How The Power and Art of Storytelling Can Make Your Podcast Stand Out Online | Ep 22

Picture this: you're about to make a presentation at a networking meeting, and you're asked by stranger "do you have any jack leads?" —how do you spin that into a compelling story?

That's where the power of storytelling in podcasting comes to life, something I'm constantly fine-tuning on my own journey. This episode is a deep-dive into the art of crafting stories that stick with your audience, from using a story bank to draw out the perfect anecdote, to striking that delicate balance between rich detail and the punchy brevity that keeps listeners craving more.

As a former teacher and speaker, I'll share my insights into pace, tone, and enthusiasm to keep the narrative fresh and riveting whilst thinking of some of the best storytellers in the business that we can learn from.

It's no longer good enough to just show up online with a bunch of "how-to", educational content. We've got a job to get that audience listening by creating relatable content that builds a strong emotional connection with your listeners.

Every word matters, and so does every pause—so join me as we navigate the subtle, transformative craft of storytelling that can turn a simple podcast episode into a memorable journey for every listener.

Want to start a podcast? Download the FREE Podcast Starter Checklist, a 15-point guide created specifically for entrepreneurs, life coaches and course creators.

Music by Kadien: Instagram | Spotify | SoundCloud

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Storytelling is gonna set you up to have a podcast. That is something that people want to listen to, because they want to hear the stories that you tell and they want to know more about your life and you're an engaging speaker, because engaging speakers can turn boring stories into interesting ones. Okay, welcome back to another episode, and today we are looking at a topic that is a little bit different, and it's not one that I am a complete expert in, as it were. I mean, I'm always learning whatever I tell you, but this one is storytelling, and I'm only just a few steps ahead of you on this one, which always makes it the more interesting to listen to, I feel, because it means that I haven't attained a particular level yet. I'm just a few steps ahead yet. It's really interesting to me that I feel, because it means that I haven't attained a particular level yet. I'm just a few steps ahead Yet. It's really interesting to me that when I talk about storytelling and people say, oh, how do you do it, I'm like I don't know, but I do. I mean, I do know, but what I mean is I don't feel like I've mastered that at all and I'm still in very much like a playground, work out, phase, phase, whereas when I talk about podcasting having had the experience of growing one podcast, working on growing the other, working with other people on their content strategies I know more about that one and again. As I say, it's an ever evolving landscape, but this one, to me, is new. But unless you've been living under a rock for any length of time, you would have heard storytelling chipped in on nearly every conversation about content in some way and how to get people to listen, and it needs to be good at storytelling. You need to tell stories to make people listen. And it's true, the storytelling element to our content is to do with connection and relatability and letting people know what we're about, what we do, who we are. However, if you just go with tell stories in your videos and on your podcast, it's not necessarily going to have the impact that you want.

Speaker 1: 1:56

If you aren't that effective at telling stories and, as I've said, I've had to get better at this, I've had to work on it and I've had to practice. And I wouldn't say that I'm there yet with it, because I'm a very logical person. I'm to the point, direct, and I can tell you now, like out of maths and English, it was maths over English in preference. But put my mind to it and working in copy and working in marketing, I've had to learn how to tell stories even more effectively. And Jesus Ego, why is maths and English were the same?

Speaker 1: 2:30

But when it comes to telling stories, live like if I had to do a TED talk and tell a story. I'd get through it, but you know it's not. It's not there yet, but very much could achieve it. I can do it in assembly level, I can do it in front of a small group of people level, and storytelling is going to set you up to have a podcast. That is something that people want to listen to, because they want to hear the stories that you tell and they want to know more about your life. And you're an engaging speaker, because engaging speakers can turn boring stories into interesting ones. And, as I say, not perfected this yet, but I'm gonna talk to you about some elements that you're gonna want to try so that if you are a thoughtpreneur, a thought leader, someone that wants to have change in the world and wants to connect with people and realizes that you can't just preach at people, then you're gonna to need stories to be able to make anecdotes and what to look out for as you do it. And this is what I have learned so far and how I've come around to developing some skills that people look up to and say how do you do that? And the way that this really came to my attention that this is an area that people need to work in and also feel like it's a lot harder than it is was when I recently did a talk at the Romford and Ilford Mums in Business Club and I was going there to talk about content.

