One 2-minute (often unconventional) podcast marketing idea every weekday to help serious podcasters punch above their weight and create a ridiculously profitable show as a small but mighty solopreneur, creator, or marketing team.
✊ 90% of podcasters overestimate this key skill
568 WORDS | READ TIME: 2.1 MIN Hi friends, More than 90% of people believe themselves to be above-average drivers. More than 90% of college professors believe themselves to be above-average teachers. And when it comes to podcasting, it’s not a stretch to assume more than 90% of hosts believe themselves to be above-average interviewers. Over the course of more than eight years and hundreds of conversations with podcasters across every show format, genre, and niche, I can think of just two or three instances where one of them told me their interviewing skills could use some work. In fact, whenever I ask about what they see as the strengths of their show, almost every host is quick to tell me that they get great feedback on their interviewing skills. Having personally audited many of these shows, however, I can safely say this is rarely the case. Most hosts are passable interviewers. Some are solid, even genuinely good. Very few are great. And why should they be? Interviewing is not a craft most of us have any education in. Neither is it a skill we’re likely to randomly pick up through osmosis. What little we do learn of interviewing tends to come from the world from journalism, which, while it certainly has its place, is not relevant to the types of shows most of us are making. On the one hand, for many shows—especially those in underserved niches—the host doesn’t need to be a great interviewer for the show to be worth listening to. And yet… For any show built around the interview format, it’s clear that better interviewers = better episodes = higher audience retention = faster growth. But this begs the question… What exactly does it mean to be a better interviewer?
Given how closely entwined the interview format is with podcasting as a medium, it’s shocking that there isn’t a clear, universally agreed-upon rubric of the skills, traits, and practices of truly great interviewers. Which makes it hard—if not impossible—for all of us as hosts to improve. If we don’t know our destination, after all, how are we supposed to get there? Of course, every interviewer is unique. As is their particular approach, skill set, and line of inquiry. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some foundational guiding principles that great interviewers have in common. And while I’m in no way claiming to be a great interviewer myself, I’ve analyzed enough interviews—ranging from awful to awe-inspiring—to have identified a series of traits to develop and lean into—as well as some to avoid—to improve your interviews. Over the next week or so, I’ll break down these traits and how you can apply them to your show immediately. But before we get into the nitty-gritty, I’d love to hear from you.
If you have any thoughts to share on any of the above questions, hit reply and I’d love to include it in this series. Be sure to include your show name and website as well so I can link to it if I use your quote.
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Scrappy Podcasting
Jeremy Enns
One 2-minute (often unconventional) podcast marketing idea every weekday to help serious podcasters punch above their weight and create a ridiculously profitable show as a small but mighty solopreneur, creator, or marketing team.
This issue is presented by: One of these 3 shows... but which? 396 WORDS | READ TIME: 1.5 MIN Happy Friday friends, Imagine you’re presented with two potential sponsor agreements. Sponsor 1 is willing to offer you $100/month—starting today—on an ongoing basis. Sponsor 2 isn’t ready to pay you anything today, but has promised you a $2,500/month ongoing deal in 3 years if you can hit a couple of ambitious—but totally attainable—audience benchmarks. Which do you take? On the one hand, the math...
This issue is presented by: One of these 3 shows... but which? 808 WORDS | READ TIME: 3.0 MIN Hi friends, Yesterday we explored the first three traits, practices, and techniques great interviewers employ to create memorable, deeply resonant episodes. Today we’re building on those with another 3. As a reminder, you can find the previous installments of this practical guide to better interviews here. Oh, and if you’ve found this guide useful so far, I’d super appreciate you sending it to...
This issue is presented by: One of these 3 shows... but which? 1,165 WORDS | READ TIME: 4.4 MIN Today we’re venturing further on our odyssey exploring what it means to be a great podcast interviewer. If you’ve missed parts one and two, where we broke down what makes a great interview from a listener’s perspective, you can find those here. Today, we’re going to dig into the first three of ten specific traits, practices, and techniques you can adopt to improve your own interviews. But before we...