Welcome to Podcast Insider. I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing
specialist at Blueberry.
And I'm Mike Dowell, VP of customer relations
and a long time podcaster.
And I'm Dave Clements,
customer relations and media specialist for Blueberry.
Today, we're talking about something that doesn't get
enough credit,
your podcast voice, tone, and personality.
Yeah. A lot of people focus on their
gear and editing and all that stuff, but
how you sound and how you connect with
your listeners makes the biggest difference.
Yeah. And you don't you don't need to
sound like a radio professional, but you do
need to sound like you, which is just
more intentional.
Yep. And, also, we wanna welcome Dave Clemons.
You're our new,
official cohost.
Welcome aboard.
Yeah. Thanks for having me. This can be
fun. Yeah. We're happy to be back. So
we're gonna talk about your voice is your
brand.
You're listening to Podcast Insider hosted by Mike
Dell, Dave Clements, and Mackenzie Bennett from the
Blueberry team, bringing you weekly insights, advice, and
insider tips and tricks to help you start,
grow, and thrive through podcasting
with all the support of your team here
at Blueberry Podcasting.
Welcome.
Let's dive in.
Your voice is more than just what comes
out of the microphones
or out of the speakers or headphones or
whatever.
It's your presence, your rhythm, and the way
you approach topics and guests.
Yeah. So you might wanna think about,
does your delivery
reflect the energy of the show?
That's something that I have a challenge with
sometimes.
And you might also consider, does it match
my audience expectations?
When the episode starts, is it supposed to
be high energy or low energy?
Are you being conversational,
or are you just
reading a script? It's hard to find that
balance sometimes. It's and it's hard to read
a script. You know, like, when we prep
for this show, for instance,
we have kind of an outline of what
we wanna talk about. We don't have any
hard scripted things or, well, not very many.
You could tell when when I'm reading anyway,
but,
you know, that's kinda just the nature of
the beast.
Yeah. On my personal show, people don't really
expect
me to do anything but to
just be who I am.
You know? And Right. Whether they like it
or not is up to them.
Yeah. And, I mean, people people get to
know
that voice. You know?
Everybody that's listened to Podcast Insider for any
length of time,
they're like, yes. I know what to expect
when Mike dials on the microphone.
And if it's not that, then then they're
like, wait a minute. He's been abducted
or he's reading something.
That that happens sometimes. You can you can
tell when we're reading a scripted part or
I can't you know, at least when I
am.
But I I usually don't stick right to
it either. And I know, Mackenzie, you don't
either, which is good.
No.
No. We have a good general idea of
what we're probably gonna say for, you know,
each each part of the episode, but we're
not just strictly reading,
you know, off of a page, nothing like
that.
That's never really been the case, and I
don't really ever see it changing. Yeah. No.
We, you know, we wanna make this kind
of laid back and, you know, and that's
that's our
mode here
at at Podcast Insider,
but, you know, you may have a different
mode. You know? Your show might be more
polished, and maybe that's what you wanna do,
but you don't have to. Your voice, your
cadence, the way that you approach your episodes,
like, that's the through line for every single
episode.
So you wanna define that consistency, and you
and you'll do that over the course of
your show. Like, episode one,
like, of my show, like, I started, like,
thirteen years ago, and
I didn't know what I was doing. So
it's evolved over
time, but then at some point, it'll click.
And and so it's just good to
hold on to that identity
and and, like, okay. That's your brand. That's
the seed.
That's the core.
Your tone, you know, like I said, we're
we're here, you know, doing more or less
a conversational
tone, I think, and a little more laid
back and lighthearted sometimes,
educational,
serious sometimes. You know? Just whatever your tone
is, keep it intentional so you know,
you know, what that episode is about or
what that show is about. You know, listeners
will return when they feel comfortable
and connected to your tone, your
type of show.
You know, like, I I listen to
one show that is just very right to
the point, very serious, almost broadcaster like, and
I like that particular show because of that.