Speaker 1: 3:54

Now I am an early bird two places. It's one of my values to be on time and organise and that includes being early, and thank goodness I was, because it could not have gone to plan in the half an hour run-up I had to this session. So I arrived at the Romford Brewery if you've ever been there it's got the view and all of that. I don't go there that often haven't been since I was a kid but drove in, found my spot weaving around. I was right near the shops because I wanted to go down a particular alley and didn't want to get myself lost, certainly didn't want to go up the little twisty thing to the upstairs car park and I pulled in and as I did, I noticed this quite big car and this woman was standing next to it and I thought, oh, why is she standing there? Is she gonna say something to me? Is she looking at me? But I just pulled in because it was a nice little spot.

Speaker 1: 4:35

My little 500 whizzed in and got my bag out, got my tripod out, ready to head on over, have 30 minutes to nicely sit, work out what I'm doing, get comfortable, have a coke and wait for the session to begin, get myself in the zone. As I got out of the car, the lady that had been stood by her larger car that was now next to mine said to me oh, excuse me. I said yeah. She said, do you have any jack leads? And I was like you know what I do of all the things in the world. I have a box in the back of my car that has probably everything that you would ever need in a breakdown scenario, helped me when I broke down on the North Circular last year when my clutch went and I had the little red triangle that you have that you're meant to put a bit behind your car. I had no idea where it went. Someone told me to take it much further back, but I did have it, and on this occasion I was like I have jack leads, but don't ask me how to use them, because, yes, I have all of the emergency kit, but I haven't got a clue how to use half of it most of the time.

Speaker 1: 5:37

And it turned out that they had been stranded in this carport for a while. They'd been trying to go to the gym and they needed to jumpstart their car using jack leads. Now I let them get on with it. And I'm thinking at the time, though, as I've made the decision to say, yes, I've got jack leads, I was like I've also got this thing to do in half an hour and I've got no idea how long this takes. At this moment in time, it's just me and her and I don't know what to do with them. So what's she gonna do with them? But it turned out that her partner was around, so she gave him a call and I said to her I've only got 30 minutes. And mentally I'm thinking, if this takes longer than 30 minutes, what I'll do is I'll just, I'll just leave them with the jack leads, I'll let them connect the car up and go with it, not really realizing how it worked with jack leads, because it turns out that actually need to like turn the car on and stuff. But lesson learned anyway.

Speaker 1: 6:25

I thought, well, at the very least if I am late like properly late, bearing in mind I'm half an hour early if I am late to arriving at this session, then I've got a good story. I'm being a good Samaritan, I'm helping what appeared to be a girl out who needed help. I would have helped anyone, regardless of gender, but also it turns out it's now a couple that are struggling. It's half six at night, nowhere relevant is open to help them. I've done my good deed and it got fixed quite quickly, I would say 15 minutes or so. He, he knew what to do with the jack needs. We sat and observed. I think I don't know who turned the car on in the end. If it was him, if it was me, I can't even remember how it works now. But either way, we got off just fine. They did the, put the jump leads back in my car and off, I totted and I still had 10 minutes to spare.

Speaker 1: 7:11

Now I went into then the Romford and Ilford Mums in Business meeting and I actually spoke about the experience I'd had 10 minutes before, 15 minutes before, by the time I got speaking, and on the way I'd also done a little video on Instagram. I don't know if it ever went out, but I did a little story about it. So what I'd done is because I thought this is quite a nice little story to tell about my evening, a little bit of fun connection. It tells people about my values. I'm going to practice this story right away. So that's why I did the video and then that's why I jumped into telling the story at the Mums in Business event.

Speaker 1: 7:44

And, lo and behold, I'm telling that story again now and it needs some brushing up and it's not the most miraculous story, but you'll notice that the way that I told that story had a few different elements in it and I wouldn't say it's perfected. I imagine there's more little bits in there that I could add and recall, because I haven't actually told that story in a while. So this shows what it takes to tell stories and you can feel my energy's a little bit different now that I'm not telling a story, I'm delivering information. But I'm going to bring a few things to your attention that I did within that story that you can start to think about as you tell stories.

Speaker 1: 8:21

So the first thing that I did was that I gave you some detail of the story. I described pulling into a very specific location I know not all of you will know it, but those of you that are from Essex will probably know what I'm talking about and I gave you the description of my car because I think part of the visual of my whole brand is that you need to understand. I have a Fiat 500. I didn't need to include it, but it made sense to so. Adding little moments of colour to what's going on just helps with the detail. I didn't describe the time of day. I did mention it was near 6, 6.30, but I didn't say it was pitch black. I didn't say that it was cold outside.

