Become a Podmaster Podcast Transcript S3E6

00:01
Lwazi Volsak
I do think that they probably are other benefits as well. Just being in the media space as is for me, I think because you’re surrounded by so many other professionals, there’s kind of like an extra drive that you get out of it. So it’s like, okay, I really want to push. I want to be the cream of the crop. I want to be the top of the top, which I think perhaps someone who isn’t really surrounded by that and they’re just kind of at home or doing their normal 9 to 5 in commerce, they wouldn’t necessarily get that perhaps in this particular space.

00:32
Hendrik Baird
This is season three of the Become a Podmaster Podcast. We’re going to answer some of the most pressing questions that podcasters have. I’m Hendrik.

00:40
Ethan Baird
And I’m Ethan. Not only did we get the questions from podcasters, but with the help of the South African Podcasters Guild, or SAPG for short, and Solid Gold Podcasts and Audiobooks, we got some answers.

00:52
Hendrik Baird
And today we’re talking about building a strong personal brand and fostering audience loyalty. How do podcasters craft a brand that resonates with their target audience?

01:04
Ethan Baird
And how does storytelling play a key role in creating a dedicated and engaged listenership? Our goal with this podcast is to help podcasters old and new navigate the evolving landscape of podcasting with expert insights and practical advice.

01:18
Hendrik Baird
Our question today is whether a strong personal brand can make your podcast stand out in a crowded space.

01:24
Ethan Baird
It’s no secret that loyal audiences are more engaged, share content and support monetization efforts.

01:30
Hendrik Baird
What is not so obvious is that storytelling must be at the heart of great branding as it creates emotional connections with listeners.

01:39
Ethan Baird
Every podcaster must consider building a personal brand, asking themself why? What makes their podcast brand authentic and effective?

01:46
Hendrik Baird
And this means that they have to put storytelling front and centre, as it is narratives that foster deep audience relationships.

01:55
Ethan Baird
Looks like we have a lot of ground to cover in this episode. Luckily, we have some insights from podcasters and the experts at Solid Gold Podcasts and Audiobooks, as well as Jonathan and Paolo from the South African Podcasters Guild.

02:06
Hendrik Baird
And of course, if you want more information or more tips, then go to our website, Bed Media Personal branding.

02:16
Ethan Baird
It’s one of those buzzwords that gets thrown around a lot. But what does it really mean for podcasters?

02:21
Hendrik Baird
Yeah, it’s easy to think of personal branding as just a logo, a colour scheme or a social media presence, but it’s so much more than that. In podcasting, your brand is your voice, your values, and the way that you Connect with your audience.

02:37
Ethan Baird
Exactly. When people subscribe to a podcast, they’re not just subscribing to content. They’re subscribing to the host. Your personal brand is what makes your podcast unique. Two podcasters could cover the exact same topic, but their brand, how they present themselves, and their storytelling style makes all the difference.

02:54
Hendrik Baird
And that’s why personal branding is so important. It’s the reason that listeners keep coming back. When you think of some of the biggest podcasters in the world, whether it’s Stephen Bartlett or Mac Ghost, you’re not just thinking about their shows. You’re thinking about their personalities, their perspectives, and the experience they create for their listeners.

03:14
Ethan Baird
And personal branding isn’t just for celebrity podcasters. Whether you have a small niche show or a growing audience, your personal brand helps build trust and loyalty with listeners.

03:24
Hendrik Baird
And part of that trust comes from authenticity. If your podcast brand feels forced or inauthentic, people will pick up on that immediately.

03:34
Ethan Baird
And that’s where storytelling plays a huge role. A strong personal brand isn’t just about how you look online. It’s about how you share your journey, your insights, and your experiences with your audience.

03:45
Hendrik Baird
So today, we’re diving into what makes a strong personal brand for podcasters, how to develop one, and why storytelling is at the heart of audience loyalty.

03:55
Ethan Baird
If you’re wondering how to stand out in a crowded podcasting space and create a brand that truly resonates, this episode is for you. We’ve talked about how personal branding sets podcasters apart and creates loyal audiences. But how do podcasters actually build and maintain that brand?

04:12
Hendrik Baird
Now, that’s where consistency, authenticity, and strategy come into play. And to get more insight, we turn to some of the experts at the South African Podcasters Guild to hear their thoughts on what makes a strong personal brand and how it influences podcast success.

04:32
Ethan Baird
Yeah. They’ve worked with a wide range of podcasters, from independent creators to established media professionals, and they’ve seen firsthand how a well defined personal brand can elevate a podcast.

04:42
Hendrik Baird
So let’s hear from them now. How important is it to not only brand your podcast, but to develop a personal brand as a host?

