Voice of Authority Intros Outros

This is the continuation of Start yout Authority podcast in one day Boot camp. We're continuing on and we're gonna hit something more that is involved in your setup, and that's the intro outro. And an intro outro sometimes is referred to as bumpers, and they are the voice of authority introducing you and closing out your show. And we really have some really concerted opinions from listeners. Listeners are very vocal about this, and if you ask them at all about your show, they will be brief and to the point, want you to get to the content. So they don't love these intro outros, but when you have your servicing existing and new, you've got to be able to have both. So intro and outros are very important. They are a sign of a more professional show. Thinking about it this way, like, we just had this awkwardness where they had to turn on all the other cameras that you can't see here, right? And so we just had this awkwardness. This is what always happens when you do, like, live streams and other things like that, right? You have this awkwardness of, wow, like, did I get started? Am I on camera? Like, can anyone see me yet? And you have these weird things happen. And we don't want that happening on the start of your podcast. So having a professional intro outro that. That gets put on, that gets mashed up, and then you start into your great content and know you're starting, that's really a sign of a more professional show. It is the standard today. People expect it. But there also are good practices that go along with that. So I'm going to talk about that today. So intro outro starts with good copy, right? We have to write it. It is a scripted thing. It's one of the only things I recommend scripting. We'll talk about that a bit later when we talk about interviewing and when we talk about your content. I do not recommend scripting anywhere. But your intro outro copies should be scripted because you're going to use a voiceover artist and you want them to say something specific. You do not want them to wing it. So you want to make sure that you're really clear about this. And your intro outro copy is also very concise. But here's the thing. When you write it, sometimes it's not as good as it should be. It doesn't sound right when you speak it. So I not only want you to write it or have someone write it for you, we write it for all of our clients. I want to make sure that you speak it and you say, wow, that does sound like someone should speak, that your word choices, the order of your words sometimes look different in writing than they do when you speak. So just make sure that you're revising that and you're trying it again and you're flexible with it. Because sometimes really good voiceover artists, ours especially, will come back and suggest and say, hey, this doesn't flow right. Like, my tongue's getting tied. Can I say it differently? And when they do, it's perfect. It's usually just right. It sounds more natural. So be flexible about this. One of the great ways to figure out what you want. And remember, intro, outro, copy is just one thing. You've got voice of artists and music. So you're listening to three different components. But listen up. Listen up to other people's shows that you like. Listen to the intros that they're doing. Listen to the complexity of that. The one thing I want you to do is that the more highly produced a show is, the more complex their intros will be. In other words, they might have a different intro for every single show. Buffer does this on the science of social media. They have different intros, they have different hosts that do the introductions every single time. And so that's harder to handle. It's a lot more complex for you. And when you're getting started, I don't recommend it. I recommend just a straightforward, simple introduction and simple outro, or simple close to your show. Keep it very, very simple here, but listen up to others for the style, for the tone, for the music, for the energy, and listen up to ones that you really respond to and say, does this fit me thinking about that? So again, we're doing some research on some of those shows we may have clicked on before. We also want to listen up to our competitors because we want to know what we're up against. If everybody else in the marketplace is Zen about their show and they really have this kind of simple tone. And welcome to my show on consciousness, you know, whatever that is. And you go in absolute contrast to that, you better be sure you're doing that for a purpose, that you want to draw the big energy people that you're trying to draw, the ones who aspire to be Zen but just aren't there yet, maybe. And so making sure that that's not in contrast, but you also don't want it to be in such high contrast to you as a personality. So you definitely want to think that through as to what my tone is as well. So does this fit me when you're listening to those shows. So intro copy, as I referred to, short, succinct and straightforward. That's what we hear again and again from listeners. They'd rather it were like 15 seconds. I'm not kidding about that. That's how short they'd like it. So think about how can I get across exactly what they need to know. I want you to use your short description here, not the whole thing. I want you to use little bits and pieces of it. You're going to say welcome to feed. You'd brand the show where you can get off the marketing roller coaster and onto the F track.

For broadcasting your brand to the world. I don't even remember what the copy is anymore. Join hosts Tom four time podcast host Tracy Hazard and.

