Most podcasts suck. Yours might be one of them.
I’m here to tell you how to fix it.
Signs that you’re in the suck stage:
- you’ve recorded fewer than 50 shows
- you never hear from listeners
- Download numbers aren’t going up
- your show is about nothing and everything (you’re not Joe Rogan)
- you don’t know how you’ll end the show before it starts
- Inconsistent quality
- No clear focus
As you can see from the list above, these are possible to fix. I’ll also share my strategies. They got me over 100,000 downloads per show. They built a YouTube channel with 200,000 subscribers and an email list of 250,000.
Why most podcasts suck
The barrier to entry is very low. That’s both good and bad news.
Good because it has never been easier to start, which means you can get your first one up today.
Bad because it can create unrealistic expectations about the time and energy it will take. You can start one with no plan and almost no knowledge of how it works.
You know what else has a low barrier to entry but an excruciatingly low success rate? Comedy.
One of my favorite podcasts to watch is Kill Tony. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re in for a treat. You can look it up on YouTube. Live recorded with a studio audience and posts every Monday night. My wife and I look forward to the new show each week.
Each show, Tony and his comedian friends are on a panel. Random people can sign up to do 60 seconds of uninterrupted comedy. In that 60 seconds, a person has a chance to showcase themselves in front of millions of people. After the 60 seconds, there’s an interview with Tony. These interviews last between 3 and 20 minutes. It’s brutal. He tells it like it is. Most people get roasted hard. Some become stars on the spot.
It’s incredible how many people go up, thinking that their bit is good, but end up bombing the entire set.
Tony regularly asks, “do your friends tell you you’re funny?”. He’s seen the pattern and he’s pointing it out.
They think that because they’re the funny one in their friend group, it’s instantly going to transfer to the stage in front of a bunch of strangers.
NOT.
It doesn’t transfer because:
- the audience doesn’t know your background.
- you have 60 seconds to make them laugh.
- You might be amusing for 5 minutes of a 3-hour hangout. That seems a lot, but it isn’t.
- nerves of being on stage.
- and likely a bunch of other reasons we don’t need to cover here.
Why do I bring this up?
New podcasters do the same thing. People sit around drinking a beer with their friends and think their conversation is fire. And it may very well be, but add in a start, finish, microphones, and no idea how to grab the audience’s attention. The result? Suck.
That’s how I started. I sucked.
What to do about it
First, it’s going to take practice. The whole way through. From planning the show to posting and promoting it.
Practice in public. A lot of people may think they need to practice doing the shows but not posting. That’s a mistake. I saw the same thing when I was competing in weightlifting and jiu-jitsu. People would practice and practice while never signing up for a competition. You know what happened? They bombed the competition. Not because they lacked the skill of their sport. They lacked the skill of competing in their sport.
Same for podcasting. Post your ugly shit. It shapes you. Even if nobody watches or listens, you know it’s up there and you know you’ve got to do better next time.
Commit to posting 50 episodes. Something special happened on my 42nd episode of Barbell Shrugged. That show got a ton of positive attention. It felt good, too. I thought it might be a fluke… until we kept hitting it out of the park over and over. The messages about the last show being the best show yet kept rolling in.
The 42nd Show Breakthrough and the StoryStream Structure
There is a predictable way of catching and keeping your audience’s attention, and we nailed it. This concept works with other types of content as well, and it is simple.
Leading up to our 42nd show, we read the book “Start with Why” by Simon Sinek. It highlighted how people learn through stories. We took some of the models from the book and made them our own.
Over time, I’ve come to realize that the best storytellers in the world run the world. You may have heard the quote, “the pen is mightier than the sword.” It’s completely true. Having served in the military, I now see how I may have been energizing the sword. Those directing me told a story so compelling I would die for it, while they sat back in safety.
This is the power of persuasive storytelling.
The StoryStream Structure goes like this:
- Why
- Who
- What
- How
- What if…
Why
Start here. You must grab the listener’s attention. Tell them about a problem they will solve by the end of the show. I did it here with this post; check the title. Even if you don’t have a podcast, your desire to improve some form of content is present.
