We often assume our audience is full of harsh critics asking, “Why is this person doing this?” In reality, the person who clicked play just hopes you can answer their question. Whether they are looking for dog training tips or an explanation of a complex building regulation, they are rooting for you to make sense of it for them.
Because podcasters cannot see their audience, we must make educated guesses. A powerful strategy is to visualize a specific person… like a past client, a version of yourself from five years ago, or someone who asked a question at a conference. When you talk to a specific person, your energy shifts from trying to impress critics to being genuinely useful.
In this micro-episode:
- Why your listeners are not judging you as harshly as you think
- The “Fitness Class” analogy for audience expectations
- How to visualize a specific listener to focus your vocal energy
Resources: Find more episodes and subscribe at stereoforest.com/minute.
Transcript
WEBVTT
::So the actual audience for your show or the series that you're making, the person who just clicked play on
that episode, most likely hopes that the episode that they're about to listen to is going to answer the
question that they have. We often think that it's a bunch of people that are going to judge us harshly and
think like, why is this person actually doing this thing? But the person listening to your episode,
::might have searched that topic or they're looking to learn more about the topic of your whole show like I
want to learn more about dog training or how algorithms work or what people think about building safety
regulations. Then they clicked play and they hope that you can make sense of regulation 22b. When people
came to my fitness classes they hoped that I'd be like either a healthy distraction for an hour
::or that they would burn a few calories or most frequently that they'd meet someone friendly like a local
human being that was nice. A whole bunch of different reasons and abilities ended up in that room and my job
was to adjust to whoever was in that room for that morning or evening. Now it's harder for those of us making
podcasts because we don't know who showed up to our episodes but we do have to make some of those guesses
often with a very
::limited information set or a bit of trial and error. But one fairly safe assumption that we can make is that
the people listen because they choose to keep doing so and they need whatever it is that we're putting up
there. So think about who that person is and deliver your show to them. Maybe you're going to think about a
past client who's at the stage before they hired you or you might be thinking about a version of yourself
from five years
::years ago, before you learned whatever it is that you're talking about. Maybe it is somebody who asked you a
question at a business conference or in an email. You know that they signed up for your newsletter. So make
that person real to you. You can give them a face, then you can talk to them, and you know that they're like a
willing participant in that conversation. And as a result, your energy is going to be more focused. It's
going to shift a little.
::And the stakes of your show are going to be a lot easier to think about and deal with in your head. You're going
to focus on being useful instead of trying to impress a bunch of critics. I'm Jen DeHaan. This is a
Credibility Minute. For more episodes or to get in touch with me, head to stereoforest.com slash minute.