How To Create An Inviting Podcast Intro That Hooks Listeners?

Want your podcast and videocast to be seen, heard, found and rewarded in this noisy digital world, you are not alone. Join the nonprofit community at Podcasters United and podcast industry experts Tom Hazard and Tracy Hazard as they debunk all that outdated and bad advice you've been getting from the podcast gurus and find out what actually works. Today, get ready to finish feed your brand with smart cut tactics proven to cast your original voice to the world.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to Feed you'd brand. I'm Tom Hazard with my co host, Tracy Hazard. And today we're going to talk about how to create an inviting podcast intro that hooks listeners. Because really that's the whole point, isn't it? We want to hook them, want to excite them, want them to listen to the whole episode. Do you think that happens if you have like a 90 second intro? Well, we're going to talk about that.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, this is. We're here. I'm being clear here. We're here talking about intros and sometimes people call intro outros and they use them interchangeably, but they're two different animals. And so we're really going to talk about outros at another time altogether. But we thought this was better to talk about the intro part because this is the introduction, this is the start of it. It's the teaser, it's the tie in, it's the, hey, am I in the right place? That's the part of the intro that we want to talk about because it really does set a professional tone for your podcast.

And I really think it's evolved over the years, even that we've been podcasting. Tracy, wouldn't you agree?

Yeah, I think, you know, I think before it used to be a lot longer and much more acceptable and, and then for a while there it was a little more, I'm going to say media, like, so it was like copying what people do on television or things like that. So they was kind of modeling that sort of traditional broadcast media model things that they do on radio already, stuff like that. So, you know, but I think it's evolved into its own thing and I think it's. How do I say this? It's a little. Because it's audio only. It's not like video bumpers either. Right. So video bumpers have their own dynamic animations and other things that they do. And that's a little bit different animal as well. We like to use both overlapping. So we'll talk a little bit about that towards the end here. I think we'll just kind of Tie that into how it might be a little bit different with video.

I think that's a good idea. Let's do that. All right, so let's talk about it. Podcast intros now, often. Maybe we should start, Tracy, with the Ultra simple, which some people do, is like, well, I don't really want any voiceover or any talking. I just want a little music at the beginning and then fading into me talking uniquely every time. You know, some people do do that, I think that's okay.

I think it's perfectly fine. I think the transition music is best. But because we definitely want to make sure that we have that transition music happening for us, we don't want episodes to run together. And so this is what happens when people binge listen to your show. They go from one episode to the other. It auto plays into the next. So without the transition music, it can be a little disjarring and disruptive, and you don't know. And they're confused. And you don't want to start an episode confused. You need to have that transition between the two. So I've noticed this is happening to us. We've been binge watching some television lately.

I was thinking that actually, Tracy.

And so it would be like, all of a sudden, we're on the next episode, and Tom will wake up, because sometimes he falls asleep in the evening. And so he'll wake up and be like, we're in a new episode. And because the intro in television is like, they have a big introductory scene that's drawing you in, and then they play the music. So you don't get to that until you're like, a couple minutes into the show, maybe five minutes in some shows. And so if you run from the previous episode to the new episode and they didn't have closing music in that particular case, you would have no indication that you've moved on to the new one. And that happens sometimes.

That happens in podcasting, too.

And it happens in podcasting. And so that's why the transition music at the beginning of the episode is a really good model to run, because it gives an audio cue to your audience that the new one has started, and so that helps move into the attention. So there isn't this point of confusion, because when we get confused, we stop. And we don't want them to stop. We want them to continue to listen. Right. So when we get confused, we pause it, and we're like, did I hear that right? And I don't have time to rewind. And then the confusion caused them to leave. And so we lose 20 to 35% of our listeners in the first five minutes of every podcast. That's the statistic. Now keep in mind that is way, way, way, way, way better than videocast. Videocasts lose 70% of their viewers every single minute it goes on. So podcasts are doing way better in terms of that capture. And part of it is this passive rolling into the next one. But you don't want to confuse them and give them a cause to drop out.

