155 The Art of Storytelling in Podcasting: How to Elevate Your Show and Create a Good Podcast

[00:00:00] What do you think makes a really good podcast? Well, I would think that most of them have good storytelling. Sound matters. Be heard. Welcome to the podcast where you get exclusive behind-the-scenes tips to make your own show sound truly spectacular. This is Podtastic Audio.

[00:00:27] Hey, what's happening? How are you doing today? Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris and this is Podtastic Audio. So yeah, you clicked on the right episode at the right place at the

[00:00:43] right time. Hey, how's that podcast of yours coming along by the way? Do you have a podcast? Well, maybe you're thinking about starting a podcast. You don't know where or how or who or

[00:00:53] what. Don't you worry. We're here to figure all this stuff out together. And if I do sound a little different today, that is because I am using different gear in a different room of the

[00:01:05] house. I am in studio B, which I like to call B because technically this is the bedroom. I'm in this little corner makeshift table desk in one side of the bedroom. But the best

[00:01:20] part is that I am using the Rode PodMic plugged into my computer directly using the USB feature. That's right. There's no Rodecaster. There's no Zoom Podtrack. There's no extra console in the way of my voice going directly into the computer. This

[00:01:41] has got to be the simplest setup I've ever done. Now, the best part of having a Rode PodMic USB version is that, yeah, you can plug it into a Rodecaster or any console you have via XLR.

[00:01:55] Or if you really wanted to, you could just eliminate all the extra fluff and plug it directly into my MacBook Pro like I am right now. Now, the Rode PodMic USB does come with

[00:02:08] free software directly from Rode that you can download to your computer where you can enhance this microphone to make it sound very similar to as if I'm running it through an entire Rodecaster Pro or Rodecaster Duo console. All the presets, all of the processing,

[00:02:28] all the sound effects for the microphone. You know, I pretty much tuned it the best I could for this space to make sure it sounds its absolute best. But this episode today is not

[00:02:41] going to be about microphone talk. This is episode one of a three-part series where I'm going to go over one of podcasting's biggest mysteries, and that is what makes a good podcast? Now, everybody has their favorite things, the things they like, not everybody else likes,

[00:03:03] and the same thing goes for podcast content. One show could be great for somebody. It may not be great for somebody else. But before I go any further today, I want to let you know that

[00:03:14] you can podcast however you want. The things I talk about on Podtastic Audio here are only meant to help you out. I'm not doing this to criticize or make fun or belittle or trash your

[00:03:29] show. All I'm doing is saying, hey, maybe try a few of these tips and tricks. It might make a better show for you and for your audience. So today, what really makes an amazing podcast

[00:03:42] has got to be really good storytelling. If you think about it, audio in audio podcasting really is a place to really tell really good stories without visuals or that showing me something, especially with an audio podcast. So yeah, a really good podcast has a really

[00:04:03] good storytelling. But how do you tell really good stories? There is true power with really good storytelling. Storytelling is how we remember things. If you're trying to get your audience to really listen and really remember the things you're talking about on your show,

[00:04:23] weaving in a really good story is going to set your podcast apart from the others. It's going to elevate your show and make it a good show by having really good storytelling. So

[00:04:36] how do you do it? There are three key elements for compelling storytelling. The first one is you have to have a narrative structure, just like you have some kind of structure for your

[00:04:50] own podcast episodes, a beginning, a middle, and an end. The story that you tell kind of have that same format. Basically what you have to have is a very clear beginning and a middle

[00:05:04] and an end to keep the listeners engaged all the way through. And with each part of this narrative story, you have to kind of hook them along to each segment. Now with any good story

[00:05:17] or any good movie or any good television show out there, what really makes you invested and feel emotionally connected to the characters is having characters you care about. So in the story about you, chances are you are going to be that character telling your own personal story,

[00:05:34] but it could be a story about somebody else or somebody you know, but you want to make sure that that character is very memorable and that people really kind of gravitate to them

[00:05:45] and what they're going through. When you tell a really good story, you want to make a reason why the audience should care about that person. And the biggest piece to any great story for a

[00:05:57] really good podcast has got to be having a conflict and a resolution. You see building tension all throughout your storytelling process. I did this and then this happened and then, oh no, something else is happening. Oh no, what is going to happen next? It's all about getting

[00:06:15] your audience to go to the next. You want to keep pushing them along. You are driving them down the road of your own story and then hopefully, hopefully here you're going to have an amazing

[00:06:27] resolution to tie it all up in the end. Just like you stick around watching an entire movie from beginning to end waiting to see what happens at the very end of the movie, hoping

[00:06:38] there's an amazing conclusion to the story you were just presented with. Do the same thing when you tell stories on your podcast. Now the next thing that you can do which is going to help

[00:06:51] you tell amazing stories to make sure your podcast is quite incredible and people are coming back for it time and time again, is to actually tell stories about yourself. What? I know it

[00:07:06] sounds crazy right? But it is your podcast after all. If you can leverage your own stories and your own personalities and your own things that you've gone through, this will definitely resonate with your audience and it will create a deeper connection directly with that audience.

