Podcast Hosting Techniques

This is how I've helped big brands launch podcasts that currently have 10 million+ subs without a celebrity host. Creators think they only need star power in the long run, but my framework works without it. In reality, your host needs one core trait, and it's not followers, a big budget, or virality. The best hosts aren't the most agreeable or the most knowledgeable. They're just the most curious. Look at successful business podcasts: Ranveer Allahbadia:  Questions conventional wisdom in every BeerBiceps Media World Private Limited episode. Raj Shamani:  Figuring Out on YouTube challenges guests to share their real entrepreneurship struggles. Here's the framework learned from then and used: 1. Start with the listener journey Map out their current beliefs, fears, and aspirations. Your content should bridge this gap. 2. Design your conversation arc The opening should challenge a common assumption. The middle must explore unexpected angles and then land on actionable insights. 3. Host selection strategy We didn't chase industry experts but instead found someone who: - Asks questions like a 5-year-old - Highlights all the inconsistencies - Steers away from obvious questions 4. Production Approach We recorded 3 episodes before launching only to - Get feedback from target listeners - Iterate on format and flow That's how we created a podcast that isn't about the host or the guest. It's about creating intriguing moments to keep listeners entertained. But most branded podcasts fail because They're platforms instead of solutions. Focus on serving your audience, not showing your expertise. So, what's your favorite podcast and why? #podcast #marketing #influencer #brandbuilding

What makes for a great podcast? You might think it's about great studio setup, famous celebrities, naturally viral moments, fancy editing gimmicks... basically expensive productions about famous people. Yes that definitely helps. But it doesn't explain why relative nobodies keep breaking through and building huge audiences with just a mic, webcam and Zoom. No, it isn't about money or fame. The secret to success is, in order: 1. Why: Why are people going to tune into your show? Who is the show for and is your planned content going to be so relatable and impactful for them on a sustained basis that they can't wait for you to drop the next episode? 2. Who: Who is on the show? Are they people your audience will care about? And no, it's not just about celebrities. Regular people with gripping stories or deep expertise have the same effect. 3. What: What will you discuss? Is it what your audience wants to know and have you planned out the discussion so as to sustain their interest? [Side note: Those 'viral moments' you see playing as Reels from popular podcasts? Almost all are pre-planned and engineered. Perhaps even shot repeatedly till they got it just right :)] 4. How: Is the discussion free-flowing and natural? Is there chemistry between the speakers? Or does it feel forced, stilted or overly-scripted? 5. Pacing: Does the episode feel fast-paced and interesting or does it get bogged down in irrelevant chit-chat and long-winded introductions? 6. Production: And here, right at the end, comes production. A fancy setup can make a good podcast great, but it will never compensate for poor content delivered in an uninteresting way. This does not mean you never explore studios. Apart from the look, they also make recording very easy and reliable, which alone is a great reason to use one. But, if you are on a tight budget, just get a mic, record on your phone and focus instead on excellent content. --- I'm Amit, founder of CrazyTok. We help people build their brands online through Podcasts, Youtube channels and LinkedIn. Get in touch for free advice and affordable, hassle-free services. #podcastagency #podcastproduction #podcast

