There is a lot you can do to extend the life of your recorded content.
Regardless of whether you’re creating a podcast, webinar or video, almost any recording can be turned into a blog post or an article (and if you do it well, people will actually want to read it).
Once you’ve made the decision to transform your content and distribute the ideas to your audience through long-form text, you’ve got many options for how to do it.
Format decisions will influence how much or little your content resonates, so it’s worth making a considered choice.
To help, I’ve gathered examples of different article formats and explained how and when it might make sense to use them.
All the examples below happen to be based on podcast episodes. You can absolutely adapt this for video and webinar content.
Most of the examples were written and edited by the talented PodReacher team. Some were not. All are awesome.
Here are 10 different article formats you can use to transform podcast episodes and other recordings:
⭐ The Q&A
⭐ The List
⭐ The News Article
⭐ The As-Told-To
⭐ The Deep Dive
⭐ The Thought Leadership Piece
⭐ The Brain Dump
⭐ The Briefing
⭐ The How To
⭐ The SEO Boost
1. The Q&A
What it is: An interview transcript edited for length and clarity. The transcript is cut down to focus only on the substantive parts of the conversation.
When to use: This format works well when you’ve done an interview with a recognizeable thought leader and/or someone who has name recognition. It’s also a good option if the person you’re interviewing expresses a lot of strong opinions during the interview. Q&A format is good for preserving as much memorable language as possible.
Example: “Author James Patterson on the Moment His Life Changed Direction, His Working Style, and His Best Career Advice.” 👉 repurposed podcast episode of 5 Questions with Dan Schawbel.
2. The List
What it is: A numbered list of informative resources or items (like this post!). Also known as a “listicle,” the post’s headline usually includes the number of things listed within the body of the post. Lists can get a bad rap, but they offer a good framework for organizing information.
When to use: If a recording includes at least 5 tips/ideas/tools, you can work it into a helpful list post. Using a number in your headline tends to be more attractive to readers.
Example: “5 Places to Find YouTube Channel Manager Jobs” 👉 based on a solo episode of The Pro Channel Manager Podcast.
3. The News Article
What it is: A fact-focused piece conveying the “news” from a conversation. It tells you the who, what, when, where and why. Think Reuters or the Associated Press.
When to use: Use this to-the-point approach if your episode captures unique information, including metrics, proprietary information and/or anything else that would considered “newsworthy” for a certain audience.
Example: “Substack wants to pay you to write about local news” 👉 created from an interview for the Recode Media podcast.
4. The As-Told-To
What it is: A first-person piece, written by a professional writer, from the perspective of the interviewee. It is a good way to capture the voice of the subject. An as-told-to piece does not use he/she said. Instead of quoting the person, you’d relay the thought directly from his/her perspective.
When to use: If you record an interesting or powerful conversation or the person has a unique story, using this format allows you to tell the story from their point of view. It feels more direct than third-person accounts.
Example: “How My Wife and I Raised $11 Million For The Mom Project” 👉 a repurposed episode of the How I Raised It podcast.
5. The Deep Dive
What it is: An in-depth article based on information from multiple podcast episodes and other sources of reference.
When to use: This is a good way to create a detailed, highly informative story. You’ll need to draw from multiple interviews and include other research as well.
Example: “The Abandoned Side Project That Quietly Turned Into a $700m/year Revenue Business” 👉 developed from several interviews with Mailchimp’s founder.
6. The Thought Leadership Piece
What it is: This is an opinion piece that offers a specific point of view for the reader. Often it offers advice or analysis based on an area of expertise.
When to use: If you do an interview where you discuss concepts that relate to the why of what you do, it’s a great foundation for a thought leadership article that can be published on your organization’s website or submitted to the media.
Example: “Should You Host or Guest?” 👉 based on an interview from the Leveraging Thought Leadership Podcast. Tom Schwab (the author) was a guest.
7. The Brain Dump
What it is: A comprehensive resharing of thoughts, ideas or predictions from a presentation, conversation or interview. It’s similar to a news article, but includes more analysis.
When to use: This is a good format for relaying information from someone noteworthy and/or a celebrity (again, interpret that liberally). You need to have more than soundbites to pull this off.
Example: “Bill Gates Just Predicted the Pandemic Will Change the World in These 7 Dramatic Ways” 👉 based on the first episode of Bill Gates’ podcast.
8. The Briefing
What it is: A collection of conversation vignettes that summarize a discussion and recap the main points.
When to use: This format works well when working from a recording where a lot of ideas are discussed and/or there are multiple speakers. It can be used for sharing analysis offered on a topic of conversation or conveying various opinions or viewpoints.
Example: “The State Of Sustainability In Corporate Real Estate And Beyond” 👉 developed from an episode of Cushman & Wakefield’s What’s Next in Corporate Real Estate featuring a host and two guests.
9. The How To Article
What it is: An article designed to help the reader learn “how to” do something. It could be tactical and include specific steps on how to execute a process. Or it could be more conceptual relating to mental models or mindset shifts.
When to use: If the discussion outlines a path from getting from one place to another, this format works well.
Example: “How To Turn Your Tiny Home Into an Income-Generating Investment Property” 👉 based on an episode of Tiny House Lifestyle.
10. The SEO Boost
What it is: An older blog post that gets updated with repurposed podcast content for SEO optimization. Updating content is common practice since it’s an effective way to improve SEO. As part of the update, the post is edited significantly or almost completely rewritten. The length of the post is expanded as well.
When to use: If you have a decent archive of written content and your podcast or other recordings directly relate to the stuff you’ve already written about, this can be a great approach for updating content.
Example: “7 Priceless Tips For Financial Advisors Who Want A ‘Lifestyle’ Practice…” 👉 two episodes of the Financial Advisor Marketing podcast were used to almost double the word count of the original post.
That’s all, folks!
Nice work! You made it all the way to the end and you have tons more ideas for repurposing your recorded content. Sometimes, critics refer to repurposing as regurgitation. But that couldn’t be further from the truth when you take your best content, build and expand upon it for a different channel (just like the examples listed).
Thanks for reading! Now get out there and keep sharing your ideas with the world.