Lean Into Your Authentic Voice if You Want Your Podcast to Stand Out

An authentic voice builds trust and keeps people engaged, ensuring your podcast stands out in a crowded field.

“Authentic” may seem like a buzzword that is being thrown around far too much, but it’s actually a legitimate business strategy. 

The 2025 Sprout Social Index™ shows that: 

“... The originality of a brand’s content is one of the top factors that makes them stand out in the increasingly saturated social space.”

You may not consider your B2B podcast a social media channel, but in a way it is. Podcasts allow you to build relationships with your audience, and they invite deep engagement and even conversations.

And this is why your authentic voice matters when it comes to podcasting. People want to hear from you, and they want to connect with you. You can’t achieve that kind of connection if you sound overly polished or, heaven forbid, like everyone else. 

What is an authentic voice in podcasting?

An authentic voice is genuine, consistent, and recognizable in the way it communicates you and your organization’s personality, values, and story.

In other words, as soon as someone hits play on your latest episode, they instantly recognize you. Your greeting and introduction to each topic is consistent. And importantly, your word choice and tone of voice could not be anyone but you. 

Thought leadership depends on an authentic voice

The number one reason our clients start a podcast is to establish thought leadership. 

Thought leadership starts with words. Words spoken by a relatable personality builds trust. Trust turns into a purchase when the timing is right. 

This is where generative AI fails. AI scrapes the internet for words but cannot add in a personality, real-life experiences, or passion behind the message.  

With a podcast, listeners can hear the passion in someone’s voice when they’re talking about a topic they care deeply about. You can write about the topic, but how many exclamation points does it take to convey that excitement? Words and inflection really do speak volumes. 

Think of your favorite movie. The script is only so good until the actors bring the words to life. That same principle applies to how an engaging podcast host can breathe life into your marketing.

Just be sure you record quality audio, or your authentic voice and message will be lost

To stand out and keep your audience engaged, you need both an authentic voice and quality audio.

Audio allows you to convey your authentic voice, your passion for the topic, and your personality. 

Quality audio allows the listeners to feel like they’re in the room and part of the conversation.

But if the audio is of poor quality, your authentic voice and message will get completely lost. Listeners will be far too distracted to connect with anything you’re saying.

Great audio is free of distractions that interrupt the conversation flow - sirens, barking dogs, loud voices, doorbells. It is also free of audio dropouts and freezes, glitches that are typical when recording over Zoom or Teams. 

Yes, audio engineers (like us) can adjust these a bit, but we can’t fix the issues entirely. And unless you’re a professional audio engineer, you probably don’t have professional audio software. Instead, you’ll end up with audio plagued by drop-outs, echo, background noise, and volume fluctuations (another annoying distraction!).

The best way to record quality audio? Headsets.

How to make sure your authentic voice shows up in your podcast

Choose a host with an engaging personality

Always choose a podcast host who has an engaging personality and can speak passionately and authentically on a topic. 

You may have to provide guidelines to ensure the host stays focused on the overall goal of the episode. We've seen very enthusiastic podcast hosts try to steer a conversation to drive home a point, rather than letting the expert guest and their information lead the way.

You may be tempted to go with a subject matter expert instead. 

However, if they have a dry and flat delivery, they will not hold your audience’s attention. Listeners’ thoughts will wander and pretty soon the episode is over and they did not absorb one piece of information you shared. (Here are some other ways to lose listeners.)

With that said, we've had very serious clients hire very serious hosts, but everyone is made aware of the podcast’s tone and intention ahead of time. With that said, a serious host does not mean they aren’t simultaneously engaging. NPR hosts are legendary for speaking seriously and formally but still drawing us into the story of the day.

Provide your host with guidelines if you have an international audience

Comedy and colloquialisms don’t always translate when speaking to an international audience. Your host may be funny and witty, but their jokes and asides may not make sense to their listeners. 

Before your first recording, provide guidelines to your host that allow their personality to shine AND connect with a diverse audience.  

We've had very engaging hosts slip up every now and then by saying something that might not resonate with the audience. And that’s why editing is so important! 

Help your host find the passion in the topic

You can't fake authenticity. However, you can help your host find it.

One thing I learned doing voiceover work is that you can apply something you are passionate about to a script that you aren't. 

For example, you may not love Subaru cars, but their ads aren't about cars; they're about protecting the ones you love. You can apply that mentality when discussing Subarus.

If your host is struggling with a certain topic, help them find the angle they are passionate about. Your episode will be much stronger.

Bring your podcast idea to life with an authentic voice

As professional audio engineers with years of experience producing thought leadership podcasts, we will make sure your authentic voice shines in each episode. Contact us to learn more about working together.