Podcast Housekeeping: Is Your Podcast Introduction Still Doing Its Job?

Your podcast introduction can keep doing its job for a long time without you thinking much about it. Then one day you listen back and realize it is talking to an audience you don’t really serve anymore, describing work you no longer do, or setting up a version of the podcast that just doesn’t exist at this point.

That is why I like checking in on this every year. Your business changes in small ways all the time, and your podcast changes with it. The intro can sound perfectly fine while still being slightly off in the places that matter, including who the show is for, what you want the listener to understand, and the role the podcast is actually playing in your business now.

In this episode of The More Profitable Podcast, I’m walking through what your podcast introduction needs to accomplish, how your episode hook, pre-recorded podcast intro, and opening call to action work together, and what to look for when you decide whether your current introduction still fits or if it is time to update it.

0:55 - Why your podcast introduction needs to change as your business evolves

1:54 - How an annual podcast intro audit keeps your show aligned with your audience

5:36 - How the episode hook, show promise, and episode setup work together

6:59 - Where an opening call to action fits in your podcast episode structure

9:41 - What your podcast episode opening has to accomplish for the listener

11:30 - How to audit the length, promise, and audience alignment of your pre-recorded intro

13:31 - Does your podcast introduction still sound like you and your brand?

16:22 - What makes an episode hook clear and compelling without becoming clickbait

19:10 - How to update your podcast introduction without adding repetition

20:43 - Which episodes to include in your podcast intro audit

Mentioned In Is Your Podcast Introduction Still Doing Its Job?

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Transcript

Stacey Harris: It's that time of year again. That's right. It's August and that means the podcast housekeeping series. We are kicking off today talking about the intro to your episode. What is the job it needs to be doing? Do we need to be checking in on it? Is it still doing the things we need it to do? All of those are questions we're going to ask and you are going to answer in this first episode of our annual podcast housekeeping series. Let's get into it.

Welcome to The More Profitable Podcast with Stacey Harris. I'm Stacey and this is the spot to learn more about the strategies, tactics, and tools you need to build your more profitable podcast. My team and I work every day with podcasters like you to shift shows from frustrating time sucks to productive members of your sales team because your show should be built to generate and convert leads.

Let's get into it. I like to start here because it feels like the beginning, right? This is so often the first thing anyone hears of our show and even for our returning listener it's the first bit of this episode, right? So it is the first impression of this episode even if it is not the first impression of the show and so we want to make sure it's doing what it needs to be doing not just for the listener but for us as the host and business owner. We want to make sure that it is still in line with our audience, our offers, our positioning, the format and structure of our show, and most importantly for us the role the podcast is playing in our business because if we launched the show even just a year ago but certainly two or three or five or in my case it's been more than a decade.

We launched the show in 2012. If we had the same intro now it would be a little confusing. Now I want to start by saying I highly recommend reviewing this annually. This is something I try to do with our production clients right about the same time every year. I look at my own show. Part of the reason we do this podcast housekeeping series every year is because this is the work I'm doing in August on my own show. I'm sitting down and making sure everything fits, everything is still in alignment because I think especially when you're somebody who thinks of your business as sort of ever evolving, ever growing, I sort of treat my business as if it were weirdly kind of a person, right? We grow and we evolve as we have experiences, as we try things. We're always maturing. We're always sort of moving in a direction, good, bad, or indifferent.

We're moving in a direction, right? And it's easy as we take these little steps to slowly get off course and oftentimes it can be 12 or 18 or 24 months since the last time we looked at our intro and suddenly we're like, wait, wait, wait, wait. That part of my business doesn't even exist anymore. I don't talk to that audience anymore. I would say the biggest culprit of this is that audience alignment component. Often your offer is the same. Your industry is the same.

How you talk about your work is the same, but who you're talking to is different. And if the first thing someone hears when they come into my show as a, let's say, experienced business owner, as an established podcast, is hear me talk about how we're going to help you launch a show, they're going to go, oh, well, this isn't for me. I'm not who she's talking to. We don't want to create that. And that is what I most often see is that audience alignment piece is off. So you are going to treat August as your time to check in.

Starting with this, I want us to start talking about our intro as the general opening, because in the past when I've talked about this, I've talked about the intro as sort of that pre-recorded intro. You heard the one we have for this show, right? Which by the time we finish August might not be the same as we go into September, because that's right, I'm doing this work too. And how the show is structured right now is actually an example of having done this work before.

