February 25, 2025 • 11 mins
Your podcast’s introduction sets the stage for your entire show. It’s your chance to hook first-time listeners and set expectations. While every podcast has its own style, every hit podcast has a strong intro. A weak intro can cause potential listeners to tune out before your episode even begins. So how do you craft one that works?
- The two types of podcast intros you need – A short, consistent show introduction and an engaging episode-specific hook.
- Why shorter is better – Avoid long intros that make listeners skip ahead.
- The power of a strong start – Hook your audience immediately to boost retention.
- Cold opens and when to use them – Only if they truly add intrigue and value.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Podcasting Tips Weekly.
My name is Ryan Tillotson. I am the CEO and
founder of straw Hut Media Podcast Agency here in Los Angeles.
Today we are diving into how to craft the perfect
introduction to your podcast. It's hard, but you know what,
(00:29):
it's not that hard. You just need a few elements,
and in this episode, I'm going to tell you how
to do it, so don't overthink it. Here we go.
Let's start by defining two types of podcast introductions, both
of which I believe are needed in your introduction. There
(00:51):
is the general show introduction is what we call it
at our company, and this is basically an introduction that
is used in every single episode, and it introduces the show,
what is the show about, the premise of the show,
the heart of the show, and the host. Who is
the host? Why do we care about them? Why do
we trust them? That is the general show introduction, and
(01:13):
every podcast should have one of these because at all
times throughout the podcast life, there will be new people
discovering it and you need to give them some kind
of context. The second introduction that we need to define
is the episode specific introduction, and this is the one
that we're really going to be focusing on today, and
(01:34):
this is very important. This is what is going to
keep listeners engaged and keep the retention on your episode.
Your job with the episode specific introduction is to tease
your podcast that they're about to listen to. This is
(01:54):
the introduction that explains why they need to listen all
the way to the end end of the episode. Now,
in my work with clients, I often see them wanting
to really include everything that their show is about in
the introduction, everything before we've even started recording anything. So
really they're just thinking about the general show introduction. And
(02:16):
there's one client in particular that I'm thinking about. I'm
not going to name names, but they are a worldwide,
global company that everybody knows and their introduction that we
help them craft over the course of weeks, maybe even
in two months, was very long. It ended up being
about ninety seconds long, just the general show introduction. And
(02:39):
we let them work on this and we let it
build and just build until they were finally happy with it.
Because I felt like it was very important for them
to get this all out, and honestly, it was very
valuable to have that information and to learn about what
they want in the show, so we could help make
a better podcast for them. But it is not something
that you want to include in every single episode because
(03:02):
a lot of times you're a podcast listener, you know this,
You binge multiple episodes at once, and you don't want
to hear the same ninety second introduction at the top
of every single episode. That's gonna get so annoying. Everyone's
gonna hit skip skip, skip, skip skip, and then you
miss the beginning of the actual introduction and it's a nightmare.
So you let them get it out. You get the
ninety second thing, maybe you even record it with the host,
(03:25):
but then you need to cut it down. You need
to get that down to about fifteen seconds. And that
was impossible for them to do at the time when
it's just text. They're like, oh no, we need to
include this. Oh no, this is our tagline. We need
to include that. Oh no, we have to explain why
this post is here, why we can trust her. There
was a lot of discussion that need to be involved,
(03:45):
but ultimately you do not want that all the time.
What we ended up doing is recording that and we
released it as the show promo, as the trailer for
the podcast, and now it just lives there forever and
so it wasn't a waste of time we created it.
It is there and if anybody wants to learn about
(04:05):
the show, they can go to the trailer and find it.
But for every single episode, you do not want it
that long, Okay, I personally believe that you should start
your podcast probably with the episode specific introduction. People's time
is valuable, attention span is so short. Get to the
heart of the meat immediately. I know that's contradictory to
(04:29):
what I do in this podcast, but I do recommend
this to new shows starting absolutely give them a hook.
Start with a hook. I would really love to give
you an example of this very popular show that I'm
sure many of you have heard of, if not our
listeners to How I Built This with Guy Roz. I
(04:51):
would love for us to listen to an introduction from
How I Built This. In this clip that you're about
to hear, you will hear how they utilize both the
general introduction as well as the episode specific introduction, along
with a cold open and a cold open for those
of that you don't know. Is a short, intriguing piece
of audio from the interview that plays before any official intro,
(05:13):
and it's designed to captivate listeners right away. Okay, let's
play this clip now.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I went to visit one of our fabric vendors and
we were just going through all these fabric samples and
I was like, what is this? And I remember my
sales rep. She was like, oh, Michelle, you don't want that.
