Episode 60
What it takes to be an award winning podcast
I’ve had the opportunity to be a juror on a few podcasting industry awards this year, and it’s been quite eye-opening. Being in a position to evaluate and weigh in on what makes a good podcast has been an exciting milestone in my career. Today, I dive into the key learnings I've gained from this experience and provide you with insights to help you create a more captivating show.
The Power of a Good Hook
One of the most crucial aspects of podcasting is capturing your audience's attention right from the start. As a judge, I found myself instinctively listening longer to podcasts that hooked me within the first 20 to 40 seconds. It's essential to have a compelling introduction that entices listeners to stay tuned. Think of it as a trailer for your episode, highlighting the value and intrigue that awaits your audience.
Consider the podcast "Diary of a CEO," which excels at creating a captivating hook. By incorporating snippets of quotes and intriguing questions at the beginning, the host piques the listener's curiosity and entices them to stay engaged.
Shorten Your Intros
Gone are the days of long, drawn-out intros with lengthy explanations of who you are and what your show is about. These intros often get skipped by new listeners and fail to serve as effective hooks. Instead, opt for a short and snappy intro that quickly introduces the episode's topic and value.
While pre-roll ads and sponsor acknowledgments are necessary, keep them concise. A brief mention of the sponsor and their value followed by diving straight into the episode content is far more effective in retaining your audience's attention.
Streamline Interview Podcasts
Interview-based podcasts often suffer from excessive small talk and meandering conversations at the beginning. While it's essential to establish a connection with your guest, avoid too much "faff" that doesn't add value to the listener's experience. Get to the point quickly and ask intriguing questions that captivate your audience.
While some podcasts thrive on conversational banter (such as celebrity gossip podcasts), it's crucial to align your approach with your show's purpose and target audience. Keep the focus on delivering valuable content and engaging discussions.
Narration Style Podcasts: Striking the Right Balance
Narration-style podcasts, particularly those in genres like true crime, often rely on a scripted narrative to guide the episode. However, it's important to strike a balance between creating an engaging story and ensuring coherence. Overdoing the narration can lead to a disjointed listening experience, leaving the audience confused about the episode's overall message.
Post-production plays a crucial role in maintaining the flow and clarity of narration-style podcasts. Ensure that the narration supports the episode's content without overshadowing it.
The Power of Audio Quality
As a podcast awards judge, I can't stress enough the importance of audio quality. With the abundance of podcasts available, listeners have come to expect a certain level of audio professionalism. Subpar audio quality, such as relying on laptop microphones or neglecting to invest in a decent microphone, can quickly turn off listeners.
Investing in a good microphone is a minimal barrier to entry for creating high-quality audio. Listeners are more likely to stay engaged and return for future episodes when the audio quality meets their expectations.
Elevating Your Podcasting Journey
The lessons I've learned as a podcast awards judge highlight the importance of creating a captivating podcast. By focusing on crafting a strong hook, shortening intros, streamlining interview podcasts, striking the right balance in narration-style shows, and prioritizing audio quality, you can elevate your podcasting journey.
Remember, your audience's time is precious, and it's crucial to provide them with valuable content right from the start. By implementing these lessons, you can create a podcast that stands out, engages listeners, and keeps them coming back for more.
So, whether you're a seasoned podcaster or just starting out, take these insights to heart and continue to refine your craft. The podcasting landscape is constantly evolving, and by staying ahead of the curve, you can make a lasting impact in this exciting medium.
Resources Mentioned:
Let’s Get Launchy - Our Podcasting Launch Course
Bamby Media Client Application
Transcript
Welcome back to my face.
Speaker:My name is Brianna.
Speaker:I'm the head honcho here at Bambi
Speaker:Media, and today I'm going to be
Speaker:discussing the things that I have
Speaker:learned from judging podcast awards.
Speaker:and it's been really amazing to be
Speaker:able to firstly have the opportunity
Speaker:to be this point in my career
Speaker:where I'm, I feel like I'm good
Speaker:enough to be able to judge people.
Speaker:Judging feels like such a harsh word,
Speaker:but you know, being able to weigh in on
Speaker:what makes a good show and, That's been
Speaker:really exciting for me to be able to do,
Speaker:but what I found was a few key learnings
Speaker:from having this experience that I
Speaker:wanted to share with you today to help
Speaker:you excel in your podcasting journey.
Speaker:I'm going to get straight into it.
Speaker:So the first one being
Speaker:you need a good hook.
Speaker:So when I'm listening to a show,
Speaker:what I found myself doing without
Speaker:kind of even realising it is
Speaker:wanting them to get to the point.
Speaker:if you don't hook me within the
Speaker:first 20 seconds to go, and I know
Speaker:this is, this is kind of the, the
Speaker:bane of people's existence now for
Speaker:creating content, it's like you need
Speaker:to be front loading everything, but
Speaker:I don't think that's a bad thing.
