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8 Ways to Improve Your Podcast Description

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Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast. I'm Daniel J. Lewis.

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Your podcast description usually isn't someone's first impression of your show. Instead, that's

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usually your title or your cover art or what someone else says about your podcast.

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Your podcast description also usually doesn't affect your SEO.

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But the description does give you the vital opportunity to convince a potential audience

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to try your podcast.

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Because once they click through, then it's the description and your episode titles that

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can help convince someone, "Yes, you're in the right place.

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You should definitely press that follow button and here's why."

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That's how an effective podcast description works.

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So I have for you 8 ways to improve your podcast description. Follow along in the notes, a

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tap or swipe away, or go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/description.

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Number 1. Remove unnecessary or redundant details. The title goes in the title, the

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author goes in the author, the description goes in the description. When you mix these

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together it creates redundancy and might waste some valuable space. So try to look out for

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phrases like "This podcast is hosted by..." and then your name.

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Well, you don't need to say that and I'm not saying your name should not be in your

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description because there are sometimes certain good appropriate places for that.

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But to say "This podcast is hosted by..." that's really unnecessary because your name

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is already in the author field and displayed very prominently with your podcast.

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Or take another approach.

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name of your podcast like "The Audacity to Podcast is about..." well that's redundant because the

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title is right there that they can see in big bold letters and the description is right underneath the

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title so why have it say "The Audacity to Podcast" and the words immediately after that are "The

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Audacity to Podcast." That's unnecessary. And also even just saying "is about" well this is inside a

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description so the description is describing the podcast. You don't have to say what it's about

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when the context is already a description, it is inherently about whatever that thing is. Or

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asking a question sometimes doesn't work very well, like "Looking for a podcast about such and

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such?" or "Are you a such and such?" People often aren't asking these questions that you are using

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or I see people using in podcast descriptions. And often I see these kinds of questions focus

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more on features more than benefits. And I'll be talking about that more in number three

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in a moment. So watch out for these kinds of phrases and others like them that are just

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unnecessary and redundant. You want everything that's in your podcast to really convince

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someone to hear or watch your podcast. Does your contact information convince them to

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listen to your podcast? No, probably not. Does knowing that you publish an episode every

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Monday convince people to listen to your podcast? Probably not. Does hearing your background,

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like you started listening to audiobooks when you were 7 and now you have a podcast about

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audiobooks, does that convince people to listen? Probably not. Now that's not saying that any

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kind of background information about you or why you started the podcast is irrelevant,

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but you have to think about, is this actually relevant or is it unnecessary to convince

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people to listen to my podcast? Or is it redundant with other information elsewhere in the podcast?

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Number two, focus on why and WIIFM. That's what's in it for me. In most places, podcast

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descriptions don't actually affect your podcast SEO. But even if they did, the most important

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thing is still to answer two basic questions. First question, why should I get this podcast?

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And try emphasizing that differently as well.

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Why should I get this podcast?

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Or why should I get this podcast?

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That's a big question people are asking when they hear about a podcast.

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They might not be consciously asking that question, but it is on their minds.

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That's what they're looking for.

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Why this podcast?

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Why me for this podcast?

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Why this podcast for me?

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Why should I get this podcast?

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The second question is, what's in it for me?

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What's the W-I-I-F-M?

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What's in it for me?

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In other words, how will your audience get profit from your podcast?

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Profit meaning popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles.

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Yes, I think you need to focus on helping your audience get profit from your podcast,

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not only yourself.

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Because when your audience profits, you have a greater opportunity to profit as well.

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So what's in it for me?

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I look at your podcast, what am I going to get out of it?

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Not just content.

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Yeah, this is a podcast.

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Are you looking for a new podcast to listen to?

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No, I'm not.

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In fact, I would say most people aren't just looking for a new podcast to listen to.

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They're looking for a new podcast that gives them certain information or maybe they're

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not even looking at all.