That's way too expensive. And I was like, no, I
need this. What is this? It's fantastic and it feels
(05:43):
really good, and I was like, I don't care how
expensive it is. This is what everybody is going to
want to put on their body.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists,
and the stories behind the movements that he built. I'm
Guy Rozen on the show today. How Michelle Whayler went
from printing T shirts for friends to helping build a
massive active wear brand beyond yoga.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Okay, did you hear it? Are you able to break
down the pieces? First? Of all, cold opens can be fun,
they can be engaging, but I believe they work best
when they feature something sensational, a memorable quote, notable guest
that listeners already recognize. So if your content doesn't contain
these elements, It's often better to skip the cold open
(06:44):
and start directly with your episode specific introduction. But anyway,
in this example from How I Built This, let's break
down the order. First, it starts with, obviously the cold open.
This is a clip that they are hoping is enough
to get you to want to listen to the interview.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I don't care how expensive it is. This is what
everybody is going to want to put on their body.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
After that called open, it immediately goes to the general
show introduction.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs,
idealists and the stories behind the movements that he built.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Did you hear that? That's the piece that's used in
every single episode of How I Built This? Then the
music fades out, and after that it goes into the
episode specific introduction, where Guy dives into the episode, highlighting
the guest achievements and explaining why this conversation is going
(07:45):
to be worth your time, before diving into the interview.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I'm Guy Rozen on the show today. How Michelle Wayler
went from printing T shirts for friends to helping build
a massive active wear brand beyond Yoga.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Hopefully Just breaking that down for you makes it clear
that is one way to put together a good introduction.
But ultimately, you know why I'm here talking about this
is that people just don't seem to really value the
importance of an episode specific introduction, which to me is
(08:24):
probably one of the most important pieces of a podcast
because that is the content that is needed to get
your listeners to be excited about listening to the entire episode.
Why would you want to listen to this entire conversation
or entire episode. I'm going to tell you that right now,
(08:45):
highlight the value and key takeaways listeners can expect, enticing
them to stay tuned. Retention is so important in podcasting,
in YouTube content, in any kind of media creation. Honestly, retention.
You don't want people to just drop out five minutes in.
That's horrible. You want them to stick through the entire thing.
(09:07):
Especially if you're running ads and your ads supported, you
need them to stick all the way through your content.
Because if you have one advertiser putting a spot in
mid roll one, you know in about ten to fifteen
minutes into the episode, and then people start dropping off
after that. Well, when you have midroll spot two about
thirty minutes in. No one's going to listen to that.
(09:30):
The numbers are just going to completely drop. So you
need to figure out a way to retain people's attention,
to get them all the way through the episode. And
a great way to do that is with a powerful introduction.
Tease something that doesn't happen un till the end of
the episode so people stay tuned. There is a way
to do it. You can balance both the introductions, the
(09:52):
general show introduction and the episode specific introductions. You know,
the sequence of your introductions can vary based on your
style and audience pre difference whether you start with the
episode specific or the general ensure both are clear and engaging.
That's really the heart of what I'm trying to get at.
Make it engaging, make it clear, and make it concise. Okay, guys,
(10:15):
that's it. Let's wrap this up. What do we learn one?
Engage listeners immediately with a captivating episode specific introduction. If
you need to take the time to craft something, that
is the thing for every episode to take the time
to craft. Get them to listen all the way through
your content, and the best way to do that is
(10:35):
to tease the most incredible stuff that happens in your
episode right here in your introduction. Okay, two, keep your
general show intro brief and consistent to establish your brand
without losing listener interest. Yes, new people are going to
come to the show at all times, so you definitely
need to explain a little bit about what your show does.
(10:56):
But keep it brief. It's going to be in every
single episode. You can't dedicate a whole minute to this
every single episode. It's a waste of time. It's a
waste of people's time. People will drop out. Okay, and
number three cold opens they're fun. Only use them if
you have sensational content or notable guests, and keep them
(11:16):
short regardless. That's our episode for this week. Thank you
so so much for listening. Do not forget to subscribe
to Podcasting Tips weekly wherever you're listening right now. It
means the world to me. And if you found this
valuable share it with somebody, that would also be an
absolute incredible treat for us over here at Strahat Media.
