Weird ways to sound more natural on a solo recording

Weird ways to sound more natural on a solo recording:

1. Put a photo on the wall behind your mic - talk to it!

2. Put your kid's favourite teddy on a chair - talk to it 🤣

Doesn’t matter who that photo is - might be your Mum. Might be Taylor Swift. I knew someone who popped the Queen of England on her wall, regal profile and all.

Whoever it is that floats your boat doesn’t really matter… Whatever medium it is (podcast, YouTube, even writing a newsletter) doesn’t really matter.

The key is having something… someone to talk to.

Going deeper, the next step is about making that someone real. To you, at least.

And that’s all about getting horrendously specific about exactly who you're speaking to.

Then, when you go to record, that person - real to you - is who the photo, or the tatty bear represents.

And when you know that bear.... er, person, inside out, it's drop-dead-easy to start speaking naturally, as if it's just to a pal.

The Infamous Audience Persona

Have you created your audience avatar yet? This is probably the most important thing you can do in starting a new creator project

Why? Well, because you can imbue your bear with their personality, and suddenly you’ve got a friend. Finally.

But even better, you get really specific about who your content speaks to, so you're not just speaking to everyone.

Because, when you're speaking to everyone, you're actually speaking to no one.

It's one of the biggest killers in content, from podcasting, to youtube, social, to everywhere! It’s always the painful lesson you finally learn when your download numbers are flatlining and you're wondering why nobody seems to care about your "brilliant" insights.

This person inhabiting your teddy - your audience persona, your ideal listener, your audience avatar. Whatever you call it, it's genuinely worth putting proper time into creating this for real.

Here’s how I do it. It’s not complicated.

When I'm figuring out a new show, I sit down with a coffee and jot down the profile of one specific person.

For a startup show, it's not "business people". Instead it's "Mike, 28, runs a small design agency, listens to podcasts while walking his dog, constantly worried about finding new clients, drinks way too much coffee. Heart palpitations. Jumps when his phone dings. Sounds familiar... 😆 "

Suddenly, I know exactly how to talk to Mike. I know his problems, his sense of humour, even when he'd be listening. And weirdly enough, loads of people who aren't Mike start listening too - because speaking to one person clearly is way more compelling than speaking to everyone in a really vague way.

Sometimes your ideal listener is actually yourself - which makes it dead easy. You write down your own attributes and speak to that version of you who desperately needed to hear what you've got to say. Maybe 10 years ago. Maybe just yesterday 🤣

The more detailed you get, the clearer your voice becomes. And when your voice is clear, people actually listen.

So, tell me now. You create content.

I bet you've heard of an 'audience avatar' or something similar.

But, have you actually done this exercise?

If you have, flex it 😅 Hit reply and tell me - who are they? What are they like?

If you haven’t, take 30 minutes this week and fill out the following.

Your Task

Create your audience persona:

• Name

• Job

• Age & gender

• Background: where are they from, what are they like

• Hobbies

• Likes and dislikes

• Current struggles

Need more help with it?

📖 Read this for a full article on creating your persona
📼 Watch here for a quick video summary

Then find that photo, or that teddy that represents them, and pop it somewhere in your eyeline. That’s who you’re speaking to from now on. Keep them in mind.

The teddy will thank you!

Colin