Podcast Tips: How Effective Storytelling Techniques Changes Everything

I realized that although there are many podcast tips online, most revolve around the topics of either how to start a podcast, or about what podcasting equipment to use.

And though I find nothing wrong with that, I also realized that most cater to those that are absolutely new to podcasting.

So what about those that have a few episodes under their belt, but find themselves struggling?

With that in mind, we at Podblade got together and decided to come up with a series of posts that tackles the less talked about aspects of podcasting.

As of writing this, we don’t know what future topics we will be able to come up with.

So if you have a specific topic in mind that you would like us to discuss, do write it down on the comment section below and we will try to create a post about it.

The Importance Of Using Proper Storytelling Techniques

The idea behind creating content, be it text, audio or video, is for it to create a connection with its reader/listener/viewer.

Regardless if said content was meant to pitch a product, or used as an argument about a certain talking point, it is imperative that said content is able to engage its audience.

So why is engagement important?

Without engagement, the purpose of a content is lost. And whatever message you wished to convey will just get pushed to the far corners of the internet – never to be seen or heard from again.

Take this article for example. The title may have piqued your interest, but if I wasn’t able to come up with content that was engaging enough – I don’t think you would be reading this far into the article, yes?

You are still reading this, right?

Podcast Tips, Storytelling Techniques And The Human Psyche

Storytelling has been an integral part of human societal development since the establishment of the first human colonies.

Early man used any medium available to them. Be it through cave paintings, use of clay tablets, to inscribing on rocks.

These days we have the internet, but the idea still remains the same. And it is that we as a species are fascinated with stories. In fact, we crave for it.

And no, I’m not just saying that to further my argument for this article – it’s actually backed by science.

Take for example this 2016 post from the UC Berkeley Greater Good Magazine.

On the said post, an experiment was conducted using low performing science students. Said students we’re made to read stories that highlighted the struggles of several well known scientists.

The results were, and I quote:

“As it turned out, the students who had read about scientists’ struggles—whether intellectual or personal—now had higher grades than students who had read about achievements.

Students who had read the struggle stories felt more connected to the scientists than students who had read about their achievements. They found common ground in the scientists’ failures and internal struggles.”

How Does This Relate To Podcasting?

It only goes to show that good storytelling can greatly influence how a person interacts with the different triggers within a story.

Based on the example, the students were able to connect their current situation with the struggles and failures of the scientists.

This sense of connection enabled them to become comfortable with each hurdle they encountered – probably thinking that if (let’s say scientist A) was able to overcome things, so can they.

From a marketing perspective, being able to influence how people feel, think or how they perceive things is a marketer’s wet dream.

If you use your podcast as a sales platform, a well conceived story line could help you sell a product or service – without your listeners realizing that you’re actually pitching them something.

Podcast Tips For Breaking Down Storylines

Just like writing, not everyone has the ability to share their thoughts with the eloquence of a seasoned orator.

But then again, no, you don’t need to have the tongue of a used car salesman to create a well formatted story.

In fact, you have been doing it for years – but just not within the realm of sales.

What am I talking about? – it’s you having casual conversations with people.

Let’s do a little experiment shall we?

Let’s say you just had a great weekend and wanted to share your experience with friends.

You don’t just go and say, “I had a great weekend” and not go into details right?

In fact, you’ll get into the tiniest of details in order to try and create a vivid visual image for your friends, right?

You get where I’m going with this, yes?

Like I said, you have been doing it all along. And all you need to do now is maybe polish it a bit.

And with that said, here are my podcast tips on how to further enhance your storytelling techniques.

Pinpoint The Problem – And Turn It Into A Living, Breathing Thing

Remember, your main goal is to present a “story” and not do a presentation. This means that you need to not just establish what the problem is, but turn it into the protagonist of your story.

Let’s say your podcast is about multi-family real estate investing, ok?

Now the main concern of investors within that industry is finding an operator that they can completely trust.

So rather than just skim through that talking point, dwell on it a bit more.

Present your listeners with horror stories of investors that didn’t vet their operators. Go into details as to how much money they lost, how they tried to cope with the situation, and what happened to them after.

Turn the problem into an entity and make your listeners hate it!

By pinpointing and creating a narrative around the problem, you somewhat create this antagonistic persona for your sales pitch – sorry, I meant story.

Create An Incredible Sounding Journey

This section is what separates the good stories from great ones. Jump to the end of your storyline prematurely and you could end up sounding like a used car salesman.

For this one, let’s say your podcast help people lose weight. And your main selling point is healthy living and daily exercise, ok?

So rather than just tell your listeners what to do, you should step into their shoes and see things from their perspective.

Try to figure out what their problems and concerns are about losing weight. Now come up with a story that details how you went through the same pain points and how you overcame them.

Always keep in mind that though people are open to learning from others, they react better when they feel that the one giving them advice also went through the same hardships they are now in.

*Remember the Berkeley experiment I mentioned earlier?

How were you able to develop your product or service? What were the problems you encountered along the way? What was it that kept you going?

All of those scenarios makes for a great backdrop to beef up your storyline – making it more engaging and relatable.

Don’t Just Give A Solution, Present A “Resolution”

Regardless of what it is you may be selling, you should try and present said product or service as a resolution to the problem, and not as a solution.

What’s the difference you ask?

Well for me, the idea of a solution is more of a “proposal” on how to solve a problem. Resolution on the other hand pertains to what happens after “implementation” of said solution.

This means that “resolution” carries the burden of proving its “effectiveness” compared to being just a possible end to a problem?

Does that make sense to you?

Conclusion

An entertaining story is not just about how interesting the scenes within it are – but by how it was told.

In the world of podcasting, those with great storytelling techniques are the ones that take the bigger piece of the download pie.

This allows them to get more advertisers and improve their production value – which in turn gets them even more listeners.

We hope that through this podcast tips article, you are able to pinpoint flaws within your storytelling techniques, and tweak them to make your content much more effective than it already is.

But what if you need more than just a good storyline? What if the problem is audio quality, search visibility or overall branding?

If you feel that you need a bit of help with those things, don’t worry, we got you covered.

As podcasters ourselves, we completely understand what your concerns are and how to resolve it?

Having problems with audio quality? We have a team of professional editors on standby!

Need more engagement on social media? We can provide you with audiograms and basic show notes!

Need to track how well each episode is doing? We can provide you with accurate analytics reports so that you can make necessary adjustments.

Anyway, I hope that you learned a thing or two about how to improve your storytelling techniques through this podcast tips article.

And if you have any stories you would like to share on how it helped improve your podcast, please do share it on the comment section below.

As always, stay safe, and we’ll talk again next time.