Many people assume starting a podcast means starting an interview show. This format has become synonymous with the medium itself, or at least it can feel that way in the podcasting communities.
The interview model is less effective today, particularly for businesses, because the market is crowded. One example of this is when guests perform a “circuit” where they repeat the same talking points on a dozen different shows (making your episode one of many similar conversations).
If your goal is to build trust with a potential client, an interview might not be the right tool. Clients want to know what you think and figure out if you can solve their problem.
In this micro-episode:
- Why new podcasters are shifting toward solo formats
- The difficulty of growing a generic interview show in a saturated market
- Alternate options to the interview format
Mentioned in this episode: Independent Podcaster Report 2025
Find more episodes and subscribe at stereoforest.com/minute.
{{about-credits-}}
Transcript
WEBVTT
::So if you're thinking about starting a podcast, many of us, maybe most of us, think about doing an interview podcast. Some people think it's really the only kind of
podcast. Podcast has become sometimes a little bit synonymous with that interview podcast. So in that sort of format, you're getting a guest, you're asking them
questions, recording it along the way, and then you post it online and repeat that again with a new person.
::But what are some of the other options available to you? You could have a co-host, maybe somebody that runs the business with you and you chat about your topic and your
niche. You could have a solo podcast and there's a whole bunch of different options. This type of show that I'm doing right now is just one of many. You could mix it up and
have a variety of formats on your show. You could have some solo, some interview, or you could have some
::or maybe all three. Now the interview model, this kind of format worked really well, perhaps a little bit better than they are now because now you have a ton of podcasts
in your space. The space is really crowded in general and you could have a guest on your show that is doing a circuit. They might go on a dozen shows and say very
::similar things in those interviews. So now your interview with them, there's another 11 that are very similar to it. And if the goal for your show is to build up trust
between you and your audience, an interview show might not be the best way to achieve that. For example, if a potential client or customer is checking you out, they want
to know if you can solve their problem,
::or if they can trust you, they don't necessarily want to watch a two-hour interview
::where your guest is doing much of the talking. They want to know what you think.
::They want to learn if they can trust you and they want to do that fairly quickly.
::Now according to the independent podcaster report from last year, over half of new podcasters are planning solo shows and this represents a pretty big jump
::from a few years earlier. And only about a quarter of podcasters are thinking of starting
::interviews. So this is sort of indicating a pretty big shift away from that interview model that has
::really dominated the podcasting space for quite a while now. So the market has still a lot of interview shows.
::And those shows, another issue with them, another reason to pivot away from them,
::is that they can be fairly hard to grow because having like a unique angle or format or niche or hook can really help you stand out amongst other shows or it can help bring
people in. And since you're listening to this show, this is another advantage that you can have with solo shows or even co-hosted ones. You could do this. You can
control the length of the show. You can control how much time you're spending, how much time your listener,
::has to listen to you by the format. It would be really difficult to have an interview format that's only three minutes long. I'm Jen deHaan. This is the Credibility
Minute. You can find more episodes and get in touch with me at stereoforest.com slash minute.