As a host, your job is to open and close your show with style. Intros are the opening phrase of your episode their mission is to grasp the interest of your listeners. While Outros are are a closing statement that not so many people stick around to listen to but your true fans will, so make sure you give them what they deserve.

A well-executed intro wets the appetite of your audience giving the listener a good idea of the promise of your episode and your show in general.

 

Elements of a Podcast Introduction:

Intros are generally brief, no longer than 1 minute, and there are too many ways to introduce your show, some podcasters like to start the episode with a catch phrase that gives their listeners a sense of familiarity and make them feel at home, others bring a piece of the interview to tease the listeners about what’s coming… see what works with you and stick to it.

keeping the music and vocals on the right volumes can be tricky sometimes, your music could be too loud that it’s ruining the listening experience, or maybe your guest has a soft voice and it’s hard to hear what he/she has to say, that’s why we recommend having a professional Headset that’s going to meet all your recording and production endeavors, Check out this review on professional  podcasting headsets to find the your next pair of headphones. 

As they say, first impressions matter, so you must make the most out of it as it is your only shot at keeping the listener tuned to your show and excited about what’s coming otherwise you are going to lose your potential listeners and subscribers from the get go if you fail to convince them it is worth their time no matter how rich the contents of your podcast.

Elements of an epic intro:

In no particular order, Let’s see what are the fundamental elements you should include in your intro:

1. Name of the Podcast: Obviously, you want to start by informing your audience what podcast they are on, don’t just assume that they know.

 

2. Episode title: This is not mandatory, but the title is a vital part of the episode, and if you’re not going to say it in the intro, you might as well talk about what the title promises, and explain how are you going to get there.

 

3. Episode number: This is particularly useful if your show is in a series format, as listening to the episodes makes more sense when it’s in order, offering chronology and continuity.

 

4. Host name(s): Introduce yourself and your co-hosts, as well as giving a proper introduction to your guest, and the more you show your excitement the more your listeners are going to be exited.

 

5. Intro Music: Add a signature that sparkles emotions, it’s going to help your listeners be familiar with your show and remember the experiences and emotions they felt listening to your previous episodes.

 

6. Overview about what’s coming: Give a brief description of the subject of your episode without giving too much informations and spoiling the events, it’s all about showing your excitement and giving hints.

 

7. Back story: Telling a short backstory about how this episode came to exist, gets them included and therefore  interested in its content. 

 

8. Identify your community: Finding creative ways to do a shout out to your community will give them more incentives to support and help your show succeed, it’s all about the people.

 

9. Announcement: The intro is the best place to announce anything that relates to your show and finding a fun way to do this is an extra bonus. 

 

10. Calls to action: Use your intro to your advantage and say the most important call to action that you think will help your show it might be to subscribe, leave a review, visit your website, order your book….
Keep in mind that people are easily confused so make it simple and use just 1 Call to action per episode.

 

11. Disclaimer: This is the part where you give cautionary information to the audience before they proceed to listen.
It sometimes involves exempting yourself from the risk involved in acting on whatever info obtained from the show.
Advise the listeners not to consider your show as a source for professional advice, or warn that the content discussed in the episode might be mature for sensitive ears.

 

Examples:

Let us look at an intro sample extracted from an informative podcast, Huberman’s lab. Note how the speaker states the name and nature of the podcast first. Then, the speaker introduces himself briefly, mentioning only qualities relevant to the podcast, before jumping into the subject treated on the show.

” Welcome to Huberman’s lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I am Andrew Huberman, a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today we continue our discussion on senses, and we will be talking about pain and pleasure. ”

Here’s another outro sample from the first episode on the Steve O’ Podcast channel. On this show, the host states the name of the podcast before introducing himself and his co-host.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it’s been a long time coming but welcome to the very first episode of the official Wild Ride Podcast with Steve O’. This is my co-host, Scott Randolf. You may know him as Scott Randolf International Star. ”

 

Elements of a Podcast Outro:

The close is another tricky part of the show. This problem isn’t limited to podcasting, it’s a real issue for people to close a conversation with new connections, and many find it uncomfortable to say goodbye to close friends, and this situation get dragged on to podcasting to make it anxiety inducing to orchestrate a seamless close of the show that won’t come off awkward.

