Changing The Minds Of Non-Podcast Listeners One IHNI At A Time

Podcasters have a lot of jobs. One we don't often think about is being ambassadors for podcasting. But it's an important job if we're to grow the entire podcasting pie. And it starts by having some IHNIs at the ready.

Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

Way back in the summer of 2018, I introduced my audience at the time, small that it was, to a concept called IHNI. No, not your belly button. IHNI is an acronym and the letters I, H, N, and I represent what I still think is the best way for you, the serious podcaster, to grow podcasting, and not just your podcast, but all of podcasting.

Albeit slowly, one listener at a time, but still, new listeners who you have a lot more influence on than you probably know.

So, first off, what, Evo, is an IHNI? Well, an IHNI can refer to either a podcast, the entire show, or just a podcast episode. Most of the time, it's an episode or a select number of episodes.

Much less often, though it is a joy when it happens, it's an entire podcast where every single episode is an IHNI. Now, the letters in this acronym stand for I Had No Idea. Specifically, they stand for those words in the following sentence, "I had no idea that is what podcasts can sound like." A sentence uttered by a person who, until your intervention with that IHNI in hand, had decided they didn't care for podcasting or that podcasts simply were something they were not interested in.

And who knows why. Perhaps they had a bad experience. I mean, that happens. 4 million podcasts exist and Sturgeon's Law applies. Poor audio quality, jabbering hosts, uninspiring interviews, bad attempts at playing at radio. I mean, look, you have to admit that the unassisted podcast listening can be a lot like a carnival game. You're likely not going to get the big stuffed animal on your first try, if ever.

And perhaps they've adopted preconceived notions about what podcasts are without actually listening for themselves. I mean, maybe they've got that annoying friend who just won't shut up about how much they love some celebrity host or a pundit, a host or a pundit that the other party finds markedly less interesting. And they're left thinking, well, that's what podcasting is all about.

Or maybe this person is really off-base and is assuming that podcasts are something they have to pay for, or that podcasts are nothing more than videos or livestreams or something else that has nothing or just little to do with what podcasting is.

All of those people, and more, think that podcasting is something that is not for them. They have the idea that podcasts are something to be avoided. But you and I, we know that they probably have no idea what podcasts can sound like. And so that's your job. Show them. No, don't tell them, show them what podcasts can sound like. You, after all, are a podcaster. Who better than you to be an excellent brand ambassador for all of podcasting?

No, not just your podcast. In fact, perhaps not your podcast at all, but for all of podcasting. I know that sounds like a big job, but it's one that you, the serious podcaster, are up for. I know you are. So here's what I want you to do the next time you're with a friend or an acquaintance, or perhaps you're introduced to someone at an event, who has made the choice not to listen to podcasts.

I want you to help guide them on their journey, rising above your own self-interests and looking at this as a larger opportunity to help someone develop the podcast listening habit, someone who currently has the idea that podcasts are not for them. I want you to recommend that they listen to an IHNI. If you can, I want you to help them find an IHNI on their phone, right there with you. Done correctly, this takes less than a minute.

Done correctly, you'll have, hopefully, made someone say, "I had no idea podcasts could sound like that," which might encourage them to change their mind and at least consider becoming a regular podcast listener.

Now, the trick, obviously, is to have the IHNIs at the ready all the time. Look, you're probably actively consuming lots of podcasts, way more than the average podcast listener. So it's important, as an ambassador of podcasting, for the entirety of podcasting to have this process down pat. Okay. It's a big job, but again, I think you're up for it.

Now, finding these IHNIs is a three-part test. Think of a waterfall or a flow chart, if you will. Three simple questions you go through until you get to a yes.

Question one, have you made any IHNI episodes? Not just good episodes. Not episodes that you really enjoyed making. Not even episodes that got a lot of downloads, and, almost certainly, not your most recent episode.

No, I want you to now be very real and honest with yourself. Do you have an episode of your podcast that when someone who has already said they don't like podcasts, if they listen to it, they will say, "Wow, I had no idea that's what podcasts could sound like?" Are you sure that episode you are thinking about will knock them out of their socks?

Now, if the answer is yes, then bully for you. You are the exception to the rule. Go into your podcast hosting service or your website hosting service, and make a redirect to that episode. Something like PodcastPontifications.com/IHNI. Something you can easily remember that you can tell someone to type into their phone and let them listen right there on your website.

Now, you don't wanna send 'em to your home page and have them start searching around. You wanna make it simple for you to remember and for them to type.

Now, if your answer to that question was no - and honestly, my answer is no - then proceed to question two. Question two is this, can you make an IHNI? If you can, well, I'll ignore my first reaction of then why haven't you done that until now? And I'll say great, make that IHNI episode. I'd suggest, however, shopping it around to some people in your life who aren't afraid to burst your bubble - by the way, I'm @EvoTerra on Twitter if you want an honest evaluation - just to make sure it really is an IHNI and then do that vanity URL trick so it's easy to remember.

But if you can't, and, and I simply, can't. Not with Podcast Pontifications at least. I mean, if someone has decided they don't really care to listen to podcasts, how exactly is my content, you know, my monologues on the future of podcasting or ways to make podcasting better going to convince them? It's, it's not.

Yeah, I put a lot of time and effort into making sure my episodes sound great and are valuable resources, but any podcast about podcasting isn't going to cut it for these people. So if you, like me, acknowledge that while you can make a great sounding episode, you cannot make an IHNI episode, then proceed to question number three.

The third and final question is this, do you know of any IHNI episodes? Your answer there has to be yes. If it's a no, then you need to start listening to more podcasts until you find yourself an IHNI episode. And when you find that episode, save it.

Now, I use Spotify for this. It's because I never listened to podcasts through Spotify. Although according to the Creators Report we just put out from Sounds Profitable, a surprising number of podcasters do. But almost everyone has Spotify on their phone.

So I can ask them to pull up Spotify on their phone and then show them the shows or the episodes I've saved, either the entire podcast, like Twenty Thousand Hertz, or some excellent episodes of Love + Radio, saved right in my Your Episodes folder on my phone. That makes it super easy for them to search Spotify and find the name they see on my screen in the exact same app.

It's, it's dead simple. And once they have it on their phone, if the situation's right, I'll have them listen right there because it's amazing to watch faces light up when they discover that yes, there are podcasts out there that are unlike what they thought podcasting was.

And that's it. That's the way you become an excellent ambassador for new listeners, helping them say, "I had no idea that's what podcasts could sound like" by sharing your IHNIs with them.

And with that, I shall be back next week with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!

Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra. He's on a mission to make podcasting better. Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes section of your podcast listening app. A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected transcript, both created by Allie Press. Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. Find out more at simpler.media.