When we talk about intros, we so often think of just the pre-recorded, we drop it into every episode intro that says the name of the show and who the host is and sort of buys a little credibility. More and more, those aren't super necessary. I have clients right now who don't have a pre-recorded intro. They have a thing they say as they come into the show that leads right into their episode hook. I'd argue that their episode hook is as much a part of their intro as the set, sort of, I'm going to say stock blurb that they have at the beginning saying what the show is and a brief description and the host's name. For example, I'd be here a little bit of music and then it's welcome to The More Profitable Podcast with Stacey Harris. I'm Stacey Harris. This is the show where you blah, blah, blah, blah. Let's get into it. Today we're going to talk about, and I have clients who do that as one read for each episode. They don't have, we have music that we lay under it and that's consistent, but that intro is all recorded for each episode because they want it to all really connect together and they want that really natural move through. On the flip side, my show is structured a little differently.

I have what I call a live read, the episode hook at the top where I tell you kind of what we're going to talk about today. That's where I'm delivering the episode promise. And then I have that recurring show introduction, that pre-recorded part where I say, welcome to The More Profitable Podcast. This was Stacey Harris. I'm Stacey Harris. That sits there as what I consider the show promise. And then I have a third piece where I come in and I restate the thesis of the show, as it were, kind of give you an idea of what we're going to talk about. That's where I'm sort of setting the tent poles of what I want you to be paying attention to as this conversation rolls out. I find that piece to be even more important when you have regular guests or when you have an episode where you have a guest, because that is your opportunity to highlight some of the things you're going to have in that conversation, especially when the guest you have on is maybe part of a case study or is talking about their experience with you as a client.

I want to set those mile markers, we're going to call them, those flags of what I want my listener paying attention to, because I'm looking to make my listener see themselves in this guest. And so I want those points to land. And so I'm going to use that episode setup part of what I'm calling my general introduction area of the episode.

I'm going to use that then. The last part of that, and I didn't do it in this episode, but I do it in most episodes. This episode is crafted a little differently because of the structure of the series, which we'll talk about in a future episode in the series. But oftentimes what comes after that episode intro for me, or that episode setup for me, is my first call to action. Generally that first call to action for me is a no payment required. So if I'm doing a roundtable or a webinar, I'm going to promote that there. If I'm going to point you to sort of a general opt-in, like the podcast newsroom, I'm pointing you there. We've got another private podcast around launching, I'm going to point you there if the episode content is really geared towards somebody getting ready to launch. Whatever it is, that CTA may change. But I have a moment early in the episode where I invite you to do something. Now, partially, that's because I want you to do something, obviously. But the other part of that is I want to set the tone for what's happening.

This is not a place where you come and passively, blindly consume and move on to the next. I'm not building you your next Netflix binge, right? I'm building you a roadmap to get to the result you want. And that roadmap is not going to be complete. The destination is not going to happen through listening to the episodes alone. And so I need to get you used to the idea that there's off-ramps. And those off-ramps are going to actually get you to the destination you want. If you're cruising down the highway, you don't get to a destination until you get off the highway. Think of your podcast as that highway and your offers as those off-ramps. They can't get where they want to go if they just stay on the highway. They've got to hop out. And so I like ending this sort of general front end of the podcast that we're going to call intro with that first call to action so that we can remind the listener that there are off-ramps. There are paths to the place you actually want to go.

This also helps your call to action at the end, which we're going to talk about next week when we talk about outros. So make sure you listen to that. But it's going to make it easier for that to land because it's not like you're just running out of freeway. We're not just going down the highway and suddenly the freeway ends, right? That's what it can feel like if we don't set them up knowing there are off-ramps to this. Those off-ramps are our calls to action. So let's take a step back and think about first what our opening to the show needs to accomplish. Your title got people to click and hear any amount of audio. So you've made some amount of promise. Our intro needs to confirm that promise and move them into sort of delivering of that promise, right? So we want to confirm the listeners in the right place. Yep, this really is The More Profitable Podcast with Stacey Harris. Good job. Yep, this really is the topic you wanted to hear about. This really is me talking about building your podcast intro, building the opening to your podcast. That's what the title said. That's really what this episode is going to be about.