(11:40):
I hope you have a wonderful week and we'll see
you next week. Bye.
Hello, and welcome to another episode of Podcasting Tips Weekly.
My name is Ryan Tillotson. I am the CEO and
founder of straw Hut Media Podcast Agency here in Los Angeles.
Today we are diving into how to craft the perfect
introduction to your podcast. It's hard, but you know what,
(00:29):
it's not that hard. You just need a few elements,
and in this episode, I'm going to tell you how
to do it, so don't overthink it. Here we go.
Let's start by defining two types of podcast introductions, both
of which I believe are needed in your introduction. There
(00:51):
is the general show introduction is what we call it
at our company, and this is basically an introduction that
is used in every single episode, and it introduces the show,
what is the show about, the premise of the show,
the heart of the show, and the host. Who is
the host? Why do we care about them? Why do
we trust them? That is the general show introduction, and
(01:13):
every podcast should have one of these because at all
times throughout the podcast life, there will be new people
discovering it and you need to give them some kind
of context. The second introduction that we need to define
is the episode specific introduction, and this is the one
that we're really going to be focusing on today, and
(01:34):
this is very important. This is what is going to
keep listeners engaged and keep the retention on your episode.
Your job with the episode specific introduction is to tease
your podcast that they're about to listen to. This is
(01:54):
the introduction that explains why they need to listen all
the way to the end end of the episode. Now,
in my work with clients, I often see them wanting
to really include everything that their show is about in
the introduction, everything before we've even started recording anything. So
really they're just thinking about the general show introduction. And
(02:16):
there's one client in particular that I'm thinking about. I'm
not going to name names, but they are a worldwide,
global company that everybody knows and their introduction that we
help them craft over the course of weeks, maybe even
in two months, was very long. It ended up being
about ninety seconds long, just the general show introduction. And
(02:39):
we let them work on this and we let it
build and just build until they were finally happy with it.
Because I felt like it was very important for them
to get this all out, and honestly, it was very
valuable to have that information and to learn about what
they want in the show, so we could help make
a better podcast for them. But it is not something
that you want to include in every single episode because
(03:02):
a lot of times you're a podcast listener, you know this,
You binge multiple episodes at once, and you don't want
to hear the same ninety second introduction at the top
of every single episode. That's gonna get so annoying. Everyone's
gonna hit skip skip, skip, skip skip, and then you
miss the beginning of the actual introduction and it's a nightmare.
So you let them get it out. You get the
ninety second thing, maybe you even record it with the host,
(03:25):
but then you need to cut it down. You need
to get that down to about fifteen seconds. And that
was impossible for them to do at the time when
it's just text. They're like, oh no, we need to
include this. Oh no, this is our tagline. We need
to include that. Oh no, we have to explain why
this post is here, why we can trust her. There
was a lot of discussion that need to be involved,
(03:45):
but ultimately you do not want that all the time.
What we ended up doing is recording that and we
released it as the show promo, as the trailer for
the podcast, and now it just lives there forever and
so it wasn't a waste of time we created it.
It is there and if anybody wants to learn about
(04:05):
the show, they can go to the trailer and find it.
But for every single episode, you do not want it
that long, Okay, I personally believe that you should start
your podcast probably with the episode specific introduction. People's time
is valuable, attention span is so short. Get to the
heart of the meat immediately. I know that's contradictory to
(04:29):
what I do in this podcast, but I do recommend
this to new shows starting absolutely give them a hook.
Start with a hook. I would really love to give
you an example of this very popular show that I'm
sure many of you have heard of, if not our
listeners to How I Built This with Guy Roz. I
(04:51):
would love for us to listen to an introduction from
How I Built This. In this clip that you're about
to hear, you will hear how they utilize both the
general introduction as well as the episode specific introduction, along
with a cold open and a cold open for those
of that you don't know. Is a short, intriguing piece
of audio from the interview that plays before any official intro,
(05:13):
and it's designed to captivate listeners right away. Okay, let's
play this clip now.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
I went to visit one of our fabric vendors and
we were just going through all these fabric samples and
I was like, what is this? And I remember my
sales rep. She was like, oh, Michelle, you don't want that.
