Most podcasters think the key to audience growth is attracting more listeners. However, that is only half of the equation. You have to work to keep the listeners you already have.
FIX THE LEAKS
If you are trying to fill a bucket with water, it becomes very difficult when your bucket has big holes in the bottom.
There are 3 keys to keeping your listeners and achieving audience growth.
Be unique and make them remember you.
Give them a reason to come back.
Get them to actually listen.
Today, let’s talk about being unique. Your listeners will remember you by the stories you tell. That is how they get to know, like and trust you.
My son watches a show on YouTube created by Ireland Boys Productions. These are videos created by a two brothers and their friends. They do crazy stuff like spending 72 hours in a WalMart, sneaking pumpkins into shopping carts of other people and ordering the entire Popeyes Chicken menu.
IBP has posted 201 videos and has 3.78 million subscribers. There have been 6.1 million views on the WalMart video.
These videos aren’t short, either. They are 20-30 minute videos.
These kids even go on tour, because they have created a tremendous following.
The brothers make their fans part of the show. Their viewers get to suggest crazy stuff to do on the show. You can even buy their merch on their website.
Most importantly, their fans know their story. Watching their show, you meet their parents. You see where they live. You see the awards YouTube has given them for their online success.
It is all about their story and the plot of the episode. Each time, you wonder if they will succeed or get busted by store security.
WHO AM I?
When I started in radio, I just copied the other big personalities on the radio. I was using their phrases and mannerisms. I wanted to be them.
One day, I was reviewing my show with my program director. She was helping me find ways to improve my show.
As we were listening to the show, she stopped the audio. She asked why I was using a particular phrase. It was a phrase that was used by the morning guy on our sister station. It was the rock station I was on before I got the gig here.
When she asked, I had no answer.
She said, “Why don’t we leave that to the other guys. You be you.”
That was the day I started being true to myself and defining my own story and personality. I started sharing who I am with my audience. That began my climb to the top.
YOU’RE NOT GARY
Many podcasters hear Gary Vaynerchuk and try to be Gary Vee on their podcast. So, they start dropping F-bombs and living the hustle.
The problem is … they aren’t Gary Vaynerchuk. They weren’t born in Belarus. These people didn’t immigrate to the United States unable to speak English.
Podcasters who want to be Gary Vee didn’t spend their youth working in their fathers’s liquor store. They didn’t grow up learning how to sell by hustling baseball cards. You can’t be Gary Vaynerchuk unless you’re Gary Vaynerchuk.
Stop trying to be Gary Vaynerchuk and start being yourself.
WHO ARE YOU?
What is your story? Where did you come from? What makes you unique?
Let your personality come out on your show. Make a list of your unique characteristics that make you different from everyone else.
Maybe you’re brash, or caring, or cold, or inspiring. People might find you matter-of-fact, or welcoming, or take-no-prisoners, or comforting.
Define your personality. Then, put all of your content through that filter.
Be true to yourself and your listeners will remember you.
With your content, tell your stories. Use your personality to make your listener feel something. People remember emotions. Get them invested emotionally. This is critical to your audience growth.
When you tell stories on your show, define what do you hope to make the listener feel with your story. Always start with the emotion.
FIND THE EMOTION
Once you know have defined the emotion, you will know how to tell the story.
The more stories you tell, the more your listeners will get to know you. They will get emotionally invested with your show. Your listeners will remember you and come back time and again.
As you are working for audience growth, be sure you are working to hold onto the listeners you have.
Your podcast can rise above the other average podcasts when you use sound in a creative manner. When you add sound effects to your podcast that add to the listening experience, you add an element of show business to your show. Your effects add another level of entertainment to your content.
Dave Jackson includes nice transition effects on his podcast School of Podcasting.
A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY
If you are adding sound effects to your show, keep in mind that a little will go a long way. You don’t need to add a sound effect to every other sentence. Your sound effects should surprise. They should show up in unexpected places where they make the most impact to the content.
When a well-placed effect surprises your audience when they least expect it, you will bring a smile to the face of your listener. It also adds depth and context to your story. Great sound brings your story to life.
So few people take the time to add creative sound to their show. Most will have music for an intro to the show. Some may even incorporate that music to the close of the podcast as well. Very few will go beyond that point.
To be creative and surprising, you don’t need to add many effects. Two or three sound effects that are well-placed will work. If you overuse effects, you will no longer surprise your audience. One or two that come in a the perfect time will be a delight.
Take the extra step to find a couple creative sound effects. Place them in your show where they will be unexpected yet entertaining. Your show will instantly rise above the average shows of your competition.
FIND THE TIME FOR SOUND EFFECTS
Don’t let it eat up your time. Keep your ears open for interesting sounds. Record them with the voice recorder on your phone if necessary. Then, create a palate of sounds for easy access when you are editing.
In your show prep, make notes where you want to put the effects to add context to your story. Let the effects enhance your story and make the content more powerful.
You could use ambient noise to give the sense of the atmosphere. Consider adding a boing or other comic effect. Like Dave Jackson, use music or other transition effects between segments of your show.
BE CAREFUL WITH SOUND EFFECTS
Just like photos, be careful of copyright. It is a little harder to prove with audio. However, songs and parts from movies or television shows are copyrighted just like text.
You could claim fair use. That doesn’t mean the copyright owner won’t sue you for using their material without permission. Just be careful.
Find the right effects. Search the web for sound effect packages. They vary in price. You could always record your own as well.
When you want your listeners to stick around and listen to what you have to say, you need to give them a compelling reason. Your listener needs to anticipate what is to come later in the show. You need to excite them. You need to tease them. Create anticipation.
Dave Jackson of School of Podcasting and I were coaching a podcaster on an episode of the Podcast Review Show the other night. At the end of the episode we were reviewing, the host said, “In the next few weeks, we will be interviewing great guests like A, B and C.”
I told him it was great that he was enticing people to come back to future episodes. However, he wasn’t really creating any excitement about those shows. Do any of those guests give a piece of content you cannot get anywhere else? Let’s tease that.
MORE THAN PROMOTING
If I say, “Next week, we will be interviewing Dave Jackson”, I do very little to create any anticipation for you. It is just another interview.
If I say, “Next week when we talk to Dave Jackson of School of Podcasting, he is going to give you the one trick he uses to land the really big interviews for his show and it works 92% of the time”, that creates some anticipation for the episode. A true tease creates intrigue and a little excitement. It makes your listener ask, “I wonder what it is.”
Anticipation is a key feature to storytelling. Your story should build just like a good plot builds in a movie. You need to make your audience anticipate the content that is on the way.
Your story is similar to a vacation you are planning to take. The fantastic anticipation for the trip is almost as pleasurable as the trip itself. You can’t wait for the trip to arrive. You want your listener to feel the same way about your story.
When your listener can’t wait for the story to arrive, you have created some great content with an powerful tease. Your listeners will get more enjoyment from your show when they get the tease payoff more often. The pleasure of the “oh wow” factor will be increased. The joy of anticipation will keep your audience coming back for more.
EFFECTIVE TEASE
There are three steps to creating an effective tease.
#1 – Intrigue me.
When you promote content that is coming up later in the show, you must give your audience an intriguing reason to stick around. It isn’t enough to simply say, “A great story about this weekend is coming up.” Few will stick around for the payoff. The tease lacks stickiness. It doesn’t hook the listener.
A creative tease produces anticipation. Instead, use something like, “You’re never gonna believe what I found in the attic this past weekend. My world is about to take a wild turn.” With that statement, your imagination begins to work.
What could it be? A wasp nest? An antique? A structural problem with the house? Imagination is the magic of a creative tease. Stir the imagination of your audience to truly engage them with your content.
When possible, intrigue by incorporating the listeners world. “This weekend, I discovered a way to save $100 a month on my grocery bill by changing one thing in the way we shop. I’ll tell you how you can do it too.” It answers “what’s in it for me” for your listener.
#2 – Give them 80%.
To create an effective tease, give your listener 80% of the story while leaving out the most important 20%. It is similar to giving the setup for a joke without providing the punch line. Lead your listener right up to the line, but make them wait to step over.
The key to an effective tease is to withhold the most important 20%. Let’s use our previous example of the attic weekend. I could say, “You’re not gonna believe it, but I found a $25,000 antique painting in the attic this weekend. I’ll tell you what’s on it coming up.”
This is a perfect example of withholding the wrong 20%. Who cares who is on it. If it’s worth $25,000, it could be a painting of the sky. It wouldn’t matter to me. I’d only be asking where I could sell it.
$25,000 is the most exciting piece of information in the entire story. That is the piece that I need to withhold to create some excitement. To properly tease, I need to say, “In the attic this weekend, I found an antique painting of Napoleon. You’re never gonna believe how much it is worth.” You are more likely to stick around to see if I can retire on my winnings when I set it up in this fashion.
Make it impossible to search online.
You want your listener to keep listening for the payoff to your set up. If I can simply search on Google for the answer to your tease, there is no reason to keep listening. I can just look it up and be done with it.
#3 – You need to get creative to make your tease unsearchable.
Let’s say I have a story about Joe Celebrity getting drunk at High Profile Bar in Las Vegas over the weekend where he got arrested for assault. I could say, “Another movie star got arrested this weekend after he got in a fight with a customer at High Profile Bar in Las Vegas. I’ll tell you who it is coming up.”
Celebrity name is part of the correct 20% I’m withholding. However, I can look this story up on Google in a heartbeat. If I search “Arrest High Profile Bar Las Vegas”, the chances are good that I will find the story in the first few search results. The tease isn’t effective. It is too easy to search.
To make the tease more powerful, make it impossible to search. “Another bar fight over the weekend landed another celebrity in jail. The story is coming up.” This tease makes it much more difficult to search. If you entered “celebrity bar fight weekend” in Google, 70 million results show up. It will be much easier to wait for my payoff than to begin searching 70 million Google entries.
RELATIONSHIPS
The three steps to powerful teases will help you begin to engage your audience on the way to building powerful relationships. Use the three steps in your show recap to entice people to listen to the episode. Then, use them again during the introduction of the show to get listeners to enjoy the entire recording.
You’ve worked hard to create your content. A lot of effort has been exerted on your part while writing and recording your show. Make your content intriguing by using these three steps in the art of the tease.
When you use the art of the tease, your listeners will spend more time with your show. The increased frequency of the tease payoffs will help your audience enjoy your content more. When your show is more entertaining, it becomes more engaging. When you truly engage your audience with your content, you can begin building powerful relationships. That’s where trust and influence with your listener begins.
Interviewing people is an art. If you do it well, you demonstrate your authority in your space while allowing your guest to become the star of the show. In this episode, I want to provide you a few podcast interview tips that will help your interviews become stronger.
As I coach podcasters with their interviews, we work to find a way to transform the interview from a question-and-answer session into a real conversation.
If you step back and think about the types of content that really attract and engage people, there are few things more powerful than a story.
Storytelling is the interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener’s imagination. It brings your content to life in the theater of the mind of your audience.
CLIENT QUESTION
One client came to me looking for help with his interviews. When he would interview a guest, it was almost like an interrogation. It was question, answer, question, answer. “What niche are you in? Who built your website? How long have you been leading the organization? How do you set up your equipment?”
A line of questioning with very specific correct and incorrect answers does nothing to encourage the listener’s imagination.
However, I can engage that imagination if I tell you about a time when we were on a cruise off the coast of South America. On that vacation, my 10-year-old daughter was able to visit the Mayan ruins near Cozumel. It was a hot day unlike any heat I had ever experienced before. Any shade we could find was good shade.
We had the chance to go in these huge shelters made of stone. Our Mayan tour guide explained the Mayan calendar as we hiked the tree-lined trails that connected the various sites. He explained why everyone thought the world would end when we reached the end of the Mayan calendar and why the facts proved that wasn’t true.
Stories like that are much more engaging than “how do you hook up your equipment?”.
There are a few ways in addition to stories that can supercharge your podcast.
PODCAST INTERVIEW TIPS
1. Avoid the multiple choice and yes/no questions.
Allow your guest to expand her answer with stories.
2. Use great questions that set the guest up to tell stories.
There are ways to help your guests tell stories. When you lead with “tell me about a time when …”, “what is the craziest thing …” or “what did it feel like when you …”, you allow your guest to tell you about one specific moment in time. This is where great stories start.
You can download my 17 of the Most Powerful Interview Questions Ever for free online at PodcastTalentCoach.com/interview. This list is built in a way that will allow you to use these questions with any person you interview.
3. Start with the best question you have.
You can’t catch up to a slow start. People want great content right from the start, or they are looking for something more entertaining. Lead with the most engaging question you have. We can always go back and revisit how your guest got started and their backstory.
4. There is no need for the transition.
Just ask the next question. There is no need for a set up. Treat your interview like a cocktail party conversation. If you were having a conversation at a party, would you ever say things like, “The next question I would like to ask …” or “Let’s move into your you got started …”? No. Normal people don’t talk like that. Use questions that you would use in regular conversation.
5. Help the guest provide useful info for your listener.
You are the host of your show. You know what your listeners need and expect. Lead you guest down the path that will help them provide that information.
6. Treat the listener as if they are the 3rd person in the conversation.
As you interview your guest, pretend your listener is sitting right there with you. When you need to clarify something your guest said, say it right to that 3rd person. If I am interviewing Joe, and he makes reference to a chapter in his book, I can say, “Joe has a great book out. If you want a copy, go to my website dot com slash joes book and get the link right there.”
When I use sentences like that, it is clear that I am talking to you and not Joe. I don’t have to say, “Hey listeners, if you want to get Joe’s book …” The use of “listeners” is much less personal and connecting than if I just talk to you as if you are sitting at the table with the two of us.
7. Have 4 or 5 great questions prepared, but listen to the answers for great follow-up questions.
The quickest way to turn a great conversation into a bad question and answer session is to follow a list of prescripted questions. Know where you want to go and what you want to accomplish in the conversation before it starts. Gather a handful of great questions that will help you get there. Actually listen to the answers your guest gives you. Those answers provide great leads for your next great question.
If the line of questioning hits a dead end, look at your list, pick another question and start again. Let the conversation flow.
Bonus: Slow down and say your name with a little more pride. It is your brand. Embrace it. Be confident with your name and the name of the show.
Would you like some help with your interviews and more podcast interview tips? Take advantage of my FREE podcast strategy session. Get details at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/coaching.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Some podcasts start the episode with some chit chat. This is the small talk at the beginning of the show that really has very little to do with the show topic.
“Hey, how are you?” “What have you been up to lately?”
The small talk at the beginning of the show is sometimes between co-hosts and sometimes between host and guest. But, should it be there? Should chit chat be part of your episode?
If you believe the Facebook discussions and episode comments, you would think chit chat is causing all of your listeners to leave your show in a stampede.
Some small talk could actually help you if you package it correctly.
First, let’s agree. Chit chat for the sake of hearing yourself talk does no one any good. That is definitely not the small talk I am recommending.
Your chit chat at the beginning of the show must support the content of the episode. It should add context to the discussion.
WHAT IS YOUR TURNOFF
There was a post in a podcasting Facebook group the other day. The question was, “What makes you turn off a podcast or click unsubscribe?”
As soon as someone said “Too much rambling before the subject i’m actually listening for gets going”, everyone jumped on the bandwagon.
Other comments include …
“I don’t like super long intros, bad sound quality and when hosts get too ‘in jokey’.”
“I hate when there is too much faffing about getting to the point of the episode. All that ‘so how was your week?’ stuff going on 12 different tangents for 15mins before we get to the meat.”
“BORING PREEEE AMBLE! – I don’t mind if your opening chit chat is fun or relevant or interesting, but if it’s you just you and your guest warming up – commmmmme onnnn! EDIT!”
“Boring interview babble at the beginning.”
“Episodes that don’t get quickly to a takeaway. I find many podcasts that meander around too much, especially co-host and Interview formats.
YOU CAN’T CATCH UP
The thing to remember is that you cannot catch up to a slow start. You need to give value right from the start.
When your show opens, tell listeners exactly what they will get from this episode. If they stay to the end, how will they benefit? Tease it by creating some anticipation for your listener.
Now, if you want to include some chit chat here, it should add some context to the content. This could be a story about something that happened to you this week and how it relates to the topic of the show.
Let’s say you are doing an episode about shaping your effective chit chat. You could start with a story about being on Facebook and the way everyone jumped on the bandwagon. If you had a co-host, you could talk about your feelings and opinions of small talk.
This story adds context to the show. This is the reason we have decided to discuss this topic on this episode.
There is one important thing the story does. Your chit chat allows your audience to get to know you.
People do business with those they know, like and trust. This part of your show allows your audience to get to know you and what you believe and value. You simply need to frame it correctly.
FOUR STEPS
Here are the four steps to add valuable chit chat to the beginning of your show.
First, open the show with “what’s in it for me”. Tell your listeners exactly why this episode is valuable and how they will be better when it is over. Make them want to listen to the entire episode. Create some anticipation.
Next, add a story and some chit chat that relates to the content on this episode.
Then, start the story and chit chat by making the connection between the story and the episode subject.
If your episode is about chit chat, start the story with something like, “Some small talk could actually help you if you package it correctly.” Make it a powerful headline.
Finally, don’t overstay your welcome. Once you make your point with the story, get into the meat of the content.
You can’t catch up to a slow start. If you are going to include some chit chat and small talk, make it valuable so it supports the content of the show.
Have you noticed a lot of the business interview podcasts sound the same? We are hearing the same guests answer the same questions time and time again. How do you become unique in this sea of sameness? Story.
Story and storytelling can transform your podcast. Your personal experiences and stories make you unique. No one has experienced the things you have experienced in the same way you have. If you want to stand out from every other podcast, share your personal story during your show.
People do business with other people they know, like and trust. Your stories create that knowledge. That is where true friendships begin.
Friendship is developed through self-revelation. How much do you know about your best friend? You probably know almost everything. Is it because you were there for all of it? No. It is probably because they have told you the story of all of it.
Stories help define your character and personality. If you want your listener to get to know you, share those personal connections. Connect, motivate and inspire your audience with your stories.
Don’t fit in, stand out.
Your personal experiences are the only way to make the content your own. Great songwriters do it. Great filmmakers do it. Share your stories and stand out.
Was Walt Disneya great story writer? No. He didn’t write any of his big movies. Cinderellawas derived from a story written in 7 BC. Even the first literary European version was published in Italy in 1634.
Walt Disney was a great storyteller. Learn how to entertain through story.
ENGAGEMENT
In podcasting, you cannot afford to be boring. Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.
To create engagement, tell great stories. Keep the interest of your listener rising.
Date your listeners. You need to earn the privilege of talking to people who want to be talked to and selling things to people who want to be sold to. To earn that privilege, you need to build friendship.
Great friendships are developed through self revelation. When you share your personal thoughts and feelings with an individual through stories, you begin to create a bond with that person. It is life enrichment. Making our lives better through friendship is the reason we do not live is seclusion.
Over time, sharing stories will begin to build trust with your listener. Your stories share your values and beliefs. People learn what you value and believe.
Practice becoming a great storyteller.
GREAT STORYTELLERS
Great storytellers have the courage to listen to themselves. Hear and have courage to record your personal connections to the events happening around you.
When you use your podcast to create friendships, you are asking people to spend time with your every week. People share time with others that they like. They are asking themselves, “Would I enjoy taking a one-hour car ride with this person every week?”
People listen to audio while they drive, run and workout so they are not alone. They use the audio as companionship. Let your listener get to know you.
Your stories will also let others live vicariously through you. Your listener can enjoy your story of struggle and success without enduring the hard work and pain. Let them enjoy your stories.
ELEMENTS OF A GREAT STORY
There are four essential elements of a great story.
Engaging introduction
Reveal the details
Powerful Resolution
What else?
ENGAGING INTRODUCTION
Give them a reason to care. What do you want the audience to feel? Your stories make you human. Will it be humorous, compelling or tragic. My talent coach Bill McMahon would always ask, “What do you hope to make the audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand?”
Your listener can experience various emotions through your stories. You could elicit joy, sympathy, empathy, anger, tragedy, tenderness, humor, rage, patriotism or many others. Emotions make that personal connection to your story.
Pull your listener into the story. Your engaging introduction is a roadmap. It should be a solid headline that tells your listener exactly where your story will go. “Tell me if I’m gonna go to Hell for this …”
REVEAL THE DETAILS
Details are more believable than generalities. Your details will make your story come to life.
When you develop your details, use all 5 senses. Draw the picture in the mind’s eye of your listener. Make the story come to life. Put your listener right there in the moment. This is theater of the mind.
Your details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character.