And I think those numbers, Tracy, really do emphasize the point that sometimes, and there are exceptions, right? I mean, the first person to admit there are exceptions, but for the most part, less is more. When it comes to your show intro, it's like, yep, have some music that's familiar people recognize, wakes them up. You know what? We know when I like listening the most, Tracy, and you're right, I would binge through them. And we haven't done it in a while because things changed, you know, in 2020 and 2021.

We haven't been driving on long drives anywhere.

Oh, my gosh, we used to drive to Las Veg four or five times a year for an event of some kind. And that would be a great four hour period of time where I would binge listen through a whole bunch of podcasts. And that music transition's very important, not only because you should be concentrating on the road, even though you're listening passively. And of course, I always was. But, you know, if you're a little distracted, that music sort of wakes you up. It's like, oh, here's a new episode. Okay, what's this one about? You know, it catches your attention, demands your attention.

In many ways, a really good podcast, a really good podcast, especially at the end of that podcast, is getting you to reflect, especially if it's an edutainment one, right? One that's educating you as well as entertaining you, is at that point you're reflecting on, what did I just hear? What are my takeaways? You're actually reflecting on those things. So if you then immediately roll into the next one and you're still thinking that that audio cue of the music can kind of move you out of that and into the next thing. Sometimes that's audio cue is the perfect time for me to pause it, write something down. Because now I want to retain something that make a note to myself, go back to this episode or whatever that might be, that note that I want to make to myself, I'll do it at that time and then go on and start the New episode. If I. That's what I'm going to do. Binge listen like that.

So the thing I want everyone to really think about here is there are two listeners profiles now. You have tons of different listener types and, like, all kinds of things. There are two different listener models that you want to think about that has to do with your intro specifically, and that is your binge listener who's already subscribed to you, who's coming back again and again, and you're a brand new listener who's never listened to your show before. So when you have a musical cue and only a musical cue, you're not serving the listener who's brand new to your show. So that's the difference. Which if you're really strongly. And there are arguments both directions, I'm going to say there are arguments that your binge listeners are your most valuable and they're the only ones you should care about. That's an argument that you could be making there. Or your new subscribers are your new fans, and they're extremely important, too. So you could go both ways on that. So I like to serve both, which is why we recommend to all of our clients and why we do on all of our shows a short intro that has actual words to it and the music. But the music is more of a. I'm going to say, a binge listener effect. Right. It has a purpose, a placeholder, a movement through to the next episode. But it's because your listeners already know you.

They do. And I'm in agreement with you on this, Tracy. I tend to think it's more important to make it easy for the new listener, which you should always be attracting, hopefully always be attracting new listeners, that they get it, that they're put in the right frame of mind, that there's some anticipation built up. They get more curious and sort of get energized. All right, this sounds great. I'm ready. Let's have it. Give me the goods, you know?

Right.

And that's what that intro really can do for most professionals. I think some appropriate music. And music, just to put it out there, is completely a style choice. There's no right or wrong answer. People ask me all the time, well, what type of music do you think the listeners would rather hear? It's like, honestly, it does not matter. It is all over the map. Everybody has such different music tastes. There's no way you can ever predict what they're going to prefer or what they might not like. Just pick something that you're comfortable with. It's your show. That's a personal choice, but it is.

