A podcaster’s advice for reaching the tech and startup community

This article is brought to you by Studios, Tech in Asia’s advertising arm that connects brands with Asia’s tech community through the power of storytelling.

Almost exactly two years ago, Tech in Asia launched Startup Snapshot, a podcast where I interview founders and leaders across the ecosystem about the pivotal moments that defined their entrepreneurial journeys.

We bootstrapped our way at first; we even put a cardboard box wrapped with black cloth over a borrowed USB microphone to reduce echo in our recordings. Despite our humble beginnings, our first season took off to a decent start, and it soon became clear that our podcast audience consumes content differently from the regular reader on the Tech in Asia webpage.

Our makeshift recording rig

For one, though the sheer number of people who tuned in to episodes pales in comparison to the average page views an article might attain, 60% to 90% of them often listen to each episode in their entirety. In contrast, if any publication says that even just 50% of their readers scroll to the end of every article they read, they’re lying to your face.

Think about that: A 20- to 30-minute podcast episode has better retention than an article that would take less than 10 minutes to read. What’s more, most podcast listeners don’t mind ads, unlike consumers of other media formats.

So we continued our podcast initiative, developing spin-off series like Deep Dive and the now-defunct The Weekly Snapshot and locking the latest season of Startup Snapshot behind our paywall. We even created partnership shows like How She Made It, a miniseries we produced with Southeast Asian super app Grab for International Women’s Day, and The Global Talent War, our latest effort produced with employer-of-record firm Globalization Partners.

Over the past two years, aspiring podcasters and even some companies have reached out, asking for advice on how to get their own podcasts off the ground. It seems we weren’t the only ones who realized the latent opportunity in audio-based content.

So here’s what we’ve learned so far, summarized into three key bits of advice.

1. Tell human stories

Here’s an excerpt from a pitch I received recently:

“I’d like to suggest a guest for your show, our founder, [REDACTED]. He can speak on:

• The importance of fintech
• Digital banking
• The future of finance

Looking forward to hearing from you.”

Unfortunately, I had to reject this for the same reason I’ve had to turn down similar requests from people hoping to get their bosses to talk about other industries and their potential.

Don’t get me wrong: Fintech and digital banking have exciting prospects, and there are some great podcasts out there that delve into the inner workings of industries. But why relegate such stories to audio storytelling? After all, you could open the same – and potentially a more in-depth – discourse in an article.

Podcasts shine when the story revolves around someone instead of something, and our data proves it.

Take a look at the listener retention of an old Startup Snapshot episode that features Amrit Kumar, co-founder of blockchain platform Zilliqa.

The episode started with a three-minute explanation from Kumar on the problems blockchain faces in relation to scalability as a way to introduce why Zilliqa was launched. It’s a… tech jargon-heavy spiel, followed by an even more complex discussion on “sharding,” or the approach Zilliqa was taking to attempt to solve that scalability problem.

Because it was full of tech speak, listeners were quick to tune out. By the 10-minute mark, almost 40% of those who were interested enough to click “play” had dropped out.

Data: Spotify / Tech in Asia

Compare that to the listener retention of another episode of the show that features Kelvin Teo, who co-founded SME digital lending platform Funding Societies.

In just over five minutes, the Singapore-based entrepreneur introduced Funding Societies, discussed how he discovered the potential of SME digital lending while studying for a master’s degree from Harvard Business School, and described how he manages his relationship with co-founder Reynold Wijaya, who works out of Indonesia.

Because Teo shared a very human story and regularly inserted jokes and relatable anecdotes throughout the episode, almost 70% of listeners were intrigued enough to listen until the end.

Data: Spotify / Tech in Asia

Podcasts are built on audio, so it’s a huge missed opportunity if you’re unable to get people to tell funny stories that make them laugh or recall depressing moments that cause their voice to quiver with emotion. Sure, you could get someone to rave about the vastly revolutionary potential of any number of technologies, but wouldn’t you much rather listen to someone share something personal?

