Just One Tip from Your Podcast Performance Coach Tim Wohlberg

If you're a podcaster who's stuck in a rut or you feel like your traction has hit a plateau, this episode is for you. Also, if you're a podcaster who's never been stuck in a rut - this episode is also for you because it's coming. Mwahhaha.
Today’s tip is all about escaping the podcast plateau. If you're feeling stuck and like your show is going nowhere, it's time to do something different.
I've noticed that a lot of podcasters who hit a plateau end up thinking they just need to push harder with their calls to action, sell more on the podcast, and ask for more from their listeners. While it's important to help your listeners take the next step, sometimes this approach can come off as pushy and make your audience feel like they're being sold to rather than served.
Recently, we helped a client who was in this exact situation. She was about 40 episodes in, and while she had a ton of great information to share, she had hit a plateau and wasn't seeing any growth. She spent the entire show trying to monetize it by selling directly from each episode, but nothing was happening.
Through our work with her, we identified five key things that helped her get back on track:
Getting clear on her 'why' and focusing on growing her email list rather than just selling on the show. Niching down further to better position herself within the photography landscape of podcasts. Adding structure to her episodes to make them more consumable and valuable to her listeners. Improving her performance by speaking at a more natural pace and editing in more pauses. Upgrading her mic and improving her sound quality to match her level of expertise.  
If you're feeling stuck on your podcast plateau, I encourage you to take a step back and look at these five areas. Remember, sometimes it takes a fresh perspective and a professional coach to help you get out of a hole and start seeing results again.
If you're interested in learning more about our Podcast Tune-Up Program, head over to PodcastPerformanceCoach.com and take a look. I'd be happy to help you get back on track and reach your podcasting goals! 
Check out the PODCAST TUNE-UP here:
https://members.podcastperformancecoach.com/podcast-tune-up
Full Show Notes:
 https://podcastperformancecoach.com/179-stuck-in-a-podcast-rut-heres-how-one-client-got-out/
Book a FREE-15-MINUTE Podcast Coaching Call
https://calendly.com/timwohlberg
 

Are you doing a good job at preparing your podcast guest to give a great interview? If you answer yes because you send them your questions in advance then we need to talk!
As a seasoned talk radio expert, I'm here to tell you that this is a sure fire way to zap all of the fun and spontaneity out of the conversation.
But fear not, my friends. There are still ways to prepare your guests without ruining the flow of the interview. In this episode, I'm sharing my top tips on how to get your guests in the sweet spot of being perfectly prepared for a killer interview that feels like a natural conversation.
First things first, you want your guests to know who they are talking to - your audience! I prescribe to listener-centric podcasting, meaning everything you do on your show is for the benefit of your listeners. So, let your guests know who your audience is and encourage them to aim their information directly at them.
Next up, the topic. Help your guest prepare by letting them know which specific part of their expertise you'll be tapping into. Give them a basic outline of the conversation, just enough so they get a sense of the flow. This will help them feel more comfortable and confident in their answers.
Lastly, give your guests all the specifics around the recording and what to expect once they connect with you. Be super clear about your tech requirements, because no one wants their guest to show up on their phone talking through a Bluetooth mic as they shop for bags of chips. Let them know how long it will take, and how you run your recording session. Gathering their social channels and other info ahead of time will make things run more smoothly. Note - never hand over the reins of your show by opening the self-promotion floodgates.
Preparing your guests for a podcast interview doesn't have to ruin the fun and spontaneity of the conversation. By following the tips I share in this episode, you can get your guests into the sweet spot of being perfectly prepared for a killer interview that feels like a natural conversation. Your guest will feel taken care of, you'll feel more in control of your show, and your audience will get what they came for - great content, well-delivered. Tune in to this episode for all the juicy details!
See Full Show Notes:
https://podcastperformancecoach.com/178-how-to-prepare-your-podcast-guest-to-get-the-best-possible-interview/
Book Your Free 15-Minute Podcast Coaching Call:
https://calendly.com/timwohlberg