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But how you describe your podcast can change their minds and make them realize, "Oh man,

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this is a need that I have.

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I need to listen to this podcast.

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I didn't know I needed this, but now I know I need it and this podcast provides that.

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Whenever someone has clicked through to something they're considering, like whether that's a

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podcast or a product, a movie, or really anything else, the core information they're seeking

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is why they should choose that thing.

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Maybe even in comparison to alternatives.

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Why this book over a different book?

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Why this movie over a different movie?

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Why your podcast about your niche over someone else's podcast in the same niche.

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That why question is so important.

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That's why I love the book Start With Why.

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I highly recommend that.

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And go ahead and read that and it can help you better describe your podcast.

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Start With Why.

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Why your podcast.

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Why are you making this podcast.

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Don't focus on why are you making it.

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Focus on answering that why question for your audience.

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Because that is why you're making it.

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And you don't have to use the words "why" or "because" in your description, but I

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do suggest you imagine someone asking you "why should I get your podcast?"

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And then what follows in your answer when you say "well because" what follows after

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that is a good starting point for your description.

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So what would you say if someone was face to face with you asking you "why should I

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get your podcast?"

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Focus on that "why" and that "what's in it for me?"

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Number three, replace features with benefits.

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A feature is a simple fact about your podcast.

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Like we talk about, and then your topic or topics.

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Or think about this with computers.

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The features are, this computer has this big of a hard drive, it has this many megabytes

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or gigabytes of this and that, and it has this software and it has this feature and

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that feature, and you can compare these features with other features of other computers.

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That's just features, numbers, comparisons.

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That doesn't really tell a story at all.

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Okay, it's got 16 gigabytes of RAM.

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What does that mean?

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So if a computer has 128 gigabytes, is that better?

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It sounds like it's better because it's a bigger number.

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That's just a feature.

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And in some cases, by the way, with computers, it's really about how do they use those gigabytes

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of RAM.

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new Apple Silicon chips are so much better with how they use RAM that you don't need

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as much RAM as you used to need. So the playing field has become unlevel in that sense. You

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can't get into this feature comparison game. And your audience isn't really looking for

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features or your potential audience either. They're looking for benefits. The first way

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that you can improve this is to extend whatever feature sentence you have with a "so that"

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part and then shift that benefit, what comes after the "so that", shift that into the spotlight.

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So here are a few examples for you to consider. The feature might be, "We talk about cake baking."

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That's just a plain feature. Cake baking, okay, that's your feature. Switch that to more benefit

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focus. Learn how to make better cakes. Oooh, now we're focusing on the benefit. That's

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why we talk about cake baking is to help you bake better cakes. See, focusing back on the

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why. Or consider this. This podcast shares marketing techniques. Again, that's feature

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focused. You could change that to grow your audience. Now I didn't use the same words

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at all, but the benefit of marketing techniques is to grow your audience or grow your customer

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base or anything like that. Or "Get communication tips!" It might sound like a benefit because

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I'm starting with a verb, but it's really just a feature. I could say "Get anything

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else" and it's really just a feature. So instead of saying "Get communication tips"

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I could say "I help you communicate better." And you can loop back through this process

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to make your benefits even better. Try adding a "so that" either directly or through

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some rewriting to focus on the outcome you want your audience to get.

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For example, instead of saying "learn how to grow your business" you could add "so

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that" you don't have to worry about your bottom line.

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See that's the benefit.

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Then consider shifting that new benefit, what came after the "so that", shift that to

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the spotlight.

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You'll stop worrying about your bottom line by implementing our techniques to grow your

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business.

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Do you see what happened there?

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I shifted that deeper benefit, not just growing your business, but stop worrying about your

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bottom line.

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I shifted that benefit to the front and then put the other benefits and even a little bit

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of a feature after that.

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And this can be a healthy exercise to loop through this multiple times and it may get

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a little exaggerated at times, but that's okay.