Speaker:It's like having a trailer at
Speaker:the beginning of every episode
Speaker:to just hook someone in to go,
Speaker:Hey, you want to listen to this?
Speaker:Like there's a reason why you
Speaker:should stay in this episode.
Speaker:A person that does this really well
Speaker:would be the podcast diary of a CEO.
Speaker:he has a beginning bit where it's kind
Speaker:of snippets, little quotes that they've
Speaker:said, and maybe a few snippets of
Speaker:questions that he asks at the beginning
Speaker:that kind of make you go, Oh, okay.
Speaker:This conversation goes in a
Speaker:lot of different directions.
Speaker:I'm interested in these topics.
Speaker:Therefore, I'm going to stay and listen.
Speaker:If you don't have anything at
Speaker:the front that feels like you
Speaker:can, , hook the person in.
Speaker:What is going to make them stay past the
Speaker:two minute mark, the one minute mark?
Speaker:Really think about that.
Speaker:What are you saying at the beginning
Speaker:of all your episodes to make it clear
Speaker:that it's worth sticking around for?
Speaker:So if we use myself as an example, even
Speaker:just for this episode, I was very clear
Speaker:very quickly what this episode was about
Speaker:so that you could make a decision quickly
Speaker:as to whether it's something you're going
Speaker:to need or engage with or whether you're
Speaker:going to move on to something else.
Speaker:So you've got to bring some personality
Speaker:to the front of your episodes.
Speaker:You've got to make it different to
Speaker:other people to really hook someone
Speaker:in and feel like they are tuning into
Speaker:something that is going to be valuable
Speaker:for them for their precious time.
Speaker:Off the back of that, the next
Speaker:thing is stop having long intros.
Speaker:So, the days of having a long, drawn
Speaker:out intro where there was lots of music
Speaker:and there was a big kind of standard
Speaker:intro that you would say why the show
Speaker:is who you are, the host, the kind of
Speaker:conversations you're going to have,
Speaker:those big intros that people have in the
Speaker:voiceovers that then are at the front
Speaker:of every episode, please ditch them.
Speaker:Ditch them almost immediately if you can.
Speaker:Because they get skipped anyway.
Speaker:And that's not a hook.
Speaker:If they're a new listener to your show,
Speaker:that's the point of having a trailer
Speaker:episode, that episode that sits at the
Speaker:top of all your podcast platforms where
Speaker:they can go, Oh, what's this show about?
Speaker:Click on the trailer and listen to that.
Speaker:Not the beginning of every
Speaker:episode, having a big long intro.
Speaker:It's very hard for people to stay
Speaker:engaged if you've got that sort of thing.
Speaker:And also front loading with a bunch
Speaker:of ads, pre roll ads, and thanking
Speaker:all the sponsors and all these things.
Speaker:Like it's good to have pre roll
Speaker:ads and a lot of the time they're
Speaker:necessary from a sponsorship
Speaker:perspective, but keep them short.
Speaker:have a nice meaty mid roll that you can
Speaker:really dive in and thank the sponsor.
Speaker:So if you have a sponsor or
Speaker:something that is at the front of
Speaker:the episode, try and keep it to
Speaker:like, this episode is brought to
Speaker:you by X, we love them because Y.
Speaker:Now let's get into it.
Speaker:You know, something like that.
Speaker:So it's really short.
Speaker:And then actually getting
Speaker:into just the episode.
Speaker:Again, if we use myself as the
Speaker:example, you notice I have like
Speaker:nothing going on at the front.
Speaker:I just have a bit of music that's
Speaker:fading in and then out as I'm
Speaker:actually delivering the content.
Speaker:This podcast is an
Speaker:educational based podcast.
Speaker:It's not really an interview podcast.
Speaker:It's not a funny podcast.
Speaker:It's something that's delivering
Speaker:you stuff that you just
Speaker:want to know, know, know.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And I keep them short
Speaker:for that reason as well.
Speaker:So be aware of who the target
Speaker:is and keep your intros short.
Speaker:The next thing I would say is
Speaker:interview podcasts need less faff.
Speaker:Do you know what faff is?
Speaker:So faff is when it's kind of meandering,
Speaker:especially at the beginning of interview
Speaker:episodes they're kind of getting to
Speaker:know the person that they're talking to.
Speaker:They're talking about the weather or
Speaker:how their week's been or whatever else.
Speaker:A lot of the time that's really
Speaker:not relevant and it's not
Speaker:interesting to anyone other than
Speaker:the person that's interviewing,
Speaker:you know, like those two people.
Speaker:It's interesting to them, it's
Speaker:nice to connect, but you can have
Speaker:that first conversation offline.