RESOLUTION
Your resolution should be a powerful reframing of introduction. Your will know when you reach your conclusion when you have successfully achieved the emotional goal set at the beginning. What did you hope to make your audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand? When you’ve achieved that goal, get to the resolution.
WHAT ELSE?
Asking “What Else” will transform your show. Let your story lead to something bigger. Maybe you turn your story into a discussion on Facebook. Maybe your story leads into an interview. What else can you do with it? Create some great entertainment.
HOW YOU CAN BE A STORYTELLER
What do you want to make your listener feel?
What is the engaging set up?
How will it be revealed in the story with vivid details?
What is the resolution?
What else can you do with it?
You can find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
I was working with a client the other day and he was having a tough time structuring his stories in order to make them as powerful as possible.
To make your story strong, start with the end in mind. Lead with the punchline. Make your point right up front. If you wander into your story, it will be difficult to capture the attention of the audience.
Then, follow the powerful introduction with great details.
My client is originally from Bangladesh. He was telling a story of growing up in his village. There was a homeless guy in his village who had a lot of personality.
The guy was a really lovable guy. Everyone in the village would help him.
Eventually they had to cut off the help. The village thought the guy was just free-loading and doing nothing to help himself.
One day, my client was walking back to the village with his dad and brother. They saw a crowd of villagers are attacking the homeless man. Everyone was chanting “thief”. Apparently, the guy was being punished due to custom of handling thieves.
Two years later, my client was living in US. Living with his uncle, aunt & cousin. The cousin was the reason he and his brother didn’t feel homesick.
They boys went to a toy store. As they were leaving, security guard stops them because the cousin had shoplifted. The boys thought the guards were going to put their hands on cousin.
This was all due to what had happened in their village back in Bangladesh. They stepped in to intervene. The guards said they were just going to tell his mother.
THE POINT
The point of the story was events will hold different meaning to different people due to their background and culture. You should learn to understand before you judge.
However, this was the exact structure he used for his story. The entire time he was telling the story, I was wondering where he was going.
What do we want people to take away from this story? Start with the end in mind.
Storytelling can transform your podcast.
People do business with people they know, like and trust. Stories help you develop that knowledge, likability and trust.
Your stories define you and will touch many more people. The stories you tell and the details you include reveal many things about you. That begins to develop that like and trust.
It can be a bit scary to reveal things about yourself on your podcast. Develop the ability to recognize your unique thoughts and the courage to reveal them on your show.
MY COACHES
Two radio coaches have influenced me greatly over the years. They each have similar views on storytelling.
Radio consultant Randy Lane says use stories to “make it human by making it humorous, compelling or tragic”.
Radio talent coach Bill McMahon suggest you decide what you hope to make your audience “Laugh at, marvel at or better understand.” He calls it the provocative point.
How do you want your audience to feel after hearing your story? Frame that feeling in your engaging introduction. Decide what you hope to reveal about yourself with the story. Start there.
My client’s provocative point was that we should aim to be more understanding rather than judging. Things have different meanings in different cultures due to the person’s upbringing.
Start with your provocative point and then add details in the story that help support it.
Stories help you connect, motivate and inspire.
After you have defined your provocative point, there are four parts to the storytelling structure.
ENGAGING INTRODUCTION
This pulls your listener right into the story. Your introduction should tell your listener exactly where the story is headed. It should include your provocative point. Nobody wants to go on a trip when they don’t know where they are going. Let them enjoy the journey.
VIVID DETAILS
How will your emotion be revealed in the story? Use vivid details to make your story come to life in the theater of the mind.
What is the boundary between painting the picture and being too detailed?
Still moving the story forward.
POWERFUL CONCLUSION
Wrap up the story with a reframing of your engaging introduction.
WHAT ELSE?
Asking “What Else” will transform your show. Don’t let the story simply end and fade away. Turn it into something powerful.
“What Else” can we do with a compelling story? You could create a video, continue the conversation on social media, follow up with listener input in the following episode or various other things. Let your story lead to something bigger.
Ask “what else can we do” and see where it leads.
Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.
So many podcasters tell me they want to create a podcast around their area of expertise, but fear there are already too many podcasts in that niche. When the space is occupied, should you stay away and find another niche.
If people are already experiencing success in your niche, that is proof there is a demand for your content. It doesn’t mean you should find an empty pool. You should just make your content unique.
It is like restaurants. Just because there is a pizza joint in your town, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for another. Each restaurant will have a little different spin on their style. Different pizza for different times.
We have bunch of pizza spots here in town. Two of my favorite are Big Fred’s Pizza and Zio’s pizza. There are a ton of others, like Johnny Sortino’s, Ragazzi’s, La Casa’s, Sgt. Peffer’s and the chains. But these two are my favorites.
Fred was always a huge fan of Nebraska football and the restaurant shows. He opened the restaurant in 1965. Big Fred’s is the old school pizza joint with the old school sports bar feel from the 1970s when Nebraska won the National Championship twice. His pride shows throughout the establishment.
There is red carpet on the walls. Football helmets, photos and other memorabilia are mounted all around the place. You’ll find big screen TVs everywhere you look with various games on. The place is packed on football Saturdays.
As you walk in, the counter and cash register is at the door. Right in the middle of Big Fred’s is a huge bar that takes up about a quarter of the room. You can sit at the bar and eat, or you can sit at any of the square, bar style tables with the high back, vinyl covered chairs.
The vinyl covered menu has they typical Italian fare. You can order spaghetti, chicken parmesan, garlic cheese bread appetizers, ravioli and plenty of pizza. The pizza comes with all the usual toppings, like pepperoni, beef, olives, mushrooms and the like. It’s your standard, red sauce pizza.
Big Fred’s is a real man’s pizza joint.
Zio’s on the other hand has a very different feel. The Sherman’s opened the first location in 1985 with a very New York feel and attitude.
The restaurant is small, like you would find in New York. The original location had about 8 tables and 10 booths. The floor was black and white checkered tile. Photos of New York City hung on the walls.
The pizza at Zio’s is thin crust, New York style pizza. The toppings are adventuresome, like chicken pesto, artichoke hearts and feta cheese. Sure, you can get pepperoni and sausage. But, Zio’s is more known for pizzas like the margherite or original Thai pizza.
I love both places. It all depends on the mood and what we want at the time.
How do you make your content unique compared to the similar podcasts in your niche?
You use your story.
Just like Fred’s story is different from the Sherman’s story, and therefore gives their places a unique vibe, your story can make your show one of a kind. Storytelling can transform your podcast.
Your stories are unique to you. The way you have experienced events, and your interpretation of those experiences, cannot be copied by anyone.
People do business with people they know, like and trust. Stories can help you develop that knowledge, likability and trust.
Your stories define you. The stories you tell and the details you include reveal many things about you. Those details tell your listener what you value, what you believe and who you are as a person. That begins to develop likability and trust.
It can be a bit scary to reveal things about yourself on your podcast. Develop the ability to recognize your unique thoughts, and find the courage to reveal those thoughts on your show.
Don’t fit in, stand out.
Your personal experiences are the only way to make the content your own. Great songwriters do it. Great filmmakers do it. Share your stories and stand out.
The article lists six psychological reasons why stories are so powerful.
1. Communication
Stories have always been a primal form of communication. They are timeless links to ancient traditions, legends, myths, and symbols. They connect us to a larger self and universal truths.
2. Connection
Stories are about collaboration and connection. They transcend generations, they engage us through emotions, and they connect us to others. Stories help us share our passions, sadness, hardships and joys. We share meaning and purpose. Stories are the common ground that allows people to communicate, overcoming our defenses and our differences. Stories allow us to understand ourselves better and to find our commonality with others.
3. Thoughts
Stories are how we think. They are how we make meaning of life. Stories are how we explain how things work, how we make decisions, how we justify our decisions, how we persuade others, how we understand our place in the world, create our identities, and define and teach social values.
4. Order
Stories provide order. Humans seek certainty and narrative structure is familiar, predictable, and comforting. Within the context of the story arc we can withstand intense emotions because we know that resolution follows the conflict. We can experience with a safety net.
5. Imagination
Stories are how we are wired. Stores take place in the imagination. To the human brain, imagined experiences are processed the same as real experiences. Stories create genuine emotions, presence (the sense of being somewhere), and behavioral responses.
6. Engagement
Stories are the pathway to engaging our right brain and triggering our imagination. By engaging our imagination, we become participants in the narrative. We can step out of our own shoes, see differently, and increase our empathy for others. Through imagination, we tap into creativity that is the foundation of innovation, self-discovery and change.
There is the key to storytelling with your podcast. We all seek to create more engagement. As you are developing your podcast brand, there is nothing more powerful.
ENGAGEMENT
In podcasting, you cannot afford to be boring. Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.
To create engagement, tell great stories. Keep the interest of your listener rising.
Date your listeners. You need to earn the privilege of talking to people who want to be talked to and selling things to people who want to be sold to. To earn that privilege, you need to build friendship.
Great friendships are developed through self revelation. When you share your personal thoughts and feelings with an individual through stories, you begin to create a bond with that person. It is life enrichment. Making our lives better through friendship is the reason we do not live is seclusion.
Over time, sharing stories will begin to build trust with your listener. Your stories share your values and beliefs.
Practice becoming a great storyteller.
GREAT STORYTELLERS
Practice being a great storyteller. Have the courage to listen to yourself. Hear and have courage to record your personal connections to the events happening around you.
When you use your podcast to create friendships, you are asking people to spend time with your every week. People share time with others that they like. They are asking themselves, “Would I enjoy taking a one-hour car ride with this person every week?”
People listen to audio while they drive, run and workout so they are not alone. They use the audio as companionship. Let your listener get to know you.
Your stories will also let others live vicariously through you. Your listener can enjoy your story of struggle and success without enduring the hard work and pain. Let them enjoy your stories.
ELEMENTS OF GREAT STORIES
There are four essential elements of great stories.
1. Engaging introduction
2. Reveal the details
3. Powerful Resolution
4. What else?
ENGAGING INTRODUCTION
Give them a reason to care. What do you want the audience to feel? Your stories make you human. Will it be humorous, compelling or tragic. My talent coach Bill McMahon would always ask, “What do you hope to make the audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand?”
Your listener can experience various emotions through your stories. You could elicit joy, sympathy, empathy, anger, tragedy, tenderness, humor, rage, patriotism or many others. Emotions make that personal connection to your story.
Pull your listener into the story. Your engaging introduction is a roadmap. It should be a solid headline that tells your listener exactly where your story will go. “Tell me if I’m gonna go to Hell for this…”
REVEAL THE DETAILS
Details are more believable than generalities. Your details will make your story come to life.
When you develop your details, use all 5 senses. Draw the picture in the mind’s eye of your listener. Make the story come to life. Put your listener right there in the moment. This is theater of the mind.
Your details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character.
RESOLUTION
Your resolution should be a powerful reframing of introduction. Your will know when you reach your conclusion when you have successfully achieved the emotional goal set at the beginning. What did you hope to make your audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand? When you’ve achieved that goal, get to the resolution.
WHAT ELSE?
Asking “What Else” will transform your show. Let your story lead to something bigger. Maybe you turn your story into a discussion on Facebook. Maybe your story leads into an interview. What else can you do with it? Create some great entertainment.
HOW YOU CAN BE A STORYTELLER
Use these four elements to tell stories in your podcast. When you are interviewing others, get your guest to tell powerful stories as well. Stories are much more compelling and engaging.
What do you want to make your listener feel?
What is the engaging set up?
How will it be revealed in the story with vivid details?
What is the resolution?
What else can you do with it?
Tell stories. Don’t fit in. Stand out. Be unique.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Have you noticed a lot of the business interview podcasts sound the same? We are hearing the same guests answer the same questions time and time again. How do you become unique in this sea of sameness and capture attention?
Storytelling can transform your podcast.
I was on a coaching call with Arman the other day. He is a great public speaker who is launching a podcast to compliment his business.
Arman has a knack for telling stories in his speeches. His past life experiences create compelling tales. We were discussing the power of stories in his show.
There is a subtle difference between telling stories in a speech and telling stories in a podcast. During a speech, few people will get up and leave if you don’t hold their attention.
While listening to a podcast, if you are captivating, there is a good chance your listener will go find something else to enjoy. There is no guilt in turning you off.
Therefore, you need to capture their attention right out of the box and hold it.
Stories can be a powerful tool with your podcast.
People do business with people they know, like and trust. Stories help you develop that knowledge, likability and trust.
Your stories define you and will touch many more people. The stories you tell and the details you include reveal many things about you. That begins to develop that like and trust.
It can be a bit scary to reveal things about yourself on your podcast. Develop the ability to recognize your unique thoughts and the courage to reveal them on your show.
Two radio coaches have influenced me greatly over the years. They each have similar views on storytelling.
Radio consultant Randy Lane says use stories to “make it human by making it humorous, compelling or tragic”.
Radio talent coach Bill McMahon suggest you decide what you hope to make your audience “Laugh at, marvel at or better understand.”
How do you want your audience to feel after hearing your story? Frame that feeling in your engaging introduction. Decide what you hope to reveal about yourself with the story.
Stories help you connect, motivate and inspire.
There are four parts to the storytelling structure.
ENGAGING INTRODUCTION
This pulls your listener right into the story. Your introduction should tell your listener exactly where the story is headed.
VIVID DETAILS
How will your emotion be revealed in the story? Use vivid details to make your story come to life in the theater of the mind.
POWERFUL CONCLUSION
Wrap up the story with a reframing of your engaging introduction.
WHAT ELSE?
Asking “What Else” will transform your show. Don’t let the story simply end and fade away. Turn it into something powerful.
“What Else” can we do with a compelling story? You could create a video, continue the conversation on social media, follow up with listener input in the following episode or various other things. Let your story lead to something bigger.
Ask “what else can we do” and see where it leads.
Do you want help?
Dave Jackson and I host thePodcast Review Show together. Our guests appear on the show to have their podcast reviewed by the two of us.
Typically, hiring the two of us individually for an hour would be hundreds of dollars. This opportunity saves you a ton of money. Not only do you get an hour of consulting from us on this show, you get to plug your show for a sixty minutes. And, we get great content for a podcast.
We would love to have you on the show. Get the details here:
How do you make your podcast unique when every interview asks the same questions and sounds the same? Use storytelling through powerful interview questions.
Storytelling can transform your podcast.
People do business with those they know, like and trust. Stories let people get to know you through the things you reveal in your stories. Listeners learn what you like, value and believe. Your stories help develop that likability and trust.
“Tell me a little bit about yourself.” This questions is a time waster. It also tells the audience and your guest you didn’t do your homework. You should know your guest and provide the important background information necessary for this episode.
“Did you enjoy (blank)?” Yes/no questions receive yes/no answers. Find ways to turn yes/no questions into open-ended questions.
“Was it A or B?” Questions that require one word answers do the same as yes/no questions. There is nowhere for the guest to go with the answer.
POWERFUL QUESTIONS
Here are 7 of the Most Powerful Interview Questions ever from that list. Use these to generate fantastic stories.
1. Tell me about a time you _______.
This question generates great stories. It is also personal and helps your guest reveal things about themselves.
2. How did all of this get started?
This question generates great stories. It is also personal. This question can provide inspiration to your audience.
3. What is the craziest thing you’ve seen in this business?
This story creates some amazement.
4. When did you realize you had a passion for ______?
This questions makes a personal connection between your guest and listener. It also provides inspiration for your listeners.
5. What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome to ______?
This questions provides inspiration for your listener. It also gives them advice to tackle their own problems.
6. What did it feel like when you ______?
This question allows your guest to connect emotionally with your audience.
7. If you could do it over again, what is the first thing you would do?
This is a great question to help your audience learn where to start. This question also helps your audience take action.
SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY
If you interview guests on your podcast, I want to help you transform those interviews into powerful conversations. I want to help you create unique content that will stand out from all other podcasts in your niche.
I am putting together a workshop for a small group of podcasters. This workshop will teach you the intricacies, tips and tricks to create powerful podcast interviews.
This process was developed over my 30 years of radio.
Whether you are brand new to podcasting or have been creating podcast interviews for years, this workshop will be the place to be. It will be the place to gain confidence in yourself, defeat the impostor syndrome, look smarter by surrounding yourself with smart people, and avoid making a fool of yourself by developing powerful podcast interviews.
You will learn how to create amazing content using powerful podcast interviews.
This isn’t just theory. I have been in radio for 30 years and teaching broadcasters and podcasters for over 20 years. I have interviewed some of the biggest artists in music, including Lady Gaga, Blake Shelton, Natalie Merchant, Sarah McLachlan, Eric Church, Mariah Carey, the Samples, Big & Rich, Jason Aldean, Carrie Underwood, Dave Mustane of Megadeth, Nelly and others.
Stations I have programmed have dominated the market. My own show has been top of the ratings for years straight. Podcasters I have coached have used my training to drive their shows to new heights.
I am now combining all of that interviewing knowledge into a workshop. This will be a small group of a couple dozen dedicated podcasters who want to learn what took me 30 years to perfect.
I’m really excited to get it started. The workshop will be ready in a couple weeks.
Building your podcast brand is a big step toward audience growth. If you want to keep listeners coming back time and again, you need to build top-of-mind awareness. Your listeners need to think of you first when they think of your niche.
To build your memorable podcast brand, follow these 8 steps.
1. BENEFITS, NOT CONTENTS
It’s the Snap, Crackle, Pop … Not the Puffed Rice
Rice. Sugar. Salt. Malt flavor. Mmmmm. I can’t wait to get a bowl of that!
Your listeners aren’t attracted by the contents of your show. They don’t care if your show discusses money or business or politics or sports. All your listener cares about is the benefits they will receive from your show.
Here are a few podcast descriptions I found on iTunes.
“Those people that make videos on YouTube now have their own audio podcast. Hope you will stay awhile.”
“(unnamed podcast) produces original stories each week for families around the world. Each week on the (unnamed podcast), we’ll be sharing a free story from one of our original story series.”
“The world’s favorite podcast about old video games reaches its next stage! Join (hosts) and a variety of guests as they discuss the favorite games and topics of yesteryear.”
I’m sure these are solid podcasts. They were all listed in the “New & Noteworthy”. The content may be great, but the descriptions lack any snap, crackle or pop.
People get attracted to your show by the benefits, not ingredients.
Consumers buy the fun of the Snap, Crackle & Pop. They aren’t buying the puffed rice.
Listeners are seeking the fun of learning life’s lessons through stories, not original stories for families.
The audience wants nostalgic memories of teenage afternoons wasted in the arcade in front of Donkey Kong, Ms. Pac Man and Dragon’s Lair, not discussion of your favorite games and topics.
When a listener decides to listen to your podcast, they ask, “What will this podcast do for me?” If the answer is topics and discussions, your listener is probably moving on. If it is nostalgic memories and comedic bits of “name that video game theme”, you might just entice him to check out your show.
There is a reason the fun of the experience is on the front of the box and the ingredients are relegated to the side. You need to sell the fun.
2. BE WELL PREPARED, NOT SCRIPTED
You must know where you’re going before you can actually get there. That statement is true with a road trip and it is also true with your podcast. When you set out to record a show, you must have goals in mind. Once you’ve determined what you hope to accomplish, you can then decide how you will make it happen.
So many podcasters seem to record their show less than fully prepared. I hear hosts often search for details that should be right at their fingertips. There is no reason to lack the proper information while you are doing your show. If you’ve fully prepared for your podcast, the information should be right in front of you.
3. BE CREATIVE
Create “theater of the mind.”
The use of active language will stir the imagination of your listener and help you connect to your audience. Put the listener in the moment. Make the listener see the action you are describing.
“I’m walking in the bustling restaurant and shaking off the cold without even watching where I’m walking.” That is active language. In your mind, you can see me walking in.
Sure, your restaurant may be different from my restaurant. That difference is what makes theater of the mind great. You see it the way you think it fits best for you. Your scene doesn’t need to match my scene in order for the story to make sense. It is your theater.
Active language connects each listener to the story in his or her own way. It will create strong audience engagement. Active language during storytelling is a powerful tool you can use while you’re building your podcast.
Create a great podcast brand. Create theater of the mind.
4. MAKE THEM FORGET
There is a primary reason most people seek entertainment. They want to escape reality. Help your listener make their escape by making them forget they are listening to a recording.
People want to forget about their troubles of the day. To get away, they watch movies, go to concerts, watch television, listen to radio and spend time with your podcast. People get wrapped up in another time, place and story. This makes them forget about their reality, even if it is only for a short time.
Take them to another place with your podcast by using stories. Make your storytelling so strong that their imaginations put your listener in another time and place. That’s what great storytelling is all about. That’s what great relationships are all about. It is engagement.
So, how do you make them forget? How do you engage and entertain to the point where your listener is so engrossed with your content that they forget about everything else? What are the steps to create a great story?
