196 | Stop Talking About Yourself – How to Hook Podcast Listeners Fast

[00:00:00] What if I told you that your listeners don't really care about your breakfast or your weekend or even you? At least, well, not yet. I know that hurts. I get it. But hang in tight because this might be the best news you have for your podcast growth.

[00:00:24] 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.

[00:00:37] Hey, what's happening? How are you doing today? Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris and yeah, this is the official, the one and only Podtastic Audio. I created this show to help you create your amazing podcast. I love podcasting and one amazing tool to help you love podcasting and make it happen and make it sound amazing is Riverside.fm.

[00:01:07] Today's episode is brought to you by Riverside, the platform I trust to help me create episodes that actually matter to the listeners. Well, that'd be you. And let's be honest, nobody cares about your podcast as much as you do. Well, at least at first, you've got to give them a reason to care and that starts with delivering real value. With content that's also maybe helpful, engaging and also sounds professional.

[00:01:37] That's why I love to hear from you. That's why I love to hear from you. That's why I use Riverside.fm. It lets me record in studio quality, even from home, and their AI-powered one-click video editor makes editing such a breeze. Silences, gone. Captions, done. Magic Clips? Well, they make them easy and ready to share in seconds.

[00:01:56] And with these multi-track editing, every voice sounds clean and clear. So if you want your show to really connect and keep people coming back, start with quality. Try Riverside.fm for free. And when you're ready to go pro, use my promo code PODTASTIC for an extra 15% off any paid plan. Check that out.

[00:02:22] Because giving value is what makes people care. And Riverside helps you deliver it. You know, when you first start a podcast, like your very first show you make, you make an idea of having a show. You're like, I want to make a podcast. Let's get this up and get going. I think what happens is people fall into like two kinds of thought process when they create the podcast.

[00:02:45] One thought process is they are super laser focused on having the exact content that they need. Their show is specifically about this particular topic. Let's say it's like true crime, for example, which is pretty specific usually because you're usually covering like a particular case or a particular like crime scene or that kind of stuff.

[00:03:08] So you're so invested in the content and you're so laser focused on what you're talking about that the content is the most important thing in the show, regardless of all else. It's all about the story, the facts, the details. All the content is the most important thing. And then you get the other side of things where somebody would start a podcast and they're usually a little more loose.

[00:03:31] And because they don't have, say, a really core focus on their show, like their show really isn't like nailed down around a particular like topic, like say true crime is that their show will probably be a little more loose. And they'll talk more about themselves and talk about what's going on in their day. And it'd be more about like what they've done and things they've done. That's kind of what we did on the Chris Gerstein show.

[00:03:59] And I made that mistake and I realized that that only usually your closest friends are probably going to be tuning in to your show about you, especially when you're first starting out, because you have not built an audience yet. You are unknown to the world other than your close family and friends, really. So some people will jump into that format.

[00:04:23] And I think it gets very easy to do that, fall into the, I'm going to talk about what I did all day long on this show rather than the content. But the sad truth is when it comes to podcasting, you have to think of it like a book, for example, or maybe a movie or something like that. Where like if you, if you were to rent a movie or buy a movie or buy a book and you open it up and maybe, you know, there's something about the author, but not a lot about the author. The book is about the book.

[00:04:53] You came there for the content. You came there for the material. So the hard truth about podcasting is that something I didn't realize until much later is that people are not really tuning in to hear about me and what I'm doing during the day. They're tuning in for the content.

[00:05:11] So something to really think about as a new indie podcast, let's just say somebody that's fairly new, has not created, you know, many episodes, has not been doing this for very long, has no built-in audience, just a regular person off the street like me, like you, just a regular Joe, you know, doing a podcast for fun, just because we want to. Great. That's amazing. Podcasting is fun. I love doing podcasts. I love all this stuff.

[00:05:37] But you are not as important as you think you are, especially when you're building an audience, especially when you're first getting started. You yourself is not as important as your content. Like I said, I know it gets very, very tempting to lead the podcast talking about every single thing you did in your personal life. And we did that on the Chris and Christine show. And we did that for pretty much all of the episodes.

[00:06:05] We led the first maybe 20 minutes of the episode was talking about things we did. And I know that some of our close family and friends appreciated hearing that stuff because it was a way for them to really get an insight on what we were up to and what we were doing. And some can say, yeah, they just follow you on social media. You're posting different things on social media. It's kind of the same thing. Yes, I get that. That's the thing.

