How do you start each episode of your podcast? Now, I’m sure you’ve listened to many podcasts as well and you’ve heard different ways to start a podcast. So what have you heard? Sometimes for interview-style podcasts, there’s a quote near the top. Maybe for narrative-style, there’s a whole pre-produced teaser with music and sound effects to really catch your ear for what’s coming up next. Or maybe it’s just a cold intro. No music, nothing. Just voice and an introduction. There are other ways as well, like the very commonly produced intro. But why are there so many different ways to start a podcast? What’s the point of each one? And which one should I use on my podcast? Sure. That’s what you’re asking. Well, no “one answer” is going to be the right answer for you. So let’s dive into some typical ways on how you can start each and every one of your episodes on your podcast.
1 – The Produced Intro
The first one is the produced intro. This is a very, very common way to start each episode, and it emulates TV episodes where you have the intro with music, the name of the show, maybe even a little bit of credits, like who’s the host? But for a podcast, the key similarity here is the theme music. You have the same music, it’s the same start each and every time. In a produced intro for your podcasts, I always recommend to keep it short, 30 seconds or less or up to a minute if you really really have to. However, most produced intros I hear are really long. It almost sounds like a trailer instead, and that’s not what you’re looking for in a produced intro. With this intro, listeners have already bought in, so you don’t need to explain what the show is all about and go on and on about who the show is for because it plays each and every time on your podcast. So listeners are already here. They’ve already heard it. They’ve bought in. They don’t need you to explain it in its long-form each and every time. So keep it short. They’ve already clicked play on the episode, so give them the content right away.
2 – The Cold Intro
The opposite to a produced intro would be a cold intro because produced intros will have music. A cold intro has no music. Cold means it’s just your voice. This is a good way to start your episode if you want to have a setup. A quick tease to showcase what is coming up. You can highlight what the listener will learn. So there are key takeaways at the end of listening to the episode and the whole “what’s in it for them” approach. Quick tip for you. This cold intro works really, really well. If you write your show notes first. That way you already know the key points and they’ll be handy when you need to record your cold intro. So in my eyes, a sample workflow would be to record your interview, say, if this is an interview-style podcast. You record the interview, then you make your edits to the content, create your show notes, or at least know what the bullet points for your show notes will be. And then that way you can use those bullet points to create your cold intro.
3 – Have a Quote Off the Top
The third way to start a podcast episode is having a quote off the top. Now for interview podcasts, this one would be great to use. However, it is the hardest one to master. Quotes off the top are meant to tease the listener and give them enough information like a cliff-hanger so that they want to hear more, if it’s done right. It’s not meant to be the big aha moment and give it all away.
For my own podcast, I start my interview episodes this way. I trim enough to make edits so that I’m giving away enough information so that it’s not confusing to a listener who’s only dropping in for the first minute, but that I find clips that are enticing enough for them to want to keep going and think to themselves. Yes, I want to know more. I’m going to keep listening. I’m not going to hit the stop button.
Quotes are ideally 30 seconds, I would say, but usually under a minute because it really does take less than a minute for a listener to decide if they want to keep listening or not. So with this short quote, it really is hard to master because you have to decide and listen through to your entire episode. What are the best parts? And now the best quotes I find are actually ones where you pick certain sections in that interview’s answer. So, for example, if they’ve answered a question and it goes on for a few minutes, but you want to highlight the most important parts that will tease somebody who wants to listen to the details. So you’re giving an overview of what the episode will sound like. You might want to edit in the first section of the quote where they talk about the idea or theme, and then you want to edit out the main answers, the aha moments, the giveaway, ideally and then end it with just their final thoughts at the end. That’s one quick general way of doing it, but really it does take a listener’s ear to figure out what works, what doesn’t, because if you cut out too much, it might not make sense anymore. It’s not coherent and it doesn’t really tease anything. So when finding your quotes, it does take more time in the post-production and editing of your show. So you would have edited your entire show, listen to it over again, or maybe you have a transcription so you can sort of read through or search for keywords that you’re looking for and then listen again to those keywords to see if you really can get a cliff-hanger out of this quote. So if you have an editor that you work with and they are great at listening for these types of cliff-hangers for the quotes, then this would be a great option for you.
What Will Work Best For Your Show?
So how do you really decide what will work best for your show? Well, with my own show, I decide based on what my listener wants, what do they want to hear? So because I have solo episodes and interview episodes, I start each one a little bit differently. Here’s my train of thought. My solo episodes are short. They are meant to give you nuggets of information quickly and to the point. So I don’t want to quote off the top. However, from my interview episodes, quotes are great because the listener doesn’t know this person yet. When I try to find a quote I want to make sure that the quote exemplifies the theme of the episode and showcases what the guest is going to bring on to the show. So here are some parameters for how you can decide. If you’re new to podcasting, you’re editing your own show, I would start with either a produced intro or a cold intro. These are simple enough to add to your workflow, especially with the produced intro. You do it once you drop it in every single time. The cold intro is great too, but it does require a little bit of pre-planning, so you know what you’re going to say. There isn’t a lot of editing and mixing involved with that. If you want to uplevel what you are already doing or you already use quotes as the start of each episode, but wondering if you’re having enough impact with them, ask yourself these questions when you are picking your quote. Why did you bring that guest on board for your show? What is that expertise that your listener will need to know from your guest? Two, what is the nugget that will get the listener to want to listen more? So when you hear the quote as a listener, do you go, Oh, that is cool. I need to know how she did that or Oh, that is so neat. I need to know more. Do you get that reaction when you hear the quote? That’s the cliff-hanger. Or, the third question. What is the theme of the episode that you are setting up your listener for? If there is a main takeaway, the main theme that you are going to share, find that takeaway but not that exact section, maybe use the lead up to it or a little bit of that main theme, but don’t give it all away in that quote. But above all else, whatever you decide to do to start each and every episode of your podcast, always ask yourself, what does your listener want to hear? Then listen to your own show from that listener’s perspective.
There’s no one way to start each episode as the audio world can lead in very different ways. So what works for one show won’t always work for another, but knowing how you start each and every episode is part of your podcast brand. It’s your format. It’s something that your listener expects and loves to hear each and every time because audio is all about repetition. So embrace this part of your brand. Embrace this format of your show and give it a test run. Analyze how you start each and every episode because if a listener is not enticed in the first minute, I’d even dare say in the first 30 seconds, they are not going to come back to listen to the rest of the episode.
So how you start each episode of your podcast is quite important. What plans do you have to tweak your intros of each episode? I’d love to hear your ideas, so send me a voice note by clicking on the purple button that’s on the right-hand side that says, “Send Voicemail”. You can record a message right from your phone. Thank you for sending in your thoughts. Can’t wait to hear them!