04:51
Paulo Dias
It’s what your objective is. If you’re using your podcast as a business card, then of course, that is the most important thing. That’s the most important that you sound like or you look like, what your LinkedIn is like, or what your Instagram is like, what your business website is like, what you’re like in a meeting. It’s got to be consistent right throughout, because that is what a brand is. You know, if I have to take some of my own experience, again, I’ve used my podcast, even though not related to what I do, to build a personal brand for myself and go, hey, you know, take a listen. It’s got nothing to do with what I do, but here’s me and it goes, okay, well, I’d get to know you better. Maybe I want to do something with you.

05:26
Paulo Dias
So it’s just about, like, whatever your end goal is, set it up. Set up the ideal people you need to talk to and what you need that thing to do and carry through. But everything should be consistent the whole way through. I don’t think if you are doing a podcast authentically, you are one person on it and one person in real life. I think it has to be the same person the whole way through.

05:48
Jonathan Warncke
Yeah. I would add that if your show is very niche, like, about a technical topic, for example, like you talk about water purifiers. That is, like, people want information. They want tips, tricks, hacks, or whatever it might be. If you run a chat show, then your brand, your character is very important. It’s integral to the show. People are there to listen to you, be funny or interesting or controversial or whatever it might be. So in those shows, specifically, what I’d like to say to people is that be more interesting if you can be more knowledgeable about your topic, research your guests better have opinions, even if, you know, make them opinions you believe in. But do try to find, like, let’s talk about something controversial. Let’s debate something. So, yeah, and someone with very loud glasses.

06:34
Jonathan Warncke
I do think that personal branding is very important if you use podcast as a tool to get business. So, yeah.

06:40
Hendrik Baird
Do you think there’s value on going onto other people’s podcasts, collaborating with them, doing things together?

06:46
Paulo Dias
It definitely is. I think just do it for the right reasons. Again, you know, theory is that you’ll take your audience across. We’ve done it with other podcasters, and I’ve not seen it grow audience spectacularly. I mean, likewise on some of the branded podcasts I’ve done with clients, we’ve bought in, people with their own podcasts and big names, you see a bump in that episode, but they tend not to stay. So, you know, if you’re looking for a boost, you know, in radio land, we call it spikes. So you have certain things that you do within a show or within a quarter that you do to just bump up listenership. So if you feel you need that spike. But I’ve not seen it. Listen, it’s good, it’s nice, it shows collaboration.

07:27
Paulo Dias
I know a lot of SAPG members do it and it’s great that we do it this way, but. But people will come, maybe listen for that episode, but it tends not to stay, in my experience.

07:38
Jonathan Warncke
I do think that trailer swaps or promo swaps are a good tool, not just for kind of exposing your show to other people’s audiences and vice versa, but also just as a means of practising being a professional, practising cutting a promo into your show and knowing how to do that. So that when, if you eventually want to monetize and talk to a partner and they say, well, how are we going to put our ads in your show? Then you have answ, because you’ve done it before. So I think it’s good professional practise. There’s undiscovered gold in collaboration that we just haven’t done. I don’t have enough empirical data to give you a good response on that. I feel like if you did it hard, it could work.

08:16
Paulo Dias
The promo swaps, I think, is more effective than. My gut says. It’s more effective than having somebody, because then what if they don’t like the other person that you have on, you know what I mean? And then you’ve just wasted a show where at least 30 seconds to a minute at a time is more palatable and let them decide for themselves. So I think there’s more success than that. But if you do, I mean, just be so care, just pick properly, you know, you might want to go onto a podcast and make sure you’re there for the right reasons. Make sure they want you for the right reasons. Just. Yeah, just do your homework, because everyone’s different. And to make sure, again, your personal brand, just make sure that your brand is protected.

08:51
Paulo Dias
But promo swaps is probably the best place to start because there’s little risk, in my opinion.

08:57
Hendrik Baird
Storytelling is one of the most crucial things that you can do in the podcast and I don’t see much of that happening in some of the podcasts I’ve listened to, especially for the awards. Am I right or am I wrong?

09:09
Paulo Dias
Yeah, I agree. I think especially in the interview ones, because you’re not telling you, as a podcast this, you’re not telling your story, you’re telling somebody else’s. And when that person goes on to the next podcast, they’re telling that story as well, and they’ll tell that story. Because when I listen to a lot of interview podcasts, I don’t Know you. I got no idea who you are. I don’t connect with you. And storytelling isn’t really. It’s not about narrative. Once upon a time, there was this. It’s just about over time, building a story of referring back to things you did at school, referring back to a movie you watched. It’s building that connection with you. It’s telling a joke, it’s referencing members of your family. It’s running gags, which is, like, risky, but make the audience part of the running gag.

