A few weeks ago, I spoke about how disappointed I am when I see podcasters ask me what questions I’d like to answer.
These podcasts are set up in such a way that leaves me feeling like I’m just filling a content hole. And yet so many people are doing it.
You could literally copy and paste the pre-meditated soundbites from one ‘interview’ to another.
What a wasted opportunity for us as podcasters.
Isn’t it more powerful to create something remarkable, so our guests feel like they have been involved in a meaningful and memorable conversation?
The greatest and most memorable interviews of our times have included thoughtful questions.
As podcasters, interviews are one of the most powerful ways we can create remarkable content for our audience.
In the last few months, I’ve been focussing on asking better questions.
While I understand there is value in journalists strategically creating questions so politicians, celebrities, and the like fall on their own swords… that’s not really the kind of questions I’m talking about.
Simply because with my interview podcast episodes, my aim is to make the guest the star so that they simply feel compelled to share our conversation with people in their world.
Welcome to the world of highly targeted organic marketing.
And all that’s required is… preparation.
A few prep habits I’ve created along the way are as follows.
Ask your guests ahead of time what they don’t want to talk about.
It immediately shows respect and puts them at ease.
Ask for a bio, look them up on the internet, and study their LinkedIn profile.
When you do, look at all the aspects. Career, education, and interests.
Once you have that information think about questions that fill in the gaps.
I recently interviewed Nobel Peace Prize winner Lameen Abdul Malik.
Having studied his LinkedIn profile, I noticed that after helping to build a Cancer Hospital in Zambia, he took a break to set up a café in South Africa.
While it’s all there in the LinkedIn bio, it gave me a lot to ponder and led to a set of questions that I hope created a unique, fun, and memorable interview for him.
On the subject of the Café I asked:
What led to the decision?
How did you convince your wife and family to move country?
Why would anyone move away from working in Cancer to baking cakes and making coffee? How did you adjust?
What are your memories of that time?
How did it affect your children?
What led you to you moving away again?
Looking back on it today, what did you take from the experience?
These are just a few questions I noted down about one line on a LinkedIn bio.
So next time you interview someone on your podcast, think about what questions you can ask that will bring out a unique story and, in turn, will help you create a truly unique sharable episode.
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