Making a great narrative podcast trailer (a checklist with examples)
Thinking about making a podcast? You’ve probably heard that you need to make a trailer (not just episodes). Why is a trailer so important? Because people are busy, there are thousands of podcasts out there, so you need to give them a quick, scrumptious sample so they can decide they want to put more of your podcast on their plate from amongst the endless buffet of media choices.
So what does a trailer need to accomplish? A lot. This is why making a great trailer is so hard.
The five elements of a great podcast trailer:
Show superior narration + sound quality
Introduce you and your skin in the game
Distill what the podcast is about and how it’s unique
Include the four basic story elements
Tell the listener what they’re going to get
But first, let’s listen to some sample podcast trailers…
Dr. Raj Sundar already had a great delivery, a mission-driven show, and several dozen episodes of his interview-based show under his belt when he signed up for our course. He wanted to strengthen the storytelling aspect of Healthcare for Humans, so that’s what we workshopped with him through multiple versions of his trailer. This version clearly shows what’s at stake and why it matters to him (and to listeners), uses well-chosen and tightly-edited interview clips to illustrate larger issues, and articulates who the show is for, and what folks will gain from listening.
This trailer for Eve Bishop’s Deer Humans podcast miniseries checks all the boxes: shows superior sound quality, introduces Eve and why she’s doing this, illustrates how we’ll hear different perspectives on a challenging issue, includes the four key story elements, and tells the listener what they’re going to get. (For reference and as an illustration of how feedback and editing can clarify and tighten a piece, you can hear the original four-minute trailer for Deer Humans here. We worked with Eve to edit the short version here.)
This trailer for the forthcoming As Long as We Both Shall Love podcast from Joshua and Phoebe Dudley, is a fantastic example of how great sound quality (and OK, professional voice training as actors!) can quickly make you think “Yes, I would love to keep listening to these people.” Joshua was a student of our earlier Labs cohort-based training program, and he and his wife have been refining and workshopping this show idea for a while. This latest trailer hits all the notes, and really shows the dedication to script and audio editing they put in. You can follow the show here.
Deborah’s trailer does a great job showing off her warm, welcoming narration that you could listen to all day! (She’s had voice training, and is using the Shure SM7b mic, known for its warm, intimate sound). But even in this early draft (no sound design yet), her trailer also scores on the other points: introduces her as the narrator, shows her (literal) skin in the game, and includes clear story elements — beginning with a dramatic incident (conflict) right up front.
P.S. If you love how Deborah sounds, join the course for an exclusive discount on Shure products like the SM7b microphone, and a private coaching session where we can work on your narration! We also have a workshop dedicated to helping you sound your best as a narrator.
This trailer for Midlife Dispatch doesn’t have any sound design yet, but still does so many things well that I wanted to include it. Chris’s narration sounds good, the point of view and “what am I going to get?” are clear, and story elements are clear as well. Chris is a current student in our online course, and we workshopped an earlier version of his trailer in the private coaching session that’s included with the course.
The five elements of a great podcast trailer: more detail
Show superior sound quality: again, podcasts (like audio dramas, audiobooks, and any other digital media accessible on a smartphone) exist in a brutally short-attention comparative environment. With so many choices, why should someone keep listening to a podcast that doesn’t sound good? And at their best, podcasts are a very intimate medium — but this sense of intimate connection to a podcast host stands or falls based on whether your recording quality sounds good or echoey. If you recording quality is good, if you sound close, you’ll make people feel like you’re talking directly into their ears. If it’s echoey, if you sound far away, they’ll feel far away from you. Does this mean you have to record in a professional studio? No. For the many of you who are recording at home, we cover recording and narration best practices in one of our workshops here, or for more on how perceived distance equals psychological distance, see this video.
Introduce you as the narrator (and show your skin in the game): whether you are making a personal journal/memoir podcast, true crime, or a current events interview show, something that may not be obvious, but which is extremely important to remember, is that you will be the key character that listeners need to “sign up” for. In a sense, a trailer is like you introducing yourself on a first date, conveying to the listener why they’d want to have a relationship with you. So per point 1, part of that is sounding your best: good recording quality tells the listener that you care, and draws them in. But it’s also about showing your skin in the game: why are you making this podcast? Life is short: people don’t want to hear “take it or leave it” projects — they want to hear passion projects. So in your trailer, you want to get across why this matters to you. Why this idea is keeping you up at night. Why you are the person making this podcast.
Distill what the podcast is about: this is crucial for three reasons. first, being able to concisely answer “What’s your show about” will equip you to talk about your show in person. Every conversation with a new person about your podcast is essentially a pitch, and when you say you’re making a podcast, that will be the first question you’ll get. Second, whittling down to the core of an idea will help give you helpful creative constraints for your episodes. Third, clearly defining what your show’s about equips your most important group of salespeople for your show: your listeners.
Include clear story elements: we talk about this in detail in our scriptwriting and editing workshop, and in even greater detail in our online podcast course, but for now, we can just stick to the four basic building blocks of any engaging story: character, setting, conflict, and resolution. (I also did a 3-minute YouTube video with a little more commentary.)
Tell the listener what they’re going to get: a trailer is like your bio on a social media profile. What is someone going to get if they connect with you? Life is short. We’re all busy! So whether it’s exercise tips, belly laughs, or the reassurance that they’re not alone, make sure people who listen to your trailer could answer the question “What problem of mine is listening to this podcast going to help me solve?”