[00:07:24] This is also a fantastic time where you can put in your own unique perspectives. You see highlighting on stories and things that you have gone through and experiences that you have done are going to be completely different than experiences that I have done

[00:07:39] and that way it'll separate your podcast from everybody else, from all the other podcasts that are just like that one having your own unique perspectives. On the subject of personal experiences this might be a hard one to swallow and I'm talking about vulnerability

[00:07:58] and authenticity. Your podcast can have a deep and meaningful impact on your audience especially if you are being open and honest with them. If you tell personal stories and personal things about you that you have gone through, the struggles that you have gone through, everybody

[00:08:17] loves hearing a story about somebody who is honest and open about their own personal struggles and how they overcame them. Okay so this all sounds amazing. A good podcast has a good

[00:08:30] story. Yeah I get it but how do you do it? What are some tips and tricks on how to physically tell engaging stories? Like how do you do it? It all starts with descriptive language

[00:08:43] and that is why an audio podcast is more powerful and more impactful than a video show because with a video show you can physically show me, oh I met my grandma's house. Here

[00:08:56] is a picture of it instead of just assuming that they're going to see the picture of their grandma's house or the picture of the car you used to drive. Describe it to them.

[00:09:07] The house, it had a red door and a wide long porch with a long driver that went up to it. The house sat towards the back of the property. It had trees along the front side of the road.

[00:09:18] It had a big backyard and a swing set in the front and it was a single story house and the wood planks creaked as I walked up the stairs. The door needed some W40 because as I opened

[00:09:30] it it had that squeaky sound that opened up. Hey all of that was off the top of my head just now. I made that completely up but that is an example of what you can do to help tell your story.

[00:09:41] Be as detailed as you can to describe the scene because not everybody is watching your video podcast. Think of audio first before you think of video when you tell a good story. Audio delivers theater of the mind. Your own mind can put in place all the

[00:09:58] visuals you're ever going to need when good storytelling and good descriptive language is used to describe the scene of what you're talking about. Another thing to consider is when you are physically telling that good story to your audience to get them engaged, to get them hooked

[00:10:15] in to the thing you're talking about, is having good pacing and timing. Now if you watch movies a lot you'll see this in movies, you'll see this in television shows, and this

[00:10:26] really kind of sets apart a good movie from a bad movie. And the same thing would probably go with a podcast. A good podcast has very good pacing and very good timing. Now although you can

[00:10:39] create this in with your editing style, whether you decide to make things quicker or pace things out within the editing, you can totally do this if you really wanted to. So what you really want to do is kind of keep your story engaging for your audience.

[00:10:56] Remember you're creating a good podcast here and all good podcasts have listeners that listen all the way through to the very end. So with good pacing this will keep your listeners engaged longer. And the final technique for telling engaging stories is that if you can somehow,

[00:11:16] if it's possible, add an emotion. You see emotion can be a very powerful way to engage your audience and get them really hooked into what you're talking about. Invoking emotions to make the stories more memorable. Emotions is something that people seem to remember how they

[00:11:36] felt when they saw something or heard something. Where were you when this happened? What were you doing? How did that make you feel? Hey everybody loves a good tearjerker even if the tears come from you directly. So what really makes a very good podcast? Well that's gotta be

[00:11:55] really good storytelling. So here are some final things to consider when you are making your podcast and you're gonna have a story, whether it's your story or somebody else's story, try to structure the framework of your podcast to tell a really compelling story.

[00:12:13] If your podcast is exclusively an interview show where like every single episode you interview a guest then perhaps in between their answers you can tell your own story, kind of give your own personal experiences. It's like well hey your guest did this,

[00:12:30] oh I did that too. Hey did you go there? I went there and when I was there I did this. You can weave in your own personal stories even with doing an interview show. And when you do tell that amazing story to hook your audience for your podcast,

[00:12:44] make sure to include some kind of descriptive language. After all it is theater of the mind. Use some of these techniques to kind of pull out some of these emotions out of your audience within your amazing story. Good storytelling is what every really good podcast has. People

[00:13:04] are going to remember stories over facts and data every single time and the absolute best story you can tell on your podcast is your story. And speaking of your story for your amazing podcast, on the very next episode we're going to talk about how you can use

[00:13:24] authenticity and relatability through your own personal experiences that you have gone through to tell amazing stories. And if you enjoy this podcast please stick around for the next one. That's where you will find me and until then happy podcasting.