Episode 91
Why you need a trailer episode for your podcast
Starting a podcast may fill you with tiny nervous butterflies in your stomach.
You’ve planned out your episodes, batched a bunch of episodes and it’s all coming together. The whole process is feeling daunting perhaps, but you’ve got a launch plan organised and it all feels achievable.
But have you thought about the trailer episode?
Much like a movie trailer entices viewers to watch the film, your podcast trailer serves as the first impression of your show, enticing potential listeners to hit that subscribe button potentially before it’s even launched.
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Transcript
Why do you need a trailer
Speaker:episode for your podcast?
Speaker:The trailer is the first thing
Speaker:that people will come across
Speaker:potentially for your show,
Speaker:especially if it's a brand new show.
Speaker:You might not have a bunch of
Speaker:episodes, but you do have a trailer.
Speaker:The reason why you have that trailer
Speaker:is to try and entice people People
Speaker:into actually subscribing and
Speaker:wanting to listen to your show.
Speaker:There's a couple of different ways
Speaker:that you can approach a trailer.
Speaker:The easiest one to do is what we advise
Speaker:clients to do from here at Bambi media.
Speaker:And that's just a simple
Speaker:five minute recording.
Speaker:Why you started the podcast, who you are.
Speaker:who the podcast is for and what
Speaker:people are likely to learn.
Speaker:So this type of format for a trailer goes
Speaker:really well for business type podcasts
Speaker:or financial podcasts, educational
Speaker:content, stuff where you're not trying to
Speaker:like lure them into subscribing because
Speaker:it's some sort of juicy true crime.
Speaker:It's just a pretty standard
Speaker:sort of format as a show.
Speaker:So your trailer doesn't need to be
Speaker:Reinventing the wheel and having
Speaker:a bunch of different things in it.
Speaker:Just keep it really simple.
Speaker:The other way that you can attack a
Speaker:trailer is if your show has a lot more
Speaker:moving parts, maybe it's a narrative
Speaker:podcast, or it is a true crime,
Speaker:something that feels like you're
Speaker:trying to entice them in comedy,
Speaker:then that is where a trailer that's.
Speaker:It's got a lot of work into it, a lot of
Speaker:sound design, a lot of snippets from the
Speaker:episodes that people are likely to hear.
Speaker:Things that get them in, that hook them.
Speaker:Trailers can be really effective,
Speaker:just like a movie trailer, of
Speaker:trying to get someone to want
Speaker:to listen slash watch the thing.
Speaker:If you feel like that's That's the
Speaker:kind of thing you're trying to get
Speaker:a bit of a cult following or you
Speaker:have a lot of your episodes recorded
Speaker:already and you feel like you could
Speaker:definitely put them together, splice
Speaker:them in with a bit of narrative, then
Speaker:you can build a trailer that is a lot
Speaker:more interesting and potentially even
Speaker:get more subscribers out of that.
Speaker:There is a really good podcast
Speaker:brought to you by Arielle
Speaker:Nissenblatt and her co host.
Speaker:It's called Trailer Park, where
Speaker:they basically review trailers.
Speaker:I'm going to link that too, so that
Speaker:you can go and have a listen to that.
Speaker:It's not a very long podcast and that
Speaker:will kind of help you decide what kind
Speaker:of trailer might work best for you.
Speaker:The other reason why you might
Speaker:want to have a trailer is so that
Speaker:you can submit your show ahead
Speaker:of time, ahead of your launch.
Speaker:You can have a trailer episode go live
Speaker:before any of your other episodes.
Speaker:And for your show to appear on
Speaker:podcast platforms, you need one
Speaker:at least for it to turn up for
Speaker:you to submit to all the podcasts.
Speaker:platforms, especially Apple Podcasts.
Speaker:If you have a trailer episode, then it
Speaker:means you can tease people without having
Speaker:to showcase any of your actual episodes.
Speaker:You go in, you submit just with the
Speaker:trailer, and then you can schedule
Speaker:your launch out based on all the other
Speaker:dates that you actually want to have.
Speaker:That's what we do here at Bambi Media.
Speaker:We'll make sure that the trailer
Speaker:is done and then we schedule that
Speaker:launch week to have multiple episodes
Speaker:within the week so that they can
Speaker:kind of binge as well as the trailer.
Speaker:So I think it's important to note
Speaker:that yes, I absolutely believe
Speaker:you should have a trailer.
Speaker:Keep it really simple if you have a
Speaker:fairly standard sort of podcast, perhaps,
Speaker:and you're quite new to the platform.
Speaker:This is your first time launching a show.
Speaker:It is the first place that you
Speaker:can start to get a bit of your
Speaker:chops up to where you have to kind
Speaker:of maybe talk about yourself and
Speaker:you're not used to doing that.
Speaker:A trailer is a really good
Speaker:way to do that as well.
Speaker:Another thing to note is you
Speaker:don't have to be awesome.
Speaker:This can be a trailer for now.
Speaker:It doesn't need to be a trailer that
Speaker:is the same one forever and ever.
Speaker:You can update your trailer
Speaker:episode at any time.
Speaker:You can just submit a new
Speaker:trailer to your podcast platform.
Speaker:You might have something that you're not
Speaker:like super in love with to begin with
Speaker:and then maybe six to eight months later,
Speaker:maybe once you have a bunch of episodes
Speaker:ready, once you feel like you've got a
Speaker:bit more of a handle on what a podcast.
Speaker:is and what yours is, then you can
Speaker:rerecord a trailer and then upload
Speaker:that and get rid of the old one.
Speaker:So I don't think you need to be
Speaker:really tied down to anything specific.
Speaker:I don't think you need to overthink it.
Speaker:Don't overthink it.
Speaker:Just get it out there.
Speaker:Keep it simple.
Speaker:And if you do have a production
Speaker:team behind you or you have edited
Speaker:a bunch of episodes, please give the
Speaker:trailer more thought than you think.
Speaker:Spent some time pulling out some
Speaker:great snippets from the episodes
Speaker:thinking about what is going to
Speaker:entice people to actually listen to
Speaker:the show to subscribe to it and get
Speaker:the best bits and put it together in
Speaker:a trailer that feels a bit meatier.
Speaker:They're the kind of podcast trailers
Speaker:that I love personally to listen
Speaker:to and I think you'll get a lot of
Speaker:value out of doing that as well.
Speaker:As I said, I will definitely put a link
Speaker:to the Trailer Park podcast so you can
Speaker:go and listen to a few kind of examples
Speaker:of different ways people do trailers.
Speaker:And shout out to Arielle
Speaker:Nissenblatt for doing that.
Speaker:She's actually been a podcast guest
Speaker:on our podcast before, so if you're
Speaker:interested in that, I'll put a link
Speaker:in here so you can go and listen
Speaker:to all her goodness there as well.
Speaker:And just enjoy yourself!
Speaker:Have a great time with your trailer,
Speaker:and if you like this kind of content,
Speaker:hit the subscribe button, follow button,
Speaker:leave me a comment to your trailer.
Speaker:Give me a link to your trailer
Speaker:and if I can get to it, depending
Speaker:on the volume, I would be happy
Speaker:to go and listen to your podcast
Speaker:trailer and see what it's all about.
