Writing great descriptions is an essential step in promoting your podcast. Good podcast descriptions let listeners know what to expect from your show and can even entice them into pressing Play on your episodes. Check out these helpful copywriting tips to learn how to create a great podcast description!
Keep Your Audience in Mind
You’ve most likely defined your audience while creating your podcast marketing strategy, so why not use this information to write better podcast descriptions? After all, the way you write your podcast descriptions will vary depending on what your show is about and the listeners it attracts. If your audience is mostly young adults, for example, you’ll probably have better luck writing more informal podcast descriptions than you would if your listeners were older. Similarly, podcasts intended for listeners in a specific profession could use episode descriptions with technical jargon, whereas podcasts with a broader audience should stick to simpler, more approachable terms.
Use a Consistent Tone
If your serious show has a lighthearted podcast description, then new listeners might be surprised to find that the tone of the episode doesn’t match your description. You should give potential listeners what they signed up for when they subscribed to or downloaded your show, so it’s best that the tone of the podcast and its description match. If you’re unsure of your podcast’s tone, consider asking friends who listen for their opinion. Use their input to inform the way you write your podcast’s description.
Tell Listeners What to Expect
Make sure you don’t lose sight of your main goal when writing a great podcast description—explaining the point of your show. A good podcast description will tell your audience who you are, what your show is about, when it airs, and why they should care. Ideally, you should also give an impression of what sets your podcast apart from similar podcasts. You can do so by referencing highlights from popular episodes, calling out where your podcast has been referenced, awards it’s been given, and more. Listeners should already have a good sense of what your podcast is even before they press Play.
Introduce the Hosts
Introducing yourself in the podcast description is an important part of not only establishing credibility, but also helping your audience feel connected to you. And if you or any of your cohosts create content or are known as public figures outside of your podcast, then calling out your accolades can be especially helpful. Many podcasters have multiple shows, so including your name when writing a podcast description can work as an additional keyword for people who are interested in following your work. This kind of introduction helps the podcast feel more personal rather than just being a source of information.
Lead with a Question
One great way to hook new listeners is by asking a question in your podcast description. Then, follow it up with an answer that offers new information without giving too much away. And don’t shy away from getting creative with your phrasing! Imagine you have a podcast exploring the different regional cuisines found throughout the U.S. Instead of writing a podcast description that reads “Do you love food? We do, which is why we’ve traveled across the U.S. to find the best regional foods,” try something like “Would you ever eat fried rattlesnake? On [Show Name], we try weird regional dishes from across the U.S. so you don’t have to.”
Keep It Short
There’s no specific rule for how long a podcast description should be, but shorter descriptions between 400 and 600 characters tend to work best. Most podcast hosting services like Captivate actually have a 4,000 character limit on podcast descriptions. Remember: Your description is just the bait. What truly hooks a listener is the content of the podcast itself, so don’t worry about cramming everything in when writing the podcast description. Being overly wordy might cause potential listeners to lose interest before they even begin. The best podcast descriptions are those that highlight the show’s purpose, host(s), and unique features without going into too much detail.
Add the Right Keywords
When writing your podcast description, make sure to include keywords that potential listeners might be searching for. If you have a podcast mostly focusing on cold cases, for example, include keywords like “true crime podcast” and “crime stories.” This way, you’ll attract people explicitly looking for your genre of the podcast, as well as those searching broadly for media about a certain subject. The key is to think critically about what potential listeners are searching for, then use those terms within your podcast description.
Avoid Clickbait
Getting creative with your podcast description to draw in listeners is one thing, but alluding to content that doesn’t actually appear on the show will have negative results. That’s why it’s best to avoid clickbait in your podcast description at all costs. Common forms of clickbait to avoid include excessive hyperbole, scare tactics, and other facetious or otherwise deceptive content. Clickbait may get listeners to click Play, but they’ll close out of the podcast once they realize they’ve been misled.
Draw Them in with a CTA
At the end of the day, you need to take the final step in convincing your listeners to press play. Calls-to-action like “Tune into today’s episode to find out more,” or “See what [host’s name] has to say about this on today’s episode” are great ways to entice listeners to take that final step. Convince readers to subscribe to your podcast by writing “Check back every [day of the week] for new episodes or subscribe now!” Anything you can do to give someone a reason to check out your podcast may be the difference between gaining a new listener or someone continuing to scroll by!
Hurrdat Media offers podcasting services, including podcast production, hosting, and advertising. Get in touch with our team today to learn more about how we can help your podcast!