[00:06:29] So I came into podcasting with an entirely different mindset than that I probably should have back then. My entire mindset around podcasting was recreating what I heard on morning radio. And when you listen to morning radio, a lot of the big shows, they would do tons of like storytelling and tons of like what we did over the last week, this fun vacation we went on, this different stuff.

[00:06:54] A lot of the big morning shows would tell personal stories like that to get you to really care about the hosts that were on the morning show. That's why they kind of did that. Of course, they'd weave in different topics and they weave in different things. In fact, I was listening to a morning show the other day and I was like, it's kind of boring really because they were kind of talking about some stuff and I just wasn't really into what they were saying. It felt very, I guess, watered down, just generic, basic, boring stuff.

[00:07:22] I mean, maybe the top five this or top 10 that, that kind of gets things going. But they were telling some personal things and they weren't really even interesting, really to tell you the truth. I was almost like, where's the content at? Where's the actual stuff? You're talking about what you did yesterday. You're kind of like making jokes about it, but there's nothing really there.

[00:07:42] And I think as an indie hobby podcaster starting out, if we lean into that direction, sometimes the content gets buried around all the fluff and the audience is just sitting there listening, wondering like, hey, where's the actual meat and potatoes to this thing? Where's the actual real thing about this podcast here? I hear you're talking about, you know, your cat whiskers. And I hear you're talking about the cool thing you did today, yesterday at the mall or whatever. Yeah, I get all that stuff.

[00:08:10] But I thought we're going to talk about this topic. I thought we're going to get to that. And I get it. I really do. I mean, we hear the big shows, like every single big show we hear, we have a big celebrity. Like I was modeling it after the radio shows, but you can insert say big time celebrity show. And we have two big time celebrities kind of sitting back, having a conversation. They're usually talking about maybe what they did or their personal lives or different things. It's very casual talk. And I get all that.

[00:08:39] And that's why that's probably why we actually fall into the trap of imitating those big time shows because they can get away with it because they have a big name. Us indie podcasters, us small time shows, we have not earned the right to just come on and talk about whatever we want and expect to have a big audience and expect listeners to stick around because we have not earned that right yet. We are not big enough. And that's the truth.

[00:09:09] We're not as big as we want to be. Oh, we have a podcast. Oh, great. I got a podcast. Listen, my son who's 12, 13 now, I guess, he can make a podcast right now. In fact, his YouTube channel, he's had since he was like, I don't know how many years ago, he's had the YouTube channel. You know, but whatever, just because you can make it doesn't make you famous. And just because you can create it doesn't make it worth anyone's time to listen to it.

[00:09:31] And the sad truth is that we have not earned that right to ramble on our podcast, especially as an indie hobby podcaster. But listen, I'm going to say this once and I've said it before and I'll probably say it a million times till I'm dead. I'll say it all day long is that if you are a podcaster right now, you can create your show however you want to create your show. It's your show. Do it however you want.

[00:09:56] But if the goal is to have listeners and if the goal is to get an audience, then maybe talking about your cat whiskers for 15 minutes before you get to the topic of the content of your show. Might not be a wise decision. And I know the big guys do it. I know. I've heard them. I get it. But they're also famous. And they were probably famous way before they pressed record on their show.

[00:10:23] When a brand new listener discovers a brand new show for the very first time, the listener will, you know, especially new ones to that show. They hit play because they're looking for a solution. Maybe even an insight they don't know about or possibly they want to hear an interesting discussion. Just a matter of fact, there's a couple of new shows I started listening to. It was the governor of California. Gavin Newsom has a brand new podcast. Surprise. He has a podcast.

[00:10:50] And anyways, he was interviewing lots of different people from all walks of life. He's a, you know, Democrat. But he's interviewing people on the right side of the aisle and the left side of the aisle having discussions. It's very open. It's very, well, let's just say it's a lot of interesting dialogue going back and forth. There's not a lot of yelling. There's not a lot of like bickering. It's an open, honest conversation. I believe that what Gavin is trying to do is he's trying to bring everybody.

[00:11:15] He says everybody's included in the tent to have a conversation and to have a discussion. So that is what his show is about right now. And he's probably running for president in 2028. And so that's what he's probably doing. So in the meantime, what he's doing, he's actually building an audience. And he's trying to get the word out that he's serious about actually getting people on both sides of the aisle to have a conversation. And I totally respect that. And I totally appreciate that.