You know, I listen to other shows that
are completely off the cuff, and I like
that about that show. And people are gonna
learn, you know, what you
are like. And,
you know, as long as it's more or
less consistent,
you're gonna build trust and and and all
that with your audience, and they'll they'll come
back for more.
Yeah. And they're also gonna know whether or
not it's authentic.
Think about that as you're creating your show,
as you're doing your show, as you create
new episodes.
You know, listen back to yourself and identify
that for yourself so that you can go,
does it stay? Does it go?
Should I carry this along into future episodes?
Because like I said, that's the thread. It
it stitches everything together
to create,
you know, whatever your podcast is, whatever your
message is. It's it's a bigger part than
I think people realize.
The tone of the show,
you know, having Dave as our as our
cohost now
is
is probably gonna change just a little bit.
It's not gonna be exactly the same as
it was before because, you know, that person
is no longer here, and it's just there's
no way to, you know, have the exact
same thing.
And
I think we'll, you know, we're still gonna
give you
the podcast information
and, you know, tidbits and our own
opinions,
but I think we'll settle into
something that
might be a little more conversational.
Mhmm. You know? So we'll see how that
affects
the show, but
people can still rely on us to get
them the exact same type of content that
they were getting before.
Yeah. For sure. So pay attention while we
get used to, like you know, I've been
on the mic with Mike, and I've been
on the microphone with Mackenzie, I think.
And even
you know? Like, I've got experience doing this,
but it's the three of us together making
this show. And so the tone is gonna
change. We're gonna all get a feel for
each other and and how the the show
goes. So,
like, keep that in mind because
we're learning too.
People do fall in love with with a
podcast,
and most of the time, it's because of
the personality.
You know, I used this example before. You
know? I I have
a a couple of podcasts I listen to
that I could care less about the subject.
I just like the person.
You know? And and and I know that
sounds weird, but, you know, I listen to
that person's other stuff that I am interested
in, but I will also listen to
that person talk about
underwater basket weaving or whatever.
You know? So it it's more the personality.
It's, you know, kind of the quirks and,
you know, everybody's got a unique way of
explaining things and
and and all that. And, you know, we
get that same question sometimes as you, how
am I doing compared to everybody else in
my genre?
Well, that's not really important because most podcasters
that are are podcast listeners that are listening
to a particular
subject matter are gonna listen to more than
one, and they may like the way you
do it better than the other guy. But,
you know, sometimes they'll listen to both.
You know, it's it's all about,
you know, just your unique,
your uniqueness,
I guess, is the right
term.
Yeah. That it's definitely
the personality
that you have is what the listener connects
to.
You know, you you are just natural on
your own show. That's bound to happen.
You tell stories from your from your life,
and
they are able
to make that connection with you.
We always say be authentic,
but that doesn't mean
unpolished.
You know, we have we have an unfair
advantage here. We got Kate. She makes us,
sound smarter and edits us and all that.
And so we we are a little more
polished than we would be normally
just because of that.
But, you know, make sure that
it's a decent product. You know, crappy audio
is is something that people will not tolerate
in a podcast. You know? I don't care
how good the the subject matter is, if
it's just crappy or if you're just not
focused. And I have that problem all well
off on tangents and whatnot. But, you know,
just as long as they know what to
expect from episode to episode,
you know, your listeners will hang with you
even even if you do have some glitch
here and there.
Yeah. And, I mean, even those little those
glitches, those weird moments, like, that builds the
authentic
good grief. The authenticity. Authenticity.
The That's a hard one. Emphasis
or emphasis on the wrong syllable. That's where
I was going with that.
Yeah. You're gonna goof up. It it's not
always gonna be perfect.
You're gonna stumble over things. You're gonna say
authenticity wrong. So embrace some of that stuff.
Cut it out if you need to. Leave
it in if it just makes sense.
So,
yeah, I I think
this is all just a work in progress,
and it's never gonna be perfect.
Just be mindful of it. You know? Are
you
coming across as your real self to your
audience?