I asked the world's leading podcaster, Steven Bartlett for advice on growing my podcast. The answer was supposed to be three minutes long. But, he gave me a whole lecture with such great game that I can't gatekeep it. I have been digesting what he said and here are the lessons you can learn when it comes to innovating and developing your content strategy. I call it the 'Bartlett Big Three' 1) Swing for a Fundamental Innovation. When he launched The Diary Of A CEO six years ago, the founder/CEO podcast format remained unexplored territory. He recognised this arbitrage opportunity and seized it. Today, he sets the standard. Countless shows mirror his format, style, and thumbnails. The window has closed, he told me. The next imitation of a DOAC podcast will fail miserably. Breaking through now demands innovation in concept, content or format. He offered a provocative example: "I wouldn't watch another interview show but I would totally watch a podcast series about why someone is cheating secretly on their spouse." Imitation guarantees obscurity. Audiences will still seek the original. It's better to swing hard for something novel altogether. 2) Experiment Relentlessly But here's what separates him from most people who build an audience: he never stopped experimenting. He hired Grace Miller to help the DOAC team run fast experiments, fearlessly and often. They tested hypotheses to improve retention, engagement and click through rates. Compare his podcast today to 2021—the trailers, b-rolls, even ad-reads have been transformed dramatically. Each upgrade stems from an experiment. Most creators with his audience would coast. Steven remains relentless about treating the podcast as a product to improve. Then he said something that forced me to pause: "I am not romantic about being right, I am romantic about winning." Do you want to win or be right? The point of experimenting, I've realised, is to lock you into that focus—improving the product becomes the work itself. 3) Sweat The Small Stuff. I asked him about the Jimmy Fallon interview—the moment when Jimmy pulled out a custom scrapbook of photos and quotes, prepared live during filming. Why? "I sweat the small stuff," he said "A lot of greatness is unlocked this way." The scrapbook isn't just a generous gesture. It's representative of how he thinks about every element of the podcast. But here's the thing: the scrapbook is one of hundreds of small details he's obsessed over. Better lighting. Tighter editing. More thoughtful questions. Smoother ad transitions. Each improvement seems minor in isolation but they compound. The podcast you see today isn't the result of one breakthrough idea. It's the accumulation of relentless, incremental improvements across every dimension of the experience. Whilst competitors copy the surface-level format, they miss the infrastructure of obsession underneath. They would never go to such lengths. That's his edge.

The time and budget resources required to build a podcast audience are grossly underestimated by those starting them. It's why so many networks target reality stars or creators with big TikTok or IG audiences to start a podcast about their lives or areas of interest. Built in audience, low hanging fruit. [Duh. Pretty obvs Kim]. Despite podcasting being a more accessible medium with less gatekeeping than traditional media, it takes a huge level of attention to detail and commitment to make something that reaches the goal you set for the podcast - be it large audience reach, monetization, lead gen, brand uplift or otherwise. From a creator podcast perspective - it takes me around 12 hours of work for each podcast episode I create [guest sourcing, prepping, recording, editing, promoting, admin, etc] and I currently have two episodes a week. Even with all that time I'm still not getting to all the marketing activities I need to be doing to grow it. And despite seeing some huge successes, I still haven't reached my audience or monetization goals after nearly 2 years and 108 episodes. Before starting a podcast, you have to ask yourself why. Especially when you're a brand creating its own podcast. 1. Why are you doing it? 2. Do you understand enough about the medium itself to know how to thrive in it [and promote it]? 3. Will your ideal audience value it? [are you laddering your show back to a cultural insight? or are you just creating it because it sounds like a good idea?] 4. What will your measures of success be? 5. Are you passionate enough about the topic / genre / theme to be consistent? Really consistent? Because for all the hard work and doom and gloom, the engagement that podcasts provide is unparalleled. You don't rent the space like on socials, where one hack can mean game over for the hard built follower count, you own it. And you own its extraordinary potential for positive impact. When it comes to building a podcast brand, you have to go in eyes wide open to reap the benefits. #podcasting #podcaster #brandedpodcast #podcaststrategy