[00:11:44] We need to have more open discussions with people with different views than we do. And I think I give him props for actually having that happen because most people probably couldn't do that. I mean, you ever had a podcast guest on your show that you completely disagreed with, like everything they're saying. And you're just sitting there, like nodding your head, like, yeah, okay. I guess. Yeah, maybe. I mean, we've done that.

[00:12:08] And sometimes what people will do is they will do the interview and totally disagree with everything the guest says. And then they'll just not air the episode because they're like, well, it does not go with my core values. Well, you probably should have had them on the show in the first place because then you're wasting their time, wasting their time. But that's another story. You know, what's funny is that there are probably many different shows about the same type of material. If you think about it, how many podcasts are there about podcasting?

[00:12:37] Hey, I don't have the exact number, but I did hear somebody say this on a podcast once. They said they looked up podcasts about podcasting. I think they came up with about 20 or so different shows that were actually creating actual episodes regularly. Podcasts about podcasting, 20 or so. Maybe it's 50. I thought it was a lot more than that. But besides the point, a lot of the shows cover the exact same content. Oh, here's this new microphone. Here's this new software. Here's this new thing. Here's that new thing. Here's something. Here's that.

[00:13:04] A lot of the content is probably the same between shows. And we all kind of expect that and understand that. But what makes each show different than the other, even though it's covering the exact same stuff, is the personality of the host behind each show or host, however they do it. And that's kind of been my new spin here at Podtastic Audio is really trying to dive into fun, authentic.

[00:13:30] I call it authentic podcasting, meaning that I'm not trying to just copy the next guy down the street. This other podcast about podcasts, not just copy what they did and say it into the microphone, but really give my own spin, my own unique personality and make it fun and real and authentic and organic and make it feel like I'm talking directly to you.

[00:13:51] And that's what makes each podcast different than the other, because your personality is the flavor, but the content is actually the meal. So what I'm saying is, is that you are not removing you from the show. We're not removing yourself from the show. We're just reframing your role. You're the host, not the star. Think about that. You are the host of your podcast. You are not some big influencer star.

[00:14:20] And I know that can be very hard, a very hard pill to swallow for some of us because you think, oh my gosh, I have a podcast or I have a YouTube channel or I have an Instagram page. Whoop-dee-doo. Did you hear about my 13 year old who's had a YouTube channel since forever with like almost 5,000, 7,000 subscribers or whatever he's got on there? I mean, it's ridiculous, really. So if he can do it, then anybody can do it. And just because you did do it doesn't automatically make you important.

[00:14:48] But hey, before you get your panties in a bunch, don't you worry. People will care about you. Trust me, they will after you provide some value. That's what it's all about. It's about delivering value so they get to know the value that you bring will make them want to care about you. So let's just imagine that you can tell amazing stories. You've been everywhere on earth. Maybe you did some time in the military. Maybe you're in the Navy and you traveled the seven seas, as it were. You went to every port.

[00:15:18] You went to everywhere in the world. You have stories for days. Days and days and days. Those are, that's great and all. But you can share those stories only when they support the episode's topic or lesson. And I know that some shows, like we did the Chris and Christine show, was at first really a random discussion type of show. If you think about it, the core of it all was really just us talking about us and our stuff. And then maybe bring on a guest and their stuff. Things like that.

[00:15:47] But there was no real core lesson to be figured out. Sometimes there was. I guess if we were doing a guest interview and the guest was talking about a particular topic. And we would kind of like weave in our own stories to help support the topic they're talking about. So in that case, yes, that would work. But the entire show just can't be just random talk. I mean, is this a diary or is it a podcast? I mean, it's a podcast diary. I don't know. It's your show. You can do it however you want.

[00:16:17] All I'm saying is that you wouldn't go to a cooking show to hear someone talk about their laundry, right? You want the recipe. Then you'll listen to their side story because you came there for the content. So here's a little quick tip you can do right now. So think of it like this. When you start an episode, you want to hook the audience. You want to hook them first, right? Ooh, what's this about? Ooh, what is this? I love this idea. What happens next? That's the hook. Great.

