Episode 33

Steve Austins gives a tip about how to change the way you end your podcast

Tips and advice for independent podcasters.

Guest: Steve Austins

Job title: Founder / Creative Director

Company: Bengo Media

In this episode, Steve gives a tip about how to change the way you end your podcast.

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This podcast is produced and edited at The Sound Boutique by Gareth Davies.

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The Sound Boutique

Transcript
Steve Austins:

Hi, my name is Steve Austins, and I'm co founder and

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creative director of Bengo Media.

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And today, I'm going to give

you a tip on how to change

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the way you end your podcast.

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So I'm a director of Bengo Media,

an audio production company

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based in Cardiff, in Wales.

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We make radio programs, we make

audiobooks, and of course podcasts.

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And we tend to make podcasts for

brands, so we've worked with ITV,

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the Open University, the World

Health Organization, amongst others.

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And we also offer training and consultancy

to companies, large and small, to

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help them get their podcasts started.

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How did I get into podcasting?

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Well, I've spent nearly 32 years working

in audio in one form or another, tracing

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back to the first time that I actually

read a sports bulletin on my local

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commercial radio station at the age of 16.

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They were in the middle of

a rota crisis, I should say.

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I grew up listening to radio

and I was just obsessed by it.

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Passionate about it.

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And by the time I left university in

my early 20s and I joined the BBC, I'd

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already worked for three commercial

radio stations as a news journalist

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and also as a presenter as well.

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I spent 19 years at BBC Wales and between

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Now back then, podcasts that were made

by radio stations were mostly best of

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compilations that had gone out on the

radio either that day or that week, so my

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podcast listening was pretty functional.

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Then along came Serial in 2014, and

for the first time I was gripped.

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Not only by how a single story

could unfold by just using the

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power of audio, but also gripped

by the potential of the medium too.

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Because even in those early days,

it was obvious that the way that

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people were listening to podcasts was

different, more intense than the way

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that people were listening to radio.

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So when I left the BBC in 2017, it felt

right that, with my wife Marina, we set

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up Wales first podcast production company.

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Branded podcasts were definitely not very

common seven years ago, so we had to do

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an awful lot of educating people on what

podcasts were and why people needed them.

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Nowadays, most companies that I speak

to have already considered podcasting

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as part of their marketing mix, so

it's really, really lovely to see this

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medium become much more commonplace.

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The thing I love most about podcasting

is the ability to lean into a niche.

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Now, I'm a big consumer of politics.

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I'm a big fan of football.

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So over the summer, I spent most walks

to and from places, most times waiting

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endlessly for the little one to drop

off to sleep, catching up on any

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podcast that would tell me about the

eneral election or about Euro:

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I'm currently feeding my

obsession about the U.

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S.

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election race through The Daily,

AmeriCast, and The Rest Is Politics U.

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S.

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Now you can look at the top of those

podcast charts and think that podcast

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is a mass entertainment game nowadays,

and pretty much it is, but there really

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is something for everyone in podcasting.

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Plus it's still easy to

enter the market as either an

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individual or a small company.

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And if you truly understand who's

going to be interested in that subject,

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know what else is out there for them,

offer something that is different or

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unique, plus you have the time and the

patience, because that's important too...

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then you really can build up from an

audience of zero to a loyal following

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of people who will listen to multiple

episodes and for long stretches of time.

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And if you're a business, that

sort of in depth and ongoing

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relationship with potential

customers is unique and compelling.

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And compared to YouTube, there's still

relatively few podcasts out there.

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So you really, really can become a

big fish in a relatively small pond.

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So my big tip is to really consider

what to put at the end of your podcast.

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And I want you to think back to the

last time you went to the cinema.

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When did you get up and leave?

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Now, if you're saying to yourself 'at

the end of the film, Steve, obviously',

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I want you to think a little bit harder.

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What bit of the end?

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Was it the end of the final scene?

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Or did you stay until the

credits had finished rolling?

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Now, most of us have our coats

on and we're out of our seats by

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the time the names of the main

actors have rolled up the screen.

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And podcasting is really no different.

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The minute that you thank your guests

or you fade up that lovely theme

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tune, most of your listeners are

taking that as their cue to leave.

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So why keep your most important

calls to actions for the very end?

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If you really, really want your

listener to rate and review that

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episode, or visit your website for a

juicy offer, you need to find a way of

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telling them earlier in the episode.

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Can you weave it into your questions?

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Can you make it part of that brilliant

script that you're kind of creating?

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Don't leave the important

stuff to the end.

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Or else it won't get heard.

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You can find me at bengomedia.com

and on LinkedIn, and you can see

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all of my links in the show notes.

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Thanks for listening to Podcasting People.

About the Podcast

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Podcasting People
Tips & advice for independent podcasters.

About your host

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Gareth Davies

Composer of music, producer of podcasts. Latest TV series: Toad & Friends (Warner Bros. Discovery). Current podcasts include The Music Room and Podcasting People.

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