🥜 Unlocking the Strategies of Expert Interviewers

Just because you run a podcast, doesn’t mean you are a great interviewer. Today we are going to make sure you can create world-class conversations on command, that will help you grow your show.

In Today’s Email

• How to be a better interviewer

• HIT & MISS of the Week

• How to be featured in future Newsletters

How To Be a Better Interviewer

The easiest place to start is to avoid the far too common & major mistakes podcasters make when conducting interviews. Removing these will instantly put you in the top 10% of podcasters.

• Being Annoying - So many podcasters make their shows hard to listen to and difficult for guests, even when they aren’t speaking. If you are breathing heavy into the mic and its picking it up, thats distracting for everyone. So is saying “yea” or “mhmm” or similar non words. Show your guest you are listening with your attention, they don’t need to hear it every 5 seconds and your listeners don’t want to hear it, trust me. Go back through your last 5 episodes and listen for this & make an effort to reduce each future episode.

• Not Listening - Most podcasters are selfish. They are more concerned about their next question than what their guest is saying. They tune them out just waiting for them to finish, and miss out on amazing potential stories and paths for the conversation. The best interviews are fluid, which becomes impossible if you are locked in on a specific question at that moment. Use what your guests give you, it shows you’re engaged and leads to better content.

• Cutting Off Your Guest - Nothing is more annoying than a podcast with people talking over each other or cutting each other off. Create the habit of letting your guest speak and making it clear when you are done.

• Being too Rigid - Having a plan for your interview is a great idea. Having a strict agenda is not. A conversation that can go in any direction will lead to better content. Having questions you want to ask is never a bad idea, but don’t force them in places where you could have gone down other more interesting routes.

Now to get in the top 1% of interviewers, these are the skills that the best podcasters use to create amazing conversations every time.

• Use Priming - Get your guest in the best state to answer important questions by priming them for it through earlier questions and conversation. E.g if you have something very heavy, get them into a flow by giving them a few consecutive easy questions and then the heavy hitter. Another example of priming is something like “Can I ask you a crazy question” This is a priming question. Their imagination runs wild and extreme, making them far more receptive to your eventual question.

• Proven Questions - Study other great interviews to pull great questions to add to your arsenal. When picking questions ask yourself, Can it be answered relatively quickly? (not too broad). Is this something I could answer on Google? (avoid if so). & where is this question best used, based on how it impacted the conversation? (beginning, middle or end?)

• Unique Approach - This applies to questions but also your approach to the conversation. Most people who have been on podcasts before repeat the same stories every single time, because they are asked the same questions. This is boring for the guest, and their fans. Do your research, be creative and give them unique questions that allow them to provide new insights, stories or value they haven’t shared before. The content will be better and the guest will remember you for doing so.

• Hook Points - Frame questions as hooks. Being thoughtful beforehand about the most compelling angles or hooks about the guest can go a long way in you teeing them up for amazing responses. This makes the guest look fantastic and gives you content far more likely to perform online. Read Brendan Kane’s book Hook Point for more in-depth examples

I just threw a lot at you. I recommend summarizing the advice in words that make sense to you and slowly over time working on each, one at a time until the habit is formed. With enough interviews, you will master all of them without having to think about it.

HIT & MISS of the Week

HIT

Why it HIT

• They were quick to get onto an emerging story. MKBHD is getting a ton of backlash for recent negative reviews so Colin and Samir altered their process to get the episode out ASAP. This meant a virtual conversation rather than their normal in person, and the episode also had less editing than their normal episodes. They understood the urgency of the moment and made it happen. Failing to move quickly here would cripple performance

• They made the packaging around the headline. Rather than trying to be clever, they leveraged the headline people are looking for “Worst Product Ever” to maximize exposure

• They made the packaging unique but familiar. Given this video is different than their regular podcast episodes, they made the thumbnail a unique style but used their familiar font and colours to maintain familiarity with existing fans

This video is already performing and it was just posted. If they were even a few days later or missed these key points, it wouldn’t have performed nearly as well.

MISS

Why it MISSED

• The title doesn’t create urgency or intrigue. The topic of fame is universally understood but the guest’s perspective on it isn’t that compelling because they aren’t overwhelmingly famous. A title this simple would only hit with an extremely famous individual.

• Low res images - both the host and guest look pixelated making the clip look cheap

• Cheap hero Image (green box) it’s lazy to use an image like that and doesn’t do anything to increase the clickability of this clip. It’s lazy clickbait thinking people will click for the cleavage. It doesn’t go with the brand of the show and doesn’t feed off the title.

This was on Lex’s clips channel where they put in way less effort but these kinds of poor decisions over time can compound and impact brand affinity. Some thought should go behind everything you post, it may be the only thing a potential listener ever sees.

P.S If you would like us to keep an eye on your content and potentially give you feedback in the HIT & MISS of the week, reply with the name of your show and the link to it on YouTube!

Happy Podcasting.

See you next week.

-Ben