A personal choice, but it should have the tone match. Like, that's the only requirement that I have, is that it has a tone match to your show, to your audience. So in other words, if you know, hey, guys, I talk fast, I have high energy. If I had, like, zen music that then led into me, you'd be confused, right? You'd be like, whoa, that is not the show I was expecting. Right. So let's think about it that way. Like, just make sure that there's some kind of tone stylized match to the energy of your show. And that's the best way to look at it. And then I'm not a fan, personally not a fan of popular music. Look, there are places where it goes great. I could watch CSI all day long just to hear the intro music again, again, who doesn't want to listen to the who, right? Like, I mean, it's just awesome. And the clip that they used is perfect. It sets up the tone. It's the anticipation. Like, I could do that. And I get why people would want to do it, but the reality is, is it's a little distracting, too. And so if you really want to set them in and you're setting more of a business tone for your show, having a music that they don't recogn actually psychologically a little bit better. And because it's not, they're not caught up in, do they identify with their music? Do they like it? Do they not like it? That won't happen on something they've never heard before. And so that's my reason for saying it's kind of like you have lyrics to something. It can be distracting if you've got a voiceover like you don't want to have lyrics and a voiceover like, it's layers of confusion that we just want to avoid.

So then I'm going to agree with you on the music thing, Tracy. That's good. So then, you know, having a voiceover script, you know, professional announcer is one option that we tend to recommend and use. Some podcast hosts use their own voice. I think that's okay, too. But, you know, how do we make that compelling, Tracy?

So here's the thing. If your point of it, remember those two models of audience that I was talking about, the binge listeners know you. The ones that are new to your show don't know you. They don't trust you. Yet you don't have the authority. You haven't gotten that. That's the purpose of a voiceover artist is to give a transfer of authority. If you've ever done a trade show or done a speech where no one introduces you, it is the most uncomfortable, odd thing in the world. I never do it. I can't stand it. And so if they don't do that, they don't transfer the authority, command the authority of the audience. Now you have to do the job of getting their attention. So it's like corralling kids in front of a classroom or something. That's the model of what they set you up to do. Instead of giving an authoritative speech, you're giving a lesson plan. And that's not the model and the role you want to play as a host of a show. You want to be an authority. You're the interviewer, you're the host. You're the authority in your subject matter and. Or the guide in your subject matter, because that's okay, too, if you're not the most experienced. But in. That requires a level of authority. So a voiceover artist instantly does that for you because they're not your voice. They're transferring authority. And they're saying, and now here's your host. Right. They set that up. Or, you know, and now let's hear from Tom. And so they're setting that up that Tom's the voice you need to listen to. Right. Like, that's the tone of what they just did in that transfer. And so the compelling subliminal messages listen up to Tom. Right.

Well. And they should.

And they should. Absolutely. Right.

Sorry. Just had to put that out there. Okay. So. Well, I agree. That's really. That's tremendously important. And, you know, that is probably the formula that works best for most people. But so often.

Yeah. So let's recap that really quick.

Okay.

So some kind of transitional music that sets the tone combined with a voiceover that is authoritative, transferring authority to you. And then the third piece is. What are you going to say?

Right. For sure. And so to finish my thought there, what are you going to say? This is where I really think we can't emphasize this point enough, Tracy. And it's not for the people that probably know us and have heard us before. It's for the new people who haven't heard us much before. Much like we're talking about how that.

Because we might be a broken record on this subject. Is that what you're saying?

Broken record is probably not how I would put it, but that's an old term.

Right.

Well, it's come back. Right. Vinyl is big now anyway. It's the really? I cannot tell you how many audits I do of existing shows that have these incredibly long intros that when I'm listening to the show to check it out, I'm just like, oh my goodness, get on with it already. I mean, really, I mean a minute long, 90 seconds long, it's like, come on. No, no, no. This intro is not the place to communicate your bio or your resume, right?

And there are coaches out there, podcast coaches out there who are telling you to put your pitch at the beginning and they're telling you that because you're going to lose your audience. That's the case on video, you're going to lose your audience. So if you don't pitch them, they're gone, right? And so that's what they think they have to do to get them in. But the reality is, is that podcasting is the long game and it doesn't work like that. And if you pitch at the beginning, they're not even going to give your show a chance. When I listen to a show to decide if it's going to become a subscribe for me, I will tune out If I hear a 90 second intro and if they're selling within that intro or if it's all about the host and not about the show, that's also another indicator. It's too narcissistic for me. Like I don't know how else to say that. It's just, it's too much about them and not enough about me, so I can't possibly gain enough. That's the message that I've taken away from a long self serving intro for the host, right? Like that's it. I want to hear a little bit about the host. They're, you know, an expert in this or like mindset, former in columnist. Like, great, that's something. It's an authoritative phrase, but that's it. Like it doesn't say more than that about me. Everything else you're going to find out in the show, you're going to learn from the show. But the main point of that is to say you're in the right place. This is what you're going to get from this show or this is its purpose, its mission. And here's your host. Those are it. Those three things, simple. Break it down like that and do it in 15 seconds, 30 maximum, right?