The intriguing introduction. The vivid details. The powerful conclusion. Then, ask “what else?”
Take a few tips from movies and television. Tell compelling stories just like the movies.
Think about a speech you have given. When you have only rehearsed the speech a couple times, anxiety sets in.
Thinking about making a mistake makes you nervous. Your lack of preparation is the cause. You worry that you may forget something. You are not prepared.
On the other hand, when you have rehearsed the speech many, many times, you eventually know it by heart. You begin to feel much more confident. The worry isn’t present. You begin to relax.
When you relax, the spontaneity kicks in.
Spontaneity in your speech happens most when you aren’t worried about the mechanics of the presentation. Your mind is allowed to move naturally through the material.
This relaxation helps you become truly engaged with the audience and material. Wonderful, creative, spontaneous things happen when you reach this point.
The same can be said for your podcast. When you know the material, have defined a specific goal for the show, and have mapped out a plan to achieve that goal, your podcast will be filled with many “oh wow” moments.
When you worry about your content, you have no brain power left for spontaneous things to happen.
Where are you spending your time? Are you too busy thinking about the next question and blocking out the spontaneity? Is rehearsal really the enemy of spontaneity?
6. BE INTERESTING BY BEING INTERESTED
Listen to your guest. You become interesting by being interested.
Podcasters often ask how long their podcast needs to be.
Your podcast needs to be as long as it needs to be. As long as it is interesting, it isn’t too long.
You need to do your homework prior to the interview. You need to know what makes your guest interesting. What will make your guest engaging to your audience? Find that story, and help your guest bring it to life.
You become interesting by being interested. Listen to the answers your guest provides. Then, ask great, intriguing, follow-up questions.
7. TELL STORIES, DON’T READ
Walt Disney was one of the greatest storytellers of our time.
When you examine his work, you realize he wasn’t a great story writer. He was a fantastic story teller.
Snow White, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Jungle Book. All are stories written by someone else. Disney just turned them into great stories that sometimes didn’t follow the original exactly.
Snow White – “Snow White” is a German fairy tale known across much of Europe and is today one of the most famous fairy tales worldwide. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
Pinocchio – The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial in 1881 and 1882, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883.
Fantasia – The movie was developed around the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a German poem written in 1797 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Bambi – Bambi, a Life in the Woods, was originally published in Austria in 1923 and written by Felix Salten.
Cinderella – This movie started as a European folk tale. The first written European version of the story was published in Naples, by Giambattista Basile, in 1634.
Peter Pan – Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie in 1902. Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, premiered on 27 December 1904 in London.
Jungle Book – The Jungle Book (1894) is a collection of stories by English author Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–94.
Even recent, successful movies created by the Disney company after Walt Disney’s death were based on stories written by others.
Hercules – Greek myth
Mulan – Chinese legend
Tarzan – 1914 book by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tangled – Base on Rapunzel published in 1812 Brothers Grimm
Model the Disney filter.
Walt Disney’s upbringing shaped his view on life and influenced how he told stories. According to the book “Walt Disney – Hollywood’s Dark Prince” by Marc Eliot, Disney’s life on his boyhood Missouri farm was harsh.
Walt was unsure of his father, because he had no birth certificate. He grew up in a very strict household where his father often used corporal punishment. Walt’s mother usually did very little to tame the strick hand of the senior Disney.
Growing up on the farm, Walt and his brother Roy were required to do chores to earn their keep. They would attend school during the day while working on the farm at night. There was no time for friends. Walt’s friends were the various animals around the farm.
The life Disney experienced on the farm influenced his films.
If you study the films created by Disney while he was alive, you see the evidence. Most of Disney’s feature-length films contain a protagonist with no father figure. The main character is typically a lonely outcast who has made friends with various animals.
Think of your favorite Disney character. Does that individual fit that description?
Cinderella. Snow White. Mowgli in the Jungle Book. Peter Pan. It is all right there.
Disney didn’t write great stories. He told great stories as seen through his filter.
Plan your story using your own filter.
Many podcasters believe that planning all of their content removes the opportunity for things to happen. Does planning remove the fun from your show?
Not at all.
When you spend less time trying to think of the next piece of content, you can spend more time thinking about how to make the next piece of content amazing.
Organizing your content is the key to allowing your content to become entertainment.
8. THE CLOCK
The one tool most radio hosts use to organize their show is a show clock. This is basically a schedule of what is to happen on the show and when those pieces of content occur.
The show clock becomes even more important when you have a co-host. The clock puts all members of the show on the same page. Each host knows exactly what is coming up and when it is supposed to happen.
You can download the PTC Show Clock template in the worksheet library online at PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Use these 8 steps to build your podcast brand.
Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.
When a listener hits play on your podcast, how can you get them to listen to the end? Or, at least past that critical first few minutes of engagement?
HOW LONG DO THEY STAY?
When a listener hits play on your podcast, how long do they stay?
Studies show about 47% of those that consume podcasts listen to the end of the episode.
Roughly 23% of listeners say they listen until they are bored.
Studies also show the biggest drop off of those who do not listen to the end comes in the first five minutes of the show.
This means a quarter of your listeners to any episode get out before you are five minutes into the show.
Think about how you consume podcasts. Where are you and what are you doing when you listen?
Put yourself in the shoes of your listeners. What are they doing? Have you asked them?
When I listen to my favorite podcasts, I am typically driving. During the summer, I listen to a lot of podcasts while I am mowing the lawn. This allows me a lot of time to try new shows.
New podcasts don’t get a lot of my time. I fall into that five-minute group. If the content and host hasn’t really pulled me in, I am off looking for something else.
How can we keep listeners around for the entire episode? How do we create quick engagement?
When I attended Podcast Movement 2017 in Anaheim, there were a few session that discussed this very subject. Podcast Movement is a fantastic opportunity to not only learn more about our podcast industry, but networking and masterminding with so many other podcasters is priceless.
There were many great sessions at PM17. I actually teamed up with two other podcasters in my Mastermind to divide and conquer. We each took notes in separate sessions and then swapped when it was all over.
One of the sessions was “Why Public Radio Excels At Podcasting”. Public radio has created some amazingly successful podcasts such as “Serial“, “How I Built This“, “TED Radio Hour” and more.
How are they so successful?
START STRONG
First, you need to start strong. Create quick engagement.
The biggest drop off your podcast experiences is in the first 5 minutes. You simply cannot catch up to a bad opening.
Create that intriguing introduction like we talk about when storytelling. You learned it in speech class. Find that hook, and lead with the headline.
You cannot spend the first five minutes of your show with mindless chit-chat. The content must be powerful.
Talking about the weather or the thing you have to sell will not deliver content that will create engagement and make your listener want more.
CREATE FOMO
What makes a great introduction? An intriguing introduction creates some anticipation. Tease your audience with what is coming up on the show.
A powerful tease is more than simply promoting the content coming up. “Today, we are going to discuss the pros and cons of e-mail marketing” does nothing to create anticipation.
Sell the sizzle, not simply the ingredients.
“Today, I’m going to give you the five headlines that received by far my best open rates over the past year” creates some intrigue. Listeners begin to experience the fear of missing out if they don’t listen to get all five.
DELIVER GREAT CONTENT
After you start strong, you then need to continue to be great.
Just because a large group drops off in the first five minutes doesn’t mean you will not lose listeners throughout the show. Therefore, you need to re-engage your listeners every two to five minutes to slow the drop off. Find ways to catch their attention again.
During the entire episode, you need to always be great. You cannot fill for time’s sake. The fact that you always do a 30-minute show doesn’t give you permission to tread water and fill with less-than-stellar content. Be great the entire show. It is continuous engagement.
A great aspect of podcasting is the freedom of time. You have no clock determining how long you need to talk or when you need to wrap up. As radio coach Valerie Gellar says, “There is no such thing as too long, only too boring.”
If you want people to listen to the end of your episode, you need to be more entertaining than anything else they could be doing right now. Your competition for their attention isn’t simply other podcasts. Your competition is all other entertainment they could be consuming right now.
Are you more entertaining than the radio, or audiobook or conversation they could be having? It must be if you want them to stay.
Learn how to create an intriguing introduction. A powerful opening is your only hope to get your listeners past that 5-minute drop off.
Create engagement. Start strong. Stay strong.
Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.
Do you want to create better podcast stories? Start with the end in mind. Then, start with the end.
Start with the end? It sounds crazy, I know. Let me explain.
Stories do great things for your podcast and business.
When you tell stories, your audience gets to know details about you and your life. That’s how friendships are born. Your listeners discover you have things in common. They realize you have been through similar struggles. Maybe you’re from the same area or visited a common destination.
After multiple stories, listeners begin to feel like they know you. That is when the magic happens.
Stories help you build trust. And as it is with all business, people do business with those they know, like and trust. People don’t do business with companies. They do business with people. Trust is the essence of relationships and business.
CHARACTER
Better podcast stories define your character.
I’m not simply talking about your integrity. By character, I mean all of the attributes that create you, as in character in a play.
The purpose of your show is to attract an audience. Whether you want to monetize that relationship, encourage a call-to-action, or simply create an following for your ideas, creating the audience is where you begin.
The stories you choose to tell reveal how open you are to others. Your openness is a sign of trust. Trust is a big piece of a relationship. Reveal things about yourself through your stories, and you’ll begin to build trust with your listener.
The details you include tell your listener what you value. If the listener feels you value things they too value, you solidify the relationship. People like to hang out with similar people. If your values are opposite of your listener, you may also attract them. It is like a love/hate relationship. They may dislike it, but they continue to listen. This often happens when talking politics.
What you find entertaining will be evident by the stories you tell. Since people like other people who have similar tastes, revealing those things you find entertaining will also build the relationship.
Stories also have the power to demonstrate your vulnerability. Stories can show that you are a real person. Your listener will see you as approachable. They also may begin to see you as a friend. That is when true relationships begin to form.
Next time you watch a late night talk show, notice how the great, memorable interviews contain great stories. Interviews that focus on facts and information rarely cut through. Those guests come off more as a lecturer than as a friend. The guests that tell stories appear more personal, warm and friendly. Their stories reveal things and help you feel like you know them personally. Take note next time you watch.
Foster a relationship with your listener by revealing things about yourself through stories. Stories will define your character.
MY STORIES WERE HORRIBLE
In the past, my stories were horrible. I struggled to hold the attention of people while I was telling a story. I couldn’t figure out why they would fade half way through the tale.
One day, in a coaching session with my radio coach, it hit me. The person listening had no idea where I was going.
The stories I was telling sounded like ramblings with no real purpose or destination.
My coach basically told me to open with the punchline. I thought he was crazy. If people knew the punchline, why listen to the story. That made no sense.
He explained that opening with the point of the story was similar to telling your passenger where you are going on your journey. Nobody wants to sit next to you in a car wondering where they are going to end up and when they are going to get there. They want to enjoy the journey.
I began opening my tales with the point of the story. Right up front, I revealed the whole purpose of the story to create better podcast stories. My opening began serving as a bit of a headline.
“I can’t figure out why people can’t signal their turn before they are actually in the turn lane.”
“My dog got sick and had my up 4 times last night.”
“If you want more traffic, you need to be more traffic for others first.”
Opening with an intriguing introduction will also provide a framework for the story. You will know exactly where you are going and what details are necessary to get there. This helps shorten your story while including only the important parts.
In addition to the intriguing introduction, there are three other elements to better podcast stories. After you open with the intriguing introduction, provide wonderful, vivid details while telling the story. Close with a powerful conclusion. Ask yourself, “What’s next?”
THEATER OF THE MIND
Create theater of the mind by using vivid details.
The use of active language will stir the imagination of your listener and help you connect to your audience. Put the listener in the moment. Make the listener see the action you are describing.
“I’m walking in the bustling restaurant and shaking off the cold without even watching where I’m walking.” That is active language. In your mind, you can see me walking in.
Sure, your restaurant may be different from my restaurant. That difference is what makes theater of the mind great. You see it the way you think it fits best for you. Your scene doesn’t need to match my scene in order for the story to make sense. It is your theater.
Active language connects each listener to the story in his or her own way. It will create strong audience engagement. Active language during storytelling is a powerful tool you can use while you’re building your podcast.
Create a great podcast brand. To create better podcast stories, create theater of the mind.
THE FIRST EXIT
Take the first exit.
When you are discussing a topic, take the first opportunity to get out of the bit or interview question. You will keep your audience engaged. You will maintain the momentum of the show. You will also avoid repeating yourself and becoming boring. Take the first exit.
There are clues in your show that let you know you’ve missed the opportunity to end the bit. When you find yourself saying things like “as I said”, “like I was saying”, or “as we’ve discussed”, you have missed your exit. Those phrases are simply additional ways to say, “let me repeat this again”. Once you have reached that point, you are stating your introduction point again. This should be your conclusion. Move on to the next discussion.
If you miss the exit, you begin retracing your steps. You begin offering information you’ve already provided. You listener then begins thinking of other things, because they have heard this part before. I got it. Let’s move on.
Only you will know when you’ve offered enough information to make your point. Once you hit that point, keep the show moving. Get to the next topic. Keep your audience engaged. Take the first exit.
To create better podcast stories, conclude your story by simply reframing your intriguing introduction.
ASK “WHAT’S NEXT?”
Include a call to action.
If you want to make money with your podcast, you must include a call to action. It seems logical. However, many podcasters believe, “If I build it, they will come.” It simply doesn’t happen that way.
Odd as it may sound, your podcast probably isn’t your product. Unless you are charging for your podcast, your show is only the marketing vehicle for some other product. Most podcasts are free. The show itself isn’t generating revenue. You need to create another product you can sell.
In his book “Free: The Future of a Radical Price”, Chris Anderson lists many ways to create revenue using the power of free. Many of these can be used to generate revenue from your podcast.
Some think access to the audience can be sold to advertisers as if it were traditional broadcasting. Unfortunately, audiences are not typically large enough for this model. Listeners also do not expect the traditional twelve minutes of commercials within their favorite podcast hour. Advertising is a very difficult path to revenue.
To generate revenue with your podcast, you need to create something else to sell.
You could make money by making your podcast a small portion of a larger show, which is available to paid members only. The free podcast becomes marketing for the member content.
You could turn your knowledge of some “how to” subject into a book, e-book, study course or other product. Your podcast could be the “why” behind your philosophy. The show would then promote the “how” that your listener will learn when they purchase the product.
There are many other ideas described in Anderson’s book. You could give away the product while charging for the service, such as consulting or coaching. Give away the content while making money referring people to retailers.
Rather than traditional advertising, you could give away the content while charging advertisers to be featured in it, similar to The Home Shopping Network. You could even take a cut of sales. You could podcast generic advice while selling specific, customized advice.
There are fifty ideas in the book. To make money with your podcast, I suggest you give the book (or at least that section) a read.
If you build it, they may come. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will become instantly wealthy. You need to create something to sell. You need to tell your listener to buy. Then, you need to show them the way. If you desire to make money with your podcast, make sure your podcast includes the call to action.
Build trust with your audience by telling better podcast stories. Start at the end. Create great theater of the mind. Use a powerful conclusion. Then, give them something to do when it is over. Implement a strong call-to-action.
Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.
I’m working on a podcast series where I interview high achievers. What’s the “formula” for making an interview a good story? How long should it be? How do you keep the guest interesting …and helping you tell the story ….without encumbering the interviewer? Doug Piper
The secret to a great interview is to be a great listener. Be curious, and ask great questions.
“Tell me about a time you thought it was all over.”
“When did you realize this was the career for you?”
“Describe an obstacle that stood in the way of your success.”
“How did it all get started?”
“What player made the greatest impact on your coaching career?”
When you listen back to your interviews, listen like a listener. Ask questions in your head that a curious listener would ask. Write those questions down. When you are conducting your interview, don’t be so concerned about following the script or list of questions. Listen and ask natural follow-up questions.
How long should it be? As long as it remains interesting. If you find it difficult to ask natural questions, or you are no longer getting great answers, the interview is probably over. That might be 10 minutes. You may talk for an hour-and-a-half and feel like you could go another hour. Sometimes it clicks and sometimes it doesn’t.
– – – –
The gist of my podcast will be interviewing Veterans and sharing their life story.I have realized I need to focus on taking folks from mic shy to semi-pro, or at least comfortable on mic, in a short time. Was curious your thoughts & tips.Thanks again for all you do. It is one of the 3 podcasts I download from my phone every week. Means more when you realize I only have old school dial up at home. John “Nimrod” in Michigan
Get your guest to forget they are being interviewed. Treat it like a chat over coffee. Create some small talk before you begin recording. Get them to do most of the talking during the small talk. They will get comfortable more quickly if they are talking instead of listening.
Help your guest relax a bit before the interview begins. They are nervous, because they do not know what to expect. The more you can describe, the more natural and relaxed they will be.
Let your guest know that it is acceptable to begin the answer a second time if they mess up. This little trick let’s the guest know that nothing is set in stone. When they know the answer can be done again, they are more natural. Surprisingly, you probably won’t have many that start again, because they become more relaxed in their answers.
If your guest is using a standard mic, ask them to stay close to the mic at all times. There may be times during the interview that you need to remind them. This will save you a lot of time in post-production.
As you get your guest to tell stories, they will begin to focus more on the details of the story and less on the mechanics of the interview. Stories are natural and require less thinking. When they are simply reciting data or facts, they need to be specific. This creates some nervousness with the concern of making a mistake.
Over the next few weeks, we are going to dig into interviewing tips and techniques to help you become a better interviewer. Next week, we will discuss the pros and cons of interviewing versus being interviewed. Which can benefit you more?
If you would like some one-on-one coaching, or helpful tools to help you create great content, find my information at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Using Theater of the Mind to Create Powerful Podcast Engagement – Episode 131
CREATE THEATER OF THE MIND
The use of active language will stir the imagination of your listener and help you connect to your audience. Put the listener in the moment. Make the listener see the action you are describing.
“I’m walking in the bustling restaurant and shaking off the cold without even watching where I’m walking.” That is active language. In your mind, you can see me walking in.
Sure, your restaurant may be different from my restaurant. That difference is what makes theater of the mind great. You see it the way you think it fits best for you. Your scene doesn’t need to match my scene in order for the story to make sense. It is your theater.
Active language connects each listener to the story in his or her own way. It will create strong audience engagement. Active language during storytelling is a powerful tool you can use while you’re building your podcast.
Create a great podcast brand. Create theater of the mind. Here is the way to create amazing images in the theater of the mind of your listener.
MAKE THEM FORGET
There is a primary reason most people seek entertainment. They want to escape reality. Help your listener make their escape by making them forget they are listening to a recording.
People want to forget about their troubles of the day. To get away, they watch movies, go to concerts, watch television, listen to radio and spend time with your podcast. People get wrapped up in another time, place and story. This makes them forget about their reality, even if it is only for a short time.
Take them to another place with your podcast by using stories. Make your storytelling so strong that their imaginations put your listener in another time and place. That’s what great storytelling is all about. That’s what great relationships are all about. It is engagement.
So, how do you make them forget? How do you engage and entertain to the point where your listener is so engrossed with your content that they forget about everything else? What are the steps to create a great story?
Take a few tips from movies and television. Tell compelling stories just like the movies.
Here are the five things you need to remember in order create great tales for your podcast.
HAVE GREAT CHARACTERS
Every story has great characters. You may love them. You may hate them. Either way, you remember them, because they stir emotions within you.
The characters are well-defined. You feel like you know them. During the story, you find yourself either rooting for them or against them.
Podcasts create these characters in various ways. It may be the host that is the character. The host may tell stories about others. The people defined in the e-mail questions answered during the show could be the characters of the stories. You could take phone calls or voicemail questions from people. Their voice alone helps define their character. Live guests with colorful backgrounds are also a source for great characters.
“Billie Jo, single mother of two who works as a waitress in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to make ends meet” is somebody you can begin to envision in your imagination. “She uses her kids to shoplift” completely changes your perception of her.
Great characters get your audience wrapped up in the story, so they forget they are listening to a recording.
CREATE SOME TENSION
All good stories have a plot. As we learned in composition class, great drama and tension create a solid plot. The protagonist must overcome the dilemma. Your listener begins to wonder what will happen next.
Podcasts that answer listener questions create some tension. The listener typically has a problem they need solved. This typically isn’t an Earth-shattering problem. However, it is a form of tension.
Great guests have usually overcome some obstacle to achieve their success. These obstacles create great tension in the story. Help your guests define that tension.
Tension in the story gets your audience wondering what will happen next. Once your listener gets focused on your story, they begin to forget about their reality. That’s what great stories are all about.