This might be the most important question for podcast success: to what end? As a podcast coach, I’ve met with hundreds of podcasters and many are stumped when asked about their podcast goals. They often believe the main goal of their podcast is to get more downloads, but I looooove to challenge that thinking by asking what the end result of those downloads is.
While downloads matter to some extent, they're just the first step toward achieving bigger, more business-building goals like more website traffic, leads, and sales. By fixating on downloads, podcasters are measuring the wrong metric.
In this episode, I help you set better podcast goals that will turn your podcast into a marketing machine for your business. By asking yourself "to what end?" and focusing on the right goals, you can create a podcast that helps you become an authority in your space and generates leads and sales.
Don't just take my word for it – one listener who took advantage of my free 15-minute coaching call said, "My head is spinning. I feel like I've been focusing so much on having a pretty dress that I forgot to learn how to dance. How embarrassing! I'm ready to learn how to dance now - thank you, Tim!"
If you're ready to create a podcast that really makes a difference, tune in to this episode and book your free coaching call today. It's time to stop fixating on downloads and start creating a podcast that achieves your business goals. 
 
Book your FREE 15-Minute Podcast Coaching call:
https://calendly.com/timwohlberg
 
Full Episode Notes:
https://podcastperformancecoach.com/177-the-most-important-question-to-ask-about-your-podcast-goals
 

If you listen to my last episode on AI and Podcasting then you know that we, the human podcast hosts, don’t have much to fear in terms of being usurped by our AI counterparts. At least as long as we keep it authentic and personal. 
That doesn’t mean we have to turn our back on AI. There are a lot of great AI tools for podcasters that can make your job a lot easier. But, if you use these tools poorly, the could have a really negative effect on your brand and even destroy all of that juicy authority you’ve been building for you and your business. 
In this episode, I share a few of the tools you might want consider and I include the gremlin-level warnings about how not to use them. And, I also reveal some of the AI tools I’ve been using for a long time (without ruining my brand). 
 
Here are some of the AI tools I use:
https://chat.openai.com/
https://revoicer.com/
https://otter.ai/
https://hikeseo.co/
https://www.kapwing.com/
 
It’s probably easiest to go through the process of producing an episode and talk about how AI can help or hurt along the way. 
 
Topic Generation
Language modeling and language processing AI like GPT-3 (Chat GPT is a popular free option) can generate a variety of topic ideas for your show. You can also use SEO AI tools to find topics that are in demand and will help your website’s SEO. The caution here is to make sure you don’t lose sight of the intention of your podcast and how it serves your listener. The most SEO friendly topics may be of no interest to your niche. You know your show and your audience better than AI. 
 
Script Development
There are so many tools you can use at this level from having AI completely write your script to simply using a voice-to-text AI to capture your thoughts the moment they come up so you can edit the script later. I use Otter.ai to capture my thoughts, it transcribes the recording instantly, and then I have something to start with when it comes to writing my script. 
Gremlin Warning – If you haven’t already discovered this, you soon will. AI can write your entire script. Do not do this. I repeat. Do. Not. Do. This.  Here’s why:
AI will never capture your voice properly AI is pulling from information that can be biased or inaccurate AI doesn’t know when to incorporate your amazing stories and anecdotes AI is regurgitating everyone else's ideas and you, my brilliant podcaster, are a thought leader who has amazing opinions and ideas of your own. Don’t fall for this AI trap!  
Synthesized Voice
Yes, you can get AI to voice over your entire podcast (for example, Revoicer). But, is that why you got into podcasting? Isn’t your show about building trust and authority with your potential clients… how are they going to feel when they find out they’ve been listening to a robot? There is one cool option here…multiple languages. If you’re branching out globally, you could have AI translate and record your script in multiple languages. Just know that there could be mistakes and if you don’t speak the language, you might not catch them. But, your listener will. 
 
Editing and Mixing
AI editing has been around for a long time. I’ve never been a fan. It has gotten better but I’m still not a fan. Here’s why – you are editing the text document and it will suggest removing the ums, ahs, stumbles, breaths… basically everything that makes you sound human. If you want to sound like a robot use AI editing. By the way, I’ve had people tell me that they find certain podcasts hard to listen to because it makes them feel uneasy. It’s the AI editing! AI can create and add some really interesting music and sound effects. In my experience, it’s not much of a time saver but it can be fun. Make sure you’re doing it to enhance the episode for your listener not just to have some fun. 
 
Publication and Promotion
There are so many AI tools you can use to publish and promote your podcast. AI can give you

This is how I generated it.
I used: https://chat.openai.com/ .  Free to use (at the time of this episode).
PROMPT
Write a podcast script for an ai generated voice about how podcasts can be 100% ai created and nobody would ever know. tone is a bit sarcastic.
Then I added: write it again with more sarcasm.
 