I think 20 seconds is somewhere in there is the sweet spot.

Agree. Because you'll have like five seconds of music somewhere in there. That's just like a little bit of music because you can't abruptly stop speaking and not trail a little bit. So. Yeah, so somewhere right around there. 20 seconds exactly, Tom. And that is the perfect model for it. It gives enough to a new listener. It doesn't bore a binge listener. And you're on and you're on and you're speaking and you're into your. Into your content.

So then, Tracy, is there any condition where you would not want to use a podcast intro?

So there have been some shows out there that I've interviewed recently where they don't do it, and I think it works actually for them. So now some people do what I'm going to say, a preamble. So they have the preamble, which is that model of like serial television, right, where you get action happening and then you have the intro and then you have the show. And I don't love the preamble if it doesn't have transition music too. I like a little bit of transition music before the preamble only because it is a confusing. Like, is it from the last episode to the next episode? Like, it's confusing as to. Is that a recap comment? Because you had just heard somebody's voice.

So you know, well, that could be a short bit of music or that preamble could be some other just sound to catches your attention. It doesn't necessarily have to be music per se, but some auditory.

An auditory cube. I mean, a preamble, like where you're taking up from the.

Oh, you're preamble. You mean a hook line. I'm sorry, some people call it a hook line.

I call it a preamble because that's kind of actually what it is.

I thought you were talking about something else.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. So hook line, a quote. You're taking out a clip from the episode itself. A lot of them are way too long. That's the one thing I know on the hook lines are way too long. Like it should just be a sound bite. 30 seconds.

It can confuse people. Otherwise I find, right. It's like, wait, did I get the right show? Right? Did I click?

And that's why if you keep it nice and short, there's a little transition sound before it. That's what I was talking then your intro. That's okay if you're going to do that. So just letting you know that I do see shows that do it, but most of them do it way too long a clip. And that's the problem because when you interview somebody, they answer the whole question. So you're trying to give the whole answer, you need to just capture the sound bite piece, and that needs to be 30 seconds or less. And think of it like a TikTok. If it's longer than a TikTok, you don't want to do it.

Well. And the reality is, it's okay if it doesn't make complete sense. The point of it is to build anticipation and say, oh, whoa, I got to hear the rest of that. Right. And so they want to then hang on and listen to you give them the whole answer. Right. Then it kind of defeats the purpose.

Right, exactly. So doing that, that's okay on certain shows, but keep in mind, it's very confusing to new listener listeners because they don't know your style yet. So that new listeners are a little bit confused by it. So that's why that phrase needs to be impactful. But your binge listeners love that because then they're like, oh, that sounds cool. I gotta listen to this episode. Right? You're hooking them in. That's a good thing. But those that start immediately in and start with their own voice as a part of the intro, assuming they already had the music transition, so they've already done that. Right. And then they just start into their episode. I think it's fine. There are some shows that do that really well, and it's almost like you do need to remember to put some comfort words in there. Like you're going to say the same phrase every time. Just like you might sign off the same way every time you want to open the same way every time. Because there's comfort in that for your existing audience. And the new audience knows they're welcome or that, you know, and we always do that here. We say, welcome to Feature Brand. Right. Thanks for being here. You know, whatever that might be for you. Just do that one little phrase, make sure you're repeating that. And then you're just like, you know, we're gonna. I can't wait to dive into this topic today and, you know, dive into it, but hook it. Thinking about capturing them in and pulling them in with what you're gonna say there. That's great, but don't forget that you haven't been introduced. And so along the way, this is part of a reason why you might say, you know, I'm Tracy Hazzard, and along with my partner, Tom Hazzard, I might need to say that there so that they distinguish the voices, because if you're new to the show, I don't know that you're not the guest, you're the Host yet. You haven't done that. You haven't given me that. And then those of you with complicated names to pronounce, do you know how many times I've tried to listen to a show to find how to pronounce their name before I interview them? And sometimes it never happens.