So your company wants to launch a podcast. The question is: Should you do it? Will it be worth your investment? First things first, we all know that podcasts are the current ‘shiny object’. Everyone has a podcast, everyone else wants to start one. Especially if you run a business. As someone who has run her own podcast, the So This Is My Why Podcast, for the past 5 years (with 150+ published episodes), I can safely say that for most people and companies, the answer is a solid NO. It 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 be a waste of your time & resources. But how do you come to that answer? Here are 10 things I'd urge you to consider: 1. Podcasts are an amplifier, not an audience magnet It is most effective as a tool to deepen your relationship with an existing audience rather than build one from scratch. 2. You have to be everywhere Earlier this week, I met someone who doesn't have Spotify but uses YouTube Premium all the time. The only reason he subscribed to STIMY was because my podcast is on YouTube too! Don't expect people to change their habits for you. If you want their ear, you need to be willing to go where they are. 3. Speaking skills are vital I don't care how famous you are or how interesting your story is. If you're a bad speaker, then you're a bad podcast guest. You'll never be invited. 4. Video podcasts are essential The podcast industry has always with being found on different platforms, which is why YouTube has been a critical growth engine for so many podcasts. You need to be on it, and thus have a video podcast, to experience any significant growth. 5. Reels are vital Before asking strangers to give you 1 hour of their time, hook them with 30-60 sec reels. 6. Be realistic about conversion rates Viral reels will help boost your download rates BUT be aware that that boost will not be as high as you'd hope. Hey, the podcast audience are a tough bunch! 7. You don't have to be fancy from Day 1 Not sure if podcast is the medium to invest in long-term? Start small with a $200 mic or even voice notes on your phone. I started with a cheap mic myself before upgrading to a Shure mic and finally hosting my podcast interviews live in studios in Malaysia, Singapore and London. 8. Don't obsess over money 99% of podcasts will never make money directly off the podcast. But that doesn't mean you wont have other benefits from it, e.g. building brand salience 9. Use it to network! Most people sleep on podcasts' potential as a networking tool. Have a company you're dying to hook as a client? Don't hard sell your services. Just invite their CEO or CMO to come on as a guest, have a coffee session to get to know them and build your relationship from there. 10. Trust is the ULTIMATE currency If you don't use a product, DON'T promote it. That small money is not worth the trust that is lost. * Any questions re. podcast strategies? Follow me Ling Yah if you want to learn about the podcasting/personal branding space!

Here’s the thing nobody tells you about speaking on a panel or podcast. Most people are so focused on sounding smart that they forget the ONLY thing the audience cares about. Connection. Real, human, punch-you-in-the-chest connection. After speaking at SXSW, SEAT, and presenting to teams at Disney Entertainment, Live Nation Entertainment, Peloton Interactive, and a few others who definitely didn’t have time to be bored, I’ve learned one truth. Public speaking is not a performance. It’s a service. And when you treat it like service, everything changes. Here are the data-backed habits that actually move the needle. 1. Speak in 12-second blocks. Studies show the average listener tunes out after 12 to 18 seconds. Break everything into short, clean blocks. No paragraphs. Just punches. 2. Start with a story, not a credential. Neuroscience says stories activate up to 7 regions of the brain. Credentials activate one. Make them feel before you make them think. 3. Give one controversial take. Panels are full of "nice" opinions. Be the person who says the thing everyone is thinking. Bold viewpoints create 3 to 5 times more engagement. 4. Make every answer actionable. People remember speakers who solve problems. Not speakers who speak. Every point you make should pass the "can someone use this tomorrow" test. 5. Let your personality leak. Humor increases retention by 20 percent. Vulnerability increases trust by 40 percent. Combine both and you’re basically cheating. 6. Slow your pace by 15 percent. Most speakers rush. Research shows listeners rate slower speakers as more credible, more confident and more strategic. 7. End with a takeaway, not a thank you. Give them the line they quote later. The line they text to a friend. The line that gets screenshotted. If you’re stepping onto a stage or into a podcast, remember this. You’re not there to impress. You’re there to impact. And when you shift your mindset, the audience shifts with you. #sales #publicspeaking #podcast

