This Is Why Your Podcast Is Terrible
You don’t even realise what you are doing wrong
Podcasts get me through work-days, Sunday long-runs, christenings..
True-crime, motivational, comedy, political — it doesn’t really matter, I just love stories.
And I’m not alone.
Storytelling pre-dates the written word by millennia and remains our preferred medium for sharing ideas and concepts.
However, I am also quite strict about who I listen to and over the years I have developed a specific set of preferences when it comes to podcast presenters and interviewers.
Of course what we listen to is largely down to personal taste. But there are nearly two million podcasts available to listen and most of them will never reach anyone but a close circle of friends.
So why do some podcasts hit the big time and others flop like a damp sock over a radiator?
First, a disclaimer. I don’t know the first thing about producing or marketing a podcast. But I do know how to speak engagingly to an audience, and I know a lot of terrible podcasts.
Here are my top tips for budding podcasters:
Cut out the nervous laughter. The only thing worse than bad jokes is laughter at bad jokes. If you are laughing with your guest due to nervousness, then you are losing listeners. Good comedy is difficult to do, so avoid the temptation to lighten the mood with dad-jokes, and cut out the polite laughter. Instead, keep calm and focus on delivering a well crafted story within your podcast’s genre.
Plan ahead but maintain fluidity. It’s painfully obvious to a listener when a podcast interview proceeds without a plan, but it’s also awkward when an interview consists of a set of rigid and unconnected questions. If you are interviewing for a podcast then I’m assuming that you are an excellent conversationalist. If that’s true, then show it off! Get a conversation flowing and see where it leads you..
Avoid vocal fry. Vocal fry occurs when a speaker lowers their voice to the lowest possible register, resulting in a creaky tone. Once you hear it, you cannot unhear it. Alternating between a bold projecting tone and vocal fry is hard to listen to, but I’d rather listen to Golem doing a Ted talk than 20 minutes of continuous vocal fry.
Consider using more music. This well-known podcaster places a low volume music track behind his monologues and it really gives his voice a boost. His voice is softer than some and the light background music is a fantastic complement to his fascinating storytelling.
Study story-telling. If your chosen subject matter is a particularly popular topic already, then you’ll need to do something to jump ahead of the pack. One tactic is to study great storytellers and try to apply their style to your own podcast episodes. Take running for example. There are thousands of running podcasts, and only a handful worth listening to. The ones that grip the listener can take you on a story arc in each episode, or even across an entire series.
Find your niche. Don’t do a podcast because you think it will make you money. My brother loves fantasy football (soccer), so he made a podcast and gathered a decent audience. His audience was small, super engaged and were listening consistently until the end of the last football season. It succeeded because his love for the subject was palpable.
Bottom line.
I can’t promise that you are going to sell to Spotify for USD 2 million. But if you take these tips onboard then you are likely to leapfrog the many thousands of terrible podcasts out there.
If you make a podcast leave the link in the comment below — I’d love to hear it!