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This is an exercise to make you stronger and make you better and brainstorm some ideas.

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Keep adding "so that" to whatever line of marketing you're working with.

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Add it over and over and over until it either gets completely ridiculous or you find some

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really good value.

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For example, you might think of describing your podcast as "I talk about movies".

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Now let's practice this.

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So that you'll know what the best movies are.

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So that you won't waste time and money on bad movies.

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So that you'll have fun going to the movies.

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So that you can share the experience with your friends.

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So that you can build deeper relationships around mutual interests.

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So that you can live a more fulfilling life.

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So that and on and on and on.

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This doesn't mean you have to use everything you come up with, but it can help you make

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something far more enticing than a simple feature.

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So taking this same slightly exaggerated example, your podcast about movies could be described

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instead of simply "I talk about movies" to something like "Live a more fulfilling life

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with deeper relationships by learning more about the movies you and your friends love."

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Now yes, that's a little bit more exaggerated, but isn't that so much more compelling and

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interesting sounding than simply "I talk about the latest movies and what's cool about them."

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Focus on the benefits, not the features. You might mention a feature here and there. That's okay.

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Okay sometimes people need to know those features, but try replacing all the features that you

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mention with benefits.

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That's number three.

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Number four, try common marketing approaches.

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Because your podcast description is marketing a kind of product, your podcast that is, is

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the product, that your audience needs to "buy" and they buy it by following it, making that

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commitment to listen to your podcast, you can try different marketing frameworks to

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write a better, more compelling, and more relatable podcast description.

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Here are three popular marketing frameworks, and I've played with them myself in some

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of my product advertising and even my podcast descriptions here and there.

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First there's AIDA, which is attention, interest, desire, and action.

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This describes the four stages someone goes through before making a decision, like following

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your podcast or buying something.

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Following this framework, your podcast description can first catch someone's attention, then

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get them interested in what you offer, then trigger a desire for your podcast, and then

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give them the action to take.

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There's also the PAS framework.

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That's pain or problem, agitate, solution.

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This framework takes a slightly different approach to AIDA and focuses first on the

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the problem or the pain point, then it agitates that with some specificity and then provides

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your podcast as the solution. Focusing and then further specifying the pain your audience

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has demonstrates how you understand and empathize with them, helping them to think "he or

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she totally gets me."

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Another popular framework is the BAB framework. That's before, after, bridge. This takes

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a more evidence-based approach. It starts with relating the condition your audience

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is in before your podcast or before applying your teaching and then the results after they

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take the action and then your podcast is the bridge that gets them there. These frameworks

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and others have helped many marketers increase their profits. And even if you're not actually

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selling something for money and you're doing your podcast purely for the love of it and

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All you want to do is have fun and you want your audience to have fun.

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And fun is in profit.

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That's the F in profit.

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So you and your audience can profit by just simply having fun with your podcast.

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Even if that's all you're doing, marketing your podcast as if it is a product for sale

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can help you better reach and convert people to a loyal audience.

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Number five, take inspiration from the best podcasts.

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the consistently top-ranked podcasts regardless of their topic. Look at how their descriptions

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are written. Do they tell a story? Do they follow a marketing framework like AIDA, PAS,

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or BAB? How do they try to empathize with you? How do they communicate without wasting

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space? You might notice that they use several of these methods that I've shared here or

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do something else completely innovative. For practice, you could, and this is just for

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practice, I want to emphasize that, you could copy the descriptions from some of these popular

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podcasts and then replace the points about their podcasts with points about yours. Then

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try rewording it to be more in your voice and your tone to flow better and connect better

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with your ideal audience. But please don't simply copy and word spin someone else's

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description.

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Use it as an inspiration and then go make your own description.

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Number six, get opinions.

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When you have a description that you think is good, try it on some people who don't

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know your podcast and then see how it piques their interest.

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If you're willing to spend a little money on this, you could go to a local coffee shop

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and offer to buy someone's drink in exchange for five minutes of their time to get their

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opinion on your podcast description.