[00:16:45] You probably heard one at the beginning of this episode. In fact, I know you did because I was pulling on there. Anyways, you go with the hook. Then you go with the topic. What is this episode about? And if you want to, it's really up to you. Do an optional short story to help support the topic. And then you go with a lesson and a takeaway. What we learned. Here's the takeaway. And then you close the episode. That formula will help keep people engaged time and time again.

[00:17:15] Okay. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, hey, Chris. Okay. That's great and all. But why does this even make a difference? Like, why does changing into this format actually move the needle? Well, it's because when you stop centering the episode around yourself, you are not the star, and start focusing on your audience, your show becomes much easier to recommend. Easier to stick with. And get this, it's easier to grow.

[00:17:46] What? Did I just blow your mind right there? We all want to grow our show. It's probably the number one request when it comes to podcast advice is how do I grow my show? Well, first things first, you probably have to have somebody else other than mom check it out and actually do an audit of your show. And if your show is basically talking about whiskers to cat for the first 15 minutes, and then you get into the actual lesson or the topic of the show, and then, you know, you exit with whatever.

[00:18:15] But if you decide to flip this, change it all around and start with leading with clear, valuable episodes, that will equal to returning listeners. Now, returning listeners will actually share the show and recommend the show. So you want to have the same people listening to this episode listening to the next episode. And then you want to bring in more and more. That's how you grow your show.

[00:18:41] Because if you have people coming into the show for the very first time, they press play. Great. You got that one download. But if they're not sticking around, then they're leaving. Then you have to go out and hunt out for more people. And I know that usually what's what happens with most shows, because we'll see the numbers and we'll see the kind of like kind of flat line. They kind of stay roughly around the same. And that's because you get, you know, new people coming in and those people leave.

[00:19:10] And new more new people coming in and people leave. And it seems to kind of balance out. It's basically like a bucket with holes in the bottom of it, filling with water. And the water keeps pouring out the bottom. And you're wondering why the bucket is always need to be filled up because it keeps leaking out. So people share shows that make them look smart or solve their problem. So if you're doing a podcast about random nothingness and you're expecting it to grow, maybe not. I don't know.

[00:19:37] You know, I mean, the ones that rant for maybe 20 minutes, not so much. They don't usually get shared unless there's something in that rant that is absolute gold. I don't know what that would be, but something completely gold is an isolated moment. And then basically what are you gonna do? Like chop the rest out, make it like a one minute podcast. I guess you could. You can do whatever you want. Hey, side note here. If you're doing like one minute podcast, why don't just make like a TikTok or a Instagram reel or both or something like that?

[00:20:07] Because that's all you really need for that. You probably can grow much faster and you can having a podcast. That's just a side note right there. But have you ever listened to a podcast? You're like, oh my goodness, this is some valuable information. They said some crazy things that were pretty cool and actually pretty knowledgeable. Actually, I feel pretty smart listening to this podcast right now. They said some really cool stuff. So then you like go share it with your friend. You're like, oh, I heard this on a podcast. I heard this and this on a podcast. You got to check this out. It was really cool.

[00:20:37] And especially if it's a podcast that solves someone's problem or helps them figure out what's going on in their personal lives. I mean, we're all struggling with something. I mean, I got stuff I'm working on right now. I'm going through a lot of stuff as we speak right now.

[00:20:51] And because of that, I'm probably switching my focus to shows that help me solve personal issues that I'm dealing with rather than the funsy ha ha type of shows that don't really give me any true value. There's always value in everything, but not the kind of value that I'm looking for at the moment. I think sometimes when a listener finds a new show, they're looking for a particular thing.

[00:21:18] And if your show doesn't deliver the thing they're looking for right away, immediately, then they're probably going to tune out. They're probably going to stick around. They're probably going to leave your show. You're going to wonder like, what happened to all my listeners? Why does someone listen for like a few minutes and they turn it off? Why is that possible? How is that possible? Why can't they listen to me talk about, you know, this and that and all this great stuff? But it's all about delivering value. And the sad truth is, is that you are not as important as you may think you are.

[00:21:45] Just because you have a show does not mean a single thing, especially in this day and age. It might have been something 15 years ago. Like 15 years ago, if you had a YouTube channel or maybe even a podcast or something like that, 15 years ago, you're probably, you know, King Tut. You thought you had, you know, you were like one of few. Now you're just a speck of sand on the beach of all the podcasts and all the YouTube channels and all the TikToks and all the Instagram places and all that stuff.