Because of that, we encourage businesses that want to partner with us to create podcast content focused on human stories. Want to tell the world why your company’s a great place to work in? Let’s produce a series that revolves around stories about your employees. Want to spread the word about your innovative product or service? Let’s hear it from your customers.

If your story’s going to be filled with complex ideas, an article might be the better medium so you can break them down into simpler terms. It’s not easy to communicate your message to listeners when they’re confused, and it’s even harder to do so when they’ve tuned out.

2. Be creative with storytelling

The popularity of podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience has led many aspiring podcasters to approach their own endeavors in a similar fashion: Sit down with someone, hit record, talk, then publish the candid conversation.

But unless your guests all happen to be public speaking professionals or improv comedians, you might find it difficult to stir interesting and spirited conversations. Even if you’re an experienced host or moderator, steering discussions towards more interesting topics while keeping interviewees engaged is not an easy feat.

When you’re running a podcast about tech and entrepreneurship, it’s almost impossible to avoid segments where the guest goes on for several minutes, trying to explain what they consider basic concepts. This can result in listeners getting bored or lost, and they eventually just stop listening. Look no further than the Zilliqa episode example I mentioned above as proof of that.

That’s exactly why after our second season of Startup Snapshot, we decided to switch things up with a more dynamic content format – one where the onus is on me to tell an interesting story instead of forcing interviewees to do all the heavy lifting.

It worked wonders, if this recent episode from our Deep Dive spin-off series is any measure. For this one, I spoke with Tech in Asia industry analyst Simon Huang about the latest moves of Singapore-based tech giant Sea.

By leveraging music, sound effects, and voice-over narration, I was more in control of the conversation, meaning I was able to steer the focus of the story even after we’d stopped recording. Compared to previous Startup Snapshot episodes that employed the typical “talk show” format, the revamped one performed much better, with more than 80% of listeners sticking around until the end.

Data: Spotify / Tech in Asia

Just like my previous point about sharing human stories, ensuring that your podcast episodes have lively narrative structures can keep listeners engaged, which goes a long way in helping you achieve your content objectives.

Plus – from my experience, at least – creating podcasts this way is a lot more fun. Telling stories of innovation is best done through innovative storytelling, after all.

3. Know your audience

This last point is a bit of a cliché, but I’d be remiss to leave it out.

It doesn’t matter how good your story is, how well-produced your episodes are, and how much money you put into promoting them on social media if your audience isn’t interested in the topics you discuss.

This is the golden rule for any kind of content, be it an article, video, or podcast: Give the audience what they want. But it’s impossible to know what they want if you don’t know who they are.

And even if you already have an established blog or media site, you might find that the kind of content that appeals to your readers doesn’t work for your podcast audience.

This is no simple task; in fact, it’s something even we constantly have to reassess because audience interests can change. Last month, the talk of the town could have been Grab’s upcoming public listing, but it might not be the hottest topic right now.

We have to be always on the lookout for what topics perform well. What are people reading? What’s getting people to subscribe to Tech in Asia? What articles are people sharing on their social media pages?

Other tips-and-tricks articles on podcasting will tell you to make your show name unique, launch a podcast with three or more episodes at one go, or use various social media marketing tactics to widen your content’s reach. But the truth is, it’s our keen understanding of the Asian tech and startup scene’s content appetite that enables us to produce podcasts that people listen to.

We tap into that same expertise when we collaborate with partners to create podcasts or any kind of content, for that matter. Want a podcast that talks about your founder’s story? Or perhaps one that discusses the gaps in the industry that you’re trying to revolutionize? Whatever it is, we’ll tap into all our resources to ensure that your podcasts, videos, or articles get to the right people.

If your organization wants to reach the Southeast Asia’s tech and startup community, Tech in Asia has the storytelling tools and loyal audience base to help you reach your goals. You can get in touch with us here or view our media kit below.