Why mixing up your podcast format helps you maintain momentum with Camille Trent

Episode Summary

When starting a podcast, the interview-based format is probably the most common. It provides a solid foundation for a company’s podcast because you get an opportunity to leverage your guests’ experiences.

But interview-based podcasts do present their own challenges. In some situations, it’s difficult to find a guest for a specific topic. And in other cases, your guests may cancel a recording session and throw off your entire production schedule.

In this episode of Recorded Content, our host Justin Brown welcomes Camille Trent, the Director of Content & Community at PeerSignal. They break down the benefits of mixing things up by adding other formats to your podcast. The two also pinpoint why you should consider doing solo episodes, and how you can make this type of episode work for you.

Featured Guest

Key Insights

Solo episodes take practice. Solo episodes are a great way to shake up your podcast and engage your audience. But don't expect the first episode to go smoothly. Camille says, "It doesn't feel that weird. I'm sure everyone is like this, but the first few minutes — and this is the same with any interview podcast — the first few minutes are brutal. That's always awkward. So once you get past that, I think, it was actually more normal than I thought it would be."
You become an expert by interviewing experts. One of the greatest benefits of hosting a podcast is that you become an industry expert. Camille explains, "On the flip side of that, the marketer or the host in that situation, they can be an expert in that market. Once you've interviewed and talked to enough of those, the best of the best, the cream of the crop within your industry, it's hard to say that you're not an expert once you get to that point. And I don't think you ever get to that unless you're a content marketer interviewing other content marketers or something like that. But you do get a lot more confident, and I've talked to enough hosts of podcasts who feel this way that I know it's true."
The first time you do a solo episode is the hardest. The first time is always the hardest, and the same goes for solo episodes. Camille shares a few tips to make it work. She says, "The first time you do it, you don't know what the right type of outline is. So, for me, recording the intro or just getting those first few minutes because you just don't know how to be like, 'It's me here, just me.' So that, I think, took a few takes. And then the other thing was that I had probably two brain freezes. The first time when I was running through the whole thing, and so I just stopped it and then did a new take. And that would've been fine because we can clip it together, but then it was also, 'Can I get this a little tighter?' [...] I think that's a good rule of thumb in general, of putting in extra time — more time than you think that you want to — for that first time that you set out on a new campaign or a new content type. Putting in the extra time to do it right the first time makes everything easier from there."

Episode Highlights

Mix it up and get outside your comfort zone

“You also need that little bit of outside push to do your first of anything. So you get comfortable in one thing; this is working, and you get good feedback about it. But then, it was the same with having two guests on. I wouldn’t have known that that would have positive feedback until I did it. It was like everything was working pretty well. It wasn’t like people were hungry for a different type of content; at least, I wasn’t getting that feedback. But, I think there’s an opportunity here. Let’s chase it. Let’s mix up the format. That’s how you keep the momentum going; weirdly, it is by mixing it up.”

Use notes for solo episodes

“It keeps it pretty open so that you’re not feeling like you’re reading off a script, but you have something to refer to so that you feel prepared throughout the whole thing.”

The “Russian doll” concept

“Content marketing 101 or content distribution 101 maybe. So having done similar things, thinking in terms of that Russian doll, I guess the mentality is — how I think about it for anyone who doesn’t know — the doll within a doll within a doll. And so, I think if you have a post that does really well, what was it about it that did well? And if it’s the content and if it’s listicle type style, that’s really easy to lend itself to a blog or to a podcast. So thinking about micro content and expanding that and then also thinking about macro content and then condensing that. So I think the best way to think about this is a podcast or long-form blog — really easy pillar, macro content that you can condense.”

Have fun with your podcast

“If you’re bored, it’s going to show. And if you’re bored, your audience is probably bored a little bit. […] And so, if you know you’re getting bored, then you’re at risk for not doing it, for pausing, or for losing some of that momentum. So whatever you can do to keep yourself excited and keep yourself on track is probably a good idea.”