09:50
Paulo Dias
So I do agree with that, because I don’t see it. In the interview podcast, you go into them going, this is my journey of self, this, and I want to do this. So I sat down with X, Y, Z, and then they tell their story, go. But I don’t understand why you did that as a host. So I don’t connect with you. I connect with them. So I think it’s even in an interview podcast. Why is this person important for you to have, you know, done this? So I do agree with you, I think, and it can be done in simple ways. Just give people an insight into you so they connect with you because you’re the main character. Like, don’t be shy about that. You got to have main character energy all the time in your own show. Everybody is there for you.

10:33
Paulo Dias
Don’t be scared of that. But then tell them why you’re important.

10:37
Jonathan Warncke
What I’m trying to do better in storytelling, I would break into kind of three levels of difficulty and three kind of, I guess, strategies that I need to try more. Number one is record your intro after you’ve done the episode. So you actually know what content is going to be in the episode. So you can tee it up properly. Instead of saying, today I’m well, in this episode, I’m going to talk to so and so and so without actually knowing, like, what juicy bits are going to come out of it. When you do the intro afterwards, you already know what juicy bits are there. So you can say, in this episode, we learned this and we uncovered that, and it’s fantastic. So that’s something I want to focus on.

11:10
Jonathan Warncke
The other thing is, in an interview show, you can follow the hero’s journey of so you’re so and so. This was your normal life. Then there was an inciting incident. You decided to go paragliding, and then this happened, and then these were your challenges, and this is where you failed. And then you came back, and then there was eventual triumph, and now you’re here, and now you’re Teaching other people about it. That is kind of the hero’s journey. And you can try to tell, use that story structure in an interview. The third element of it is kind of like when you go more production heavy. If you look at this American life, 99% invisible. It’s where you do the interview. You do multiple interviews and then you pull it into a story that you’ve.

11:47
Jonathan Warncke
You’ve scripted and you interweave your monologue with interview cuts or for, with news articles or clips from YouTube or music or whatever it might be, and you turn it into more of a show, more of an experience. That’s a lot of work and it’s difficult and those shows often have 15, 20 people working on them. But indie producers can do that with enough passion and enough time. That’s high level stuff. But with it to talk practically, right?

12:10
Paulo Dias
So, I mean, you’re talking about like really great techniques and they really work. But like on that 80 show, my co host and I, we’ve known each other since 2002 and we both got this crazy obsession with the 80s and Wham. And we have over. I mean, I think we done just 250 episodes in the new format. We’ve done uploads, but we keep telling stories about each other and we often get it in our comments on Facebook. But we met somebody last year, somebody’s a listener’s wife, and she says, no, he came to me and he said, you have to listen to this podcast. And she says, I’ve listened to five or six episodes and I’m sitting here talking to you too.

12:48
Paulo Dias
And I’m just joining in your conversation because I feel like I know you guys because you talk about things that we all talk about and reminisce and you have the sense of humour like this. And it’s like we did that in five episodes with this person that she like, connected with us because we’ve engaged in a way and we’ve not. It’s not just our current content we’re talking about. Talking about what got us to that point that like really connected. And we get it all the time from listeners going, I feel like I know you. And when they see you, they’re like, wow, I pictured you different.

13:22
Jonathan Warncke
You’re a lot shorter than I thought.

13:27
Paulo Dias
And you know, even within doing that, just take people, even if they jump in, just take them with you and make them feel like they’ve been part of it from day one.

13:35
Jonathan Warncke
If you want to listen to a show that does that, brilliantly smart list is fantastic. The hosts have a relationship out of the show. They. They have a shared history and that.

13:45
Paulo Dias
You don’t feel left out. Like they think in the room with celebrities, but you don’t feel left out at all. They never talk down to you, they never exclude you and they never get jargony or name drop. They. Yeah, they’re a fantastic example. I mean that’s what we model ourselves on. Humbly.

14:02
Ethan Baird
This episode of Become a Podmaster is brought to you by Baird Media in association with the South African Podcasters Guild, a community built by podcasters for podcasters.

14:11
Hendrik Baird
Whether you’re just starting out or a seasoned creator, the SAPG connects you with industry experts, exclusive resources and a network of like minded podcasters who are passionate about growing the medium in South Africa.

14:26
Ethan Baird
Get insider tips, collaborative opportunities and access to discounted studio time. Plus be part of shaping the future of podcasting in South Africa.

14:34
Hendrik Baird
Join the South African Podcasters Guild today at SAPG Co Za and take your podcasting journey to the next level.

14:44
Ethan Baird
Before we dive deeper, I just want to give a quick shout out to our Podmasters startup programme helping new podcasters launch with confidence. You can check out our website Baird Media for more information.

14:57
Hendrik Baird
And we’re still on the topic of personal branding. Shannon and Gavin had some interesting perspectives on this topic. I asked them what role personal branding plays in the success of creating a community and audience and making money out of it. Do listeners come for the guests or for the host?