And is that what you want, or do
you want to be something that you're not
so people
don't know who you are? You know? Like,
it's just something to consider as as you
work through your show. Podcast listeners can tell
fake
pretty easily, you know, especially,
you know, the the traditional way of listening
to podcasts is earbuds.
You know? You're right in their head.
Yeah.
What a delightful way to phrase that. Yeah.
Yeah. But, I mean, you are. You're right
there. And and the thing
is, if you're fake or you're faking it,
they're gonna tell. You know? They're gonna know
that.
Right.
You know, so unless you're, you know, super
highly
polished and editing every, you know, every omen
out of the out of the thing and
taking all the breaths out, then it doesn't
sound like you don't do.
Yeah. Please don't do that. I'm guilty of
that. I've I've gotten better over the years.
Because of the things I've had to edit,
you you leave in some of those goofs
and the the long pauses and and things
like that.
Yeah. You know, in broadcasting,
one of the biggest no nos is silence.
But in, you know, in podcasting, sometimes a
little bit of silence is what's needed.
Sometimes people need to think about what you
just said.
Sometimes I need to think what I just
said.
Very true.
So so don't don't be afraid to have
little things in there that are not perfect.
Obviously, we're not perfect, and I don't think
we ever will be. That's not the point.
Yeah. You don't want you don't want people
to be bored,
but you also don't want them to be
distracted
by every little thing in in your show
because
at some point, they're gonna be like, nah.
This is not for me, and they'll leave.
And don't sound like you're bored. I I
Right. I've I've I've heard podcasts where,
you know, the the podcaster,
the the host or whatever is,
you know, okay. I gotta talk about this,
blah blah blah blah blah blah. You know?
And then you go to sleep.
You know? That's not good. Unless you're doing
a sleeping podcast, and then Yeah. By all
means.
Yeah. That's a whole another thing.
Yeah. I have certain podcasts I put on
when I'm going to when I'm going to
bed, and I don't get very far into
them usually because they are boring. Yeah. It's
doing its job. There you go.
It's kind of a mindset thing of everyone
gets to set their own standards of what
they want their show to be.
But
depending on how high or low or whatever
those standards are,
people will decide for themselves if they
if they match that,
if they want if they accept that. Yeah.
You know, if you're like, hey. I am
just gonna leave in
Todd was known for just cutting off the
beginning and end and leaving the rest of
the episode untouched.
And people were totally fine with that. He
had a great listener base who loved that,
you know, quintessential
Todd
episode that was coming out with whatever just
popped into his head at the time, but
there's definitely some people who are going
to edit the crap out of it, whether
or not they are taking out every single
breath and pause or whatever, but that's up
to you. You are Yeah. You are the
host of the show.
That's all for this episode. Thanks for tuning
in.
Yep. And remember, your voice and tone will
tell listeners who you are before they even
know your topic.
And your personality
is definitely what makes them stay. So be
real, have fun, and make every single episode
sound like you.
And, of course, we're gonna remind you that
Blueberry gives you everything that you need to
keep your podcast sounding sharp and true to
your own style.
Subscribe or follow
Podcast Insider for more tips, tools, advice, and
help you grow your show. You can find
us at podcastinsider.com
if we disappear from your favorite app for
whatever reason.
And, thanks for listening.
Next week, Mackenzie, you, and Dave are gonna
be talking about interviewing skills.
Because the silence is not just what's coming
through the microphone or your headphones, but also
what is going on in your head. It's
hard to make your brain quiet, but it's
a good skill to work on. With that
silence,
staying present and not performative. You know, that
silence can lead you into the next thing
that your guest might say.
And instead of focusing on a list of
questions or research that you did ahead of
time, be in the moment, and react honestly
to whatever it is that they're saying. It
can turn into a story that way.
Thanks for joining us. Come back next week.
And in the meantime, head to podcastinsider.com
for more information,
to subscribe,
share, and read our show notes.
To check out our latest suite of services
and learn how Blueberry
can help you leverage your podcast, visit blueberry.com.
That's blueberry without the e's. We couldn't afford
the e's.