That's way too expensive. And I was like, no, I
need this. What is this? It's fantastic and it feels
(05:43):
really good, and I was like, I don't care how
expensive it is. This is what everybody is going to
want to put on their body.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists,
and the stories behind the movements that he built. I'm
Guy Rozen on the show today. How Michelle Whayler went
from printing T shirts for friends to helping build a
massive active wear brand beyond yoga.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Okay, did you hear it? Are you able to break
down the pieces? First? Of all, cold opens can be fun,
they can be engaging, but I believe they work best
when they feature something sensational, a memorable quote, notable guest
that listeners already recognize. So if your content doesn't contain
these elements, It's often better to skip the cold open
(06:44):
and start directly with your episode specific introduction. But anyway,
in this example from How I Built This, let's break
down the order. First, it starts with, obviously the cold open.
This is a clip that they are hoping is enough
to get you to want to listen to the interview.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I don't care how expensive it is. This is what
everybody is going to want to put on their body.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
After that called open, it immediately goes to the general
show introduction.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs,
idealists and the stories behind the movements that he built.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Did you hear that? That's the piece that's used in
every single episode of How I Built This? Then the
music fades out, and after that it goes into the
episode specific introduction, where Guy dives into the episode, highlighting
the guest achievements and explaining why this conversation is going
(07:45):
to be worth your time, before diving into the interview.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
I'm Guy Rozen on the show today. How Michelle Wayler
went from printing T shirts for friends to helping build
a massive active wear brand beyond Yoga.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Hopefully Just breaking that down for you makes it clear
that is one way to put together a good introduction.
But ultimately, you know why I'm here talking about this
is that people just don't seem to really value the
importance of an episode specific introduction, which to me is
(08:24):
probably one of the most important pieces of a podcast
because that is the content that is needed to get
your listeners to be excited about listening to the entire episode.
Why would you want to listen to this entire conversation
or entire episode. I'm going to tell you that right now,
(08:45):
highlight the value and key takeaways listeners can expect, enticing
them to stay tuned. Retention is so important in podcasting,
in YouTube content, in any kind of media creation. Honestly, retention.
You don't want people to just drop out five minutes in.
That's horrible. You want them to stick through the entire thing.
(09:07):
Especially if you're running ads and your ads supported, you
need them to stick all the way through your content.
Because if you have one advertiser putting a spot in
mid roll one, you know in about ten to fifteen
minutes into the episode, and then people start dropping off
after that. Well, when you have midroll spot two about
thirty minutes in. No one's going to listen to that.
(09:30):
The numbers are just going to completely drop. So you
need to figure out a way to retain people's attention,
to get them all the way through the episode. And
a great way to do that is with a powerful introduction.
Tease something that doesn't happen un till the end of
the episode so people stay tuned. There is a way
to do it. You can balance both the introductions, the
(09:52):
general show introduction and the episode specific introductions. You know,
the sequence of your introductions can vary based on your
style and audience pre difference whether you start with the
episode specific or the general ensure both are clear and engaging.
That's really the heart of what I'm trying to get at.
Make it engaging, make it clear, and make it concise. Okay, guys,
(10:15):
that's it. Let's wrap this up. What do we learn one?
Engage listeners immediately with a captivating episode specific introduction. If
you need to take the time to craft something, that
is the thing for every episode to take the time
to craft. Get them to listen all the way through
your content, and the best way to do that is
(10:35):
to tease the most incredible stuff that happens in your
episode right here in your introduction. Okay, two, keep your
general show intro brief and consistent to establish your brand
without losing listener interest. Yes, new people are going to
come to the show at all times, so you definitely
need to explain a little bit about what your show does.
(10:56):
But keep it brief. It's going to be in every
single episode. You can't dedicate a whole minute to this
every single episode. It's a waste of time. It's a
waste of people's time. People will drop out. Okay, and
number three cold opens they're fun. Only use them if
you have sensational content or notable guests, and keep them
(11:16):
short regardless. That's our episode for this week. Thank you
so so much for listening. Do not forget to subscribe
to Podcasting Tips weekly wherever you're listening right now. It
means the world to me. And if you found this
valuable share it with somebody, that would also be an
absolute incredible treat for us over here at Strahat Media.
(11:40):
I hope you have a wonderful week and we'll see
you next week. Bye.
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