look for groups that rarely share one neutral platform.
- 4
Build the hub
Create an asset that features, connects, or serves those spokes and is meaningfully different from the dominant formats.
Pro tip Give each contributor a credible reason to share their participation.
Watch out A renamed version of an overcrowded channel will not create blue-ocean access.
- 5
Measure category pull
Track inbound participation, earned mentions, introductions, and conversations that occur without direct outreach from the founder.
Watch out Do not confuse vanity reach with becoming part of the category conversation.
In the wild
Olsher could not persuade major personalities such as Adam Carolla or Dave Ramsey to appear on Reinvention Radio. After launching Podcast Magazine as an industry-wide platform, notable podcasters agreed to interviews and features, placing his company inside podcasting conversations that its own show could not reach.
→ A differentiated category hub secured access and authority unavailable to the original podcast.
Common mistakes
Competing on the incumbent format
Trying to outgrow dominant category shows keeps the brand in a contest it is unlikely to win.
Building for contributors only
The hub must serve the wider category audience as well as give influential participants a reason to join.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for founders who can create a distinctive platform serving an established professional or enthusiast community.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for teams unwilling to focus on one conversation or sustain a high-quality category asset.
From the transcript
“what conversation do i most want to be part of”
“the bigger goal the bigger objective is for you and your company to be a part of that conversation even when you're not in the…”
“how do you become the hub of the wheel”
From the episode
Steve Olsher: Conquer Your Niche
Steve Olsher