Sometimes you find it.

Yeah, never happens. That they say their name. That's incredibly difficult. You need to make your audience comfortable, not uncomfortable. They need to get to know you. So if you're not going to have that on the intro, you need to do that in your introduction piece that you're doing, your custom piece that you do at the beginning of each show.

I also think it's important. Well, that just goes.

But what I'm not a fan of, and I should just say this really quick here, what I'm not a fan of is doing your intro canned with your own voice, prerecorded. You mean prerecorded the same way every time. And it's your own voice if you're.

Going to record it.

And it's not custom. Yeah, I'm talking about custom every time.

Custom every time. Right. If it's not custom. Right, right. Well, that's what you're talking about. The transfer of authority is really the reason you have another voice of authority with that prerecorded one. But if it's your own voice every time, I think it actually is very repetitive in some ways. And I hear especially people that say the same thing every time when they start their episode, the real unique episode every time, then you know they're doing it anyway.

Right.

Doing it again. Right. It's really kind of unnecessary.

But here's the thing. It's like, you may think, like, with a canned introduction, right. With an introduction that's prerecorded, that's your voice saying, hey, welcome to the show. I'm this and this. And you're just doing it so you don't have to repeat yourself when you start a new episode next. Next time. Like, the problem with that is, is that if you were doing it live each time and it takes 30 seconds, it's not like it takes a tremendous amount of your time to add that on to recording in your episode. Your energy will be different. And that's the difference there is that that repetitive one is. Has its own same energy each time. And that's great. If it's grounding and authoritative, that's its purpose. But if it's you, it doesn't do either of those things. It feels repetitive and it's not Authoritative. So, like, that's why I'm not a fan of the canned version of that. I really feel like you should have a custom if you're going to do your own voice.

So, Tracy, do you have any intros that are like your favorites? Do you have any that you know of that you could share? That's.

Yeah. So podcasting made simple. I just interviewed Alex Sanfilippo yesterday, and his show does this. He does his own intro each time, and it's a custom intro. It has a lot of the same elements in it where he's introducing himself, he's saying something about his show, and then he goes on to the topic that they're going to discuss today. But I like the way he does it because every time you listen to the episode, it's different. Now you need to listen to his most recent episodes to get that because this earlier show was a different brand. And so listen to some of the ones from 2022. That's when this change happened. And you really hear this. And I think he does a really great job of it. Dr. Nikki Sisso, another one to check out. She does a custom intro on her as well. And it's her voice.

So it's every time it's unique is what you're saying.

Yeah. Dr. Nikki likes to start from a place of love and so she transitions in that great way in her particular case because the tone is so significant to the show, which is elevate to legendary. And so when you do that, you need to have the tone match and she's the only one who can really do it.

Okay, well that's interesting. So that's a little different than the pre recorded one.

It's not a pre recorded. Your voice.

Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. So interestingly, I like the ones that actually are pre recorded, not the host. And there's a familiarity and a comfort. And I agree with the energy. Now, my favorite, if I could share it.

Yeah, please.

Is a different one than what we've talked about, admittedly. So you may not be happy with me for throwing that one in here, but it's very different. And because it's a different kind of audience a show has.

But you're talking about a pre recorded one. I was talking about two that are not pre recorded, so totally. That's okay that it's different.

Well, should I ask you about your favorite one that's pre recorded? I didn't.

Go ahead and you do yours first.