Next: Write the description that should be published on Apple Podcasts along with this episode, include a note that this episode including this description were 100% Ai-generated.
Result:
In this episode, we explore the potential future of podcasting where AI takes over the role of human hosts and curates content. Is it possible that AI-generated podcasts will be indistinguishable from human-made ones? We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this technology and the question of authenticity in podcasting. Tune in to find out more. Note: This episode and its description were 100% AI-generated.  (Too short in my opinion).
I used https://revoicer.com/ for the voice-over. Basic membership.
 
Check out:
175 Will Podcasting Survive the AI Invasion? How Human Podcast Hosts Win Every Time
https://podcastperformancecoach.com/175-will-podcasting-survive-the-ai-invasion-how-human-podcast-hosts-win-every-time/
 
Follow because in my next episode I’m going to share what AI tools you can and should be using in your podcast production process and which ones you should stay the hell away from! I’ll even reveal what AI tools I use – some of them for years! 
 
Book your FREE 15-Minute Podcast Coaching Call
https://calendly.com/timwohlberg
Listen to more 5-minute episodes, explore my resources and check out my coaching packages at https://podcastperformancecoach.com/
 
 

It’s an invasion! AI is going to take all of our jobs! Grab your homestead now while you still can…
Okay, so it’s not quite time to panic about how Artificial Intelligence is going to decimate the economy and take all of our jobs. 
But, it is time for us podcasters to pay attention because AI can help us but it can also hurt us. It’s actually such a big topic that I’m dedicating two episodes (and a bonus episode in between) to it. Stay tuned for part two and AI’s contribution. 
In this episode we talk about you, the podcast host. Can you be replaced by AI? 
Absolutely! Robots are coming for your job! AI can write a podcast script and voice it (now with more emotion than ever). You’d be shocked at how far AI scripts and voices have come when you know how to manipulate the input! Shocked!
The good news is that there are several ways that AI hosts suck compared to human podcast hosts. 
First, they are not human. As in, they are not YOU and in my opinion, that’s a big deal. Listeners can get facts from anywhere. They tune in because they want to hear these from you, they want to get to know you. They do that when you share your ideas, your stories and anecdotes, your experiences. That’s how they get to know you. 
Most of the podcasters that I work with are podcasting to build authority – either for themselves or their brand – which means that THEY are a big part of the secret sauce that makes their podcast valuable. I also work with a handful of podcasters who are podcasting as a business – meaning they are selling ad space on their podcast or attracting sponsors – you guessed it the key ingredient in that secret sauce is also THEM. 
No robot can replace you because you have a unique personality and you have stories and anecdotes from your lived experience to share. 
This is where the authenticity comes from. This is what your audience wants. 
Let’s talk for a quick sec about authenticity – I think this is one of the biggest questions you have to ask yourself if you’re thinking about replacing yourself (or starting a podcast) with an AI generated voice or script. Here’s the question: will your listener be upset when they discover that it’s not a real voice or that you’re presenting ideas and opinions you didn’t come up with yourself? 
It’s all about trust. An authority building podcast requires the trust of the audience. If they don’t trust you how will they ever believe you or like you (or buy from you)? 
If you know me at all then you know I’m all about listener-centric podcasting. So ask yourself, who are you serving when you use AI to host or script your podcast? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s not the listener!
The trust goes both ways. You have to trust that your listener wants to hear from YOU. And that comes from you engaging with your audience. This is another way that human hosts are better than AI podcast hosts. They can show up and connect with the listener. 
It’s not just your ideas, stories, and opinions or your ability to connect and engage it’s also your humanity. 
Your audience can hear your human-ness in your emotions, your inflections, and reactions. This is what draws them in. AI can’t do that. 
And finally, for all of you that interview guests, you may be thinking that you’re free and clear from being overtake by AI. You’re only partially right. With good production, AI could create a very compelling interview podcast. 
Here’s where you can shine as a human host - make sure you stay present and engaged. If you read the questions in front of you without reacting to your guest’s answers then you could easily be replaced by an AI host. Be a part of the conversation. Jump on opportunities to be spontaneous. React with your full attention. 
These are things AI can’t quite yet do. If you’re struggling with being THIS human in your interviews, I can help. Grab your free 15-minute coaching call.