Exploit the power of storytelling in your podcast

I spoke on the Audience Agency’s podcast and it’s all about the power of storytelling and how it can benefit your company (listen below!)

Stories can help you to grow your audience and connect further and deeper with your existing one. In this episode, Richard Leeming from the Audience Agency asked myself and fellow podcaster Dave Howard from Bespoken Media for our take on storytelling – from a podcasters point of view.

But before you listen, here’s some of my key points about storytelling,

Don’t be scared by it.

We’re all storytellers, whether we’re making up a story for our kid's bedtime, telling our mates down the pub the latest gossip, or giving a presentation at work. We consume stories on a daily basis too, be that reading an article on a website or watching Coronation Street. There are characters and a beginning, middle and end in every one. Our thoughts follow story arcs too, so it’s only natural that as humans, stories attract and appeal to us.

You don’t have to search high and low for these stories.

It’s more than likely that they’ll exist within your organisation. So instead of reinventing the wheel, you’re shaping the content or information that you already have, in a way that tells an engaging or compelling story. For example, I work with charities to help them to eek out and tell the stories behind their impact through audio. Taking them beyond a boring, written report. 

Good audio stories can stop you in your tracks,

They make you yearn for the next episode, keep you hooked, make you laugh, make you cry… there’s real feeling attached to storytelling. That’s the big difference between a bog-standard narrative and a good story – it’s all about the feels. 

The beauty of audio storytelling is that,

You can add layers to bring that story to life, like with great writing, sfx, music or multiple voices. You can conduct people’s imagination through great audio storytelling. How powerful is that?

I reference one of my most favourite pieces of audio storytelling in the episode.

It includes all of the above. (It’s the one I couldn’t remember the name of at the time of recording!). It’s called ‘Kohn’ and was made almost a decade ago by Andy Mills 

I first heard it just a few months back and listened to it again three times, straight after the first. It made my heart warm, it gave me goosebumps and it still does each time I listen to it.

The way that it’s crafted is beautiful, which lends to the heartwarming but sensitive subject matter. It’s finale is gorgeous. This is a story that I remember. It brings me joy. The audio production around it makes it so memorable and lends itself to Kohn’s story so well. The production enhances all the feels that I have for Kohn. I’m connected on a deeper level to him. It makes me want to tell everybody about it. I want people to feel like I do after listening to it. It gives me proper producer envy. 

Massive gush overload for this piece, but that’s great isn't it? That a piece of audio storytelling can evoke all those feelings?

Listen to Kohn: here

In summary, my number one advice for powerful storytelling is that if it does not stir you (or others), do it once more with feeling!

Hear more about mine and Dave’s take on storytelling on the Audience Agency Podcast… enjoy! 

Let MIC Media tell your stories through awesome audio. Drop me a DM on here and let’s have a chat!