The questions I ask myself is “what is the benefit that my listeners will get from this?”. “What’s the problem, real or imagined, that they want solved?”.
A rule of persuasion is this: If you explain their problem better than they can, they will subconsciously believe you have the solution. This provides you with immediate credibility, regardless of whether the listener acknowledges it consciously.
Who
An added layer of credibility. If you have a guest, you ask them about their background. Dig into their education and experience. Highlight what makes them an expert on the topic. It deepens their belief in what will be presented. It also gives the conscious mind a nugget to relax and receive the info.
If there’s no guest, highlight your own experience on the topic. This is a great time to insert a story of your own, highlighting how you learned the lesson you’re about to teach.
Check out my example in this post. I talk about the size of my YouTube channel, podcast downloads, and the email list I created. It’s a quick story, but a story nonetheless. You’ll notice this in every one of my newsletters. I don’t reveal everything about me at once. If you stay tuned, you’ll learn where I’m coming from. I’m also building my credibility with you over time.
What
This is the history and science section of the show. You can do both or one here.
History – this can be your own personal history, which may tie seamlessly into your Who section. Or it can be the history of the specific topic that has been developed over hundreds of years. For this post, I could have explored how archetypes are ancient, condensed stories. They are embedded in our collective unconscious, which developed over millennia.
Science is a great place to cite research. It will add credibility to your How section by explaining the underlying principles. This builds more trust and will satisfy the hunger for knowledge. If someone is newer to solving whatever problem they’re there for, this may need to be shorter. People who are less experienced are more interested in the How by this point. Sophisticated listeners will appreciate this part. It helps them see the principles in a broader context related to your work.
A newbie to this newsletter may want to learn about podcasting. But, a more sophisticated reader will analyze every part of it. They will see how it applies to all their communications.
How
This is the specific step that someone can take.
One of my rules for podcasting is that each show must communicate relevant information that allows the listener to upgrade their lives in some tangible way.
You can see how I’m doing it here right now.
You’re getting actionable steps to improve your long-form content, whether it be a podcast, newsletter, or a blog.
If you’re writing to sell something, keep the How section short. Make one step to activate your offer. Then, detail the steps they will take after accepting your offer. You can see an example of this on my CoachFlow landing page.
What if…
Here, you imagine the audience’s questions on the topic after hearing your plan. This is the time to handle the objections. In sales, there’s a moment in the call when the potential customer asks questions. They want to be sure this will work for them.
You will get better at predicting the questions and poking holes in arguments. This creates solid and persuasive communication over time. It also helps you expand your perspective to reach even more people.
This also signals to your audience the authenticity of the conversation. You’re not “just going along” with everything the guest says.
Executing The StoryStream Structure
For each of the key pieces, create three or more bullet points.
You can do this before you meet up with your guest without them knowing. You can also include them in the setup right before the show, or set up a time ahead of the recording to map it out.
I’ve run this structure hundreds of times. I’ve now recorded over a thousand podcasts with this structure. It has become so habitual that I don’t need to do much prep before a show. It’s how I naturally carry on conversations when I’m teaching or telling a story with a lesson in it.
The length of each section will differ from show to show. There may be times when you spend a lot of time on the Why, and a short time on the other sections. That goes for every section. Again, referring to my newsletter, I sometimes rant about my experiences in the Who section. Today, it’s a quick note. Then, I’ll move on to a denser What and How section.
As time passes, you won’t need to plan the show with guests. You will guide the conversation with ease using this structure. There’s room to explore tangents and follow curiosity. This gives flow while honoring the main theme. You will learn to hold an amazing conversation. It will inspire your guests and audience.
This is one strategy to boost content quality and turn listeners into customers.
I have many more. If you want access to all I’ve learned, join the CoachFlow Community. It has tools to help you grow an audience of raving fans.
-Mike Bledsoe