UNIQUE, VIVID, MENTAL IMAGES
When someone tells a story, on the radio or in a podcast, it is theater of the mind. When you hear the old time radio show describe the dim light on in the servant’s quarters, the scenery is playing out in your mind in a unique way unlike the way anyone else could envision it. No other person is imagining the clothing of the characters the exact same way you are imagining them. That mental theater is unique to you. You are listening and imagining by yourself.
Podcasts make the one-on-one approach even more important. Podcasts are often enjoyed through headphones. Your audience is truly listening by themselves. The headphones block out all other sounds and distractions. You have multiple “one person” audiences at the same time. Yet, it is still one person.
Connect with your “one person” audience by creating a great theater. The theater will be different for each listener, because they are using their individual imagination. Create a movie and put the listener in it. Make the story an individual experience for the listener. Engage the listener with vivid details and a fantastic storyline. Make them forget they are listening to a podcast. Create great theater of the mind. Create unique, vivid, mental images.
USE GREAT DETAILS
Details make stories come to life. When you use vivid details, your listener can smell the air. They see the colors. They can hear the sounds. Your details put the listener in the moment.
You can tell a story in one of two ways.
The first way would have no details.
I stopped at a diner to grab some dinner.
That line does very little to stir the imagination and transport you to another time and place.
The second way incorporates vivid details.
Dinner would be the first meal I would have that day. I stepped into the roadside diner and shook off the snowy, December cold. The beat of the jukebox and bubbly chatter of the locals began to warm me even before I could take a seat on a barstool at the counter to order my biscuits and gravy.
The detailed story begins to stir your imagination. You can feel the cold. You can hear the jukebox and crowd. You can almost smell the diner food. When those senses are activated, you begin to forget you’re listening to a recording.
HAVE A RESOLUTION
The resolution is the payoff to every great story. It is the climax to the movie plot. It is the “happily ever after”. The resolution puts the bow on the whole package.
Your resolution comes when you follow through with whatever you were hoping to make your audience feel. It could be the answer to the question. It could be the breakthrough success of your guest. You could wrap up the story with the punchline to the funny tale. Your resolution is where you solve the conflict and tension.
ME, NOT US
Talk to your audience one-on-one. Make your podcast personal by treating every listener as an individual. The more personal you get, the more engaged your listener will become.
Notice the tone of this writing. I’m talking directly to you. I’m helping you with your podcast. I’m not addressing “you guys”. I’m not talking to “all of you”. Sure, I’m writing for many. But when you read this, I’m writing for you and only you.
If I’m talking to you, you will in turn feel responsible to listen. If I’m talking to “all of you”, it becomes easier to assume somebody else will listen if you want to stay focused on something else. Engage by speaking one-on-one.
When you record your podcast, you need to create that wonderful theater of the mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re reading fiction or talking about gardening, put your audience in the moment. Transport them to another time and place.
Make your podcast entertaining by creating great stories using the five elements. Great stories have great characters. Engage your audience with some tension. Spark the imagination of your audience with vivid details. Wrap the story up with the resolution. Finally, speak to your listener with a one-on-one tone. Stories help your listener forget about their troubles of the day.
Try to incorporate stories in every podcast. Stories will help them escape reality. Make your listener forget they are listening to a recording.
Next week, we will cover how to get listeners to return to your show week after week.
Snow White – “Snow White” is a German fairy tale known across much of Europe and is today one of the most famous fairy tales worldwide. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
Pinocchio – The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial in 1881 and 1882, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883.
Fantasia – The movie was developed around the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, a German poem written in 1797 by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
Bambi – Bambi, a Life in the Woods, was originally published in Austria in 1923 and written by Felix Salten.
Cinderella – This movie started as a European folk tale. The first written European version of the story was published in Naples, by Giambattista Basile, in 1634.
Peter Pan – Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie in 1902. Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, premiered on 27 December 1904 in London.
Jungle Book – The Jungle Book (1894) is a collection of stories by English author Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–94.
Even recent, successful movies created by the Disney company after Walt Disney’s death were based on stories written by others.
Walt Disney’s upbringing shaped his view on life and influenced how he told stories. According to the book “Walt Disney – Hollywood’s Dark Prince” by Marc Eliot, Disney’s life on his boyhood Missouri farm was harsh. Though criticized for some inaccuracies, the book gives an interesting glimpse into Walt’s childhood.
Walt was unsure of his father, because he had no birth certificate. He grew up in a very strict household where his father often used corporal punishment. Walt’s mother usually did very little to tame the strick hand of the senior Disney.
Growing up on the farm, Walt and his brother Roy were required to do chores to earn their keep. They would attend school during the day while working on the farm at night. There was no time for friends. Walt’s friends were the various animals around the farm.
The life Disney experienced on the farm influenced his films.
If you study the films created by Disney while he was alive, you see the evidence. Most of Disney’s feature-length films contain a protagonist with no father figure. The main character is typically a lonely outcast who has made friends with various animals.
Think of your favorite Disney character. Does that individual fit that description?
Cinderella. Snow White. Mowgli in the Jungle Book. Peter Pan. It is all right there.
Disney didn’t write great stories. He told great stories as seen through his filter.
ELEMENTS OF GREAT STORIES
There are four elements to a great story. Those elements include a reason to care, revealing the details, a powerful resolution and asking “what else?”.
THE REASON
Give your listener a reason to care. Begin with an engaging introduction. “Tell me if I’m gonna go to Hell for this…” That is a hook.
What do you want the audience to feel? This is what your engaging introduction should answer.
Make your introduction human. Stir emotion. Make it humorous, compelling or tragic. My radio coach Bill McMahon often asked what I would like to make the audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand.
Find great emotions. They could include joy, sympathy, empathy, anger, tragedy, tenderness, humor, rage, patriotism or various other emotions.
Your introduction should pull your listener into the story. Give them a roadmap.
REVEAL THE DETAILS
Details are more believable than generalities. Details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character. This is how listeners get to know, like and trust you and your business.
Use all 5 senses when telling your stories. We are creating visions in the theater of the mind of your listener.
POWERFUL RESOLUTION
Your powerful resolution is a strong reframing of introduction. This resolution puts a nice bow on the story.
WHAT ELSE?
Asking “What Else” will transform your show. This takes your story to a whole new level. This transforms your story from a nice piece of entertainment into an incredible piece of engaging content.
When you ask “what else”, you let your story lead to something bigger. This might mean continuing the conversation on your Facebook page. You may solicit questions or thoughts from your listeners. The story might lead into a bigger discussion or interview or skit.
The options are endless. Your “what else” step will also make your content unique and powerful.
HOW YOU CAN BE A STORYTELLER
You can become a powerful storyteller by funneling your content through your filter. Then, ask the four storytelling questions.
What is the engaging set up?
How will it be revealed in the story?
What is the resolution?
What else can you do with it?
Try a few stories in your episode this week. Let me know how it goes.
If you would like a Podcast Talent Coach worksheet to help you develop your stories, CLICK HERE.
Next week, how your stories activate the theater of the mind for your listeners. Plus, how to use theater of the mind to create more engagement.
You can find my podcast, information on my coaching services and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Essential Elements of Powerful Storytelling – Episode 129
WHY STORYTELLING
Have you noticed a lot of interview podcasts in your niche sound the same? We are hearing the same guests answer the same questions time and time again. How do you become unique in this sea of sameness?
Storytelling can transform your podcast.
THE POWER
Stories let your audience get to know, like and trust you. These are critical elements in any business relationship.
Out of stories come knowledge and friendship. Great storytellers create fans. Your stories help define you, your character and your personality.
Stories also touch many more people. The appeal of stories is nearly universal.
When you reveal things about yourself through stories, you begin to connect with, motivate and inspire your listeners.
Don’t fit in, stand out.
Personal experiences are the only way to make the content your own. No other podcaster can recreate your stories the way you can. Your stories are unique to you.
STORYTELLERS ARE EVERYWHERE
There are examples of great storytellers throughout everyday life.
Great teachers and speakers are usually great storytellers. You can see examples of this in the bible and in fables that have been passed down through generations. Storytelling is also used by great speakers such as Zig Ziglar.
ENGAGEMENT
In podcasting, you cannot afford to be boring. Interest in your story never remains constant. When you tell a story, interest is either rising or falling.
Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.
Have you ever sat through a long, monotonous story that never seems to end? Interest is definitely falling with these stories. Keep your plot moving.
CREATE TRUST
Date your listeners.
The privilege of talking to people who want to be talked to and selling things to people who want to be sold to is earned over time. Work to build friendships.
After consistently building the friendship, you will earn the privilege to talk to your audience.
Practice becoming a great storyteller. You will soon be developing friendships.
BECOME A GREAT STORYTELLER
To become a great storyteller, listen to yourself. Hear your thoughts. Have courage to record your personal connections.
Once you have recorded your thoughts, reveal those thoughts through great stories.
Think of your podcast as a friendship. Ask yourself, “Would I enjoy taking a one-hour car ride with this person every week?” Your listener is asking the same thing. They are deciding to spend quality time with you just like they do with friends.
Stories allow others to live vicariously through you. They can experience the highs without putting in the work. Listeners can experience the lows without suffering the pain.
Friendships develop over time. They create trust. Friendship comes from self revelation. This is where your stories become powerful.
Next week, we will cover the elements of great stories and what you can learn from Walt Disney, one of the greatest storytellers of our time.
Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.
Do you wish your content was stronger. When you add stories and proper preparation to your podcast, your show will create more engagement.
Your episode could have more momentum and your presentation more spontaneity if you used these podcast prep steps before you begin to record.
WHY DO WE PREPARE?
All great performers prepare. Athletes. Speakers. Actors. Attorneys. Preparation is the key to success.
Great radio performers typically spend one hour of preparation for every hour of show time.
Before you begin to record your podcast, you should spend just as much time preparing for the show.
Your podcast prep is very similar to mapping out a trip. You not only need to know where you are going, you need to know how to get there.
As you develop your podcast episode, you first decide which topics you want to cover. Most podcasters figure that is enough prep. The topic is only half the battle.
You must then plan what you hope to do with each topic. What emotions do you hope to elicit with the content?
What approach will you take to get there?
Before you open the mic, plan out your show. Jot down some notes. Find the facts you need to support your story.
Write down the few important points you need to mention as you’re answering questions or making your case.
Then, make sure you stick to your plan.
Dan Miller does a wonderful job of this in his podcast “48 Days to The Work You Love”. He knows exactly which questions he wants to answer in his show.
By planning and preparing, you give your show more momentum and energy. Your content will continue to move forward. When you fail to prepare, your podcast will hit lulls as you search for your next thought, transition or direction.
KILLING SPONTANEITY
Many people refuse to rehearse any part of their podcast, because they feel it will remove all spontaneity from the show.
Think about a speech you have given. When you have only rehearsed a couple times, anxiety sets in.
You get butterflies when you anticipate blowing it. Thinking about making a mistake makes you nervous. You start to worry you may forget. This all happens, because you are not prepared.
On the other hand, when you have rehearsed the speech many, many times, you eventually know it by heart. Comfort with the material makes you feel much more confident. The worry isn’t as present. The preparation has helped you relax.
Now that you are relaxed, spontaneity has the opportunity to kick in.
Spontaneity in your speech happens most when you aren’t worried about the mechanics of the presentation. Your mind is allowed to move naturally through the material.
Your spontaneity helps you become truly engaged with the audience and material. Wonderful, creative, spontaneous things happen when you reach this point.
The same can be said for your podcast. When you know the material, have defined a specific goal for the show, and have mapped out a plan to achieve that goal, your podcast will be filled with many “oh wow” moments.
When you worry about content during the show, you have no brain power left for spontaneous things to happen.
Plan and prepare. Are you too busy thinking about the next question and blocking out the spontaneity? Your preparation will help you create unique content.
I have developed a Podcast Talent Coach Cheat Sheet that will help you prepare for each episode. This worksheet contains 5 steps to help you plan your show and shape your content.
CHEAT SHEET
1. What are the interesting topics you hope to address on this particular episode?
2. What do you hope to accomplish? This includes both the topic and the show overall.
What is the goal of the show. What do you hope to make your audience feel?
3. How will you treat each specific topic you hope to address? What will you do with the content?
This could include answering the question, demonstrating the answer, playing some audio, interviewing a guest, showing charts to support your answer, or various other tactics.
Begin to develop your fantastic stories at this step.
4. Create an outline for the flow of the show topics.
This is important for the show introduction as you set up the show. Your outline will also keep you organized as you move through the content.
5. What supporting information will you need for the show?
Organize and highlight the information for easy access during the show. This is how the spontaneity will develop during your episode.
Now, you are ready to record. Put in the time to properly prepare. Your content will be much stronger. Your episode will have more momentum. Your presentation will have more spontaneity
RESOURCES
Find the FREE Podcast Talent Coach Show Prep Cheat Sheet HERE.
How Radio And Podcasting Are The Same – Episode 118
The podcast “elite” will sometimes say, “This isn’t radio, this is podcasting. It’s different here.”
Well, I have news for you. Podcasting and radio are more alike than some will admit. You could benefit a bit by recognizing the similarities and borrowing the best practices.
There are many ways that radio and podcasting are the same.
The Same …
1. Same Tools
Both create with audio equipment.
This one is pretty obvious. Both are creating shows using a mic and other audio equipment.
The different ways the equipment is used makes it art. One sculptor may work with wood when another works with rock. Both are still sculptors and artists.
2. Same Approach
Both sit in a room alone trying to entertain people they cannot see.
It sounds crazy when you say it out loud. Both podcasters and broadcasters sit alone in a room talking with people they can neither see nor hear. Both try to predict the reaction of the listener while creating the entertainment.
3. Same Conversation
Both have real conversations with the listener.
Being authentic is critical to success of both podcasters and listeners. Both try to build knowledge and trust with the audience in order to develop a relationship.
4. Same Visions
Both create images in the mind of the listener.
When you tell great stories, your listener gets to know you. This is part of the “know, like and trust” philosophy of doing business.
Stories with vivid details allow the listener to develop images in the theater of the mind. These stories allow her to enjoy the story in her own way.
5. Same Experience
Both are individual activities.
When two people watch the same video, little is left to the imagination. When the same two people hear audio, each will develop individual images in their mind.
No two images will be identical. Listening is an individual activity.
6. Same Connection
Both try to make a one-on-one connection and create a following.
The podcaster and broadcaster are both trying to create a tribe for their content. If you are not trying to grow your audience, you will eventually be talking to yourself.
7. Same Episodes
Both produce episodic content that keeps listeners returning.
This is especially true in talk radio. Content is regularly produced by both podcasters and broadcasters. Those episodes of content build upon each other to create an ongoing show.
8. Same Goal
Both hope to capitalize on the attention using a strong call-to-action.
Content is created by both in order to attract an audience. Once the audience is built, both try to activate that audience with a call-to-action.
The goal may be monetization, support or simply returning for the next episode. Either way, both hope to move a group of people.
9. Both Can Interact
Both are able to interact in real time.
This wasn’t true a few years ago. However, now that technology has come such a long way, both podcasters and broadcasters can interact with the audience in real time.
Podcasters chat with their listeners in real time using phone systems, Google hangout, chat rooms, and other methods. No longer is this feature limited to broadcasters.
… And Sometimes Different
There are a few features of podcasting that differs from broadcasting.
1. Podcasters Time Shift
Podcasting can be time shifted. This can be a benefit over broadcasting.
Podcast listeners can enjoy the show anytime they would like. They do not need to be next to the radio at a given time in order to hear their favorite show.
This is a feature and not necessarily something that makes podcasting inherently different from broadcasting. When we are talking about the art and goal of the audio, this is just a different way of delivering.
2. Podcasters Benefit From The Beginning
Podcast listeners start at the beginning. Mark Ramsey did a great session on this at New Media Expo 2015.
Some broadcast listeners join the show at the beginning and some join in the middle of the show. Podcast listeners all start at the beginning of the episode.
Rarely will a podcast listener download a show, scroll through to the 17:00 mark and begin listening there unless there is a specific direction to do so.
3. Podcasters Can Niche Down
Podcasting can afford to be more niche. By nature of the medium, broadcasting must be mass appeal. This is definitely a benefit for podcasting.
4. Podcasting Is Inclusive
Almost anyone can create a podcast. Podcasting requires a minimal investment. This makes it easy for most to get involved. There is no limit to the number of podcasts that can be created.
Getting on the radio requires getting through the gate keeper. Your other option is to buy your own station. Both are quite difficult.
Again, advantage podcasting.
The nine similarities between the two formats are largely foundational. The essence of the art is the same. The goal, methodology and tactics are identical between the podcasting and radio.
Podcasting enjoys a few benefits over broadcasting. The few differences are hardly enough to proclaim podcasting much different than radio.
I’d love to know what you think. E-mail me anytime at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
The art of storytelling can be powerful. A story can pass life lessons from one generation to another. Tales can help people remember information. Stories bring words to life.
There have been thousands of great storytellers throughout time. You don’t need to be Chaucer or the Brothers Grimm to use stories to make your content come alive. Use stories wherever possible, and your information will become engaging and entertaining. It will also be memorable.
Here are six ways stories help the information in your podcast become powerful, engaging content.
A LAND FAR, FAR AWAY
Stories help your listener escape his everyday life. A tale that is told well will transport your listener to another place and time through their imagination. You help them forget their problems.
When you tell stories in your podcast, you give your listener hope. Tales of success help your listener see what is possible. Tragic stories make him thankful for what he has. Stories that simply make your listener think help her better understand something.
Stories that contain wonderful, vivid words create fantastic pictures in the mind of your listener. When your listener is intently focused on your story, she forgets she is listening to a podcast. She is so engrossed by your story, everything around her has disappeared. Your content has become her sole focus.
HEY, I KNOW YOU
People trust people they know. If you’re selling a product or service, people buy from people they trust. If you hope to make that sale, you need to create strong, meaningful relationships with your audience. Stories will help you develop those powerful relationships.
When you tell stories about yourself and your experiences, you reveal things about yourself. Revelation is a natural part of storytelling. Self-revelation allows your listener to get to know you. Your listener spends time with you every week as you tell him more and more about yourself. Then, even if you have never met him, your listener feels like he has known you for years. You’re building a relationship without ever meeting. Stories of self-revelation help those friendships develop.
A great anecdote helps define your character. Your listener wants to know what to expect from you and your show. The stories you tell help define who you are. Your listener will get to know you. After some time, she will be able to predict how you will react to things. You become familiar. Familiarity is another ingredient to a healthy friendship.
HUMANITY
Stories are either compelling, humorous or tragic. A great narrative will make your audience marvel at, laugh at or better understand something. Feelings make you human.
When you evoke emotions in your audience, your listener feels like you are just like her. Your stories reveal real-life experiences. You are telling her you’ve had similar things happen in your life. She can relate. She thinks in her head, “You’re one of us!” Your relationship continues to strengthen.
I REMEMBER THAT
Grimm’s Fairy Tales are so memorable, because they are lessons disguised as wonderful stories. Over 200 lessons were included in the books from the Brothers Grimm. Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel are all stories that are remembered well nearly 200 years after they were written. Stories link words to pictures in order to make the words memorable.
Great stories will make your information memorable as well. Use the tale of your latest saga to make your point. It will help your listener remember your content.
LIVE VICARIOUSLY
Your listeners can live vicariously through you when you tell them a great story. If you tell you listener how you made a fortune with your information, he gets to experience your joy almost as if he made the fortune right along with you. Your words help create the imagery in his mind.
Help people dream. Create fantastic stories that people can see in their own theater of the mind. Paint great pictures with your words. Your listener will see your story in his head.
Stories allow your listener to feel they joy without experiencing the risk. Your audience can walk through your hardships and feel the elation as you survive without actually living the pain. Delightful stories entertain listeners, because they can experience so much in a short period of time through you.
TAKE A CAR RIDE
Your podcast is 30 minutes long. That’s quite a bit of time to spend with someone. Will your listener want to spend 30 minutes in a car with you each week? When you record a podcast, you are asking them to do just that.
Your listener will spend meaningful, personal time with you each week. You better do all you can to create a strong relationship with your audience. Get listeners to like you.
When you reveal things about yourself through your stories, people will decide if they like you or not. Be real. Don’t force your story or change the details simply to make people like you. Tell the truth. If you bend the truth this time, you may forget next time. The truth will always come out. When it does, your relationship will be tarnished for good.
Reveal the truth. People will see you as a real human being. They will get to like you for who you are, flaws and all. The friendship will develop. Next thing you know, you’ll be taking a 30-minute car ride with them every week. Stories can make that happen.
Stories are powerful tools. They help your audience escape their problems.
Anecdotes help your listener get to know you. That’s where relationships begin. Your tales will show you are human. You are a real person with real flaws, just like your listener. Stories will make your information memorable, by drawing pictures in the mind of your listener.
