How to write a narrative podcast (and make a great trailer!)
Dr. Raj Sundar, family medicine practitioner and podcaster in Seattle, is really up against it. He has to convince other doctors that listening to his podcast, Healthcare for Humans, will improve their patient outcomes more than new drugs or shinier technology. It's a tall order.
You may see where this is going: what's true for Raj is true for any of us: we all have to convince people (and quick!) that spending time with our podcast will be worth it. Listeners' thumbs are never too far away from that Back button.
So how did Raj do it? Easy: he just got multiple rounds of feedback and revised his trailer four times! It wasn't easy, of course, but what will be pretty easy is reading this list of five best practices, which will help you write your own narrative podcast episode or trailer:
1. Distill the story. we recommend making a trailer to all of our online course students (and anyone who wants to sharpen their podcasting skills). Nothing hones your vision and editing skills like having to say something memorable and unique in just a few minutes. (Here's a quick a refresher on the four elements of any effective story, with a few other tips to jump-start your scriptwriting.)
2. Show what's at stake: what's at stake with Healthcare for Humans is Raj's inner conflict, the cognitive dissonance between what he had been taught in med school, and what was actually best for patients in the clinic. (Watched any TED talks? This is a the formula for many of them: “You know this big topic that you think X about? Well the truth is actually Y.” It works because uncovering a secret is intriguing). In the case of Healthcare for Humans, Raj introduced a few well-chosen stats showing that this topic has the ultimate stakes: human lives.
3. Discover the real competition: at first glance, we might think listeners are deciding between Healthcare for Humans and other medicine-related podcasts. But when we realized that what he was really up against was “more traditional ways doctors think about improving patient care,” that catalyzed the case he was really making, which then clarified both his narration, and choice of interview clips.
4. Find memorable examples: in any art form, it's the details that make it sing, stand out, and show a unique authorial point of view. General statements can be helpful to introduce or sum up, but they are just dried bones without the meat of details (which is why ChatGPT-generated writing is all flavorless McWords: no personal anecdotes. A topic for a future newsletter…) In Raj's case, he found two clips, one person talking about rice, another about a Hawaiian world view, which put faces on the premise of his show.
5. Invite others in: many creators naturally speak only to their niche — their fellow Trekkies, policy wonks, or cat moms. By not connecting their topic (the personal) to broader human issues and challenges (the universal), a lot of shows exclude potential listeners: “Oh, I'm not a _______, so this show's not for me.” Raj's show could've been just for his fellow doctors, but he invited in family members, policymakers, and anyone interested a more equitable and effective health care system — and doing so helped him better articulate what his show had to offer to all of us.
Raj really put in the work, and it's an excellent trailer. Get inspired and listen to the trailer, and episodes for Healthcare for Humans here.