I also want to establish why this matters. And this for me is in that episode setup area, not so much the hook, not so much our main show intro, but in that episode setup area. That's where I need to be setting the tone for their listener experience and establishing why this matters. That means giving them an idea. Again, I come back to this. Remember like sixth grade, fourth grade? I don't know. When did we learn about thesis statements? Remember learning about thesis statements? This is that. Here's what we're going to talk about today. Here's why it matters to you. That's what I want you to be covering them. And I want to get them to the meat and potatoes of this conversation without any sort of distractions. So really be trying to not go on a crazy rant here and sidestep into other journeys. This is the thing I have to watch for because I'll get an idea and I'll go down a rabbit hole. I'll be like, wait, wait, wait, got to stay focused. That's really important. So now that we've sort of talked through that first show structure, I want to move you into your action for this episode. And that is to audit your recurring show introduction. For this show, that's where the music kicks in to where the music kicks out.

That's the pre-recorded thing you hear every episode. I keep it around 30 seconds so that it's really easy for somebody to jump through by hitting that fast, skip 15 seconds, fast forward real quick. Because for me, that pre-recorded intro is much more for somebody new to the show and new to me than it is for somebody who listens every week. Because if you listen every week, you've probably heard it. You know who I am. You know what the show is about. You know who the show is for. And so we want to keep this brief because we don't want to lose our returning listeners. Because generally speaking, one episode of a podcast, not enough to build trust and make the sale, right? Move someone into action. So I want to make that easy to skip by making it not too long or easy to sit through by making it, again, not too long. So check your length. Is it too long? Is it short enough? Again, 15 to 30 seconds is a really good sweet spot for this intro. Is the promise you're making in it still accurate? Is the thing you're saying this show delivers the thing this show actually delivers? Does it speak to who you are actually speaking to? If I'm building a podcast for podcasters, my intro probably shouldn't be talking about blogging. On the flip side, if I am a business coach for dog groomers, I'm probably not going to be talking about veterinarian services in my intro. You'd be surprised at how often this happens because we said something in an intro we recorded five years ago and we never changed it.

The next one I want you to look at is does it sound like you and your brand as you and your brand sound now? This is especially important for podcasters who maybe launched their show six to 12 months ago. You learn so much after you launch your show about your voice, about how you present content in this audio medium, that sometimes that intro you recorded when you were batching those first six or 12 episodes just doesn't sound like you anymore. Especially if you still have the intro and you are 12 plus months from your launch that you recorded at launch, it's probably going to be time to really take a look at this and be honest about does it sound like you. That's going to be everything from the actual sound of your voice. For example, if and I'm saying don't do this, don't actually do this, but if you did go listen to old episodes, you'll notice my voice sits a bit higher because I very much so used to have a voice I turned on when I was doing this and when I was on stage. Now after many, many, many, many, many, many, many years of podcasting and speaking to audiences, my voice stays at my regular register. It doesn't sort of performatively go up like this so that I can pretend to be excited and get you excited too. And oftentimes that's where our intro sits and it can feel really abrasive when you drop into the show and then it's me just talking to you. All right.

This is also really important to think about. There has been a real move away from this, but if you are a business owner who is providing a service and or coaching, consulting, whatever it is, but your clients are working with you, your clients are getting to know you, your personal brand is a big part of your business's brand. Don't have AI do a voiceover. Don't hire somebody to do a voiceover. Talk to your audience and this should be you. I think there, you know, once upon a time in the podcasting space, there was absolutely a trend towards sounding more professional and sounding more legit by investing in a voiceover artist recording an intro for you. And that's made so much easier now with AI. But if you're looking to build trust, it needs to be you. It just does. Those are the questions I want you to ask about your recurring, your sort of pre-recorded intro. As you're looking at your hook, some things I want you to keep in mind episode to episode. This is sort of the filter I run things through as I'm getting ready to put together my intro, which is probably the most, the closest to scripted is that hook.

Does it connect with the actual thing I'm talking about? And more importantly, connect it to why the listener should care about what I'm talking about. Does it sound natural or does it sound hypey? Does it create curiosity without sounding clickbaity or being overly vague? Like we're not looking to like, do you remember back in the day when people would post like vague feelings on Facebook? And we'd call it like vague booking. We don't want to do that with our hook, right? We're not looking to trick you. Again, we get into clickbaity territory. I want you to avoid summarizing the whole episode and does it lead cleanly into whatever comes next? So if you're somebody who has a pre-recorded intro, like I do, does it lead naturally into that? If you're somebody who live reads your intro as part of moving through the show. And again, I have clients who do that. Does it flow from one thing to the next, or does it feel like you're jumping in and out? We want to reduce that because those are friction points and we are looking to have as few of those as possible. So we want to avoid a couple of things, right? We want to avoid being overly repetitive. We want to avoid anything that's going to date it, or especially if we're using a pre-recorded one, it would be weird if my pre-recorded intro said 2022 and now it's 2024 or 2026.