Speaker 1: 9:00

It wasn't necessary to the story and this comes down to relevancy of what is in the story. I told you that story because I needed to give you an example of storytelling and bring you around to why I'd been asked about storytelling. The actual whole Jack Leeds situation doesn't teach you a lot about stories per se. It's not a story about telling stories. It's a story about something that happened to me in terms of me being ready and it works perfectly for what it needed to do. But sometimes people want to kind of like shoehorn stories in. That don't work, because something really exciting happened to them or it's amazing, but it doesn't actually make a difference to the audience, whereas the story I told you was just an example it's one of the ones that I've got there and it made sense to include so you've got relevancy and you've got detail to think about.

Speaker 1: 9:52

Now, something I mentioned there when I shifted from storytelling to coming back to explaining and giving you information, was that my pace changed, my enthusiasm changed and my tone changed. It was very different when I was telling a story and I do this quite well anyway, because people say, oh, you're a great speaker and I don't necessarily think about it, but I think, being a teacher for a long time, you've got to say things in an interesting way that gets people to listen. So when you are a speaker, when you're on a podcast, you have to think about the way you deliver. On a podcast, you have to think about the way you deliver stuff and you have to think about pace and excitement when it's necessary, and you need to think about when it's slow and it needs to be more thoughtful and you need to let people take it in more. Now I have quite a naturally fast pace of delivery in any particular mode, so to slow down is a real effort for me.

Speaker 1: 10:45

I think about it when I do it to a point now where it's not so thought about, but I'm intentional with when I do it. You'll notice loads of inflection on certain words, words like pulling that word out, and that's not for any particular effect, but it is to give the difference. There's nothing worse than not just even storytelling, but in a podcast, when someone's tone, pace, pitch doesn't change, because it's incredibly boring, whereas we have to have some dynamics to our voice, but in particular, we can use them for effect in a story. So it's the choice of words, but also how you deliver them, that has the impact that people are looking for. Now, another thing that I'm always a bit conscious of and I think that's where you've managed to see this this time and I don't think it was as strong a story, because I've prioritised this over the impact of the story, but it's a good example for you to sort of look at and analyse is length, unless you've got a very good reason to tell a story. It can't be too long.

Speaker 1: 11:52

Now, in our world, in the world of presenting of any sort, the best storytellers, in my opinion, are your comedians, because they're very good at setting scenes, setting it up and obviously they have potentially, joke upon joke upon joke. Your comedians, such as the ones that spring to mind, are Michael McIntyre and Joe Lycett. They are very good at setting up really long stories, giving you little glimmers of them as they go through their pieces and tying everything together with a knot. Michael McIntyre's are usually a lot more together. It can be 10, 15 minutes long. Michael McIntyre's are usually a lot more together it can be 10, 15 minutes long but it has like little offshoots as it goes.

Speaker 1: 12:29

Joe Lyce is very good at like bringing you back to the story as he paces through his entire comedy work, whereas someone like Jimmy Carr he's a one-liners guy and he can kind of piece some stuff together, but I don't think of anything. I've seen him a number of times but I don't think of anything. He's a one-liner guy, whereas Michael McIntyre has lots of sketches and he has obviously quite a visual side to his storytelling, which we don't have so much of the advantage of on a podcast, unless you're really heading into the realm of YouTube podcasts, video podcasts. But at this stage we're thinking about what we're saying and we don't need to be able to tell stories. As long as Michael McIntyre and Joe Lycett we should be finding a Goldilocks state for how long we tell stories, for I have a tendency to waffle and therefore it's really important that I try to get to the point in some ways without going into too much detail.

Speaker 1: 13:17

And there was a little moment in that story where I double referenced my clutch going in my Fiat 500 as well and I thought don't go into that too much, else you're going to be right off. And I thought don't go into that too much, or else you're going to be right off. But I gave you a little side note to play with and then brought you back to the story. The other end of the spectrum is that your stories are too short, is it? You just say what happened and you don't give the colour and that colour that I've mentioned before the fiat 500 and mentioning how we got to xyz and the fact that I had no clue how jump leads works. That that's the bit that people can relate to you by. So you've got relevancy and you've got relatability. Like there's potentially a lot of people in an audience that don't know how jack leads work, there's someone else that has a fiat 500 or it's just that whole people are of course she's got fiat 500. I knew she'd have a fiat 500. Of course she's got a fiat 500.

Speaker 1: 14:06

All these little bits, so just additional pieces on the story and what adds to it, and that is nice to have because it makes your story a bit longer and more interesting. But it doesn't need to go on forever and that's really important to remember. And the last thing to do is to bring in some level of emotion and vulnerability which, if I think about that story, I don't think it was in there and that's okay. This is how we improve and this is what I mean by I'm still working on it. Sometimes I told you what I was thinking, though I told you that I was thinking am I going to get there on time or not? So I think that's the kind of vulnerability side is that you got like an inside view to not just the story but how I was feeling or what I was thinking. Maybe I could have said what my feelings were to enhance that story even further. But you probably got an impression or you made an assumption about how I was feeling based on the word I used, like I want to make sure I'm on time, and I'd already told you that being on time, being early, was important to me because I wanted to relax in my Coca-Cola a lovely other visual that I'd have given you as I told that story.