[00:22:13] You are just a, you know, speck of sand in comparison to all of them. But how do you stand out? How do you get your show to be the one they pick up and look at and say, what's that? Is that a diamond? Check that out. Yeah. I mean, imagine if you were on a first date and you wouldn't even really talk about yourself on the date. Would you even expect to get a second date? I mean, they wouldn't even know anything about you. They wouldn't get to know you. So they came on the date.

[00:22:43] They get to know you. And you didn't share anything about yourself, like anything at all. Then why would they stick around for date number two? It's the same thing with your audience. Now, I mentioned this earlier in this very episode about getting an audit of your podcast by somebody that possibly doesn't know you personally, like your mother or your brother or maybe your sister or somebody like that. They say, oh, it's so great. Your podcast looks amazing. Look at you. You're doing a podcast. How cute is that? That's amazing. Good job on you.

[00:23:13] Well, do you listen to it, mom? Nah, I don't listen to podcasts. Well, then how do you know it's great? Oh, because it's you. You did a great job. You're always great. But what you got to do is we do audit your podcast. And think about this. You can probably audit your own podcast. I know I do all the time. Go back, listen to other episodes. But when you do listen to old episodes, probably think to yourself like as a listener, if possible, just listen back and say, what would a listener be thinking when they listen to the show right now?

[00:23:42] And think, would a brand new listener care about this episode from the very first minute? And the key word in this is brand new listener. And I know your usual listeners or your parents or your mother or your whoever, they already know you. I get that. What I'm talking about is a brand new listener. Somebody to press play on your show for the very, very first time. And could they get through the first minute?

[00:24:10] Does the first minute drive the entire episode? Does the very first minute get to the point, tell you what the show is about, tell you what the episode is about, make you want to continue listening? If the answer is no, well, then that's just an easy fix. You know, podcasting is never set in stone. It can be whatever you want, however you want to do it, whenever you want to record.

[00:24:34] As an indie hobby podcaster, we are not set to any like guidelines of, oh, you have to record on this day. You have to release on that day. You have to be here for that and do this and all this stuff and blah, blah, blah. You can take months off. You can take weeks off. You can take years off. You can do whatever you want because you are independent. Independent, that's what it means to be an indie hobby podcaster. Hey, thank you so much for being here all the way to the very end of this episode. I appreciate you so much.

[00:25:01] I do this show for you so you can create an amazing podcast, so I can create an amazing podcast, so we all can create an amazing podcast and support each other in this great podcasting journey. We are not famous. Our names alone aren't going to stand out in the crowd of other podcasts. So we have to deliver some kind of value first. You have to give the audience a reason to press play. And after they press play and you give them that reason to press play,

[00:25:28] then they'll stick around to hear about you because at that point, after you've given the value, they're going to be excited to hear what you are all about. But you can't get there until you deliver value first. Thank you once again. You can find me at podtasticaudio.com. Everything you want to know is right there and link to it down in the show notes. But most importantly, my brand new book, The Podtastic Playbook is now on sale right now on Amazon and Apple and Barnes & Noble.

[00:25:58] All the links are down in the show notes of this episode. And I was just on Amazon right now looking at it, and I was seeing some of the brand new reviews that are coming in for this book. And one top of the list right now, scroll right here, it says it is a must-have for aspiring podcasters. Five-star review. I love this book. As someone new to podcasting world, I found this book to be an invaluable resource.

[00:26:23] The book breaks down complex concepts like easy to understand steps, making the journeys into podcasting much less daunting. The actual advice provided has given me the confidence to start my own show. Well, check that out. Here we go. Here's another one. It says, Five-star review. In this book, the author, Chris Smith, that's me, offers a wealth of information on growing and monetizing a podcast.

[00:26:51] His insights into audience engagement and sponsorship are particularly enlightening. I appreciate the straightforward approach and have already implemented several strategies with positive results. What my new book is changing the world. It's changing podcasts, and people are taking the advice that I've given in the book and putting it into their own shows, and it's making a difference. Thank you so much for buying the book. If you have already, I really appreciate it. Links below in the show notes.

[00:27:20] Links right on my website, podtasticaudio.com. If you go to the About section on Podtastic Audio, down at the bottom is where links are to the book right there. But it's the Podtastic Playbook. Grab yourself a copy, and I will see you on the very next episode. And until then, happy podcasting.