All right. All right. So pre recorded. And admittedly this is a very different format. Of show. The audience for the show could be anyone in America who is exercising and uses the Peloton bike. Okay. Anybody out there. And so that's, to me, a tougher one, because you have this huge potential audience. Everybody has maybe one thing in common, their interest in the Peloton bike, everything else. These are people all over the map of all different walks of life, you know, and so there's not a lot, you know, ahead of time about these people and probably not a lot of common traits. But the show's called the Clip out somebody we work with, it politize. It's one of the best prerecorded ones I've ever seen. Now, admittedly, though, ever. This is. This is. Pardon.

Ever heard. You said ever seen.

Well, seen. And they do a video podcast. That's true. Well, we created the video portion of their intro for the episodes videos. But anyway, the. The audio existed before they came to us. And this is not for the typical podcaster, though. It's not for the typical podcaster because it is not cheap to do. But what they did is had a custom theme song written and performed for their show. So the reason why I think it's so important for their show is what I mentioned before. The wide variety of their audience and the common interest is just their people's interest in getting fit using the Peloton. It's sort of a Peloton fan podcast. And, you know, when you talked about energy, Tracy, this one sets the tone and the energy level just what you want it to be. Perfect energy. Perfect in so many ways. And to me, I enjoy listening it to it every time. It doesn't get boring or repetitive. It gets me excited. Kind of like the who gets you excited for csi and, you know, the who are you? It's all csi. Who's this victim, whatever, Right? With the Peloton. I mean, go listen to it. Go check out the clip out just to listen to the intro. If you're not a Peloton fan, just listen to it.

Because that makes my top list to Tom so easy. Yeah, it's very unique. It's great. So the other one that I really like, that is a custom one, but it's done in a really fun way. And she had a different one earlier, which was still good. But the one that I like is Better Call Daddy Rena Friedman Watts. I love her intro. It's got her kids on it, and they're like. And we can hear from my mom. So if you don't want to have like this. But it's better called Daddy. It's like a family in a way, a family show. And so it's kind of a nice way to do it. But she had a different one at the very beginning of her show and then transitioned to this one. And I love it. It's sweet. It's funny. It's odd. It's just. It fits her show perfectly. And I was lucky enough to be her guest this week, so I was on our show.

Well, I think that's a great example, and I like ones that have fun with it. Now, admittedly, not every show is there's an opportunity to have fun with it, but I'm going to use our first show as an example. Wtff. We did two things there. We have a prerecorded intro and we used some of. It's a geeky show about 3D printing. Admittedly, this is not. It's a very niche audience, although it was a very, very big audience in its time. And we sampled some of the noises that a 3D printer makes, which are kind of unique.

They're a little R2D2, like.

Yes, they are. And we use those as the very opening to the music. And then there is music and there is voiceover. And some of it is unique every time. But we also would give our voiceover artist a script, and he recorded a unique one for every show. Now, that doesn't happen every day either.

Right, right. Yeah, that was. I mean, it was. We stopped doing it because it got to be a lot of effort to write that each week and make sure that that happened on time for the production of the episode and all of those things. So it just got to be cumbersome and time consuming to do it. So we just stopped doing it after a while. But we did do that in the beginning. But, you know, our thing was we weren't doing four a month. We were doing one a day. So, like, it was a. You know, we were doing five a week. So it was a lot of interest.

But was on the short side and made it unique. There was a little bit of the script that was the same every time. And then the announcer would say, today, Tom and Tracy Hazard discuss this. Or today, Tom Tracy Hazard meet with so and so right about this. And that was. So we spent a lot more money than your typical show does on voiceover work. We had a monthly retainer with our voiceover artists because we were giving him 20amonth to do.

Right, right. Yeah.

And he's not expecting that.

But he uses his interns and his intern's job is to create a unique intro each time. And they've done things like, you know, go buy a celebrity to make the announcements. Like some of them have had some really creative solutions there.

That's fun.

That's fun.