Your audience can live vicariously through you when you tell them about your experiences. When you create that friendship, your listener will be willing to take that 30-minute car ride with you every week.
I would like to thank Steve Stewart over at MoneyPlanSOS.com. He has created a wonderful learning tool called the Audacity Workshop. This past week, he included me in one of the modules.
Our webinar was called “How To Create Killer Podcast Outlines”. We covered all of the steps laid out in the Show Prep Planning Worksheet available in the Free Worksheet Section at PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Then, I added another 30 minutes of bonus content exclusive to the Audacity Workshop. That bonus material covers ways to really refine your content in the planning stage in order to deliver killer content.
We discuss how to structure your introduction. You’ll learn how to effectively tease and promote the content in your episode, how vivid details bring your stories to life, and what content to include in your powerful call-to-action.
The best part … that is just one module. The workshop is packed full of great material and guest instructors. It is worth a look.
If you would like access to the content, here is my Audacity Workshop affiliate link. Take a look. I think you will be impressed by the depth of the instruction.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Begin creating great stories today, and make your podcast powerful.
Have You Tried These 6 Audio Imagination Tricks? – Episode 104
Imagination. It is the wonderful result of recorded audio. When you listen to the radio, podcasts, audiobooks or other recorded audio, the imagination is in full motion. Your imagination belongs to you and you alone. You have full control. Your imagination is unlike any other.
Your imagination is used for your sole benefit. The characters and scenes created in your “Theater of the Mind” are exactly how you want them to look. The images are created in your mind in a way that gives you the greatest pleasure. It is all to benefit you.
The wonderful details in a story can stir the imagination in magical ways.
Last week, we talked about the element of surprise and delight within your podcast. Pieces of audio can add a wonderful element of surprise.
Video typically doesn’t stimulate the imagination the way audio does. When you see a car in a video, you know exactly what it looks like. If you and I both see a car in a video, we would both describe it in very similar ways. There is not much left to interpretation.
If I describe a cherry red 1968 Ford Mustang to you, I couldn’t possibly describe every detail. What does the interior look like? Where is it parked … or was it moving? Is there anybody in it? What kind of tires are on it? Hard top or convertible? There are many details to the story left to your interpretation.
Your imagination creates the car in a way that adds the most to your story and vision. That is the magic of recorded audio. Vivid details take your stories to another level of engagement that video cannot.
WAR OF THE WORLDS
You and I often discuss the incorporation of stories within your podcast. Stories reveal a lot about you as a storyteller. Stories also bring your content to life in the “Theater of the Mind”. Audio simply makes those mental images even stronger.
“War of the Worlds” was an incredible radio broadcast in the 1930s that brought mental imagery to life a little too well.
The episode by the great Orson Welles changed the way broadcasters approached their on-air responsibilities to the public for years to come. The show became famous for allegedly causing mass panic, although the reality of this mass panic was disputed.
Regardless, broadcasters changed the way they presented information on the air in order to keep the government off their backs. The audio was that powerful.
“War of the Worlds” was an episode of an American radio drama called “The Mercury Theatre on the Air”. This particular episode aired as a Halloween episode on October 30, 1938 when shows of this nature were performed live.
The story is an adaptation of the H. G. Wells novel “The War of the Worlds”. The story was shortened to fit a one-hour performance. It was presented as a series of fake news bulletins reporting an actual alien invasion.
The audio and effects added to the realism and the ensuing panic.
Later that evening, a few hours after the show aired, Orson Welles was standing in Times Square in New York City. Staring up at the New York Times building, he read the news bulletin, “Orson Welles Causes Panic.”
The media and politicians were in outrage the next day. They called for regulation by the Federal Communications Commission that would limit material allowed to be broadcast. They were upset that the broadcast was TOO REAL and therefore deceptive to the public.
The production was TOO GOOD. How crazy is that?
Over the years, Welles rose to fame as a producer and actor. This particular episode added to his meteoric rise.
Audio has that power to supercharge the imagination.
How are you using audio in your podcast to spark the imagination?
There are different ways to include recorded production elements within your show that will enhance your listener’s imagination and experience. When you add recorded elements, the imagination of your listener will be further stimulated. You will help create elements within your listener’s “Theater of the Mind”.
Here are a few recorded elements you could easily add to your podcast to spice up the listening experience.
1. INTRO/OUTRO
This is showbiz. Your podcast is created to entertain just as much as inform. It is just as much “show” as it is “business”. Add some sizzle to your show.
A produced “intro” and “outro” for your podcast is easy first step. The “intro” opens the show, as in “introduction”. The “outro” closes the show, similar to a conclusion.
At a minimum, find a great piece of music that will open and close your show. You can find many sites on the internet that sell music clips for just a few dollars.
Guest interviews are a great way to add depth to your audio. A second voice on the show will stir the imagination. Listeners will wonder what your guest looks like. The stories told during the interview will create visions in the mind of your listener.
Listeners enjoy eavesdropping on other conversations more than listening to a lecture. By adding interviews to your show, you allow your listener this pleasure. Sure, you could provide the information yourself rather than going through all the work to secure, arrange and conduct the interview. If you are hoping to develop a relationship with your listener using content that will be engaging, go the extra step by including interviews within your podcast.
3. LISTENERS
Adding listener audio to your show will add additional depth to your podcast. When you simply read a listener e-mail, the question typically lacks the passion that would come from the listener. The inflection is a little different than the caller would use. The question is also asked in the same cadence, style and voice that you ask every other question.
When you add listener audio, a second dimension is added to the show. Though the caller isn’t actually there, the second voice almost creates a conversation. Your audience is now listening to a conversation rather than a monologue. The question will also be asked in a way unique to the caller.
Similar to the way interviews stimulate the listener’s imagination, callers can add to the “Theater of the Mind”.
You don’t need to include the entire phone call. It is show biz. Use the part of the call that will most add to your show. If the call includes a bunch of details not relevant to the question or the show, feel free to edit those parts out of the call. As long as you are not changing the intention of the caller, or making it sound like they are saying something they didn’t say, editing the call is perfectly acceptable.
4. AUDIO EXAMPLES
When you make reference to a piece of audio, play a sample. If you are talking about an interview that Jimmie Johnson gave after a race, play a clip of that interview. Your listeners will be further engaged by the additional voice. Audio examples are just another way to add that additional level of production to your show.
Additional audio will take your listener to another place. An interview clip will transport your listener to the interview location. An old television clip with create memories of seeing the show. A sample of a classic speech may elicit visions of the orator. Use audio to enhance the listening experience.
5. CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
People like to have their decisions validated. That is why many companies hire celebrities to endorse their products. If Michael Jordan wears Hanes, it should be alright for me to wear Hanes as well. I don’t feel like I’m the only one doing it when I see Michael Jordan doing it.
You can use this concept to benefit your podcast. If you can get a well-known name in your area of expertise to record a quick endorsement for your show, that piece of audio will add an element of credibility to your podcast. Your listeners will feel like they are not alone in liking your show. They will be validated.
6. SOUND EFFECTS
Sound effects can easily enhance the imagination. You need to be careful that you don’t overuse sound effects. Too many effects can make your show sound amateur. However, a well-placed effect here and there can add to the delight of listening.
Adam Carolla has a producer who is responsible for adding sound effects to the show. If you haven’t spent time with Adam’s podcast, listen to one episode simply for the production elements. His content may not be your cup of tea. However, the production of the show must be admired.
The magic of recorded audio comes from the imagination. When you stir wonderful visions in the “Theater of the Mind” of your listener, you will truly begin to engage your audience. You can then begin to build meaningful relationships with your listeners and keep them coming back again and again. Use these ideas to add a little “show biz” to your podcast today.
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Do you need help with your podcast? E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s see what we can do.
4 Ways To Make Your Podcast Different Starting Today – Episode 098
When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Make people take notice. You are an expert at your opinion. Give it to people.
Take A Stand
Pick a side.
Some of the nicest people make the worst podcast hosts. They try to please everyone in the audience. Those people tend to blend into the background and go unnoticed.
I once coached a radio host who was one of the best storytellers I had ever met. When he and I would meet one-on-one for coaching, he would tell me some of the funniest stories I had ever heard. He would tell me stories of his dad that would have me crying from laughing so hard.
He once told me his dad was absolutely convinced the PT Cruiser was the best car ever made. As much as my host would try to explain that the PT Cruiser was basically an incarnation of the Dodge Neon, his father wouldn’t believe it.
The two of them would get in these heated arguments in public about this car. Of all the things in life you could argue about, this happened to be the PT Cruiser.
The way the story was told was full of fabulous details. The host really had the ability to make the stories come to life.
As much as I would encourage him, the host would not tell those stories on the radio. He didn’t believe the audience as a whole would be interested.
Instead, he played it safe. He only discussed vanilla content that would not upset anyone. Unfortunately, the show never took hold.
Ray Romano is a great example of success stemming from the stories of real life. Ray used stories of his family in his stand-up comedy. That routine eventually became the hit TV show “Everybody Loves Raymond”.
Upset Someone
If you are not upsetting someone, you aren’t trying hard enough.
I would much rather have half the audience hate me and the other half love me rather than the entire audience have no opinion one way or the other. If the audience doesn’t have an opinion, they don’t care. I’m doing nothing to stir their emotion if I’m not making them pick a side.
If you haven’t picked a side and really focused your topic, people won’t care. They will not be passionate about your show.
Speak your mind. Be different. Get noticed. Make people care.
4 Steps
Here are four ways to make your podcast different from other shows in your niche.
1. Be real. Be yourself. Do no simply try to be an imitation of another show or host. Above all, tell the truth. It is much easier than remembers a character you have created.
2. All people to know you through stories. The details within your stories will reveal who you are. People do business with those that they know, like and trust. This is the first step.
3. Pick a side. Stand for something. That is the only way to stand out.
4. Avoid shades of gray. Be drastically different.
I would love to help you with your podcast. E-mail me any time at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Four Essential Elements of Powerful Storytelling – Episode 090
Why should you use storytelling in your podcast?
Have you noticed a lot of the business interview podcasts sound the same? We are hearing the same guests answer the same questions time and time again. How do you become unique in this sea of sameness?
Use stories.
Storytelling can transform your podcast.
The power of storytelling can help listeners get to know, like and trust you. Through that knowledge, true friendships are formed. Stories help define you and your character and personality. Great storytellers create fans.
Don’t fit in, stand out.
In this episode, we discussed great storytellers in various genres, such as country singer/songwriter Lee Brice, pop singer/songwriter Jason Mraz, Walt Disney and Zig Ziglar. All are great storytellers in their own right.
In podcasting, you cannot afford to be boring. Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.
There are four elements to great storytelling.
Give your listener a reason to care, reveal the details, create a great resolution, and then ask what else?
Give Her A Reason To Care
Begin by creating an engaging introduction. What do you want the audience to feel? Begin your story there.
Your engaging introduction is the roadmap for your listener. This will tell your listener where the story is going.
Reveal The Details
Details are more believable than generalities. Be sure to use all 5 senses in your details. Put your listener in the moment by creating wonderful images in the theater of the mind.
Details help reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character. Listeners begin to know, like and trust you.
Powerful Resolution
Your powerful resolution is a reframing of your introduction. This is where you put the nice bow on the package.
What Else?
Asking “what else” will transform your show. This helps continue the conversation. “What else” will let your content live on long after the episode is over.
Let your story lead to something bigger. This is all part of your strong call to action. Get your community involved.
How Can You Be A Storyteller?
Ask yourself these questions:
What is the engaging set up?
How will your point be revealed in the story?
What is the power resolution?
What else can you do with the material?
Resources
Here are a few other episodes that can help you refine your storytelling:
The Real Reason People Listen To Your Podcast – Episode 083
Why do people listen to your podcast? Why would anyone spend the time to listen to your show?
Have you ever paused to give that question some consideration?
Why do people spend time with audio at any given point in time?
THE REASONS
There are two primary reasons people listen to audio. Companionship and dreams.
It is human nature to desire companionship. People do not want to be alone. Whether they are driving, jogging, biking, mowing or doing something else by themselves, they want to do it with someone else.
Audio serves the role of companion.
DREAMS
The other reason people spend time with podcasts is to dream. People want to live vicariously through your dreams, stories, challenges and successes. They want to enjoy your success without needing to suffer the pain of your failures.
Tell stories to help fulfill the desire of your listener to dream.
People dream about having a different (and usually better) life. They want to experience those things others are experiencing. The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. People crave living the lives of others.
Your listeners want to live vicariously through you. They want to experience your success. They wish they had the courage to do the things you have done. Your fans want to be you in some way or another.
Voyeurism is a reason many people watch the shows they watch, listen to the stories they hear, or read the books they read. They want to experience the lives of others.
MY STORY
Architecture was my original career path. It wasn’t until three years into my architecture degree that I realized radio was the profession I was designed to pursue. I was able to work in a profession I absolutely love. Now, after 25 years in radio, I have taken the talent coaching facet of radio and turned it into a path helping podcasters create amazing content.
That path has now led me to be a speaker at some of the best podcasting conferences in the country. I was a speaker at Podcast Movement 2014. This year, I will give a presentation at New Media Expo in Las Vegas in April. My life is full of amazing events, because I dared to dream and follow my passion.
DREAMS
Your listeners want to dream. Help them.
People eavesdrop on the conversations of others for the very same reasons. They can experience the life of others without the risk of failure. Eavesdropping doesn’t take the courage that it takes to actually live the life.
By telling great stories about your experiences, you help your audience fulfill the desire to live vicariously through you. If your show contains audio of your feats and experiences, you allow your audience to become the voyeurs they desire. When you interview people on your show, you allow your listener to eavesdrop on your conversation.
When you simply lecture as the content of your show, you fail to help your listener experience any of those three desires.
Find new ways to deliver your material to your audience. You will make those important connections that turn into friendships. Those relationships will foster loyalty to your show. Your tribe will follow you wherever you go. That’s a powerful thing.
Tell stories of self-revelation. See where it takes you. You’ll be surprised how many people wish they could be you.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Here Is A Quick Way To Make Them Care – Episode 074
Making your listener care is the only way to get them to listen and more importantly come back again.
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “what’s in it for me?”
Your audience will be asking this very question every time they tune into your podcast. Your introduction better tell your listener exactly how your topic will affect them. You need to hook them right at the beginning with an intriguing introduction. If you don’t hook them early, they will be gone in search of something more captivating.
When your audience knows what is in it for them, they begin to care.
Lead with an intriguing introduction.
Start your podcast with the benefit right up front. Hook them early.
This is true for your podcast in general as well as each individual topic. Your intriguing introduction should hook your audience, let them know exactly what to expect, and allow them to enjoy the story.
What do you hope your audience will take away from this particular discussion? Your introduction should spell it out. It should set up what is to come.
If your goal is to make your listener laugh at the horrible restaurant service you received, lead with it. “When we were out to eat this weekend, I couldn’t get the waiter to pay attention to our table if I had been waving $20 bills in the air.” The audience will now have time to enjoy the vivid details of your restaurant story rather than trying to figure out your point.
When you begin your story with the details, your listener spends energy trying to determine the point you are trying to make. They are trying to figure out what the story is about.
Have you ever been stuck listening to someone tell a story while you’re thinking, “Will he ever get to the point?” That is what we are trying to avoid.
Here is an example of a story you might hear. “This weekend I had some time on my hands. I figured it would be a good weekend to clean out the attic. I dug through the garage to find the ladder and get at it.” Are we telling a story about a mishap in the attic? Is this story just recapping the weekend? Maybe it is about discovering something in the attic. You don’t know. I haven’t told you. There is no lead to this story.
To hook your audience and allow them to truly enjoy the story, lead with an intriguing introduction.
Be A Storyteller For Success.
As you create your podcast, become a great storyteller. Great storytellers create fans.
Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. If interest is falling, the show is becoming boring and is no longer entertainment. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.
Have you ever sat through a long, monotonous story that never seems to end? You stare and wonder if the speaker actually has a point to this monologue. You pray for your cell phone to ring and save you. That scenario is exactly what you want to avoid. Practice becoming a great storyteller.
Stories help define your character and personality. You should always be yourself. It is difficult to play a character consistently and tell great stories. Your true feelings and identity will always be revealed in the stories you tell. If you are successful hiding your true self, you simply are not telling great stories. Vivid details and interesting points that stir emotions in your listeners can only come from your true feelings. Reveal your true character. Storytellers create raving fans.
Make them forget.
When your audience is listening to your podcast, make them forget they are listening to a recording. Take them to another place. Make your storytelling so strong that the imagination of your listener puts her in another time and place. That’s what great storytelling is all about. That’s what great relationships are all about.
People seek entertainment to escape from reality. They want entertainment like movies, concerts, television, radio and podcasts to make them forget about all of their problems. Entertainment that succeeds will take the audience member to some other place and time.
When you record your podcast, you need to create that wonderful theater of the mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re reading fiction or talking about gardening, put your audience in the moment. Make your listener forget they are listening to a recording.
Become a great storyteller, take your listener to another place and time to make them forget about their problems, and hook them early by leading with an intriguing introduction.
Get the story development worksheet as part of the pack of worksheets available for free online at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
You can find my podcast and other tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
As I gave that presentation at Podcast Movement, some had questions about turning personal connections into stories that actually had something to do with their podcast subject. In fact. Josh Elledge of “90 Days To Abundance” suggested I do an episode on it. Find him at “SaveingsAngel.com”.
Today, we dive into the “how” of storytelling.
Journaling
The use of journaling will help you dig deep into your thoughts to reveal your personal connections to the subject matter. Journaling can be done for a specific length of time or output. You can do it for 3 or 5 minutes, or an entire page of thoughts.
Whether you choose time or output, it should be set and consistent. Set a timer and write until the timer goes off. You want to write to the point where if becomes free-flowing without any conscious thought.
Understand that no one will ever see this journaling. You can even throw it out after you create the episode. There is no need to keep it once we find the personal connection.
Your Personal Connections
After you journal, read over your writing. Highlight the thoughts and personal connections that really jump out and grab your attention. Those are possible starting points.
Engaging Introduction
Once we have highlighted our personal connections, we need to pick one to use for our show. We then turn that personal connection into our engaging introduction to our powerful story.
An Example
I want to show you how we can find great stories for an episode using Journaling. In this example, I want to create an episode that teaches the power of storytelling. The goal of the episode is to have my listeners understand the importance of stories if they hope to have their audience know, like and trust them.
Here is my journal entry. These are never shared with anyone. I am sharing it with you as an example. There are some connections here that reveal my vulnerability that I typically wouldn’t share with anyone. I’m laying it all out with hopes it will help you find the courage to open up to yourself.
JOURNAL ENTRY
How do I create great stories by journaling. Max’s great story about his father. Find deep connections. When we tell these great stories, we reveal things about ourselves. I learned a lot about this from Bill McMahon. I’m sometimes afraid to reveal what I truly believe, because I worry what people think about me.Once Bill instilled in me the courage to recognize what I truly believe and present it on the air, I began creating great friendships with listeners I don’t even know. As the public address announcer of the Omaha Lancers hockey team, I often run into people who act like they know me, because they kind of do. It used to really creep out my wife. People would come up to me and start having a conversation about something I talked about on the air. After they would walk away, she would ask why I didn’t introduce her. I would tell her that I have no idea who that was. She couldn’t understand how I could have these conversations about personal stuff with somebody when I had no idea who it was. That is very common when you talk about personal connections on your show. How do you reveal things? People will get to know you. You never know what will connect. Listeners grab onto the most everyday stuff. It is something that happened with your kid. Or the hockey rink in your backyard. Or the pothole you hit on the way to work today. If you are doing a show about gun control, how do you link potholes to gun control? Journal until you find the link. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Journal. There is a connection there. My story here links Josh to storytelling. It was a great conference. I love when people ask great questions. My lectures really get into conversations. That’s what it is all about. That’s why I do this. I feel like we are developing a relationship. They actually trust me enough and care enough to ask questions. We are beginning to develop something here. The feedback and questions really make me feel like my presentation was validated. Even after the presentation, many came up to ask additional questions. Probably 10 or 12. Which was great, since it was the final presentation of the day. What a great way to finish the weekend.
Four different personal connections in that journal entry.
Now, let’s look at each personal connection and turn that into an engaging introduction. My topic for this episode is the power of great storytelling in podcasts. I want to encourage podcasters to use stories to get their audience to know, like and trust them. What stories can I use to make my point?
Before we create our introduction, we need to determine what we hope to make our audience feel.
Max’s great story about his father.
Like many of us, Max couldn’t find the courage to share his stories about his father. He didn’t feel anyone would care. Max eventually left my station to work at one of the big stations in Chicago.