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Now if you do this, please make sure that you promise them you want only their opinion,

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you're not trying to sell them anything, you're not trying to get them to opt into anything

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or give over any kind of private information, you just want their opinion on something.

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This kind of, we could call it man on the street research can be extremely valuable

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because you're getting face to face interactions with someone, you're not just getting a comment

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back, and it's someone who is not a fellow podcaster, not a member of your peer group,

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And you might actually get someone who doesn't even know what a podcast is or doesn't listen

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to a podcast.

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And if you can pique their interest, you probably have a winning podcast description.

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Number seven.

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Use Artificial Intelligence or AI.

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Wouldn't it be cool if there was a tool that could help you do these exact things, like

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rewrite your description in AIDA format or BAB, or take some inspirations from other

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great looking descriptions, or turn your features into benefits, or answer the question of why

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and stuff like that. Wouldn't it be great if there was a tool like that? Well yes, there

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are actually several great tools now that can do this through the power of artificial

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intelligence or AI. And since early 2021, I've been using one of these tools called

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Jasper, formerly known as Jarvis. And by the way, the link in the notes for Jasper is an

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affiliate link so I earn from qualifying purchases through my link. But as you know, I recommend

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things that I truly believe in regardless of earnings. And the other couple things I'm going

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to recommend here actually do not earn me anything because I don't think they have affiliate programs

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yet. But they may someday and if they do I'll join them. But I'll continue anyway with my

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recommendations here. So I've been using Jasper for a couple years to help me write better,

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build some writing momentum, and get some new ideas. But now, when you think of AI writing

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assistants, you're probably thinking of something else that everybody seems to be talking about

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right now in early 2023. And that is ChatGPT. And at the time of this recording, it's only a couple

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days after ChatGPT 4 was released and I'm hearing a lot of people say it creates much better content.

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I'm not going to get into how these things work and the ethics of them. That would be great for

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another episode. But for now, just think of it this way. Jasper and ChatGPT offer many ways that

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you can improve your content through what they have. And this is very important. I'm suggesting

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improve your content, not create your content for you, not give you medical or legal advice

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or weird things like that, but help you to get better. Because the basic approach of

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these AIs where I think they thrive is when they see, "Oh, I see what you did there.

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Let me build on that or let me make that a little bit better for you." So Jasper, for

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example, and some other tools like this as well, offer templates that you can fill in

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and then generate potential results. And those templates are designed around specific things.

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For example, Jasper has templates for the AIDA, PAS, and BAB marketing frameworks for

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descriptions. They also have a template for converting features to benefits or a template

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to simplify your language as if explaining it to a child so that you're not so geeky,

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nerdy, or inside baseball as they say with your descriptions. I think all of these templates

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can be really helpful because you know the kind of outcome to expect and you can have

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the template generate a bunch of outputs, slightly different each time, and then you

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can pick and choose certain points from those or blend them together as you want or just

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copy and paste one all together that you like. Jasper and ChatGPT also offer a more flexible

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model that is what a lot of people are loving and it's what has made this AI so much more

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popular and that's the flexible chat model where you can type as if talking to a writing

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assistant. You could paste in your current description and then ask it to rewrite your

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description using a marketing framework or convert your features to benefits and more.

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just paste it in. Like one example input could be something like, "Here is a description

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of The Audacity to Podcast, a podcast about podcasting." I paste in my description and

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then below that I say, "Rewrite this using the AIDA marketing framework." And it gives

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me a description back following the AIDA framework.

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There are a bunch of other things it can do. There are so many possibilities. I just had

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a meeting today right before I recorded this episode where I was talking with some people

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about the possibilities of AI and ways that we can use AI ethically and to help us make

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stuff better and faster. And that's what I like using AI for, make stuff better and faster,

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not create original stuff. But take what you already have and make it better. Or look at

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a podcaster focused AI tool like Capsho, another thing that I currently don't have

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an affiliate link for but I really like what they're doing. Capsho, that's C-A-P-S-H-O,

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Capsho helps build episode descriptions and much more from your already recorded audio.