15:17
Shannon Kennedy
They’re not necessarily coming for your guests. Maybe they are coming for you. Like in the instance of Ali Ward. I’m going for Ali. Her guest is just like a bonus.

15:27
Shannon Kennedy
What, you know, fancy thing does this guest of hers have? I spoke a little bit about authenticity. It would be a little bit crazy for you to have this podcast where you are a certain person and then I meet you in real life and you’re completely different. That would be jarring and weird and probably uncomfortable for me because I’ve grown to know you and become accustomed to you and now I’m meeting you in person and it’s like a completely different person. So I think personal branding is important if that’s the kind of podcast that you’re making. But I suppose in other sort of documentaries or deep dives, maybe you don’t want to be front facing. I think I’ve gone in a loop, but I think it is possible to be sort of an on the sideline anonymous creator, especially in an audio only setting.

16:24
Shannon Kennedy
I don’t feel like I’ve answered your question though.

16:28
Gavin Kennedy
The personal brand is More than just look and feel and sound. It could be. I listen to this podcast because I know it’s about X, and Hendrik is going to drill down until he gets the answer on X. That’s who Hendrik is. And that. That. That’s part of the brand. I could listen to this guest one of 10 different podcasts, but I’m listening to yours because I know you’re going to ask about their pets, and that’s part of your brand, and that’s. You can’t go, well, I’ve got this person. Let me ask them a range of. No, no. What’s your niche? What’s your niche and your brand are very much aligned? Sometimes the host is part of the programming, sometimes the podcast is a conversation between two people, and sometimes the host is extracting.

17:09
Gavin Kennedy
If it’s two people having a chat, then I want to see 50. If you’re interviewing somebody to extract more about their pets, then I want to hear 10% you, 90% them. But about pets. Be your brand. If you swear, then swear in your podcast. Be authentically yourself.

17:26
Hendrik Baird
We were talking about Mac G. He certainly is his brand, and he gets people to talk about things that nobody else can get out of them. You very clearly know who you’re dealing with. You might not like him. He might be wild and out there and controversial, but that’s. He is. And how he sold himself. Yeah.

17:43
Gavin Kennedy
So picture being a guest on Mac G’s show and then the following week being a guest on Bruce Whitfield’s podcast. I know Bruce Whitfield is going to want to know about your financial background. How did you build the business? What did you invest in? What do you say? He’s not going to ask me about my dogs and my cats, and he’s not going to be digging in my past for some controversial gotchas like MacG would do. So, you know, if we’re going to be a guest on five podcasts, what is your podcast doing that nobody else’s is doing? What are you going to ask me that nobody else bothers to ask or couldn’t think to ask or wouldn’t waste their time asking because they know you own that space. You dominate that domain. Pets, finance.

18:25
Hendrik Baird
So what did we learn today, Ethan?

18:27
Ethan Baird
We’ve learned that personal branding is more than just a logo or a catchy tagline about how podcasters present themselves, connect with their audience, and build trust over time.

18:37
Hendrik Baird
And at the heart of a strong personal brand is authenticity. Listeners connect with hosts who are genuine, who are consistent and who are relatable.

18:48
Ethan Baird
We also saw that storytelling is a powerful tool. Whether it’s through personal anecdotes, guest interviews, or running themes, great storytelling makes a podcast more engaging and keeps listeners coming back.

19:01
Hendrik Baird
And as I said, and let me say it again, consistency is key, not just in the content, but across branding, messaging, and the way that you interact with your audience. If listeners know what to expect from you, they’ll be more likely to stick around.

19:17
Ethan Baird
We also heard from the experts that collaboration, like guest appearances and promo swaps, can help build a personal brand, but only if you do it strategically.

19:25
Hendrik Baird
And finally, engagement matters. Successful podcasters don’t just speak to their audience, they speak with them. Whether it’s through social media, Q and A’s or direct interactions, a strong brand fosters a strong community.

19:42
Ethan Baird
So if you want your podcast to stand out, focus on being yourself, telling compelling stories and consistently delivering value to your listeners. Would you like to take your podcast to the next level? Join our upcoming masterclass. The details are on our website, Baird Media.

19:57
Hendrik Baird
And that’s it for this episode. If you found it valuable, please remember to share and Tag us on LinkedIn.

20:04
Ethan Baird
In our next episode.

20:06
Brett Fish Anderson
I think that’s been the confusing thing for me because I tend to use social media a lot more than the average person. I’m very intentional about using it as a space to connect and engage. And so those connections and engagements around the company of topics that I speak about are happening all the time and getting a lot of. A lot of energy, a lot of feedback, a lot of connection. And so it would make sense to me that people would jump from there into the episodes. And that has been kind of the little disconnect that when somebody manages to find an episode, when they start listening, the episodes tend to sell themselves.