Speaker 1: 15:10

But that's the difference between someone that's telling a story a personal story in this case that they share what they were thinking and they go to that, just that next layer. You're not revealing your entire life story. Although on their single girls guide to life, a lot of it was my story of divorce, of moving through to going to live back with my parents, of dating again. Oh, all the frustrations, and I was very clever about when I revealed certain stories. It wasn't, and I don't think it's ever really relevant to tell the story as it's happening in most cases, because there's usually an emotional reaction you're going through.

Speaker 1: 15:45

You need to get things right out of the way. We tell stories from experience, what we're comfortable with them, and be happy, especially if we're saying them on a podcast for anybody to hear them. And this is where, like, the PR side of podcasting comes in, because we craft what we want to say in a particular way and we don't not tell the truth. But you don't have to feel that you have to lay everything out on the table as to what's going on in your life and what's happening, if you're just using stories and anecdotes to make points and we only ever tell stories that we are comfortable owning and telling the story of now. The final thing I want to share with you is the bit that I mentioned there where I said I had told the story on the video. I then told the story at Mums in Business and then I told the story here. That means that I have practiced it at least three times, if I haven't mentally run it through my head, but that's the way that you get good at stories. The way that you get good at stories, the way that you get good at telling those stories, is by practicing and actually starting to tell stories.

Speaker 1: 16:46

You try and do it. I tell stories a lot on tiktok and the fact that it goes over the three minute marker. That was me. I'm probably taking too long with it, so I scrap it and go again. That's one way particularly in the area I know I'm working on, ie tell stories shorter is to put the three minute setting on. So if it takes more than three minutes, sean, you have not done your job. You have not been succinct enough. Yes, you've added colour, that's lovely, but what you're probably telling a story about right now is not of comedian length. 10 to 15 minutes long it should be fitting in less than three minutes. So go back and try again. And 10 to 15 minutes long it should be fitting in less than three minutes. So go back and try again.

Speaker 1: 17:23

And it's very hard when you're telling that because you're like oh, but I want to tell this bit. But the more that you add in sometimes takes away the relevancy. And we have to remember with certain pieces of content, that people need to be kept engaged. And if you ever think about when you've switched off from an episode before, it will be when it got boring, when you didn't find it interesting anymore, or when the story got too long and you just thought get to the bloody point, hurry up, will you? So practicing allows you to get there.

Speaker 1: 17:52

The more that you also commit to telling stories, the better you get it, but also the more that you remember your stories as well, the more that you pick up on the fact that you've got a story to tell, because a lot of our life just goes past us and we don't think, oh, you know what, that's got like a lesson in it and that's really nice to do and and and that really matters. I've got a lot from when I was on the single girls guide to life and one of the pillars to that really is connection connection to other people, and I have stories of when I connect with people at festivals, solo trips, got a really random one of connecting, I really like from like in home bargains with a cashier or something like that, and yeah, they're just interesting. I'm not going to tell those stories now, but I can remember them because I told them a few times or I shared them a few particular ways and I can't remember them all exactly now. But there is one tip that I picked up from, I think it's, I think his name is Vin and I will put a link to him to properly credit this, but he basically said the way to get better at telling stories is to have a story bank. So you don't forget them and you pick up on these stories as you go by. So I have and I did exactly as he said.

Speaker 1: 18:55

I have a notes page on my phone probably could make that more organised in life, but notes page that I just jot little ideas down and I do it for the inspiration, for the I haven't made it yet episodes, because they're very much to do with thoughts I've had or experiences I've had and I can't necessarily record in the moment.

Speaker 1: 19:14

But I do write down haven't made it yet record this record, that record that and essentially that's like a mini story bank as well, but very tailored to entrepreneurial life. So I hope that's given you a little insight into storytelling, a few little hints and tips for you to try. I'm not the expert on storytelling. I have those tips based on what I've found, what I've learned, what I've tried to put together and I'm still working on it, still working on it, and it's a an interesting one, because I don't feel like this podcast has so much storytelling in it, whereas the life coaching one very much lent into stories and experiences. So it's something I practiced a lot more then and I'm itching to practice some more of that too until next time. Everybody keep changing the way the world thinks one podcast at a time.