It would be weird. It would be even weirder if it was like a one number, right? Like if it was like 2016 or 2018, we want it to feel like now. And the best way to do that, don't include a date because that's going to make it sort of be on a clock and give it a lot less life. We also want to avoid being too all about us. And I think a way this happens is actually not in a like, I'm talking about myself too much, but in a way where we try to entertain ourselves. And we do this, I think, by being overly jargony and overly clever. We're trying to elevate ourselves by seeming even smarter, even funnier, even more charming, whatever it is. That's a, that's an ego thing. That's about us. Clarity is the best gift we can give them because it's going to allow them to know very quickly, in a land of a bazillion choices, that this is the right choice and they're in the right place. After you go through and you audit, I'm going to tell you to do your last three to five episodes. As you go through and you listen to those episodes, I want you to start making some decisions.

What needs to change? What needs to say the same? Are you going to keep that pre-recorded intro? Does it need to be updated? Are you going to ditch the pre-recorded intro for more of a natural live read? Are you going to do that and still have a hook? Or are you going to just start and move right into your episode content? What does it need to look like now? Then I want you to rewrite the introduction. Not an introduction rooted in proving yourself and why you're so great, but an introduction rooted in making it clear what the show's about, who the show's for, and why they should be here. That's what I want you to do. And I want you to remove or restructure any natural repetition that happens. So if you start your show with a pre-recorded intro that says, welcome to The More Profitable Podcast, I'm Stacey Harris. When you start your episodes, you should not be starting with welcome to The More Profitable Podcast because you've already welcomed us. You pre-recorded that. It's going to feel weird to jump right in, but you already recorded the part where you welcomed us. Get into the episode. Remove those friction points of repetition. This is not going to take you long because this is two or three minutes of your three to five most recent episodes. If you have solo episodes and guest episodes, make sure you're looking at at least a couple of each.

So maybe it's two guests, two solos. I'd also really encourage you to maybe not just choose the most recent episodes, but episodes that serve different jobs in your business. So if you are somebody who has an audio sales page, an audio sales page episode, look at your intro for that. A guest episode that's a case study, audit one of those. A very like nurture education, moving them into a decision kind of episode, audit one of those. This is going to make sure that you have consistency across different types and different tones because those episodes do different jobs.

And naturally, because they do different jobs, there's going to be some differences, right? There's going to be some uniqueness, but generally it still needs to look and feel like your show. So we still want to make sure we have that cohesion of the brand. I want you to write down what you like and what you don't like. And then I want you to make decisions. I don't want you to make decisions until you take note of what's there. Be looking at it not from a decision place, but from an information gathering place because you will get more valuable information from that. And then go and do something with this. Update your intro. Rethink how you structure the on-ramp of your show. I'm really into the roadway metaphors today. Rethink how your on-ramp goes, the process. This is something we do annually with all of our clients. In some cases, it's very clear to them because I will talk to them about it. In other cases, it's not because nothing needs to change and I just audited it and I was like, yeah, it's great. We're good. 

If you're interested in getting support like this, not just for your intro, but for your whole show, having someone in your corner who's helping keep an eye on these things. Let's talk about production. You can head over to uncommonlymore.com/podcastproduction to learn more about what working with our team looks like. Otherwise, I will see you right back here next week. We're going to have the same conversation except we're going to talk about the back end of our show. We're going to talk about those off-ramps.

We're going to talk about our outros and those calls to action that we have at the end of the episode because if somebody's listening to the whole show, we need to tell them where to go next. All right, I'll see you next week.  Thanks so much for listening to the show. Remember that content consumption does not make changes. Commit to doing something from today's episode. Maybe it's taking action on what we talked about. Maybe it's reaching out to me and learning more about podcast strategy intensives or what podcast production looks like with our team. All of that is over at uncommonlymore.com. If you haven't yet signed up for the podcast newsroom, I want to remind you that is a great next step. If you're not really sure what comes next, hang out over there. Get those exclusive private episodes. That's over at podcastnewsroom.com. The last favor I will ask because social proof is endlessly important for sure is to leave a rating or review for this show. If you go to ratethispodcast.com slash more, that's the easiest way to do it, but I would love to hear what you thought of the show, what you think of the show, and if the show has been helpful for you. I can't wait to chat with you. So this is just the start of the conversation. Reach out so we can keep it going. Talk soon.