AI is changing podcasting... But, few know how to maximize it. I teamed up with Tomas to show you. Here's your complete AI guide to podcasting: 1. Plan and Script with AI Use ChatGPT to generate a full podcast script. Choose a topic that interests your audience deeply. Outline your episode to stay organized and engaging. Prompt to try: “Write a podcast script on [your topic] (1000 words)” 2. Record and Generate Voices Use Podcastle’s Revoice for text-to-speech audio. Try Lyrebird AI to convert scripts to unique voices. Use ElevenLabs for consistent, cloned voice tones. 3. Edit and Add Sound Descript automates editing and removes noise. Add AI-generated music and effects to enhance quality. Polish your audio quickly and save production time. 4. Publish and Promote Anchor and Buzzsprout make publishing fast and easy. Generate show notes and promo content with AI help. Share transcripts to improve reach and accessibility. 5. Advanced AI for Custom Content Use Perplexity AI for deep, tailored content ideas. NotebookLM enables dynamic, AI-driven dialogues. Engage listeners with unique and evolving content. Stay authentic - AI adds value but keep your own voice. Use AI for content ideas but trust your expertise. Experiment with AI tools and update regularly. Follow Charlie + Tomas for more. Reshare to help others.

I'm not Joe Rogan, but we have built a nice little niche in B2B marketing. Today we crossed 250,000 downloads of the Exit Five podcast. And to think I quit this podcast twice. ... and almost didn't go all in with Exit Five as a business. Today the E5 podcast is: 1. Popular among B2B marketers 2. A top source of new members for our subscription product 3. A top revenue channel for the business (podcast advertising) Here are some of my favorite podcasting tips: 1. Consistency matters most. There's no better growth hack for podcasting than forgetting about the numbers and showing up every week. Commit to a publishing schedule. No amount of emails or video clips or social posts will drive more growth an consistency. 2. Go deeper and ask better questions. One thing that drives me nuts with some podcast hosts is they don't ask the follow up questions! You need to go deeper. When your guest tells you something like "we increased our revenue by 20%" don't just smile and say cool - ask them how! but how did you do that? what tools did you use? what was the process? When you know your audience as a host you need to own getting the right answers for listeners. I have trained my brain now to go and ask the follow up question because I know that someone in their car or out on a walk is going to want to know the answer. Your job as the host is to get the right content for your listeners. Go deeper. Ask better questions. 3. You need a decent enough audio / video setup, but it's not what will drive the initial growth. It's the content. It's understanding the audience. It's bringing on interesting guests. 4. You will learn as you go. Launch and learn. I believe this for all channels of course - but have felt this with the podcast. I can look back and see what episodes were popular, what guests were popular, which conversations I enjoyed or didn't and then each month adjust the content and process on the fly. 5. I still think you can be successful with an interview style podcast - but you have to commit to the craft of being a podcast host. You have to prep. Research. Do hours of interviews. Listen to the cringe sound of your own voice. Get feedback. Repeat. I've been hosting a podcast for 9 years now dating back to 2014. Between podcasts and webinars I'd bet I've done 500 interviews of this kind over that time period. So maybe that's the real growth hack here... PS. Yes, most of my real life friends think this is super dorky, and I don't care anymore :) it seems to be working. "Wait you have a podcast??"

Podcasting is brutal. Most shows never get off the ground. Last week, Ben and I hit episode 35 and approached 10k downloads. Here are 7 counterintuitive lessons I wish I knew when starting out: 1/ Be okay with the worst-case scenario Podcast growth is notoriously difficult, so being excited about the worst-case scenario removes the pressure and makes the process enjoyable. Even if nobody listens, we still get to: ↳ Have deep conversations about topics we're passionate about ↳ Improve our public speaking and conversation skills ↳ Learn something new from every single guest ↳ Build deeper relationships with interesting people 2/ Choose your metrics carefully They shape every decision you make. As Charlie Munger said, "Show me the incentives, and I'll show you the outcomes." We only track two things: ↳ Are we having fun? ↳ Are we being consistent? That's it. No download targets. No subscriber goals. No pressure to hit arbitrary numbers. By focusing on enjoyment and consistency, we've built something sustainable that keeps getting better. 3/ Less is more We started trying to cover everything in each episode. Big mistake. The result? - Superficial questions - Rushed conversations - Constant pressure to "move on" - Missing the best insights Now we pick ONE topic to go deep on and let the conversation flow naturally. The magic happens in the unexpected tangents and follow-up questions. You can't plan those. 4/ Find your unique style Don't copy other shows. In the beginning, we tried to sound like a "proper" interview podcast. The result? Stiff, awkward conversations that felt like job interviews. We realized we wanted to create the feeling of friends chatting over coffee. No high-stakes interviews. No rigid structures. Just authentic conversations where everyone (including us) can be themselves. 5/ Create for yourself first Our best episodes? Not the ones we thought would perform well. They're the ones where WE learned the most. When we finished recording thinking "Wow, that was fascinating!" Trust your taste. The audience will follow. 6/ Double down on what you enjoy Want consistency? Focus on the parts you love. Delegate everything else. We love having the conversations and curating the guest, so we delegated everything else. This creates a virtuous cycle: Energy → Consistency → Growth → More Energy 7/ Find a great co-creator Having Ben Erez as a co-host made all the difference: ↳ Built-in accountability when life gets busy ↳ Someone to learn from and bounce ideas off ↳ More energy and fun in every episode ↳ Shared excitement about growth ↳ Different perspectives that make conversations richer ↳ Someone to celebrate the wins with What did you learn from your creative projects this year?