With this connection, I hope to make the audience gain confidence and know that even the radio personalities in the biggest markets in the U.S. have some self doubt. It is natural. Let’s begin the story there.
“Fearing what people will think about you when you share personal stories is natural. Even radio personalities in some of the biggest cities in the U.S. have that self doubt. I once had a morning guy working for me who would tell me these great stories about his father …”
I’m sometimes afraid to reveal what I truly believe, because I worry what people think about me.
This is very similar to the the previous story. I can use the same style. Even I get a little nervous about what people will think. Using this connection, I again hope to give my listener confidence.
“Fearing what people will think about you when you share personal stories is natural. Even I encounter that self doubt. At Podcast Movement, I was a little nervous how my presentation would go over with the group of my peers.”
She couldn’t understand how I could have these conversations about personal stuff with somebody when I had no idea who it was.
With this personal connection, I want you to understand that you will be surprised what connects with your listeners. Some of the smallest asides will endear you to your listener. There will be times when your listener will mention things you do not even remember talking about. We can begin our story there.
“There are times when listeners will stop me to mention some of the must mundane things mentioned on my show. My wife and I were walking through the arena where I announce hockey games. We were stopped by a listener I didn’t know personally.”
The feedback and questions really make me feel like my presentation was validated.
With this personal connection, I want listeners to see the payoff that comes with powerful storytelling. If you use storytelling correctly, the end result can be very fulfilling and inspiring. I want this story to empower and encourage you to share your stories. Let’s start the story there.
“Have you ever been unsure about sharing your thoughts and opinions? I was a little nervous about giving my Podcast Movement storytelling presentation to a group of solid podcaster. By the time I finished sharing my stories and real life examples like Lee Brice and Walt Disney, I received some great questions that really validated my process. I was even more excited about helping people with my knowledge and information.”
There are four examples of how I journal to create great stories for my show. There are really four steps. Journal for 5 minutes. Find the personal connections within your writing. Determine what you want to make your audience feel and the point you want to make. Finally, turn that into your engaging introduction.
Telling great stories within your podcast will help your listener know, like and trust you. The details and personal connections you include will tell your listener about your beliefs, morals, dreams, dependability, experience, reputation, honesty and reliability.
As your listener begins to know you through these stories, she will determine whether or not she likes you. It is better to have some love you and some hate you rather than have a bunch of people on the fence. If they rate you a 3 on a 1-to-5 scale, they are basically saying they don’t care.
Create some passion. As long as you have more “loves” than “hates”, you’re on the way to a win.
Not everyone loves Harley Davidson motorcycles. There are people who love Harley and wear their colors proudly. Then, there are others who wouldn’t be caught dead riding a Harley. It doesn’t fit their personality. Nobody goes shopping for a new vehicle and says, “Oh, maybe I’ll buy a Harley or maybe I’ll buy a Volvo. I’m ok with either one.” Create a passionate tribe.
You can then build trust after your listener has had a chance to know you and decide if they like you. By trusting your audience with your personal feelings, they will begin to trust you by the law of reciprocity. When you give to someone, they will feel compelled to give back to you in return.
The process sounds easy. However, it takes practice. If you would like my help, let me know. I would love to teach you the process.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
If you would like to have your show reviewed on The Podcast Review Show with Dave Jackson and me, click here. We are looking for great guests who would like to improve their shows.
You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Secrets to Know, Like and Trust – PTC Episode 057
Four Essential Elements of Powerful Storytelling
WHY STORYTELLING
Have you noticed a lot of the business interview podcasts sound the same? We are hearing the same guests answer the same questions time and time again. How do you become unique in this sea of sameness?
Storytelling can transform your podcast. Your personal experiences and stories make you unique. No one has experienced the things you have experienced in the same way you have. If you want to stand out from every other podcast, share your personal stories during your show.
People do business with other people they know, like and trust. Your stories create that knowledge. That is where true friendships begin.
Stories help define your character and personality. If you want your listener to get to know you, share those personal connections. Connect, motivate and inspire your audience with your stories.
Your personal experiences are the only way to make the content your own. Great songwriters do it. Great filmmakers do it. Share your stories and stand out.
ENGAGEMENT
In podcasting, you cannot afford to be boring. Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.
To create engagement, tell great stories. Keep the interest of your listener rising.
Date your listeners. You need to earn the privilege of talking to people who want to be talked to and selling things to people who want to be sold to. To earn that privilege, you need to build friendship.
Great friendships are developed through self revelation. When you share your personal thoughts and feelings with an individual through stories, you begin to create a bond with that person. It is life enrichment. Making our lives better through friendship is the reason we do not live is seclusion.
Over time, sharing stories will begin to build trust with your listener. Your stories share your values and beliefs.
Practice becoming a great storyteller.
GREAT STORYTELLERS
Practice being a great storyteller. Have the courage to listen to yourself. Hear and have courage to record your personal connections to the events happening around you.
When you use your podcast to create friendships, you are asking people to spend time with your every week. People share time with others that they like. They are asking themselves, “Would I enjoy taking a one-hour car ride with this person every week?”
People listen to audio while they drive, run and workout so they are not alone. They use the audio as companionship. Let your listener get to know you.
Your stories will also let others live vicariously through you. Your listener can enjoy your story of struggle and success without enduring the hard work and pain. Let them enjoy your stories.
ELEMENTS OF GREAT STORIES
There are four essential elements of great stories.
Engaging introduction
Reveal the details
Powerful Resolution
What else?
Engaging Introduction
Give them a reason to care. What do you want the audience to feel? Your stories make you human. Will it be humorous, compelling or tragic. My talent coach Bill McMahon would always ask, “What do you hope to make the audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand?”
Your listener can experience various emotions through your stories. You could elicit joy, sympathy, empathy, anger, tragedy, tenderness, humor, rage, patriotism or many others. Emotions make that personal connection to your story.
Pull your listener into the story. Your engaging introduction is a roadmap. It should be a solid headline that tells your listener exactly where your story will go. “Tell me if I’m gonna go to Hell for this…”
Reveal the details
Details are more believable than generalities. Your details will make your story come to life.
When you develop your details, use all 5 senses. Draw the picture in the mind’s eye of your listener. Make the story come to life. Put your listener right there in the moment. This is theater of the mind.
Your details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character.
Resolution
Your resolution should be a powerful reframing of introduction. Your will know when you reach your conclusion when you have successfully achieved the emotional goal set at the beginning. What did you hope to make your audience laugh at, marvel at or better understand? When you’ve achieved that goal, get to the resolution.
What else?
Asking “What Else” will transform your show. Let your story lead to something bigger. Maybe you turn your story into a discussion on Facebook. Maybe your story leads into an interview. What else can you do with it? Create some great entertainment.
HOW YOU CAN BE A STORYTELLER
What do you want to make your listener feel?
What is the engaging set up?
How will it be revealed in the story with vivid details?
What is the resolution?
What else can you do with it?
I’d love to help you create great stories with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Chit Chat at the beginning of your podcast has long been discussed. Is it appropriate? How much is too much? When are you wasting the time of the pirates listening?
I was listening to a marketing podcast once. I just about gave up and moved onto another show. I had to force myself to stick with it. You would have thought they may have uploaded the wrong show.
Here is the opening of the podcast. I’ve eliminated the names and other identifying parts. I really don’t intend to call out anyone. I simply want to show you how chit chat can destroy your engagement.
Show host: Welcome to (marketing podcast). I’m your host (host name). (website). We’ve got a couple people hangin’ out in the live chat with us. (chat link) And you know, I shouldn’t say that, because I’ve taken the link down from the site. But if you’re listening and wanna see the schedule, it is fairly current. Although, not exactly throughout the summer. I am joined today, as I frequently am lately, by (co-host name) of (other show name). How’s it goin’ (co-host name)?
Co-host: It is wonderful up here.
Show host: Is the … uh … now you guys probably didn’t have a lot of snow like we didn’t have a lot of snow, which I’m still bummed about. But, I’m trying not to talk about it. How’s your … how’s your weather in ____?
Co-host: It’s pretty good. It’s, uh … it’s been a pretty warm winter.
They proceeded to discuss the Celsius to Fahrenheit conversion for the first 10 minutes of the 30-minute show. At 10:45 into the show, host says, “Should we get into some questions?”
This is a show designed to coach businesses to attract more customers.
How did we get lost down some path about temperature conversions?
I’m not even sure I can say it got lost. The show never laid out the expectations of the show. Neither does the show title. As I’ve written before, the opening of the show must tell your audience what the show is all about right at the beginning. Let your listener know what to expect. Assume they are listening to the show for the very first time.
Six minutes into the show, they actually say, “You’re safe by now skipping over the first 10 minutes” of the show. What!?! You’ve got me, now you’re actually telling me this isn’t worth my time?
At this point they aren’t really lost. They are well aware they are wasting my time. There are over 100,000 podcasts available. These shows are all trying to attract me. These guys actually have me paying attention (the tough part) and are wasting the incredible opportunity. What are the chances I’ll actually be back?
In addition to the chit chat that has absolutely nothing to do with the topic, they gave you info at the open of the show that you can’t even act on. They gave you a chat link that isn’t even active anymore. They gave you a schedule which is “fairly” current, “although not exactly”. Then, they tell me I can skip over this part of the show.
This sort of chit chat destroys your credibility and trust. People have come to hear you deliver on your promise of your topic. Talking for ten minutes about the weather does not accomplish that, unless you are the Weather Channel podcast.
Your show must deliver on the brand promise right out of the box. That is the key to audience engagement. Your listener has come to your show for a reason. If you get lost on some tangent, your audience will be gone in a heartbeat.
In this case, there are many podcasts available dealing with marketing. Instead of continuing to listen to this podcast, I moved on and found the “Unpodcast” with Scott Stratten. Scott was one of the keynote speakers at NMX2014. Scott has a bit of chit chat in his episodes. The difference is the relevance of Scott’s chit chat to his topic.
Chit chat during your show is appropriate if you can link it back to your topic. Let’s say you open your show with, “My local television news did an amazing marketing job getting in front of 100,000 people this weekend at the sporting event simply by keeping fans up to speed on the weather.” If you follow that with some chit chat about how crazy the weather has been and how the station used that to their marketing advantage, you have linked it to your topic.
Chit chat here is perfectly acceptable. It makes sense.
If you are talking about the new studio you have built on a show about podcasting, that would be completely understandable.
If you are talking about your weekend fishing and have no way to link it to your podcast about automobile parts, you are wasting time.
It is a fine line. If the information supports your topic, you are on the right path. If it does not fit with the subject matter at hand, find another story that does.
Lay out the expectations in your introduction. Deliver on those expectations immediately. If you find you’re getting off on a tangent, get back on track as soon as possible.
You will quickly find you are talking to yourself if your listener says to themselves, “I think we’re lost.”
Intriguing Introduction
Use a great, personal story to lead with an intriguing introduction. This is where chit chat comes in handy. It is a personal, chit chat story that will engage people. Your chit chat brings them into the topic for this episode.
This is true for your podcast in general as well as each individual topic. Your intriguing introduction should hook your audience, let them know exactly what to expect, and allow them to enjoy the story.
What do you hope your audience will take away from this particular discussion? Your introduction should spell it out. It should set up what is to come.
If your goal is to make your listener laugh at your misfortune over the weekend, lead with it. “This weekend was so disastrous, I wouldn’t have had time for anything else to go wrong even if I tried.” The audience will now have time to enjoy the vivid details of your horrible weekend rather than trying to figure out what point you are trying to make.
When you begin your story with the details, your listener spends energy trying to determine the point you are trying to make. They are trying to figure out what the story is about.
Have you ever been stuck listening to someone tell a story while you’re thinking, “Will he ever get to the point?” That is what we are trying to avoid.
Here is an example of a story you might hear. “This weekend we went to the mall. It was just the two of us. We were looking for a gift for my dad.” Are we telling a story about finding gifts? Is this story just recapping the weekend? Maybe it is about my dad. You don’t know. I haven’t told you. There is no lead to this story.
To hook your audience and allow them to truly enjoy the story, lead with an intriguing introduction.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Today, we discuss how you can follow 8 questions to better podcasts.
On the Podcast Review Show the other night, Dave Jackson mentioned he was reviewing his own episode and discovered something he could do to make his show better. I’m a big proponent of show reviews in real time in order to get better. One of my free worksheets at PodcastTalentCoach.com is dedicated to reviewing your show. Here are eight of the questions on that worksheet that can help you improve your podcast.
Pick an episode from a few weeks back. Listen to it in real time. Then…
Ask yourself these questions
Did you accomplish the goals you set for this episode?
How did you make the audience care?
How did you include the listener, making them part of the story?
Where were the “oh wow” moments?
What was memorable about the show?
At what points did you introduce and reset the show/topic?
What stories did you tell?
Where did you use active language? (walking instead of walked, eating, not ate)
Have you noticed a lot of the business interview podcasts sound the same? We are hearing the same guests answer the same questions time and time again. How do you become unique in this sea of sameness?
Storytelling transforms your podcast.
People do business with people they know, like and trust. Stories help you develop that knowledge, likability and trust.
Your stories define you and will touch many more people than typical information. The stories you tell and the details you include reveal many things about you. That begins to develop that like and trust.
It can be a bit scary to reveal things about yourself on your podcast. Develop the ability to recognize your unique thoughts and the courage to reveal them on your show.
Two radio coaches have influenced me greatly over the years. They each have similar views on storytelling.
Radio consultant Randy Lane says use stories to “make it human by making it humorous, compelling or tragic”.
Radio talent coach Bill McMahon suggests you decide what you hope to make your audience “Laugh at, marvel at or better understand.”
How do you want your audience to feel after hearing your story? Frame that feeling in your engaging introduction. Decide what you hope to reveal about yourself with the story.
Stories help you connect, motivate and inspire.
There are four parts to the storytelling structure.
Engaging introduction
This pulls your listener right into the story. Your introduction should tell your listener exactly where the story is headed.
Vivid details
How will your emotion be revealed in the story? Use vivid details to make your story come to life in the theater of the mind.
Powerful conclusion
Wrap up the story by reframing of your engaging introduction.
What else?
Asking “What Else” will transform your show. Don’t let the story simply end and fade away. Turn it into something powerful.
Many treat a subject in a similar manner. That is why we hear the same style of interview. If you want to stand out and be different, transform you content by using your unique style.
“What Else” can we do with a compelling story? You could create a video, continue the conversation on social media, follow up with listener input in the following episode or various other things. Let your story lead to something bigger.
Ask “what else can we do” and see where it leads.
Storytelling transforms your podcast.
A few housekeeping notes this week.
Coupon code ends this week!
Get a one-hour coaching session with Dave Jackson and me for only $50 if you act before June 30, 2014.
Dave and I are now hosting the Podcast Review Show together. Our guests appear on the show to have their podcast reviewed by the two of us.
Typically, hiring the two of us individually for an hour would be hundreds of dollars. Not only do you get an hour of consulting from us on this show, you get to plug your show for a sixty minutes.
Our guests typically pay $99 to be featured on the show. Dave and I have decided to cut you a break. By using the code “coach50”, you can appear on the show for only $50.
You get half off. Still an hour. Still feedback from both of us. Still plugging your show. Half the price.
The code is “coach50”. This deal ends June 30, 2014. Get in on it now before we close it.
If you are truly serious about building your podcast, improving your show and increasing your traffic, you should also be attending the Podcast Movement in Dallas on August 16 & 17.
Find my affiliate link online at PodcastTalentCoach.com. We are only 8 weeks away from the Podcast Movement. Register today.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Zig Ziglar used great stories in every point he made. He was a wonderful storyteller.
Dave Jackson and I spoke with the Contractor’s Secret Weapon podcast this week on the Podcast Review Show. They hosts told a great story about earning the #1 spot on Google. The story really helped solidify their points.
You don’t need to include constant stories in your podcast. You only need a few memorable stories to make your podcast stronger.
6 ways stories make your podcast powerful.
Transport your listener to other places using stories
Visual words
Theater of the mind
Would I enjoy taking a one-hour car ride with this person every week?
Develop friendships
Like a one-on-one conversation in a car
Do I know the host by listening to the show?
Reveal things about yourself
People get to know and like you
Stories define your character
People begin to trust you
Let others live vicariously through your stories
They can enjoy your journeys without the risk
May be the reason there are so many entrepreneur podcasts
Stories make you human
Humorous, compelling or tragic
Laugh, marvel, sympathize
Put yourself on the same level as your listener
There are worksheets available on the Podcast Talent Coach website that will help you develop your stories. These worksheets are free. The Show Prep and Topic Development worksheets will be most helpful with your stories.
You can receive further help walking through the worksheets by getting the Podcast Talent Coach Workbook. It is available in paperback HERE and on the Kindle HERE.
To discuss my personalized, one-on-one coaching, you can reach me at Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
If you are truly serious about building your podcast, improving your show and increasing your traffic, you should also be attending the Podcast Movement in Dallas on August 16 & 17. Find my affiliate link online at PodcastTalentCoach.com. Prices increase by $40 on June 1. Act now!
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
A big thanks to Dave Jackson at The School of Podcasting for having me on his 400th episode. That was quite an honor. We had a lot of fun. Check it out when you have a minute.
The Podcast Talent Coach workbook is now available in paperback. The workbook will walk you step-by-step through my worksheets. You will gain a better understanding of the purpose behind each question and worksheet as you develop your content. Find it at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
I received an e-mail the other day that contained a question I’m asked quite often. For quite some time, I’ve tried to solve the problem myself. I’ve read books, listened to interviews, purchased products and reviewed tons of notes and articles I’ve collected over the years. The question? How do we create more engagement with our podcasts?
Before we jump into engagement, let’s review your checklist from last week. On the last episode, we discussed ways to sound more confident in your content. Your checklist included four items.
– Be yourself. Tell a story on your podcast this week that will reveal something about you.
– Do everything in your own style. Start by defining that style.
– Move beyond information by defining what is in it for your listener. Stir emotion.
– Review a past episode while actually listening like a listener.
Now that you have some time between posting the episode and reviewing it, this might be a good week to listen to your show like a listener. See if you actually accomplished all four points.
I hope the episode helped you and served you to create your podcast with more confidence.
Through all of my research and years of experience, I’ve discovered a few key steps to create interaction. This week, let’s cover 7 steps to create more engagement with your podcast.
1. Be A Storyteller For Success
As you create your podcast, become a great storyteller. Great storytellers create fans.
Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. If interest is falling, the show is becoming boring and is no longer entertainment. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.
Have you ever sat through a long, monotonous story that never seems to end? You stare and wonder if the speaker actually has a point to this monologue. You pray for your cell phone to ring and save you. That scenario is exactly what you want to avoid. Practice becoming a great storyteller.
Stories help define your character and personality. You should always be yourself. It is difficult to play a character consistently and tell great stories. Your true feelings and identity will always be revealed in the stories you tell. If you are successful hiding your true self, you simply are not telling great stories. Vivid details and interesting points that stir emotions in your listeners can only come from your true feelings. Reveal your true character. Storytellers create raving fans.
2. Ask Them To Engage
How do you expect them to know you want them to be part of your show if you don’t ask?
Be sure to make your request specific. Tell your listener exactly what you want her to do.
3. Make It Easy To Engage
You may use social media, your website, an e-mail address, voicemail, or a number of other methods to reach you. Simplify it. Create one contact page on your website containing the info to avoid the need for a laundry list during your show. Then, always provide that one contact source. By using that one source, you also prevent your listener from getting caught in the decision paradox.
Make the questions specific, so they don’t have to think. Give your listener a question to answer or specific piece of information to provide. If he isn’t forced to be creative and “work” to create content for your show, you will have more success creating engagement.
4. Focus On Helping Others
Zig Ziglar had many great quotes. One of my favorites is, “You can have anything you want in life just as long as you help enough other people get what they want in life.” How true that is.
As you turn your information into engaging entertainment with your podcast, keep in mind that helping people is part of the foundation of a strong relationship. If you take, take, take, your relationship won’t last long. If you are there to give and help, you will develop friends for life.
Ziglar is a great example of helping people. His speeches always offer great tips to improve your life, sales or attitude. He also has great books, CDs and other products he sells. However, most of his time is spent on helping others. There is a lot of free Ziglar information available. He helps others and eventually sales come his way.
Get what you want out of life. Focus on helping others.
5. Make It About Them
If you want people to engage, there has to be something in it for them. Make them care.
6. Tease And Set Up The Next Episode
Prepare your audience to participate. Let them know the topic for next week. Then, ask them if they have a question about that particular topic. If you have a guest, ask if there is a question they would like you to ask. Michael Hyatt does a great job at this on his podcast “This Is Your Life“.
