Hey Indie podcasters! Did anyone notice my absolute goof introducing the last email? Turns out I missed a bracket when setting up the email. Sigh…
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Get to the Point Faster for the Sake of Your Listeners
People don’t want to hear rambling stories about your life.
People want you to start providing the value you promised that made them click play in the first place.
Otherwise:
- New listeners won’t stick around
- Old listeners will get bored
- Your retention rate will drop, so you won’t get promoted inside apps
This took me 18 long months to realize
When my wife and I started our podcast, we would sit down, hit record, and start catching up. It was our way to deal with the nerves of recording before getting to the story.
In my ignorance, I left 90% of this chat in the final edit. I thought that since we were having a good time and laughing, our audience would feel the same way.
At its worst, we would talk for 14 minutes before introducing the show and getting to the story. 14. Minutes.
But again, ignorance prevailed. I thought that because the episode was two hours long, this was totally reasonable. I thought that this was us letting our personalities shine so our audience could connect with us as people. I was wrong.
Our lowest reviews reflected it. We got one-star reviews from people who said they wanted to like the show, but there was too much chat.
(Quick aside – not every 1-star review is helpful, but if there’s a theme, it’s worth questioning)
This is why I want to share this rule of thumb with you:
Introduce the show within 30 seconds. Get to the point within 5% of the show.
If I could go back in time, this would have made all the difference. I cringe at how many potential listeners came and went because of rambling that could have been edited out.
As a rule of thumb, one of the first things you say should be who you are and what you do so new listeners can join in. Then, within 5% of the total show length, get to the meat.
If I have an episode about Edinburgh Castle, I need to be talking about Edinburgh Castle, not the road trip I just took.
Yes, personal intros are a great way to connect, but not too much. If you have a 30-minute show, we don’t want 10 minutes of chat. Keep it brief.
Since we started introducing this, we’ve started getting feedback like this message I got from a friend.
The difference from before? We are getting to the point faster. Friends chat and catch up in front of the microphone, while pros deliver on their promises.
Learn from my mistake and keep your intro brief. Your listeners will thank you for it.
Community Wins
Congrats to barSilence who’s podcast on Video Game music has crossed 10,000 downloads!
The Weird and wonderful Weird In The Wade podcast crossed 20,000 downloads. Amazing work!
Finally, Back to the Bunkhouse has crossed it’s first 1000 downloads! A huge achievement. Well done
If you have a win you want to share, hit reply!
How I Can Help You
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