We've had a few good questions in over the past couple of months, and I thought it was about time I had a bash at answering them.
So here is that bash...
If this is a common occurrence, it might have a wee bit to do with the way you're asking the questions. If you find yourself asking for someone's thoughts or beliefs, try to reframe it so you're asking about their experiences. That alone can give them more to work with and cut the rambling. Also, ask them about specific moments, rather than a wide focus on their career or journey.
During the recording session, give yourself permission to step in if you see them floundering. Something like "I want to come back to something you said earlier..." is a liferaft a rambling guest will happily grab on to.
If you're at the editing phase, you can be quite brutal, too. Instead of cutting out all the rambling, find the few areas where they got to the point, answered the questions, and offered valuable insights. Chop those out instead, and work with that material.
If this gives you 15 minutes of content from an hour-long chat, then so be it. You can add in your own commentary or thoughts if you prefer to stick to a consistent length. But the worst thing you can do is make your listener chew through a bucket of word salad.
Mic Drop Fact: A microphone works in reverse to a speaker.
Speakers convert electrical signals into movement and sound. Microphones do the opposite: they convert movement from sound into electrical signals.
I'm an over-planner, and a lot of people tell me to "just launch". Do you agree?
Yes and no. A good way to break through a couple of mental and technological hurdles is to launch an experimental one-episode show where you talk for five minutes about a hobby or interest, then publish it and see it out there on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
But, if you're interested in podcasting on a certain topic far into the future, you'll need to do a wee bit more groundwork on the aims and outcomes. Check out our PATH Framework for more help on that front.
In the main, though, planning out your podcast is more like a couple of hours with a coffee and a notepad than it is months in a library writing a university dissertation!
How do I keep going when downloads are flat, and it's been 8 months?
The first thing is to identify whether you have the same people turning up every episode, or you have a "leaky bucket" where you're finding new listeners and losing older ones in equal measure. A tool like The Bumper Dashboard can help with this. Maybe your marketing is great, but your actual content is just missing the mark and not doing enough to keep people around.
On the flip side, if you have the same people coming back again and again, then you must be doing something right. If that's the case, a simple call to action like "if you've enjoyed today's episode, please share it with someone else who might benefit from it" can give you a boost.
Of course, there are many, many ways to market and promote your podcast. SCALE is another of our frameworks, and something you can spend a full year working on to make sure you leave no growth opportunity untapped.
I enjoy recording solo more than interviewing, but will this hurt my numbers?
Hypothetically, interview shows grow because each guest promotes their episode with their own audience. There's some truth to this, but it isn't as simple as folk make out.
Besides, your starting point should be impact, not numbers. You have the opportunity to make a bigger impact on your listeners when you go solo. When it's just you and your mic, you are the authority. You're not borrowing it from someone else each week.
And in a world where "a podcast" is increasingly thought of as two people talking, going it alone can give you a real USP.
If you enjoy making solo episodes, then your listeners will enjoy hearing them. You're also likely to keep going and to stick at it for the long haul. In short, you should embrace the fact that you've found your ideal podcast format - go run with it!
🧙♂️ The Podcasting Sage Says:
“Consistency builds trust. Personality builds loyalty.”
Show up regularly, but don’t forget to show up as yourself.
⛔ Tech Getting in Your Way? 😣
Most podcasters don't start because they want to become audio engineers or spend hours editing.
We built Alitu so you could focus on your voice, your message, and your audience. Try it free for seven days, and see for yourself how quick and easy it makes everything.
Some notable features include text-based editing, automatic filler-word removal, and you'll be amazed at how it cleans up your audio and fixes the volume levels.
You can also record and publish your podcast in the Alitu interface, meaning you don't need multiple subscriptions to other platforms.
It's the ultimate all-in-one podcast platform, built for podcasters, by podcasters. And you can earn $25 for each new customer you refer to Alitu, too!
Cheers!
Matthew & Jacob