7.Thank Your Audience
Thanks for listening. I appreciate the help you give me.
It is such an easy way to strengthen your relationship with your audience. Your listeners have given you something they can never get back. That is their time.
Show your appreciation. A simple thank you will go a long way with your listener. If they know you are honestly grateful for their time, the chance they will listen again goes way up.
It must be honest and authentic. You can’t thank them in a gas-station-attendant-I’ll-never-see-you-again kind of way. You must deliver it from the heart. It should be the kind of thank you that you would give a stranger who stopped to help when you ran out of gas.
Your listener is your lifeblood. Without your listener you have no show. She has many, many choices when allocating her time. Let her know you appreciate her for spending her time with you.
… And thank you for stopping by. You have done a ton for me just by being here.
Next week we will discuss how to define your target audience better than the generic avatar you have now. We’ll get specific. If you have questions about that topic, head to www.PodcastTalentCoach.com to get your questions answered.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Please let me know how I might be of assistance. You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Self-confidence is a battle we all face. Do you feel like you don’t belong amongst the best in your niche? Do you sometimes wish there was somebody that would give you that little boost of validation? Most recently, I received nearly the same question. How do I become comfortable as a speaker?
We have discussed this topic in the past on the Podcast Talent Coach podcast. In episode 012, I offered tips to become more comfortable with the timber and sound of your voice. This week, I would like to give you a few ideas to use to develop more confidence in your content.
I had a coaching call and received an e-mail in the past couple weeks that included this topic. Both podcasters were unsure of their speaking ability. They felt they may lack authority on their topic.
I had a coaching call with a gentleman who had recently launched a new podcast. His career to this point had involved public speaking and presenting. He was self-conscious of how he sounded on his podcast. He asked if he should get a voice coach.
The second question came in an e-mail.
“So far I have interviewed and recorded 3 people and when editing I’m realizing how much I hate my voice and because of that I feel unsure about putting anything out. Though the desire to podcast and be a liable presence is there is it possible to have a nervous sounding voice and still taken seriously? I don’t know why I sound so timid and unsure because these people I’m interviewing are so far of people I know but as soon as I press that record button my presence seems to change. Do you have any tips? I hope there is still a chance for me. I hope this is just a newbie problem and something that I can eventually overcome.”
We all face the inner critic. We are unsure how we can sound like an authority in our niche. What can we do to develop more confidence in ourselves as we create our content each and every week?
This week, we discuss four steps to become more comfortable & confident with your content.
BE YOURSELF
A great podcast is a great relationship. It is just like creating a great brand. In order to develop that solid relationship, you must be yourself. You can’t fake it.
When you try to be someone or something you are not, you will not sound authentic. Eventually, the truth will come out.
Have you ever met someone you had admired from afar, only to have them do something that didn’t fit with your image of them? Maybe it was a baseball player, or a movie star, or a politician or a musician. You met them with great expectations of an encounter with your hero only to find out they were rude and average. It turned out they were only being who they thought they should be for the public when really they were someone completely different in real life.
Everyone has their flaws. That is what makes them human. Howard Stern has flaws. He makes his flaws part of his show. Domino’s Pizza admitted the errors of their ways with their cheap, low quality pizza. They laid it out for the world to see in their marketing. Your listener will accept your flaws. They will feel like you are “one of them” when you admit your flaws upfront. Don’t be afraid to expose yourself.
When your listener discovers you are something other than the character you portray, the bond of trust will be demolished. Your relationship will be forever damaged.
Build a solid brand. Be yourself.
YOUR STYLE
Create everything you do in your own style. You can only stand out among all other shows when you create your own unique style. You must then make sure everything you do is consistent with that style.
Many new broadcasters try to emulate the style of their hero or mentor. They attempt to imitate the styles they hear from other broadcasters. Unfortunately, copying doesn’t create a unique style. Copying typically creates a watered-down version of some other style. When creating your content, be yourself and find your own style.
Some of the greatest broadcasters didn’t start the ascension to the top until they abandoned the attempts to broadcast in the style they thought others desired and began being true to themselves.
Oprah Winfrey quit trying to be a traditional news anchor. She also quit doing the typical tabloid, daytime talk show. When she began to create the show she always desired, she went to the top of the game.
Howard Stern began as a radio DJ sounding like every other radio DJ. He was playing the records and spouting the lines written by management while going nowhere. When Stern decided he was going to do radio his way, he began to make a name for himself. He also went to the top.
Rush Limbaugh followed a very similar path. He had a cheesy radio name. He followed the format designed by somebody else. Limbaugh made every attempt to fulfill the typical radio DJ stereotype. He also got fired again and again. When he decided to broadcast in his style and true to his beliefs, he began his rise to the top.
Adam Corolla made his climb when he took full control over his style and show. He was climbing the DJ ladder in Los Angeles. Corolla had some decent television work. He then decided to create his own show in his own style via podcast. That began his rise as one of the biggest podcasters in the world.
All of these broadcasters made the decision to stop copying others. They all created shows that were true to their style.
They each also stay true to their style in everything they do. You will never hear Rush sound like Howard. You’ll never mistake something Oprah says as something Adam might say. Being true to their style isn’t something that takes conscious effort. It comes easy to each of them, because it is true to who they are as people.
Be true to yourself. It will make it easy to create everything you do in your style.
MOVE BEYOND INFORMATION
The goal of our podcasts is to create strong relationships with our audiences. We can take those relationships and move our listeners with a call to action. To achieve that strong relationship, we need to move beyond information to engaging entertainment.
Dan Miller, author of “48 Days To The Work You Love” could simply explain how you might find a new job. Instead, Dan instills the belief in his listeners that there is more to work than a paycheck. He stirs emotion describing how you can turn your passion into your career. Dan uses that emotion to turn his job finding information into engaging entertainment.
Financial information is turned into entertainment on “The Dave Ramsey Show” when Dave turns debt into the enemy. He doesn’t simply walk you through the steps to become debt free. Dave helps you find that burning desire to escape the shackles of debt. He makes you envision the possibility of “living like no one else”. His help becomes engaging entertainment. That is the reason his show is extremely popular and he is very wealthy.
Our shows can be powerful when we build relationships and move our listeners with a call to action. Those relationships happen when we move beyond information to engaging entertainment.
REVIEW YOUR SHOW
Review your show on a regular basis. Actually listen like a listener. That is the only way to improve.
Many hosts finish recording a show and think, “That was pretty good. What’s next?” They might recreate parts of the show in their head to determine what might make the show better next time. Usually, there isn’t much time spent actually reviewing a show. There are so many other duties to handle. It’s on to the next thing, which is probably editing, posting, and promoting the show.
In order to make your podcast better, you need to spend quality time listening to the show. Play it back. Grab a pad of paper and write down the parts that jump out at you. Jot down the “oh wow” moments. Take note of the sections that didn’t work exactly as you planned.
You will only find these moments when you listen like a listener. The show will sound much different to you when you listen back than it did as you were recording it. You will hear things you didn’t notice as you were focused on creating the content. Words that you overuse will suddenly become noticeable to you.
Once you have created the lists of good and not-so-good, create two more lists. First, determine how can you create more of the “oh wow” moments on the show. How might you incorporate into the show more of the great content that worked? Second, make a list of ways you can eliminate the parts that weren’t polished enough.
Get on the road to show improvement. Review your show on a regular basis.
To Do This Week
1. Be yourself. Tell a story on your podcast this week that will reveal something about you.
2. Do everything in your own style. Start by defining that style.
3. Move beyond information by defining what is in it for your listener. Stir emotion.
4. Review a past episode while actually listening like a listener.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Many podcasters ask me how to get more listener interaction with their show. How can you get more listener feedback and comments? We need to transform your information into engaging entertainment. When your content is engaging, people take notice and take action. If you want your listeners to interact more with your show, make your content engaging.
When you tell stories on your podcast, you reveal things about yourself. Vivid details are critical elements of great storytelling. You are creating theater of the mind. Draw pictures in the mind of your listener.
Details are more believable than generalities.
Details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character.
Details put your listener in the moment helping them envision your story in their mind.
Garrison Keillor, in one of his “Stories From Lake Wobegon”, describes a woman who endures crushing loneliness and town gossip. Keillor says, “She got into bed with a dying man – so she could sing ‘Abide With Me’ in his good ear”. You can see the details in your mind. Envision the man’s hearing aid. Can you hear the song? There are so many details in that sentence, many of which aren’t even described.
Lake Wobegon is a fictitious place, yet is believable due to the details. The story details reveal what Keillor finds amusing. The story is also vivid enough that you can see it in your mind.
That’s the wonderful thing about audio. Everyone sees their own personal, mental images in their own way. Those differences add to the enjoyment and entertainment of the story. Each listener can enjoy the unspoken details in their own way. They are not at the mercy of the interpretation of a movie director.
Tell great stories. Use vivid details. What did you reveal today?
1. Tell me great stories
I’m not simply talking about your integrity. By character, I mean all of the attributes that create you, as in character in a play.
The purpose of your show is to attract an audience. Whether you want to monetize that relationship, encourage a call-to-action, or simply create an audience for your ideas, creating the audience is where you begin.
The stories you choose to tell reveal how open you are to others. Your openness is a sign of trust. Trust is a big piece of a relationship. Reveal things about yourself through your stories and you’ll begin to build trust with your listener.
The details you include tell your listener what you value. If the listener feels you value things they too value, you solidify the relationship. People like to hang out with similar people. If your values are opposite of your listener, you may also attract them. It is like a love/hate relationship. They may dislike it, but they continue to listen. This often happens when talking politics.
What you find entertaining will be evident by the stories you tell. Since people like other people who have similar tastes, revealing those things you find entertaining will also build the relationship.
Stories also have the power to demonstrate your vulnerability. Stories can show that you are a real person. Your listener will see you as approachable. They also may begin to see you as a friend. That is when true relationships begin to form.
Next time you watch a late night talk show, notice how the great, memorable interviews contain great stories. Interviews that focus on facts and information rarely cut through. Those guests come off more as a lecturer than as a friend. The guests that tell stories appear more personal, warm and friendly. Their stories reveal things and help you feel like you know them personally. Take note next time you watch.
Foster a relationship with your listener by revealing things about yourself through stories. Stories will define your character.
2. Put your audience in the story
If you truly want to engage your listener, put her in your story. This doesn’t mean create a fictitious part of your story where she becomes a fake character. Include details that are so vivid that your listener feels like she is right there in the moment. Stir the passion within your listener with great emotion.
You have probably seen a movie like “Silence of the Lambs” where you completely lose awareness of your surroundings as you’re sucked into the scene. It may have been a movie like “Casablanca” where they say goodbye at the very end. Those are two great stories that put you right there in the moment.
Stories told by great storytellers do the same thing. Garrison Keillor is probably one of the best storytellers of our time. When listening to this story, you can see the guy Keillor describes in a few short seconds. He includes great lines like, “… In the midst of drinking a Bombardier at the Moonlight Bay Supper Club and she’d gone off with him to the Romeo Motel.” The story is short, yet the details are vivid.
If you can create details so vivid that your listeners can almost feel them, you can truly put her in the story. Your listener will be fully engaged. That is where information becomes entertainment. Strengthen your relationship with your listener at every opportunity. Put the audience in the story.
Create a movie and put your listener in it
3. Make them forget they are listening to a podcast
When your audience is listening to your podcast, make them forget they are listening to a recording. Take them to another place. Make your storytelling so strong that their imaginations put your listener in another time and place. That’s what great storytelling is all about. That’s what great relationships are all about.
People seek entertainment to escape from reality. They want entertainment like movies, concerts, television, radio and podcasts to make them forget about all of their problems. Entertainment that succeeds will take the audience member to some other place and time.
When you record your podcast, you need to create that wonderful theater of the mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re reading fiction or talking about gardening, put your audience in the moment. Make your listener forget they are listening to a recording.
4. Intrigue & Suspense
What will happen next?
Anticipation is a key feature to storytelling. Your story should build just like a good plot builds in a movie. You need to make your audience anticipate the content that is on the way. It is like a vacation you are planning to take. The fantastic anticipation for the trip is almost as pleasurable as the trip itself. You can’t wait for the trip to arrive. You want your listener to feel the same way about your content. When they can’t wait for the story to arrive, you have created some great content.
Teasing is the art of creating anticipation for your audience to entice them to stick around for the payoff to your setup. It is a critical element of your show. Teasing helps create momentum for your podcast.
When you promote parts of the show that are coming up, you must creatively tease your audience. You must give them a reason to stick around. It isn’t enough to simply say, “A great story about this weekend is coming up.” Few will stick around for the payoff. Tease. Create anticipation. Instead, use something like, “You’re never gonna believe what I found in the attic this past weekend.”
The evening news does a wonderful job at teasing. Create anticipation. Tease me.
5. Use active language
Your details should contain active language. Words like walking, carrying, and eating are current tense. They create images in your mind. You can see a clown walking. If I am telling a story about a clown that walked, using the past tense, it is more difficult to envision in your mind. It already happened. He isn’t doing it anymore. I can see walking. I can’t see walked.
When you use active language, your story comes to life. Use rich, vivid words that will draw fantastic pictures in the minds of your audience. “The old man, small and fragile, came slowly walking into the art shop gingerly carrying the tattered, leather-bound, black-and-white photo album he had been saving from his depression-era childhood.” You can see the old man. Active language paints those photos.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
I’m Erik K. Johnson, founder of Podcast Talent Coach. I help people refine their content to transform their information into engaging entertainment so that they can convert their podcast audience into powerful, profitable relationships.
Have you ever struggled with your confidence to launch or record an episode of your podcast? Have you worried that you were just pretending to know what you’re doing? That someone might find out that you didn’t really belong amongst the podcast professionals?
I’ve been there. I was at that point when I started in broadcasting. While in college getting my degree in architecture, I became a party DJ to make some extra cash. Music had always been a big part of my life. I had been a musician since I was 11. However, I had wanted to be an architect since 6th grade. Getting my architecture degree was never in question.
Around my junior year of architecture school, I started becoming disenchanted with the field. It was then that I picked up a part time summer job at a radio station where my brother worked. Just to make some extra cash. As my passion for architecture waned, my passion for radio grew. Next thing you know, I’m taking classes in the College of Journalism and becoming the music director of the college radio station.
My music director position at the college station turned into another part time commercial radio job. That position eventually became full time.
Architecture was still part of my life. I was nearly done with my degree and didn’t want to throw it all away at that point. So, I finished my degree in architecture and continued to work in radio. Oddly enough, my only architecture job came while I was still in high school.
When I began in radio, the impostor syndrome heavily kicked in. I had an architecture background. What right did I have to be on the radio? Who was I to think I was in a position to be amongst these radio guys who had been doing it for many, many years and had paid their dues. I felt like I was playing dress up and pretending to be one of them. It took me years to get over that and build the confidence to perform on a daily basis.
After doing it for 25 years, I got to the point where I was programming multiple radio stations at the same time. Some of those station were recognized with national awards from the National Association of Broadcasters. The stations ranked #1 quite often. My own show was regularly #1. I built the confidence within myself to deliver content that was compelling and connected with my audience.
When I launched my podcast, I quickly went back to the beginning. The impostor syndrome kicked in again. Who was I to think I could build a successful podcast amongst these greats that had been doing it for years? Dave Jackson at the School of Podcasting has been podcasting since 2005. I’m just starting. How can I possibly think I belong in the same arena as Dave?
Then, I started thinking about my story. I had been here before. That helped me shake the impostor syndrome and put out my content.
That’s what I want to help you do. I want to be that cheerleader for you if you don’t have the history that I have to overcome that little voice inside your head doubting your ability. You can do it. You belong. You have just as much authority on your opinion as anyone. Let’s get it out to the world.
It is fairly simple to set up a mic, mixer and laptop, load up some software and record some audio. Setting up a website with WordPress, creating a Libsyn account and posting a show isn’t very complicated. Even if you are not very technically savvy, there are great people like Dave Jackson and the School of Podcasting that can help you with every step along the way. He even has a great class at www.HowToPodcast.com. You’ll have a podcast launched in 6 weeks.
Creating the platform is only the first step. Creating great content is up to you. Your content isn’t something you can outsource. You need to find the confidence to put your thoughts and feelings out into the world.
How do I bootstrap to begin? Make it simple. Get an inexpensive microphone, like a $60 ATR-2100 or a $99 Blue Yetti. Pick up an inexpensive mixer like a $99 Yamaha 4-channel. Get a free WordPress site. Create a Libsyn account for $15 a month. You’ll need a computer and some free Audacity software. If you already have a laptop, you’re up and running for under $200. Again, Dave Jackson has a whole list of recommendations for you at www.SchoolOfPodcasting.com. I leave the technical stuff up to him.
My goal is to transform your content and beef up your confidence.
So, how do you define your niche? Will anybody really care? It is easy for the impostor syndrome to sneak in here. Your internal impostor will tell you nobody cares about that topic. Your niche is too small and nobody will come. You’ll be talking to yourself.
Fight it. Your niche size doesn’t matter as much as the passion of the niche community. If you have a group of people that are passionate about and loyal to a particular subject, run with it.
The more narrowly you target your niche the better. If you are interested in fishing, pick a small niche. If you love fly fishing, but create your show around fishing in general, you will find it tough to build loyalty. If your show is only on fly fishing, you will primarily attract those interested in fly fishing. The niche is smaller than fishing in general. However, every show will be of interest to your audience.
If your show is “The Fishing Show” and all about fishing, you’ll be hit and miss. One week you talk about fly fishing. The next week you discuss deep sea fishing. Now, you fly fisher friends only get what they seek on occasion. You aren’t catering specifically to them. People will only check our your show now and then. You will find it difficult to build a passionate tribe.
The audience for “The Fishing Show” looks like a bigger audience than “The Fly Fishing Show”. But, it is deceiving. The passion lies in the niche.
Be confident in your topic. You will start slowly. But, it will grow. Stay the course.
How do you get ready? How do you overcome the pre-launch jitters? Planning your podcast will help relieve a bit of the anxiety. If you know where you’re going, you can stay focused on the goal and fight through the self doubt. Plan your show before you begin.
Let’s discuss the 5 Speech class basics and how they pertain to your show.
1. Lead with a provocative point – capture their attention right at the beginning.
2. Dazzle with details – make the story come to life.
3. Take the first exit – Get out when you have the first opportunity.
4. Don’t repeat yourself and overstay your welcome – In talk radio, it’s called the call circle.
5. Include a call to action – this is the whole reason you’re doing a podcast and creating a tribe.
Have confidence in your content. Fight the impostor syndrome. Do all you can to push forward and get your content out.
When you plan your show, it makes it easier to stay focused on the goal. Know what you hope to communicate on this episode. Lay out how you plan to communicate that information. Then, define your intro, details and exit. Define your call-to-action and determine where you plan to incorporate it into the show.
Now, all you need to do is record the show and post it for the world to hear. The more work you do ahead of recording, the easier it is to believe in yourself while the show is rolling. Remember, because it is fun is the main reason you are podcasting. Enjoy the process.
This week, plan your show.
Determine the topics for the show.
Lay out your intro, details and conclusion for each topic.
This week is a little self-reflection. I’m not sure I’m doing my job with my message and serving you as well as I can. Is my communication cutting through in the correct way?
This past weekend, I attended the New Media Expo (NMX) 2014 in Las Vegas. I had an incredible time and learned a lot. The inspiration I receive by attending these conferences is amazing.
The only thing more incredible than the inspiration is the friendships. Mike & Izabela from Music Radio Creative held a meet up at an amazing wine cellar within the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. We all had an incredible time mingling with other amazing podcasters. Mike & Izabela held the gathering in a room of the Wine Cellar & Tasting Room at the Rio. It was like sitting in their living room with couches, chairs and end tables near a bar filled with wine and cheese. The intimate setting really spawned some great discussions.
During the meet up, I had the chance to sit down with Kenn Blanchard from “Black Man With A Gun”, Dave Jackson from “School of Podcasting” and Rem Lavictoire from “The Sci-Fi Movie Podcast”. We had a great time sharing stories about our lives and podcasting. It was a gift.
Kenn mentioned to me that he wasn’t sure how my podcast would be received. He said I was so passionate and determined about my style that he felt it might turn some people off. I loved the feedback. His words really got me thinking.
I stepped back and assessed my message. Is my message really being communicated they way I hope it is? That leads us to the podcast this week.
My message is all about you. I never want to tell you how you should do anything. I want to show you ways it may be done and let you decide. I want you to be you in a way that only you can do it. It isn’t a prescription. It should be a thought starter.
There are a few things I wholeheartedly believe about any podcast, such as podcasts should be built to attract and grow an audience. I also believe every podcaster should be their own unique self. How that happens should be completely up to you.