Speaker:Why do you have this person on your show?
Speaker:Get to the point quickly.
Speaker:Ask a question that makes
Speaker:the listener go, oh.
Speaker:That sounds kind of cool.
Speaker:I'm intrigued.
Speaker:This is a little bit mysterious.
Speaker:This connects with me.
Speaker:I want to listen to this conversation.
Speaker:I listen to a lot of shows where there's
Speaker:so much faffy talk, where, unless,
Speaker:I guess, you're a celebrity gossip.
Speaker:It's a podcast where you're talking
Speaker:about the latest gossip and there is
Speaker:more faff and it's more conversational
Speaker:and it's intended to be that way.
Speaker:We're bringing it back to the
Speaker:intentionality of what your show is for,
Speaker:who it's for, what purpose it's serving.
Speaker:And if there's too much faff
Speaker:in your interviews, then
Speaker:I'm going to turn it off.
Speaker:Sorry, I'm going to turn it off.
Speaker:I've listened to thousands of shows at
Speaker:this point, thousands of episodes, and
Speaker:the ones that really make me want to keep
Speaker:coming back to listening to them are the
Speaker:ones where the questions are intriguing.
Speaker:The next thing I've noticed a lot When
Speaker:you're doing a narration style podcast
Speaker:where you've got maybe like it's true
Speaker:crime or it's something where there's
Speaker:like you've interviewed someone, but
Speaker:you narrate kind of what you've asked.
Speaker:I hope that makes sense, you know,
Speaker:where you say, and then I spoke
Speaker:to blah, blah about the thing.
Speaker:And then she answers the question, you
Speaker:know, so there's that narration aspect.
Speaker:I feel like it's a little bit overdone.
Speaker:Or it's a little bit too scripted
Speaker:and trying to be too fancy, serious,
Speaker:whatever, for some shows that's
Speaker:required, like if it's a really dark
Speaker:and mysterious thing and it needs that
Speaker:narrator that really feels like it's
Speaker:building that kind of story around
Speaker:you, but Um, A lot of the narration
Speaker:ones, I also find that they've, it's
Speaker:like they've put the narration in
Speaker:because they feel like that's a cool
Speaker:thing to do, but sometimes it just
Speaker:distracts and it makes the interview
Speaker:or the podcast too disjointed that
Speaker:I don't get what the overall sense
Speaker:of that episode is supposed to be.
Speaker:So really, if you're doing more of a
Speaker:scripted show or a narration style show,
Speaker:post production is very important to make
Speaker:sure that you can still connect the dots.
Speaker:And have the narration support,
Speaker:not detract, from the episode,
Speaker:from what you're trying to
Speaker:display there as the show.
Speaker:And the audio quality is the
Speaker:last thing that I'm finding
Speaker:makes a massive difference and
Speaker:there should be no surprise.
Speaker:When I'm sitting there judging shows,
Speaker:I've got my judging hat on, if the
Speaker:audio quality isn't there, is it
Speaker:subpar, they don't have a microphone
Speaker:and they're relying on their, you
Speaker:know, laptop microphone inbuilt
Speaker:to do their podcast, to record it.
Speaker:It's so easy for me to switch off,
Speaker:not because I'm trying to be mean,
Speaker:but there's so many different podcasts
Speaker:with great audio quality these
Speaker:days that it's hard for me to stay
Speaker:engaged when the quality isn't there.
Speaker:So that's something that
Speaker:should be top of mind for you.
Speaker:If you can't video your show yet and
Speaker:you're just relying on audio, that's
Speaker:even less of like an excuse, right?
Speaker:Because all you need is a microphone The
Speaker:barrier to entry to good audio is pretty
Speaker:low these days and it doesn't cost a lot
Speaker:so I expect a higher caliber in order
Speaker:for me to engage with the show for longer
Speaker:and your audience will feel the same way.
Speaker:They will accept crappy audio for
Speaker:a while, but if you're kind of
Speaker:10 episodes in and it's still not
Speaker:great, you may run into some trouble
Speaker:with audience retention on that.
Speaker:So always be looking for ways to make
Speaker:your show a little bit better if you can.
Speaker:That's the main learnings that
Speaker:I've come across from the judging
Speaker:that I've been doing recently.
Speaker:If you've liked this content,
Speaker:please subscribe to it on YouTube
Speaker:and you can also hit the follow
Speaker:button on Apple Podcasts and Spotify
Speaker:and all those places as well.
Speaker:I love providing this content to you.
Speaker:If you have any feedback, if you have
Speaker:any questions, please reach out DM me
Speaker:on Instagram, reach out in the contact
Speaker:form on our website, put a comment in
Speaker:YouTube and I will absolutely get back
Speaker:to you and give you as much as I can.
