You Hungry? : Defining the Emotional Experience of Your Podcast

I could say a lot about food,.

Scratch that. After almost 30 episodes of a food podcast, I HAVE said a lot about food! But I could say so much more. Food is a human constant that touches every part of our lives

Plus, what makes people happier than talking about food? Just feel how you warm up when you think about Donuts. Bacon. Margaritas! A big, chewy soft Pretzel!

Oh Stanley.

Since we were dealing with a topic as broad as food, my co-host Lia and I struggled to rein in our Every Day is a Food Day episodes at first. Sometimes the rough cuts would be 2 hours long!! Our listeners are dedicated but…that’s a lot.

The truth is, this can happen with shows on any subject. So what are some ways to keep your podcast content focused?

One is a solid logline - a laser-focused sentence that sums up what your podcast is about. A mini-mission statement. A seller’s promise. It lets a listener know what to expect, and creates guardrails to keep you on track to meet those expectations.

But a logline is not enough. The “about” is only part of a podcast’s connection to its audience. As Maya Angelou said,

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

It’s just as important to consider the emotional experience of the listener. What do you want to make them feel, and how do you get them there?

This is what Lia and I asked ourselves, and we boiled it down to two words: our show is joyful and fascinating.

We want the LOLs. We want the “Aww”s. We want our listeners to send texts saying “OMG did you know [there's a maple syrup black market/Johnny Appleseed was a real person/Lobsters DON'T mate for life]???”

Our latest episode, “Pretzels: Get it Twisted” is no exception. It’s full of joyful, fascinating things like…:

• A 1970s Catholic movement founded by an ex-clown to drive people back to church called “Pretzels for God.”

• A magical land in Pennsylvania called the “Snack Belt”

• The woman we have to thank for sacred mall pretzels

• The origin of the phrase “tying the knot” (yup, it’s a pretzel reference!)

• Why you’ll find Medieval paintings of the Last Supper showing Jesus snacking on pretzels

See what I mean? Coming up with these "guiding light" words is something I do with all my podcast coaching clients now. Shoot me an email and let me know what two words sum up the emotional experience of your podcast!

You should probably grab a snack first.