And so they got a bunch of her secretary every show, right?

Exactly. Yeah. And so it's really fun, but it is time consuming. But he's got an intern whose sole job it is, you know, who's is to manage this. So they're on it and they have the time to do it and devote to it. Not everyone can. But these are some unique things that if you want to play with it. But you know, Tom, what I really want to talk about is one, one thing that happens again and again. And it's a technical problem that we set out to solve with potatoes because we needed to, because it was our own problem as well. And that is what happens when you switch your show. And now your intro is wrong for like all the other past episodes and everything. And what do you need to do? You got to take those intros out and re edit them. So it's just a complex thing is like what do I do? Do I just transition? So now here's my rule of thumb. If it's going to cost you to edit your back episodes, create a transition episode that announces to your audience a change. Label it really clearly in the title that this is the shift from whatever the show name was before to the new show name. Like, you know, that's like why I shifted such and such to such and such. You know, change the show name. Right. So we used to call binge factor center of influence. Why center of influence is now binge factor and do whatever that is. Have that really clear in the title so someone can find it easily in the list. Make a transition show, explain why you're changing things and then from that point forward, use your new intro. That is, if it's going to be costly, time consuming for you to change your intro, I don't want you to bother to do it because during the show you're going to mention your show. Like you would have to edit the whole thing and it's just not worth it. And your audience will understand if you've created the transition episode and someone who finds your show and is going to binge listen is going to go from the beginning and listen all the way through. So they'll be along for the ride. They won't. And then anyone new who only listens to the most recent is only going to know what it is. Now, so it's not going to matter to them what it was before. So you're going to cover your bases by doing that. However, we decided that we didn't want to have that problem for our clients and we wouldn't want the ones who were, I'm going to say, the perfectionists out there who really wanted brand integrity through everything and really change it all. We didn't want them to have, have a problem. So we created a system. Tom, would you tell us about that?

Yeah. And here's maybe another good example or good reason why this is something that, you know, people don't really plan on and then after the fact, either really regret because there's so much pain and cost in changing it, or really then understand, oh my gosh, I'm so lucky. I'm glad I have the ability to change it. Is that a lot of people, despite our recommendations and our certified podcast strategists, who, you know, are master podcast strategists with a lot of experience, you know, despite all of their advice and our advice that, you know, your intro less is more, end up with a 90 second intro and then after they actually listen to a few of their own episodes are like, oh yeah, maybe we should shorten that up. Well, what we decided when we built Potitize hosting platform is we're going to have give our customers the option to make this easy. So what you do is on Paditize, you have the ability to upload your prerecorded intro and outro, even though this episode isn't about outros, but you have the option to upload both. But just sticking with the intro for now and then you don't edit your intro permanently onto the beginning of the MP3 file for every episode. And if using a producer that's not us and you're still hosting on Politize, that's fine. Your producer doesn't need to put that intro on every episode when they edit. They just edit the unique part, the middle part, if you will, of every episode. So you just upload when you're gonna publish an episode or schedule to publish. You fill out the form, you add your title and description, whatever else you need to, that's unique there, and then upload your MP3 file and then there's a little checkbox there that says add intro and add outro. And our system will add that on and it'll even do it with a crossfade, if that's your style and you.

Want to crossfade of music or well.

Of the pre recorded Part to the unique part. Right. The music can be fading down as you're starting to speak. Fading in or up, as the case may be. But what this allows you, it's not only convenient. So you just don't have to do that repetitive work editing every episode. The real importance of it is next week, Tracy and I can decide. We want a new intro for feed you'd brand. We have it recorded and mixed. We upload it to potatoes. We have the ability in with the push of one button to retroactively meaning after the fact, all the previous episodes have been published can all be changed to have the new prerecorded intro, even the older episodes. But that's a choice. So somebody who starts out of the gate, there may be 12, a dozen episodes in 20 episodes in, they kind of have regret or remorse over that intro. That. All right. Now that I've been doing this a little while now, I understand it better. I really wish it were something different. Guess what? You don't have to live with that decision forever. You, when you're hosted on Poditize, upload that new intro. Boom. It gets replaced on all the episodes with the push of a button. And within 10 minutes, it's all reprocessed. Next time anybody streams an episode, it's going to have the new one. And.