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So it's not like you have to go in and type something in, "Give me an episode description

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for a podcast episode about blank blank blank."

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No, you give it your episode and then it gives you a description of that episode because

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it will transcribe your episode so then it gets the written transcription and then it

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uses that transcription in its artificial intelligence model to summarize it and give

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a description back to you. Now that's at the episode level currently. They might do something

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someday where it can listen to multiple episodes and then help you describe your overall podcast.

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And there are many other things that they're doing with the AI that are beyond the realms

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of what I'm talking about in this episode. But I'm really excited about what Capsho

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is doing. These three tools, Jasper, ChatGPT, Capsho, are just three of many tools out there.

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And many of them are using the same core AI, just with little tweaks here and there, or changing

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what kind of inputs are combined with your input in order to get different outputs. And these are

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the three that I've experienced. So I'm not going to say that these are necessarily the best,

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but they're very popular and I like what they're doing with these tools. And of these three,

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the only one I earn anything from if you sign up through my link is Jasper. Now if the others

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offer affiliate programs I will definitely join them because I'm already recommending them. But

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if you'd like to try any of these then please check out my links through theaudacitytopodcast.com/description.

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I think AI is great for these kinds of improvement and reformat techniques because it's taking your

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original content and making it better. That's what I love AI for. Making stuff better, helping

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you make it better, and making it faster and better. And number eight, apply these same principles

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to your episode descriptions. Although I focused this episode on your top level podcast description,

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try all these same things for your individual episode descriptions too. Like avoiding redundant

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or unnecessary things such as "In this episode, Bob and Jim talk about..."

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All of those words just there. Completely unnecessary. Just tell us what you talked

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about or do it in a different way that isn't "we talked about" or "hear us talk about"

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or anything like that. Just tell us. And your episode descriptions can seriously help your

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search engine optimization. And if you try improving your episode descriptions before

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Before you even record your episodes, you might even discover new ways to make your

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episode content better just by improving how you describe what you're about to talk about.

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And then you might realize that, "Oh, there's a better way that I can approach this content

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because of how I'm describing it."

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This is one of the reasons why I like writing my post for an episode before I even record

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because it really helps me hash out my ideas.

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So just simply writing out a really good episode description, not your full notes, but just

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a really good episode description, that alone could help you make a better episode.

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So apply these same things, whether it's your marketing framework to how you describe this

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episode or promote this one episode.

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Maybe you use some AI to make your episode description better.

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Maybe you get some opinions from other people.

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And the big thing that I recommend is that why?

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Why should people listen to this episode?

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That's a great thing to think about while you are recording your episode.

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Why does this matter?

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Why should people listen?

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That little story about your dog might be interesting to you, but why should your audience care?

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Is it funny?

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Is it relevant to your podcast?

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Are people coming to your podcast because they want to hear something funny?

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If so, then that story about your dog that's funny is totally relevant.

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Are they coming to your podcast to be informed about marketing trends?

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Then the story about your dog is probably not relevant unless it somehow can relate

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to what you're talking about in your podcast episode.

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So learning how to better describe even your episodes can improve your content and going

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back to the top level podcast description, learning how to make a better description

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for your overall podcast can also help you refocus your podcast on whom you really want

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to serve, what profit you want them to get from your podcast, and what kind of profit

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you want to get from your podcast.

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So once again, these eight ways to improve your podcast description, available at theaudacitytopodcast.com/description,

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are number one, remove unnecessary or redundant details.

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Number two, focus on why and what's in it for me.

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Number three, replace features with benefits.

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Number four, try common marketing approaches.

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Number five, take inspiration from the best podcasts.

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Number six, get opinions.

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Number seven, use artificial intelligence.

