This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on an affiliate link and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. For more information, see our Privacy Policy.
Creating a podcast is an amazing way to connect with your audience and promote your brand on a whole different level.
But, when running a podcast, it isn’t just the episode content that you need to consider. After all, when your listener first press ‘play’ on one of your episodes, the first thing they hear isn’t your episode content, but your podcast’s intro.
So, you need an intro that sets the mood and tone of your show, whilst engaging your listener enough to make them want to stick around and listen to the rest of your episode.
In this article, we’ll discuss the top points for you to consider when putting together the introduction for your podcast, including:
- Music
- Call to actions
- Introductions
- Length of your intro
- Variety
- Top tips for creating your podcast intro
Music
First and foremost, the vast majority of podcasts (in fact, I haven’t come across one that hasn’t yet?), have music playing in the background of their intro.
Music in your intro is great for a variety of reasons, including it setting the scene and tone of your podcast and episodes. Some podcasters even go as far as not having any talking in their intro and just having a few seconds of music leading into their episode.
Points to consider when adding music to your intro:
- Make sure that your music doesn’t over-power you talking – your listener wants to hear you, not your music;
- Keep the music short – again, your listener is here for your episode and not the music;
- Choose music that sets the tone and suits the style of your podcast.
Where can I get music that I can legally use in my podcast intro?
I’m glad you asked; because you can’t just take any old song that you like and use it in your podcast. You need to make sure that you can legally use the music. This means using music that is royalty-free and isn’t protected under copyright legislation that prevents you from using it on your show.
There are a whole host of platforms where you can purchase music to use in your podcast intro. My favourite is Pond5, where I got my intro music for just $5. (Oh, and if you use that link, you’ll get an incredible 20% off your first order!).
Call to Action
Ideally, you want to keep your calls to action to a minimum within your introduction. If you include too many things for your listener to do within the first minute or so of your episode, it can feel overwhelming and your listener will likely either do none of the actions, or will switch off because they feel as though they just have a list of tasks to complete.
If you do include a call to action in your intro, keep it short and sweet, such as asking the listener to subscribe to your podcast. Otherwise, you’re better off leaving calls to action until later in your episode, or in your outro.
Introductions
Introducing yourself and your show sets the scene for your podcast. This could be as short and simple as saying; ‘Hi, welcome to The Confident CEO Podcast, the podcast for female entrepreneurs. I’m your host, Verity Sangan.’ It could be shorter with a simple: ‘Welcome to the podcast, hosted by me, Verity Sangan;’ or it could be longer and go more in-depth about the topics covered within the show.
I would always recommend introducing yourself as the host as a minimum. This helps to humanise and personalise the voice that your listener is hearing and builds a connection between you and your audience right from the start.
Length
Podcast intros need to be short and snappy. After all, your listener is there to hear the contents of your episode, not your intro. Depending on how you want to layout your intro, you might want to include the following:
- Your podcast’s title
- Introduce yourself as the host
- A brief explanation of what the podcast talks about and who the target audience is
Ideally, you want your podcast intro to be 30 seconds or less. Any longer and your listener will probably switch off.
Have a Variety
Switching up your intro can be interesting for your audience to listen to. As humans, if we listen to something over and over, we eventually get bored with it. I mean, have you ever skipped through a podcast or tv series trying to find an episode to watch/listen to and getting frustrated with the same intro continually?
You might want to switch up your intro every season or series or your podcast. It might be that every few months you change your intro. You might have 2-3 intros that you rotate throughout your show. The choice is yours.
As an example, at the time of writing this article, The Confident CEO Podcast had been going for 11 months. In that time the show has featured two intros and for the 1-year mark there are plans to switch up the intro again; keeping the same music but re-recording the speech with a different set of wording. This isn’t 100% necessary, but I feel that this will keep the show fresh for listeners.
Get Your Free Podcast Intro Checklist ⬇️
Top Tips for Creating Your Podcast Intro
- Once you’ve created your intro, save it as an MP3 and save it somewhere easily accessible, such as on GDrive. Then, when you’re editing your episode, you can easily drag and drop the intro MP3 into your episode.
- Practice before recording. You want your intro to be as engaging as possible, as this is what will keep your listener hooked.
- It’s ok to change your intro. You might want to have different intros with different calls to action depending on the episode or season of your business. You might simply have fallen out of love with your intro; in which case, there’s nothing wrong with creating a new one.
- Remember that it’s your intro. Regardless of the advice out there, it is your podcast and you need to be happy that your intro suits yourself as the host and the premise and ethos of your show.
- Above all, have fun creating your intro and your podcasting!
What do you think? Did I miss anything? Let me know in the comments!
