Does your podcast have a ritual? It should.
Rituals are moments, touchstones, mile-markers, or just plain old familiar territory that your listener can look forward to in each episode. A certain music sting that happens around the same point in each episode. A game you play, a series of pop culture sound bites to welcome the listener each show, or even an expression they know you’ll say in certain situations. It can also be as simple as very enjoyable, carefully selected theme music. Even if you’ve never realized it, these rituals have become a part of how you consume media now (i.e. dynamic opening title sequences for TV shows, or the question segment at the end of “Inside the Actors’ Studio” (what’s your favorite curse word, etc)).
When your show has consistent rituals built in, it creates a rhythm to the show for the audience, and when you deliver on them, your episodes each sound like familiar territory — as if they’ve come home after a week away.
These built-in moments, segments, sounds, games, and beats can add more than a sense of familiarity for the listeners that fosters increased attachment to your podcast. Rituals can also have practical function. For example, having a super fun rapid-fire question segment at the close of every show can lead listeners to hang in, listening longer and to the very end of an episode because they anticipate this moment/beat is coming (and they eventually get their reward when it does). Rituals can also add to a sense of structure for the show as you maneuver the content or interview from milestone to milestone in an episode. Great theme music or a custom theme song can make an audience feel like they’ve reached the right address, like a reward (think of the chimes slot machines give you with even the smallest win to encourage endorphin release). And, in some cases, a ritual can even change the dynamics of the interview and the relationship a host can have with a guest.
On MouthMedia Network, we have a series of podcasts called “Is Your Business” which interview brand executives, top-notch innovators, influencers, and technology startup founders within various lifestyle industries (i.e. “Fashion Is Your Business”, “Travel Is Your Business”, etc). From the earliest days of our first of these podcasts, we have required our guests, no matter whom they may be (celebrity, captain of industry, CEO, etc), to bring a snack to share to all in-studio interviews. Over the years notable snacks have included sushi, Indian food, various home-baked cookies and cakes, nostalgic candies, health juices, crepes, pizza, cocktails, ice cream, and much more, and even in-studio popped popcorn (popping as we recorded). This ritual started because we used to record at night in co-working conferences rooms, and no one had time to eat in running from day job to podcast recording. We asked some friends who were guests to bring a snack by for us.
Whatever the snack, we quickly realized the impact: we were essentially “breaking bread” with our guests (helps
develop the new relationship, which is useful for business development purposes), in many cases the snack is an expression of whom the guest is on a personal basis (i.e. stopping by their favorite Italian deli, or they can bring macaroons from their client, a macaroon company, thereby giving value to the client by engineering a useful plug of that business on the show), and (perhaps most importantly) this is a fantastic “equalizer” – when the London-based head of marketing of a major global brand brings a box of British sweets as a way to share a piece of her cultural identity with you, you are now peers. Plus, your listener will depend on (even if they don’t realize it consciously) and anticipate Snack Time at the end of the first segment every episode, and miss it when it isn’t there. What’s more, well-executed rituals can actually be a monetizable opportunities by attaching an aligned sponsor to those moments, and you can even engage your audience for input into certain rituals (i.e. submit questions for the rapid fire question segment).
If you lack substantial ritual in your show, consider how you could integrate one in to each episode, and how doing so could offer new potential to engage your audience differently. You could find you might just connect with your guests on another level, create a new revenue opportunity, retain the attention of our audience, improve and shape your show content and format, and discover another side of your guests. Plus, someone could even bring you some homemade chocolate chip cookies — baked with Grandma’s secret recipe.