Potatoes.com co founders Tom Hazard. Like, you know, we're using a little bit of title. It's pretty short. It's to the point, it's making sure they know where they are and who you are. And that's it. It's super simple. But you can use your description to pull out the phrases that you want there. So write it from there. We do the outro, on the other hand, is now the opportunity for invite and promotion. You should never do that at the beginning. Don't promo a website, don't promo your books, don't promote your social channels. Don't do any of that at the beginning. You're going to do that at the end because you haven't earned the right yet. You haven't served them yet. So this is specifically for new people who are to your show, people who are binge listening. Keep in mind this is another reason why you want them short and sweet is because they're going to go intro, show, outro, intro. If they're binging on to the next episode. So they're going to hear your outro and then your intro like one after the other. So that's an interesting phenomena that happens. And it's also why we don't want them repetitive or too repetitive. And we want to make sure we thank them and we specify your website and your social channels only. Now here's the thing. If you have too many social channels to remember, so if you've got it's feed your brand here, feed your dash brand over here, it's this here. It's Rancaster. That's way too confusing for people. Pick one and only mention that social channel and you could have multiple only. Now here's the thing. If you have too many social channels to remember, so if you've got it's feed your brand here, feed your brand over here. It's this here. It's Randcaster. That's way too confusing for people. Pick one and only mention that social channel and you could have multiple outros that you could rotate through. So one week maybe you mentioned your Facebook page. The next week maybe you mentioned your Instagram. So you would say go to FeedYourBrand Co and find us on Facebook edyourbrands or find us on Instagram edyourbrand. Right. And so you're gonna go through all of those things. Only say everywhere on social at if you have that. If you don't. This is also another thing. If you don't have social channels that are in line with your brand, with who you are. Clear, Easy to spell, easy to figure out. Like, you know, I have my mind for my product side of the business. Was has designed. I have to remind people to spell it with two Z's. So hasdesign with two Z's. You have to specify that because remember, they're listening. So you don't want to have to spell it out. So if you can avoid it, do so. I have a podcast called Product Launch Hazards. I have bought Hazards with two Zs, which is the proper name for it, and Hazards with a single Z. So it doesn't matter. I don't have to spell it. They're not going to go wrong. They're going to end up in the right place. So use a strategy like that because they are going to spell it wrong. So here's the thing. If your website has the word consciousness in it, or if it has more complexity to it, make sure you get a simpler version of it. It's okay. To simplify, it doesn't have to exactly match the name of your show. You could call it.

