“Just the facts, ma’am,” said no podcast listener ever. Yet, the podcasting directories are filled with niched-down podcasters proclaiming their expertise. Is that what your audience truly wants?Ask yourself: Are you an expert, or are you a guide?A better way to ask that question might be; does your audience want you to be an expert, or do they want you to be a guide? Yes, there are plenty of examples of podcasts where the audience does in fact want to hear expertise from an expert. But how often is that? Even for a tightly-niched-down podcast, a good portion of the audience probably wants the podcast host to use their expertise to guide them through the episode. Here’s a quick litmus test: If you start to answer a question on your podcast and you either say or think the words “Well… it depends” before you give your answer; then it’s a near-certainty that the next words you say will be in the voice of a guide, not an expert. Guides recognize there's no one right way to present their ideas on their podcast. Guides recognize they don't have all the answers and therefore can’t share all the answers on their podcast. Guides recognize the role that serendipity and circumstance play in the lives of their podcast listeners. Lives that might look quite different from their own. So reflect back on the last few episodes of your show. Is your audience relying on you to tell them what to do? Or are they relying on you and your expertise to guide them?I try very hard to do the latter. But as with all things in life, YMMV.-----Links:• Getting more than 10K downloads per episode? Talk to Gumball.fm! • Monkey River - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_River• Howler monkeys - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemalan_black_howler• Value-for-value for this show - https://podcastpontifications.com/value-4-value• Now booking sponsorships for 2022! - https://podcastpontifications.com/sponsor-----A written-to-be-read article and a full transcript of the audio of this episode can be found at https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/you-can-be-an-expert-on-your-podcast-without-being-a-jerk-about-it.Visit https://twitter.com/evoterra for more podcasting insights from Evo Terra as they come.Return the value-for-value of the podcasting wisdom of this episode and more at https://PodcastPontifications.com/supportAnd if you need a professional in your podcasting corner, please visit https://Simpler.Media to see how Simpler Media Productions can help you reach your business objectives with podcasting.Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show. Learn more about Allie at http://alliepress.net.Podcast Pontifications four times a week to provide ideas and ask questions every working podcaster should be thinking about. Subscribe/follow today at https://PodcastPontifications.com.Photo by Austin Distel on UnsplashMentioned in this episode:Support For Abortion RightsWhile Americans overwhelmingly support the right of an individual to make their own decisions about abortion, unfortunately,