Planing the close of your podcast can help you avoid those feeling as you’ll see it as a logical next step to the conversation that is seamless and managed properly, Outline the key points you would like to discuss in an episode like building blocks leading to the final reveal that gets you and your audience satisfied towards the end.

Here are some elements to inspire you into creating a proper Outro that does the job properly and rewards your listeners while serving them with your final ask.

 

Elements:

It is okay to use the same outro music you used to start the show, though a new voiceover is still needed. Appreciate your audience for the time, and make a call to action when necessary. Further additions you may add to your outro include:

• Outro music: A sign that helps your listeners understand that the episode is coming to an end, you can stat playing it at low volume in the background as you say your last words to your guest.

 

• Quick summary: Getting your audience into the habit of citing the most important ideas of the episode can help you a great deal with your listening time and help your audience in retrospect remember the gold of the episode and comeback anytime to refresh their memory.

 

• Give them a way to keep in touch: Now that you’ve held their attention to the last minute, it’s your chance to secure them as loyal subscribers. guide them on how to reach out on social media or collect their emails and include them to your community.

 

• Welcome financially support: If you know you made a good impression with your listeners, then they would be more than happy to foster the growth of your channel and support you to keep on creating.

 

• Resources: Direct your audience to the show notes where they can find resources or further information and reference on what you talked about during the episode.

 

• Tell them to come back: Tell your audience when to expect the next episode, and if you could tell what’s it’s going to be about, that would be a better incentive to comeback.

 

Try to be flexible and organic with your outros, use them as an opportunity to bound with your audience

Examples:

Proper Outros:

Here is a good proper outro from SPI Podcast with Pat Flynn featuring Heather Osgood as a guest. The Outro starts by telling the audience where to go to find out more about the guests Business. The host appreciates the guest’s appearance on his show and the role that she and her team played in helping him succeed, and then turns to the listener to thank him for sticking around and start talking to him about an exciting announcement he has to make about a new program coming soon, then does a shoutout to the reviews he is seeing on the platform, then a last reminder to subscribe before wrapping up the show with a branding slogan.

“All right, I hope you enjoyed that episode with Heather Osgood, again, you can find her and her company at TrueNativemedia.com. And again, big shout out to her and the entire team over there for helping us manage our advertising to help take a lot of the load off our backs and to help us honestly just make more money and do it in a very genuine way. So thank you, Heather. Thank you True Native Media. And thank you the listener for listening all the way through. I appreciate you so, so much. And I hope that you take some valuable information from this episode and apply it in one way or another into your business.

Speaking of applying in your business, we have a lot of things coming up this year that you can definitely apply to help you grow your business, maintain it, and scale it, have more of a team, generate more income, get more email subscribers, all those kinds of things. If that sounds great to you, please make sure you subscribe. If you’re not subscribed, I would love to help you, hit subscribe so you don’t miss any other episodes. Thank you in advance for all the reviews that have been coming in. They come in every single day. And my team and I, we read them, we review them. I appreciate them so, so much. And I look forward to serving you in the next episode as well. So hit subscribe and I’ll see you then. Cheers, take care, and as always, Team Flynn for the win. Peace out.”

Simple Outros:

Here is a sample of an outro from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast featuring Elon Musk as a guest. We have a very simple outro on this one. The host appreciates the guest’s appearance on his show, and Elon Musk returns the favor before wrapping up the show with a closing remark.

Joe Rogan sets up the outro by saying “…..I really appreciate you coming down here and sharing your perspective. ” Elon Musk says “I think you got a great show thanks for having me on.”

The host wraps it up with the closing remark: “Thank you, my pleasure. Elon musk ladies and gentlemen! good night. “

In a nutshell:

There are a thousand ways to make the intro and outro of your podcast. The formats and examples given in this article are sources for inspiration and not the norm. Feel free to experiment and find what works for you.