Right. Sometimes it takes 24 hours to filter through all the directories just to.

Depends on the app. Yeah, depends on the app you're listening to.

Within a day, everything's fixed across the Internet and you're going to be. You listen to with your new intro.

And then one other thing with our system, though, Tracy, I just want to make sure for, you know, so those listening who may be of a more technical nature understand. Let's say you don't want to replace everything in the past and you just want to start from this point forward. The system gives you the option to do that. You're not forced to have it replace all the past episodes so you can make a strategic choice and just do it. All right. With these new episodes going forward.

Well, and so some people do this is that they put more timely messages or do something. So we had a show called For Love and Music, and during the pandemic, she added a special intro that was just like, I'm so saddened by the fact that the. And it was her own voice that she did this in. I'm so saddened by the fact that Covid has hit the music industry and there's no live venues right now. Please understand that this episode was recorded at a prior time. And we look forward to getting back to seeing people in person at concerts, something like that. And then she just replaced that onto the beginning of it and then the rest of her intro played. So that was an option too, that she had the ability to do that. So now when there are live events happening now, now she can take that off and it now is no longer in those episodes. Because if I'm listening now, I'm going to live concerts like it's no big deal. So, like, it doesn't need to have that reference point as it did in 2020.

Right. So this is based on our own needs and desires as podcasters. When we created our platform, we built this capability into it because we felt it was really important.

Well, and we got a lot of requests from clients to revise things. So, like, it got to be a lot of editing and we were going to have to charge them for it. So we found a way to not charge them for it. Basically, what we did was.

Painless.

Right. We wanted to make it just be a choice, not a hardship or a burden, financially or otherwise.

Yeah. So this is where tools and strategy combine. And that's what we're really all about here at Pottitize. And what feed your brand is about bringing you the idea of putting a tool and strategy, so tactics and strategy together to really do something powerful for your show. So if you take away anything from this show about intros, we want you to take away that really thinking about those two audience models, the binge listeners and the newbies, and really think about how you're presented to both of those. And is it working for you, what you have today? And if it's not, switch it up, change it up. Now's a great time to do that model. Or if you're just starting and setting out your show, think about the fact that you're going to have these two audiences that you may not have realized you were going to have before. So take away that, because that's going to help you be more cognizant of the best type of intro for your show and for what you're going to do going forward.

And for an admittedly shameless plug, if you're going to be starting a show, we highly recommend you host on Poditize. So you leave yourself the flexibility to be able to pivot and not have it be painful, whether you're editing and publishing your own audio or you're using a producer. Either way, you can do it. And in fact, even if you have old episodes. Our system allows you to trim the front, the beginning of it off, and even the end. So let's take a look. If, depending on how the transition is between that intro and the main episode, you can trim off the beginning and then boom, you know, easily within the system and then have it add the new intro for you. So anyway, just consider that there, you know, there are reasons why different hosting platforms exist and have unique features and functions. We think Palletize is the best, but regardless, we just want you out there podcasting, publishing more episodes, serving your audience, your community, getting more value out of your podcast. And that's why we're here, sharing this information with you.

Well, we need to end this feed your brand episode, Tom, because we've got to get onto our coaching call, which is offered every single week to our productized clients. So we need to get on the coaching call Q and A side of things and let them ask questions about anything pressing, anything that's on their mind today.

Which we should mention. Even if all you're doing is DIY hosting with pilot ties, you get invited to participate in the weekly customer only coaching calls. So. All right, well, thanks so much everybody for listening. We'll get onto that right now, as you suggest, Tracy. Thanks for listening everyone. This has been Tom and Tracie Hazzard on feed.

You'd brand.

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