Your content changed. Did your bio?
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There is a simple question people should be able to answer fairly quickly when they come across your work: what do you do?
That sounds obvious, but it is surprisingly easy for the answer to get buried under qualifications, job titles, background, different offers and all the things you could theoretically talk about.
A podcast host is usually asking a much more practical question: what would I actually talk to this person about?
If that takes too long to work out, there is already some friction.
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How long does it take to understand you?
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Think about the places where somebody might first encounter you: your website, one-sheet, podcast description, LinkedIn profile, speaker bio or a #BeAGuest post.
If they have never met you before, how quickly can they understand what kind of work you do and what sort of conversation they could have with you?
The problem is not always a lack of information. Quite often there is plenty. The useful part is just buried underneath everything else.
Clarity does not mean reducing yourself to one tiny sentence forever. It just means making it easier for someone else to understand where to start.
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But is it still accurate?
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There is another problem that is easier to miss.
Sometimes the description is perfectly clear. It is just describing someone you were a year ago.
We write one-sheets when we are promoting a particular topic. We create podcast descriptions when a show launches. We write a speaker bio around the work that matters most at that moment.
Then our work moves on.
Our interests change. Businesses change. Podcasts evolve. We get better at certain things and less interested in others. Sometimes the thing we thought would define our work simply does not anymore.
Meanwhile, the old wording stays exactly where it was.
You can end up with a strange gap between the person your bio introduces and the person somebody actually meets.
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Your recent work leaves clues
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One way to check this is to stop looking at your bio for a moment and look at what you have actually been creating.
Look at your last five or ten episodes, guest appearances, posts or newsletters. What subjects keep showing up? What questions do people keep asking you? What ideas do you naturally come back to?
Then compare that with the way you currently describe yourself.
Does your one-sheet reflect the conversations you actually want to have? Does your podcast description still sound like the show you are publishing now? Does your #BeAGuest post lead with the subjects you would genuinely be happy discussing tomorrow?
If somebody booked me entirely because of this description, would I be excited about the conversation they expected to have?
If the answer is no, the wording may not be wrong. It may just be old.
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You are allowed to change
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Updating your bio does not need to mean some dramatic rebrand.
You are allowed to lose interest in a subject. Your business can move in a different direction. Your podcast can become a different show from the one you imagined at the beginning.
The things representing you should be allowed to move when you do.
So this week, pick the place people are most likely to encounter you first and compare it with the work you are actually doing now.
Ask yourself: What do I say I do? What am I actually talking about? And are those still the same thing?
If not, start there.
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Keep the introduction in step with the work
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Most of these descriptions are not things we need to rewrite every month. But they probably deserve more attention than they usually get.
Your work develops gradually, which means it is easy not to notice when the words describing it have fallen behind.
Every now and then, it is worth checking that the person someone meets in your bio, one-sheet or podcast description still resembles the person they will meet when the conversation actually starts.
It does not need to explain everything you have ever done. It just needs to give people an honest, accurate way into what you are doing now.
A little maintenance here can make the rest much easier: clearer introductions, better-fitting conversations, and fewer moments where you find yourself explaining, “Well, that's not really what I do anymore.”
Happy Collaborating,
__
The Podcast Collaborative Team Ready to ride the wave of podcasting's biggest year yet?Come check out the Podcast Collab Club and connect with creators who are making it happen!
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Ready to start taking the guesswork out of finding great guests and the legwork out of landing aligned interviews?
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The Podcast Collaborative
Mansfield, CT 06268, USA
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