Most podcasts die by episode 7. Here’s how to THRIVE all the way to 100. I’ve launched podcasts for founders, brands and myself. Some worked. Some didn’t. These 11 lessons are what kept the good ones alive. 1) Our first platform looked good. But it told us nothing. ↳ We couldn’t see what content landed or where listeners dropped off. ↳ Megaphone changed that instantly. Clean setup. Clear insights. ↳ A good platform helps you grow, not just publish. 2) Your mic is your first impression. Make it count. ↳ If your sound is bad, people bounce fast. ↳ Squadcast gave us studio-level audio without tech headaches. ↳ Good audio also shows your guest you’re serious. 3) People judge your show before they hit play. ↳ Our first logo looked like a student project. ↳ Canva turned me into a designer in 30 mins! ↳ Visuals are the first layer of trust. Don’t skip it. 4) I wasted money chasing the best gear. Don’t do that. ↳ A solid mic, headphones and decent lighting are all you need. ↳ Fancy kit doesn’t make better content. ↳ Reliable gear = confidence on the mic. 5) I found our first 10 guests in my DMs. ↳ Your network already knows your voice. Start there. ↳ I emailed a few podcast hosts too. Most said yes. ↳ Good conversations start in familiar places. 6) I thought consistency was about discipline. It wasn’t. ↳ I didn’t need more willpower. I needed better systems. ↳ Templates, shared docs and Google Sheets removed all friction. ↳ When the backend flows, so do the interviews. 7) Editing nearly made me quit by episode 4. ↳ I was stuck in perfection mode, tweaking waveforms at midnight. ↳ Descript and a pro editor gave me my evenings back. ↳ Outsourcing isn’t cheating. It’s how I scaled. 8) We turn every episode into 10+ pieces of content. ↳ Reels, audiograms, carousels Canva makes it quick. ↳ Guests get assets too, so they actually share. ↳ This is how one episode lasts all month. 9) Our top-performing episode almost got binned. ↳ Downloads were flat, but it kept getting shared in DMs. ↳ We listened to the feedback and leaned into that topic. ↳ Early patterns > early numbers. 10) Guesting on other shows grew our audience faster than anything else. ↳ No ads. No funnels. Just honest conversations. ↳ It built trust fast and sharpened our own positioning. ↳ Borrowed audiences are the shortcut no one talks about. 11) Having 15 episodes banked saved me from failure twice. ↳ Launches are exciting. Burnout is real. ↳ Guests trust you more when you’re prepared. ↳ Momentum comes from rhythm, not hype. Every mistake above? I’ve made it. Every win? Earned through trial, error and staying in the game. 👇 Yes or No: Have I saved you from at least one of these mistakes? ♻️ Repost to save someone from a 7-episode burnout 👣 Follow me, Kobi Omenaka, for sharp insights on podcasting, content and trust