As a podcast producer and distributor, I’ve been thinking it’s time for me to break out of the easy, standard form of intro/interview/outro and blaze a new creative trail for my clients. Now, I don’t mean to suggest that interviews and conversations are not boring or not useful. In fact, you might say they are quite essential. Connecting with your guest like that – there’s nothing like it for a connection strategy. I’m just searching for new ways for thought leaders, authors and speakers to “speak” to their listeners and deepen the connection. It’s an augmentation, not a replacement.
I’m working with a couple of new podcast production clients and within the course of designing the format have suggested that consider mixing things up; not just for the sake of of it, but in a way that can bring out their core thing, their point of view, their value, their voice.
For example, we might use an interview as a “master shot” (to borrow a term from film making) and then strategically weave in and out insightful pointers, comments, sound bytes from host-to-listener of that master narrative in a playful way. Maybe quick phrases from the host that frame, reframe or highlight what ever just occurred in the interview. That’s one idea to play around with. Reid Hoffman’s Masters of Scale podcast does a great job of this. So engaging!
I have another client, Karen Curry Parker, the host of Quantum Conversations, for whom we conduct and record the interview, after which she takes a week to write a retrospective and introspective intro and outro which we place before and after the interview, respectively. The interview runs for the middle and is the core. But her intro and outro highlight, spotlight, emphasize the content while contextualizing within her brand and positioning. And by doing this, Karen is making a different kind of connection to her listeners, breaking the “podcasting 4th wall”.
So interesting how essential a podcast format is to shaping listener experience.
So, I gleefully invented a word for all of this thinking. The JourneyCast. Strive to make your podcast a journey and you have the opportunity to satisfy and engage your listener to remarkable levels!