Today, we discuss the power of you. Many thanks to Kenn Blanchard for showing me the path. His insights are cherished. Check out his NMX2014 session with the virtual ticket if you have the chance.
Here are the 8 facets of the Power of You.
1. Be yourself
Only you can be you
Don’t simply copy somebody else
2. Stick to your beliefs
Be true to yourself
Can’t consistently be something you’re not
Hard to fake it without tripping up
3. Tell the truth
Honesty fosters relationships
4. Use your personal style
To make your show unique, add your personal style
Do it in a way that only you can do it
5. Stories define your character
Listeners will learn about you with stories
Stories breed friendships
6. Have fun
People don’t simply want info, they want entertainment
Much more fun to learn when the content is entertaining
7. Be consistent
People know what they like and like what they know
They want to know what to expect when they listen – Deliver the goods every time
8. Be memorable
Own your category – When they think of your category, they think of you
Don’t want them to casually listen then go away
Hard to monetize your activities if you are not top-of-mind
Most marketing is focused on top-of-mind awareness and a strong call-to-action
Call-to-action is powerful when you are the first one that comes to mind
This week …
Review two of your shows to see if you are being yourself
Find one personal story to include in your next podcast
Do one thing in a way only you can do it and make it memorable
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Our goal is to create meaningful relationships with our listeners. Powerful, profitable relationships. We use engaging content to solidify those friendships.
What did you reveal about yourself on your show this week?
From self-revelation comes friendship. Can you think of a true friend that you know very little about? Friendship become stronger the more you share with each other. People learn things about you through the stories you tell.
How can you use the stories you tell to solidify your brand and strengthen your relationships?
Today, I want to teach you about three other areas of storytelling that can help transform your podcast into powerful, engaging entertainment.
What Did You Reveal Today?
When you tell stories on your podcast, you reveal things about yourself. Vivid details are critical elements of great storytelling.
Details are more believable than generalities.
Details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character.
Details put your listener in the moment helping them envision your story in their mind.
Garrison Keillor, in one of his “Stories From Lake Wobegon”, describes a woman who endures crushing loneliness and town gossip. (read more)
Memorable Words
American children’s author Dr. Seuss (Theodor “Ted” Suess Geisel) was more interested in telling a good story than he was in telling a true story. He often exaggerated. He always used wonderful, colorful words.
The good story approach is even described In his biography at www.Seussville.com. Dr. Seuss and his wife were unable to have children.
“To silence friends who bragged about their own children, Ted liked to boast of the achievements of their imaginary daughter, Chrysanthemum-Pearl. … He included her on Christmas cards, along with Norval, Wally, Wickersham, Miggles, Boo-Boo, Thnud, and other purely fictional children. For a photograph used on one year’s Christmas card, Geisel even invited in half a dozen neighborhood kids to pose as his and Helen’s children. The card reads, ‘All of us over at Our House / Wish all of you over at / Your House / A very Merry Christmas,’ and is signed ‘Helen and Ted Geisel and the kiddies.’”
Part of the magic that was Seuss was created by the words he used. (read more)
Tease With Anticipation
Anticipation is a key feature to storytelling. Your story should build just like a good plot builds in a movie. You need to make your audience anticipate the content that is on the way.
Your podcast should be like a vacation you are planning to take. The fantastic anticipation for the trip is almost as pleasurable as the trip itself. You can’t wait for the trip to arrive.
You want your listener to feel the same way about your content. When they can’t wait for the story to arrive, you have created some great content.
Teasing is the art of creating anticipation for your audience to entice them to stick around for the payoff to your setup. It is a critical element of your show. Teasing helps create momentum for your podcast. (read more)
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
In this episode, we discuss steps that will help you make your podcast one of a kind.
Being unique makes you stand out in a crowd. These are ways to get noticed. There are four steps.
1. Focus your topic.
When you try to be all things to all people, you end up being nothing.
Focus your topic on what you know best. Be opinionated. Be passionate. Pick a side. Be unique. Most of all, be consistent. (read more)
2. What makes you different?
When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Make people take notice.
You are an expert at your opinion. Give it to people. Take a stand. Pick a side. (read more)
3. Connect, inspire & motivate
When you connect, inspire and motivate your audience, you stir emotions within your listener. Those emotions are powerful. Emotions make people come back for more, because they create a bonding relationship. (read more)
4. Sell the results of your product
People don’t buy your product. They buy what your product can do for them. (read more)
When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Make people take notice.
You are an expert at your opinion. Give it to people. Take a stand. Pick a side.
Some of the nicest people make the worst podcast hosts. They try to please everyone in the audience. Those people tend to blend into the background and go unnoticed.
I once coached a radio host who was one of the best storytellers I had ever met. When he and I would meet one-on-one for coaching, he would tell me some of the funniest stories I had ever heard. He would tell me stories of his dad that would have me crying from laughing so hard.
He once told me his dad was absolutely convinced the PT Cruiser was the best car ever made. As much as my host would try to explain that the PT Cruiser was basically the Dodge Neon chassis with a different body, his father wouldn’t believe it. The two of them would get in these heated arguments in public about this car. Of all the things in life you could argue about, this happened to be the PT Cruiser. The way the story was told was full of fabulous details. The host really had the ability to make the stories come to life.
As much as I would encourage him, the host would not tell those stories on the radio. He didn’t believe the audience as a whole would be interested. Instead, he played it safe. He only discussed vanilla content that wouldn’t upset anyone. Unfortunately, the show never took hold.
If you’re not upsetting someone, you aren’t trying hard enough.
I would much rather have half the audience hate me and the other half love me rather than the entire audience have no opinion one way or the other. If the audience doesn’t have an opinion, they don’t care. I’m doing nothing to stir their emotion if I’m not making them pick a side.
If you haven’t picked a side and really focused your topic, people won’t care. They won’t be passionate about your show.
Speak your mind. Be different. Get noticed. Make people care.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
7 Keys to Making Your Podcast Content Interesting and Not Simply Topical
This podcast is created to help you with the ART of podcasting. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment. I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
In this episode we cover …
1. Attracting people with benefits and not simply contents
The Podcast Talent Coach podcast is created to help you with the ART of podcasting. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment. I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Those are three main reasons people listen to your podcast. Tell stories to help fulfill those desires.
People dream about having a different (and usually better) life. They want to experience those things others are experiencing. The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. People crave living the lives of others.
Your listeners want to live vicariously through you. They want to experience your success. They wish they had the courage to do the things you have done. Your fans want to be you in some way or another.
Voyeurism is a reason many people watch the shows they watch, listen to the stories they hear, or read the books they read. They want to experience the lives of others.
People eavesdrop on the conversations of others for the very same reasons. They can experience the life of others without the risk of failure. Eavesdropping doesn’t take the courage required to actually live the life.
By telling great stories about your experiences, you help your audience fulfill the desire to live vicariously through you. If your show contains audio of your feats and experiences, you allow your audience to fulfill their voyeuristic desires. When you interview people on your show, you allow your listener to eavesdrop on your conversation.
When your show is simply a lecture of your content, you fail to help your listener experience any of these three desires. Find new ways to deliver your material to your audience. You will make those important connections that turn into friendships. Those relationships will foster loyalty to your show. Your tribe will follow you wherever you go. That’s a powerful thing.
Tell stories of self-revelation. See where it takes you. You’ll be surprised how many people wish they could be you.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Erik@PodcastTalentCoach.com. You can also find tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
American children’s author Dr. Seuss (Theodor “Ted” Suess Geisel) was more interested in telling a good story than he was in telling a true story. He often exaggerated. He always used wonderful, colorful words.
The good story approach is even described In his biography at www.Seussville.com. Dr. Suess and his wife were unable to have children.
“To silence friends who bragged about their own children, Ted liked to boast of the achievements of their imaginary daughter, Chrysanthemum-Pearl. … He included her on Christmas cards, along with Norval, Wally, Wickersham, Miggles, Boo-Boo, Thnud, and other purely fictional children. For a photograph used on one year’s Christmas card, Geisel even invited in half a dozen neighborhood kids to pose as his and Helen’s children. The card reads, ‘All of us over at Our House / Wish all of you over at / Your House / A very Merry Christmas,’ and is signed ‘Helen and Ted Geisel and the kiddies.’”
Part of the magic that was Seuss was created by the words he used. Oftentimes, he used words he created himself, like whisper-ma-phone, fiffer-feffer-feff, schloppity-schlopp. His words were memorable and unique. His words have sounds that catch your attention.
If you want to catch the attention of your audience, use great words like Dr. Seuss. You don’t need to create your own vocabulary. Simply use words that stir emotion. Your words do not need to be long, flamboyant words. They simply need to be emotional.
Betraying. Jubilant. Downtrodden. Passionate. Unmovable. Use words that paint pictures.
Great storytellers use delightful details created by fabulous words.
Use delightful details. “It was a muggy, hot lunchtime. We had ducked into the cool, dark shade of the woods where the sun was barely visible through the dense leaves. My eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the leave-covered path when I lost my footing near the edge of an embankment. I ended up landing on my hip and rolling head-over-feet down the fairly steep, 10-foot drop where I promptly landed on my butt in the muddy mess below. My legs were completely covered in mud as if I had been rolling in it for hours.”
With the delightful details of that story, you can almost feel yourself in the woods. You can see the muddy mess in your mind. You can smell the thick, wooded area. Details help your listener experience the story rather than just hearing it.
Capture the attention of your listener by putting your listener in the moment. Always include delightful details in your story. Use fabulous words that paint pictures. Grab attention like Dr. Seuss.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Erik@PodcastTalentCoach.com. You can also get tools to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
In the past, I’ve suggested you incorporate stories in your podcast to truly engage your listener. To make your stories powerful, lead with a strong introduction that tells your listener exactly what to expect. Your first few sentences will tell your audience exactly where you are going with your tale.
Many podcasters find it fairly easy to lead with an intriguing introduction. The trouble comes as the story develops. Storytellers often find it difficult to stay focused on the goal of the story. They often get distracted and sidetracked following tangents that really have nothing to do with the story.
Let’s say the story begins with, “I found the deal of a lifetime at the mall this weekend.” You know exactly where we are going with this story. I’m going to tell you all about a great deal I found at the mall.
If we are in the middle of the story, we get completely derailed if I ponder, “Why do parents think they can just drop their kids off at the mall like it is a daycare?” This has absolutely nothing to do with the great deal I found. We are now running down a rabbit hole and need to figure out how to get back on track.
Your listener has a difficult time following your story when you get off on tangents. Your show becomes confusing. Meandering stories also waste time and limit the number of subjects you can address in any particular episode. Stay on topic.
— I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Erik@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
Make it easy for your listener to follow and enjoy your stories. Stay focused on the goal of the story. Avoid the shiny objects.
Many podcast hosts work to spice up their podcast with big words. They try to sound important and impressive. Self-aggrandizing words like “best”, “most” and “number one” usually go in one ear of your listener and out the other. Most people are too skeptical to believe statements of that nature.
People will only pay attention when they care. Focusing on you will not make them care. You need to begin with your listener. Pay great attention to their wants, needs, fears and desires. Tie those basic desires to your content.
When creating your show, you should spend time on what your listener is hearing rather than what you are saying. You don’t need big words or oversized claims to get your point across. You simply need to entertain your listener with wonderful stories.
On his show, Dave Ramsey uses listener calls and e-mails to address the concerns of his audience. He dispenses financial advice with words and concepts that are easy to understand. He has given memorable names to the elements of his strategy, like “baby steps” and “emergency fund”. He makes his listeners care by starting with their fears and desires. He then makes his information easy to understand. Dave is focused on what his listener is hearing.
Make sure you listeners are receiving your message. Say it in different ways. Use common language. Engage your listener with vivid yet familiar words.
Work to refine what your audience is hearing.
– I’d love to help you with your podcast. Post any questions or comments you might have, or e-mail me at Erik@PodcastTalentCoach.com. Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.
When you tell stories on your podcast, you reveal things about yourself. Vivid details are critical elements of great storytelling.
Details are more believable than generalities.
Details reveal specifics about your thoughts, beliefs and character.
Details put your listener in the moment helping them envision your story in their mind.
Garrison Keillor, in one of his “Stories From Lake Wobegon”, describes a woman who endures crushing loneliness and town gossip. Keillor says, “She got into bed with a dying man – so she could sing ‘Abide With Me’ in his good ear”. You can see the details in your mind. Envision the man’s hearing aid. Can you hear the song? There are so many details in that one sentence, many of which aren’t even described.
Lake Wobegon is a fictitious place, yet is believable due to the details. The story details reveal what Keillor finds amusing. The story is also vivid enough that you can see it in your mind.
That’s the wonderful thing about audio. Everyone sees their own personal, mental images in their own way. Those differences add to the enjoyment and entertainment of the story. Each listener can enjoy the unspoken details in their own way. They are not at the mercy of the interpretation of a movie director.
Tell great stories. Use vivid details. What did you reveal today?
If you wish to have your audience/listener/customer act on your call-to-action (sales pitch, invitation, read your blog again), you must first create trust. People buy things from people they trust.
A person will only trust you if 1.) they believe you have their best interest at heart and 2.) they believe you trust them.
A relationship moves beyond acquaintance to friendship when trust is developed.
People will believe you trust them when you reveal things about yourself to them. Your revelations show you trust the other person to hear you without judgement.
If you give first, your counterpart will be more likely to give in return. If you show trust, they will eventually show trust in return.
When you tell great stories in your podcast, you begin to develop strong relationships with your listeners by revealing details about yourself and trusting your audience with those details.
Howard Stern reveals his inadequacies often on his show. Domino’s Pizza revealed their missteps in their latest ad campaign. When Oprah Winfrey revealed her personal issues and troubles, people loved her even more.
Create a trustworthy, solid, effective brand by telling great stories. Out of self-revelation comes trust.
When you are discussing a topic, take the first opportunity to get out of the bit. You will keep your audience engaged. You will maintain the momentum of the show. You will also avoid repeating yourself and becoming boring. Take the first exit.
There are clues in your show that let you know you’ve missed the opportunity to end the bit. When you find yourself saying things like “as I said”, “like I was saying”, or “as we’ve discussed”, you have missed your exit. Those phrases are simply additional ways to say, “let me repeat this again”. Once you have reached that point, you are stating your introduction point again. This should be your conclusion. Move on to the next discussion.
If you miss the exit, you begin retracing your steps. You begin offering information you’ve already provided. Your listener then begins thinking of other things, because they have heard this part before. I got it. Let’s move on.
Only you will know when you’ve offered enough information to make your point. Once you hit that point, keep the show moving. Get to the next topic. Keep your audience engaged. Take the first exit.
When your audience is listening to your podcast, make them forget they are listening to a recording. Take them to another place. Make your storytelling so strong that their imaginations put your listener in another time and place. That’s what great storytelling is all about. That’s what great relationships are all about.
People seek entertainment to escape from reality. They want entertainment like movies, concerts, television, radio and podcasts to make them forget about all of their problems. Entertainment that succeeds will take the audience member to some other place and time.
When you record your podcast, you need to create that wonderful theater of the mind. It doesn’t matter if you’re reading fiction or talking about gardening, put your audience in the moment. Take them away. Make your listener forget they are listening to a recording.
The use of active language will stir the imagination of your listener and help you connect to your audience. Put the listener in the moment. Make the listener see the action you are describing.
“I’m walking into the bustling restaurant and shaking off the evening cold without even watching where I’m shuffling.” That is active language. In your mind, you can see me walking in.
Sure, your restaurant may be different from my restaurant. That difference is what makes theater of the mind great. You see it the way you think it fits best for you. Your scene doesn’t need to match my scene in order for the story to make sense. It is your theater.
Active language connects each listener to the story in his or her own way. It will create strong audience engagement. Active language during storytelling is a powerful tool you can use while you’re building your podcast.
Create a great podcast brand. Create theater of the mind.
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Engagement in your content is either rising or falling. Attention never remains constant. The interest of your audience is either growing or diminishing because of what you’re saying and how you are saying it.
Keep your podcast listener engaged by having a clear focus with your content. Know exactly where you are going with any particular topic. Make sure your audience also knows where you are going by leading with a clear, intriguing introduction. Then, make sure you are always building anticipation as the story progresses. Once you begin treading water by following a tangent, interest will begin to fall quickly.
Keep your audience engaged by remaining focused on the point of your story. All great storytellers avoid the tangents while the plot of their story builds. That is why great storytellers are never boring.
If you truly want to engage your listener, put her in your story. This doesn’t mean create a fictitious part of your story where she becomes a fake character. Include details that are so vivid that your listener feels like she is right there in the moment. Stir the passion within your listener with great emotion.
You have probably seen a movie like “Silence of the Lambs” where you completely lose awareness of your surroundings as you’re sucked into the scene. It may have been a movie like “Casablanca” where Rick and Ilsa say goodbye at the very end. Those are two great stories that put you right there in the moment.
Stories told by great storytellers do the same thing. Garrison Keillor is probably one of the best storytellers of our time. When listening to this story, you can see the guy Keillor describes in a few short seconds. He includes great lines like, “… In the midst of drinking a Bombardier at the Moonlight Bay Supper Club and she’d gone off with him to the Romeo Motel.” The story is short, yet the details are vivid.
If you can create details so vivid that your listeners can almost feel them, you can truly put her in the story. Your listener will be fully engaged. That is where information becomes entertainment. Strengthen your relationship with your podcast listener at every opportunity. Put the audience in the story.
I’m not simply talking about your integrity. By character, I mean all of the attributes that create you, as in character in a play. Your stories help define who you are as a person.
The purpose of your podcast is to attract an audience. Whether you want to monetize that relationship, encourage a call-to-action, or simply create an audience for your ideas, creating the audience is where you begin.
The stories you choose to tell reveal how open you are to others. Your openness is a sign of trust. Trust is a big piece of a relationship. Reveal things about yourself through your stories and you’ll begin to build trust with your listener.
The details you include tell your listener what you value. If the listener feels you value things they too value, you solidify the relationship. People like to hang out with similar people. If your values are opposite of your listener, you may also attract them. It is like a love/hate relationship. They may dislike it, but they continue to listen. For example, this often happens when talking politics.
What you find entertaining will be evident by the stories you tell. Since people like other people who have similar tastes, revealing those things you find entertaining will also build the relationship.
Stories also have the power to demonstrate your vulnerability. Stories can show that you are a real person. Your listener will see you as approachable. They also may begin to see you as a friend. That is when true relationships begin to form.
Next time you watch a late night talk show, notice how the great, memorable interviews contain great stories. Robin Williams and Billy Crystal being interviewed by David Letterman are great examples. Interviews that focus on facts and information rarely cut through. Those guests come off more as a lecturer than as a friend. The guests that tell stories appear more personal, warm and friendly. Their stories reveal things and help you feel like you know them personally. Take note next time you watch.
Foster a relationship with your listener by revealing things about yourself through stories. Stories will define your character.
Great stories reveal things about the person telling the story. It allows the listener the opportunity to discover new things about the storyteller. Stories are how strong relationships are built.
When you’ve used an intriguing introduction in your podcast, your listener can now enjoy the details of your story. The more vivid the details, the more your listener will enjoy the story. Make them see the story in their mind. Draw the mental picture for them.
“We were walking through the woods when I lost my footing, rolled down a hill and into some mud.” Generic stories like this do very little to spark the imagination.
Use delightful details. “It was a muggy, hot lunchtime. We had ducked into the cool, dark shade of the thick woods where the sun was barely visible through the thick leaves. My eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the leave-covered path when I lost my footing near the edge of an embankment. I ended up landing on my hip and rolling head-over-feet down the fairly steep, 10-foot drop where I promptly landed on my butt in the muddy mess below. My legs were completely covered in mud as if I had been rolling in it for hours.”
With the delightful details of that story, you can almost feel yourself in the woods. You can see the muddy mess in your mind. You can smell the thick, wooded area. Details help your listener experience the story rather than just hearing it.
Put your listener in the moment. Always include delightful details in your story.
As you create your podcast, become a great storyteller. Great storytellers create fans.
Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising. If interest is falling, the show is becoming boring and is no longer entertainment. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.
Have you ever sat through a long, monotonous story that never seems to end? You stare and wonder if the speaker actually has a point to this monologue. You pray for your cell phone to ring and save you. That scenario is exactly what you want to avoid. Practice becoming a great storyteller.
Stories help define your character and personality. You should always be yourself. It is difficult to play a character consistently and tell great stories. Your true feelings and identity will always be revealed in the stories you tell. If you are successful hiding your true self, you simply are not telling great stories. Vivid details and interesting points that stir emotions in your listeners can only come from your true feelings. Reveal your true character. Storytellers create raving fans.
