"Just the facts, ma'am," said no podcast listener ever.
Evo Terra:Yet, podcasting directories are filled with niched-down podcasters
Evo Terra:proclaiming their expertise.
Evo Terra:Is that what your audience truly wants?
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Evo Terra:Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
Evo Terra:I've never been comfortable with the term "expert" or "guru" as
Evo Terra:applied to me in podcasting.
Evo Terra:Heck, in anything, really, if I'm honest about it.
Evo Terra:And yeah, I suppose in podcasting I do tick all the boxes someone is likely to
Evo Terra:set forth for an expert or a guru, but I still bristle at the term and always have.
Evo Terra:Perhaps you feel the same way about your role on your podcast.
Evo Terra:I have a new way for you to think about it if that makes you
Evo Terra:uncomfortable, or, perhaps, even if you are totally comfortable.
Evo Terra:And, yes, I'm going to help you think about it in the form of a question.
Evo Terra:And here it is:
Evo Terra:Are you an expert or are you a guide?
Evo Terra:A better way to ask that question might be, does your audience want you to be an
Evo Terra:expert or do they want you to be a guide?
Evo Terra:I'm going to give you two unrelated-to-podcasting
Evo Terra:examples about what I mean.
Evo Terra:On a recent trip to Belize - I love Belize - we took a tour up Monkey
Evo Terra:River to, well, see Howler monkeys.
Evo Terra:Hence the name.
Evo Terra:We also saw a bunch of bats, iguanas, birds, even a little baby crocodile.
Evo Terra:It was so cute.
Evo Terra:And our guide was just that, he was a guide.
Evo Terra:He'd grown up on the river and in the jungle, and guiding people is a
Evo Terra:large part of what he does every day.
Evo Terra:Now, what he is not is an expert biologist.
Evo Terra:He's not a biologist at all.
Evo Terra:He didn't study biology in college.
Evo Terra:He didn't get his PhD.
Evo Terra:But he knows an incredible amount of information about the flora and
Evo Terra:fauna of a five-square-kilometer area that he grew up in.
Evo Terra:In fact, he is so much of an expert, if you will, in that area, research
Evo Terra:scientists, actual experts with PhDs and whatnot, hire him to guide them to various
Evo Terra:places as they conduct their research.
Evo Terra:So that make sense for him.
Evo Terra:I want a guide going up the river.
Evo Terra:I don't want to hang out with just a scientist.
Evo Terra:However, I don't want a guide when I go see my neck and shoulder
Evo Terra:specialist next week to find out whether or not this is a pulled muscle
Evo Terra:or maybe I've got a bulging disc.
Evo Terra:No, I've actually selected and specifically sought out a
Evo Terra:medical doctor, an orthopedist.
Evo Terra:We're not going on a journey together.
Evo Terra:Something is wrong, and I want to know how to fix it.
Evo Terra:That's an expert for you.
Evo Terra:So back to podcasting and what your audience wants from you, while there
Evo Terra:are instances where the audience does, in fact, want to hear from
Evo Terra:an expert, chances are the rest of the time they want a guide.
Evo Terra:In many cases, your expertise is going to shine through as you guide them.
Evo Terra:Sometimes your expertise will shine through more than anything else.
Evo Terra:Like, if you're talking about, I don't know, tax implications or educating
Evo Terra:people on how black holes form, or maybe discussing the history of
Evo Terra:military coups in Thailand, for example.
Evo Terra:But a podcast that just lays out facts, facts from an expert, is boring, about
Evo Terra:as boring as reading a research paper.
Evo Terra:So if the bulk of your audience now is made up of other experts who just
Evo Terra:want you to recite the facts to them?
Evo Terra:Well, then I suppose that's okay.
Evo Terra:Be an expert all the time.
Evo Terra:But I'm betting that's not the case.
Evo Terra:It's likely that even if your show is tightly niched down, you have people
Evo Terra:listening to you that have different levels of skillset and mastery.
Evo Terra:So if, when you're talking in your expert voice to your audience, you
Evo Terra:find yourself saying, well, it depends when answering questions, your next
Evo Terra:words, chances are we'll be in the voice of a guide and not an expert.
Evo Terra:Because being a guide means that you recognize that there's no
Evo Terra:one right way to present your ideas on your podcast, though.
Evo Terra:There are certainly maybe lots of wrong ways that you have strong
Evo Terra:opinions about opinions, which you should voice vociferous early.
Evo Terra:Being a guide also means that you recognize you don't have all the answers
Evo Terra:to share on your podcast, though.
Evo Terra:You probably do know the general direction of answers or the general
Evo Terra:directions where those answers are likely to come from being a guide also means
Evo Terra:that you recognize that the role that serendipity and the circumstance plays
Evo Terra:in your boat podcast, listeners LA.
Evo Terra:Lives that might look quite different from your own.
Evo Terra:So reflect back on the last few episodes of your show and the approach
Evo Terra:you take overall to podcasting, or you being the, know it all expert,
Evo Terra:or are you helping your audience?
Evo Terra:Are you, is your audience a better way to say that is, is your audience relying
Evo Terra:on you to be the best guide you can be?
Evo Terra:Now, if you've got any value at all out of this episode, please consider
Evo Terra:returning some of that value by visiting Podcast Pontifications.com/value for
Evo Terra:value there, you will find lots of ways.
Evo Terra:Like you can buy me a coffee if you want to.
Evo Terra:And also links to some new podcast apps, new podcast, apps.com, new podcast
Evo Terra:apps that will let you stream value to podcasters like me who you listen to.
Evo Terra:It's a novel way of rewarding podcasters for the excellent
Evo Terra:content that they produce.
Evo Terra:And that is a growing way people are actually funding podcasters.
Evo Terra:So check it out.
Evo Terra:It's all at podcastpontifications.com/valueforvalue.
Evo Terra:That's it.
Evo Terra:I shall be back tomorrow 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.