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And number eight, apply these same principles to your episode descriptions.

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With all of this in mind then, how long has it been since you've really looked at your

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podcast description?

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Is it even accurate anymore?

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I suggest you go back and look at it, especially with these points and suggestions that I've

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shared with you, and see how you can improve your description.

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I did the same thing with my own podcast description while preparing this episode.

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I started looking back at my description and realized, hmm, there are some ways that I

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could definitely improve this.

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So I'm changing my own and will continue to revisit my own description for The Audacity

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to Podcast. To let you hear an actual example of what it was before and what it currently

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is after, here is my description before I started preparing for this episode.

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I believe anyone can share a message to change the world and podcasting is the best way to

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spread that message. I'm Daniel J. Lewis and this is where I give you the guts and

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teach you the tools to launch or improve your own podcast for sharing your passions and

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finding success. I cover all things podcasting, audio gear, video equipment, editing software.

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Now I hope your brain is shouting in your mind, "These are features Daniel, you're

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just listing features."

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Yes, because I was.

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And I continue here.

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WordPress and plugins, social media promotion tools, marketing, and more with understandable,

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in-depth information and easy to follow steps.

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Again, just features listed there.

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If you want to know how to podcast or grow the show you already have, this show is for you.

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Have a podcasting question or suggestion?

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That's not a question anyone is really asking when they're looking at my podcasting description.

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Email feedback@theaudacitytopodcast.com or call 903-231-2221.

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People don't need my contact information in my description.

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Please subscribe and I will give you THE AUDACITY to podcast.

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So you see, I made some mistakes there.

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And I've re-approached it.

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And I didn't even run this through AI yet.

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Just taking some of these principles that I've been talking about and practicing them

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on my own description.

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And here is at least at the time of this recording what my description is and it might change

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by the time I publish this episode or by the time you hear this episode.

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So my new description is as follows.

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I believe podcasting is the best way for you to share a message to change the world.

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I give you the guts and teach you the tools to launch and improve your own podcast for

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passion and profit.

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That's P-R-O-F-I-T.

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I break it out with little periods just to emphasize that it's an abbreviation or an

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acronym or an acrostic.

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They don't know yet.

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Through each episode, I strive to help you communicate better, fully leverage audio and

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video gear, use podcasting tools for higher quality and efficiency, become an engaging

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interviewer, improve your podcast website, grow your podcast, and more.

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My goal is to help you and your audience get P-R-O-F-I-T from your podcast.

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popularity, relationships, opportunities, fun, income, or tangibles. From each episode

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you'll get inspiration, learn easy to follow steps, and discover resources to help you

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podcast better. Please join me, Daniel J. Lewis, and I will give you THE AUDACITY to

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podcast.

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Now I think that description is much better. Is it the absolute best? No, probably not.

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There are probably other ways I can improve it. And take a look inside your podcast app.

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you're seeing an even different description from that.

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But I think this is so much better and I'm practicing what I'm preaching by improving

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my own description.

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I suggest you do the same.

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Follow these eight tips to try improving your podcast description.

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And if you need help with this, I'm available for one-on-one coaching and consulting to

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help you improve your podcast and improve your podcast description.

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If you want me to look over your description, help you brainstorm some other ideas, work

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with an AI to figure out some different things, put it in your voice, or better communicate,

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or give you some feedback on something that compels me to even listen.

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Does it pique my interest?

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If you need help with your podcast, I'm available to help you one-on-one.

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Please contact me through the website at theaudacitytopodcast.com.

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And if this episode has been helpful to you, I'd love it if you would share this, comment

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on it, and engage in whatever way you can.

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The episode is at theaudacitytopodcast.com/description.

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Now that I've given you some of the guts and taught you some of the tools, it's time

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for you to go start and grow your own podcast for passion and profit.

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I'm Daniel J. Lewis from theaudacitytopodcast.com.

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Thanks for listening!

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