If I can't get it Exactly. You can always go feed your brand podcast or something like that. You can add the word, podcast it and direct it to the place that you want to go. One great podcaster, and he's a great author who I absolutely adore. Mike Michalowicz. That is an incredibly hard name to even pronounce, let alone spell. So he has a short link which is like getmike.com or something like that. It's really super short. And he has that as authority because he knows people can't spell it and so he's very clear about that. So don't try to force people to spell it. This is not a branding opportunity. This is. They're never going to write it down and they're never going to remember it. So just go and do the simplest thing possible with the easiest spelling. And if they're going to spell it wrong, then buy the wrong spelling and move from there. Keep it simple. The perfect length, as I mentioned before, is 15 seconds. You can be a little bit longer in your early days, but as you get deeper into your show, shorten it, make it more concise. So sometimes, when we. Sometimes the show will launch with like 20 episodes at once or something like that, or 10 episodes at once. Maybe we might do a slightly longer one for the first five episodes and then cut it and make it shorter for the remainder of the remainder for the episodes from then on. So it's okay to do a slightly longer version for your introductory episodes because everyone who goes to those is finding you for the first time. So that's okay there. But over time, you definitely want to make sure that this is. It's really short, that it's just to the point and it's perfectly so it doesn't feel like it dragged on. At some point in the future, you may want to be adding on advertisements and the last thing you want Is this 2 to 3 minute thing going on with ads and the intros. So a really great pod. Okay there. But over time, you definitely want to make sure that this is. It's really short, that it's just to the point and it's the perfect length, so it doesn't feel like it dragged on. At some point in the future, Castor's got a show called the Lifestylist Luke Story. He went and put out a you may want to be adding on advertisements, and the last thing you want Is this 2 to 3 minute thing going on with ads and the intros. So a really great podcast message to all of his listeners and said, hey, guys, I'm thinking about finally revising my introduction. What would you like to hear? And then everyone said, none or shorter. Like that was the consistent message again and again. And the other one was Caster's got a show called the lifestylist Luke Story. He went and put out a message to all of his listeners and said, hey guys, I'm thinking about finally revising my introduction. What would you like to hear? And then everyone said, none or shorter. Like that was the consistent message again and again. And the other one was less ads. Get to the content. So putting ads right after your intros, not a great idea either. We don't recommend it. We'll talk about ads a little bit later. And where the Optimum placements are. But the reality is that some people have noticed less ads get to the content. So putting ads right after your choice, but to put them there. So that's another reason why you want this intro to be short. Intro's not a great idea either. We don't recommend it. We'll talk about ads a little bit later and where the optimum placements are. But the reality is that some, some people have no choice but to put them there. So that's another reason why you want this intro to be short and sweet. You also really want a voice of authority. You want an announcer. And sweet. You also really want a voice of authority. You want an announcer to announce you. Do not announce yourself. You need a voice of authority because it transfers power to you as a host. If you are saying I'm in color to announce you do not announce yourself. You need a voice of authority because it transfers power to you as a host. If you are saying I'm in columnist and four time podcast host, you know, expert in product launching. It sounds self promoting and it's not. Columnist and four time podcast host, you know, expert in product launching. It's not great, but when somebody else says it, we just accept it in our brain as oh, that's a fact. And that's what the voice of authority's purpose is. It's to transfer power to you, promo you and your business so you don't have to. The only thing that you do in the show is serve. And then it also sets the tone. So if the voice of authority is powerful, energetic and getting you pumped up for it, then that's what you're there to expect in the rest of the show. If it's to calm people down, slow them down so they're ready for the pace of this more meditative, slower show, then that's what the tone of that voice of authority is. There's also a school of thought of gender. So if you've got a very male dominated show, do you want a female announcer, softens it up and does, you know, and can do other things. Or on the other hand, like New Trust Economy, we have two women co hosts. We chose to pick a male announcer as our voice of authority, transferring authority to us mainly because the blockchain and cryptocurrency market is dominated by men. And so we thought that having that voice of authority, of male transfer of power to us would be useful from a psychological standpoint as well. So think about that as you're setting the tone and who you want to transfer that power, the other major component of great voiceover, combined with music selection, that makes for a great intro, right? We've got copy, we've got voiceover, and now we've got music. Music is a big tone setter as well. Choosing the genre, whether you want, we highly recommend instrumental. There's a very rare occasion where you might want a sound or a voice or a tone or something like that that happens through it that goes beyond instrumental. You want it to have a tonal match to your show. So you don't want just because you like heavy metal, but your show is really zen. That would be in great contrast. So even though you like it, doesn't mean your audience will resonate with it. You just want the music to be underlying and set the tone for what's going to happen. You don't want the music to be overpowering. So now here's something I want to debunk in case you haven't explored this. You don't understand it yet. You want to buy royalty free music, and royalty free doesn't mean that the music is free. You have to buy it. What you're buying is music that you pay a one time fee for the rights to use. You do not have to pay ongoing royalty. Every single time it's played. Music that's played on the radio, every time it's played, royalty goes back to whoever owns that. Usually it's the the lyricist or the writers of the music or the production house, right? They get a percentage on that. That's not how it works with royalty free music. With royalty free music, you might pay $50 and you have the rights to use it for life. For your purpose though, you do have to play music that's played on the radio. Every time it's played, royalty goes back to whoever owns that. Usually it's the the lyricist or the writers of the music or the production house. Right? They get a percentage on that. That's not how it works with royalty free music. With royalty free music, you might pay $50 with podcast broadcasting purposes, so make sure that you're buying the right level of that. Some of the resources we use are Fiverr, Premium Beat, Melody Loops. These are just some of the few that we choose to use. They already are smart enough to know that podcasting is a big thing, so so that they have their programs for how you buy it and what level and you have the rights to use it for life. For your purpose, though, you do have to buy it with podcast broadcasting purposes, so make sure that you're buying the Right level of that. Some of the resources we use are Fiverr, Premium, Beat, Melody, Loops. These are just some of the few that we choose to use. They already are smart enough to know that podcasting is a big thing. So so that the tool you choose already has podcasting in there and they make it really easy for you. Digital usage is another term. They have their programs for how you buy it and what level that you might come across some sites digital uses or digital broadcasting of music. So you want to do that. It is not okay. It is not true that you can use 8 bars of something. Not true at all. You can't use 8 bars of music for free. Will you choose? Already has podcasting in there and they make it really easy for you. Digital usage is another term that you might come across some sites digital uses or digital broadcasting that does not exist. That is not a thing. Also, it's extremely difficult to get the rights to music that you know like. I mean, I love to have the Eagles on the front of one of my songs, you know. But getting the rights from that, that's not going to happen. You have to go through organizations and you have to know someone and maybe you do, and that lucky you. But it is super difficult to get the rights to music that we all recognize as powerful for podcasting purposes at this time. So you have to be a big powerful organization to make that happen.

Music. So you want to do that. It is not okay. It is not true that you can use 8 bars of something. Not true at all. You can't use 8 bars of music for free. That does not exist. That is not a thing. Also, it's extremely difficult to get the rights to music that you know like. I mean, I love to have the Eagles on the front of one of my songs, you know, but getting the rights from that, that's not going to happen. You have to go through organizations and you have to know someone and maybe you do, and that lucky you. But it is super difficult to get the rights to music that we all recognize as powerful for podcasting purposes at this time. So you have to be a big powerful organization to make that happen.