When people complete your latest podcast episode,
Evo Terra:what do you want them to do?
Evo Terra:Reflect on your brilliance?
Evo Terra:Bask in a sense of satisfaction?
Evo Terra:Or would you simply be happy if they remembered what you
Evo Terra:said five minutes later?
Evo Terra:Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
Evo Terra:All this week, I've been exploring ideas that came during my chat with
Evo Terra:CJ Silva of Vocalize on Monday.
Evo Terra:Today's no different.
Evo Terra:And the topic now is about making the things that we make memorable.
Evo Terra:Specifically, how podcasters like you and me can make memorable shows,
Evo Terra:episodes, and other forms of content that, well, are memorable to our listeners.
Evo Terra:Making memorable content isn't easy.
Evo Terra:It's not like there's a template for you to fill out.
Evo Terra:There's not a filter that you can apply.
Evo Terra:It's not a task you leave to the very end of the creation process like you
Evo Terra:might do with a final proofreading pass.
Evo Terra:And even if you do manage to make something memorable, that memorable
Evo Terra:thing you make is competing with the dozens of other types of
Evo Terra:content your listeners might have been exposed to during that day.
Evo Terra:That good and memorable impression that you made as they listened to your show
Evo Terra:this morning can be completely knocked out by something they listened to over their
Evo Terra:lunch break, pushing you and the message you had for them out of their mind.
Evo Terra:And I'm not talking about other podcasts they listen to.
Evo Terra:Not only, at least.
Evo Terra:I'm talking about the full compendium of content that they and we are
Evo Terra:exposed to every single day.
Evo Terra:You know, there's a lot coming at us.
Evo Terra:We quite literally cannot keep up with everything and keep
Evo Terra:it all in our active memory.
Evo Terra:Forgetting is a survival mechanism for our species.
Evo Terra:And forgetting is something that we creators do, too.
Evo Terra:My wife will often ask me what I talked about on today's show and, more often
Evo Terra:than not, I draw a complete blank.
Evo Terra:Just a few short hours after I created the content, a process which takes
Evo Terra:me between three and four hours each day, and it's completely gone.
Evo Terra:So if I can't even make content that sticks in my own head for longer than
Evo Terra:a day, how can I expect anyone to remember what the hell it was I said?
Evo Terra:Let's start this discussion about making memorable content
Evo Terra:with a few acknowledgments.
Evo Terra:First, an acknowledgement that we have zero control over what goes on
Evo Terra:inside the heads of our listeners.
Evo Terra:Second, we must acknowledge that we can't control what other people listen
Evo Terra:to, what other content they consume.
Evo Terra:And the third acknowledgement is that our experience as a creator
Evo Terra:is markedly different than the experience our listeners have
Evo Terra:when they consume our creations.
Evo Terra:And it's that last one that's important.
Evo Terra:And I'll, again, use myself and this show as an example.
Evo Terra:For the three to four hours it takes me to create an episode, I'm
Evo Terra:engaging the creator part of my brain.
Evo Terra:That part, I guess better said, those parts, are busy doing creator things
Evo Terra:as I slowly turn an idea into a concept and into a final product with
Evo Terra:all the pieces necessary to publish.
Evo Terra:Now, that's a very different part of the brain than you use
Evo Terra:to enjoy the content I create.
Evo Terra:Unless you're intentionally listening to see where I got something wrong, and yes,
Evo Terra:I get things wrong all the time, your creator-mode brain is mostly dormant.
Evo Terra:At least until you hear me say something that may activate your creator brain.
Evo Terra:But until that time, you're just enjoying, or at least I hope you're
Evo Terra:enjoying, and grabbing onto the concepts, and, hopefully, considering how to
Evo Terra:apply the ideas into your own podcast.
Evo Terra:So even though I've forgotten everything after I'm done, it's possible
Evo Terra:that you do not forget everything I've said after you've heard it.
Evo Terra:And by the way, the same goes for the content you create
Evo Terra:that you can't remember.
Evo Terra:Your experience is not necessarily your listeners' experience.
Evo Terra:Now, with that the very long last acknowledgement fully explored, let me
Evo Terra:run through a few ideas on practical tips that I use that you can use to make
Evo Terra:your podcast content more memorable.
Evo Terra:Number one, have a schtick.
Evo Terra:I have at least two, one at the top of the episodes and one
Evo Terra:at the bottom of my episodes.
Evo Terra:Now, I know these schticks, well, stick in at least some people's brains
Evo Terra:because the people repeat those same things to me when we see each other.
Evo Terra:Those phrases, and you probably know what they are, are said by
Evo Terra:me each and every time I record.
Evo Terra:They aren't canned.
Evo Terra:They aren't in someone else's voice.
Evo Terra:I can, and I do, change them slightly each time.
Evo Terra:When I forget to do them, or I dramatically change them, I hear about it.
Evo Terra:So I know that at least those two aspects of my show are making an impression.
Evo Terra:Number two, be about one thing.
Evo Terra:Some formats, like news roundups and variety shows, well, they have
Evo Terra:to be about more than one thing.
Evo Terra:But for most other podcasts, adding on more themes or points into a
Evo Terra:single episode could lead to your episode being less memorable.
Evo Terra:Earlier in this episode, I said how much content people are exposed to every
Evo Terra:single day that forces their brain to choose one memorable thing over another.
Evo Terra:Don't do that to yourself by packing your episodes with more than one thing.
Evo Terra:And if you're the host of an interview, think seriously about
Evo Terra:this and consider not asking your guests about a myriad things.
Evo Terra:Have them on again to talk about something else if you need to.
Evo Terra:Number three, reinforce and repeat.
Evo Terra:It's the old, "Tell them, tell them what you're going to tell them,
Evo Terra:tell them again, and then tell them what you just told them" concept.
Evo Terra:Yeah.
Evo Terra:And that rings true.
Evo Terra:If you or your guests drop a nugget of wisdom, ring that bell loudly.
Evo Terra:It's okay even to break into your interview and say, I want to
Evo Terra:underscore what my guest's just said, and then repeat that back, and
Evo Terra:then jump back into the interview.
Evo Terra:And then you'll do that again at least one more time with a custom
Evo Terra:closing just so your listeners have heard that choice bit two or three
Evo Terra:times to stick in their memory.
Evo Terra:Number four, less is more.
Evo Terra:Now, this may seem in stark opposition to what I just said about reinforcing and
Evo Terra:repeating, but it's very easy to go deep into an explanation on a discussion that
Evo Terra:to you, with your creator-brain fully engaged, seems like excellent content.
Evo Terra:But your listeners, with their brains fully in enjoy-mode,
Evo Terra:might find tedious or boring.
Evo Terra:So don't be afraid to cut out content.
Evo Terra:Something you may have to do by taking another pass on the content you recorded
Evo Terra:when your brain's not in creator-mode.
Evo Terra:And number five, don't flood your audience.
Evo Terra:And by that, I mean, don't give them more to think about than they can handle.
Evo Terra:Personally, I'm guilty of this on Podcast Pontifications.
Evo Terra:I've known I've been doing it for quite a while, and now, more than 550 episodes
Evo Terra:in, I'm finally doing something about it.
Evo Terra:Starting next week.
Evo Terra:Stay tuned for more on that note.
Evo Terra:With that, I shall be back directly with yet another Podcast Pontifications.
Evo Terra:Cheers!
Evo Terra:Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.
Evo Terra:He's on a mission to make podcasting better.
Evo Terra:Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes
Evo Terra:section of your podcast listening app.
Evo Terra:A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at
Evo Terra:podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected
Evo Terra:transcript, both created by Allie Press.
Evo Terra:Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.