How to Get on Podcasts: Your Guide to Getting Booked as a Guest

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How to Get on Podcasts: Your Guide to Getting Booked as a Guest

May 14, 2024 • About 8 min. read

how-to-get-on-podcasts-your-guide-to-getting-booked-as-a-guest

Often when we talk about marketing for podcasters, we approach it from the perspective of the host. However, some of the best, free marketing opportunities are when a host is a guest on another show. That’s why in this blog post, we’re going to teach you the steps of how to get on podcasts as a guest. 👣

By the end of reading this, you’ll have a clear idea of how to create opportunities for yourself.

You’ll know what podcasting hosts are looking for in their guests. And you’ll have a full roadmap of how to get it done: How to find best fits, how to frame your outreach email to podcasters, how to secure and prepare for your recording slot, how to grow your listen numbers, and how to do it all over again! 🔄

Without further ado, let’s start!

How to get on podcasts using these 5 strategies

1. Research

This is the first, and arguably, most important step in getting booked as a podcast guest. That’s why you need to take your time, document your work, and research thoroughly. 🤓

In the research stage, you want to search through podcasts and find ones that would be the best fit for you as a guest.

You should search both on Google and on podcast directories like Apple iTunes, etc. In the episodes’ show notes and the podcast’s website, look at the podcasts’ topic, host, and format. 🔍

You want to be a guest on podcasts that overlap with yours. You should be able to contribute something to the main topic and be able to interact well with the host. Look for podcasts that have an interview format or at least have done some interviews in the past.

Most importantly, you want to figure out as much as possible who the audience of the podcast is. You want it to be your target audience (to learn more about what a target audience is, check out this blog post). After all, that is the most beneficial part of being a podcast guest– you get to market your show to people who are likely to become listeners. 🤗

Make a list as you research. Your list should include not only the name of the podcast, but also details like the host’s name, contact information, general description, etc. That way, you can easily pitch them when it comes time for that step.

2. Special Tip

Here’s a tip that is going to save you a lot of time down the road: Don’t delete podcasts from your list. If you do, you’ll forget you even researched them in the first place! 😬

Rather, put a note of why it wasn’t a good fit like “doesn’t do interviews” or “topic is a bit of a stretch for my expertise.” Then gray them out, put a line through them, etc.

Put these “no’s” at the bottom of your list, put the great fits at the top, and then the maybes in the middle. As you reach out to these hosts to pitch yourself as a guest, keep track on your list of what date you reached out, their response, and anything else of note. ✍️

3. Pitch

Once you have your top podcasts researched and identified, it is then time for the pitch.

A pitch is when you contact the podcast and say why you would be a great guest for their show. It is the key action step of how to get on podcasts. 💪

Just like you, the podcaster on the other end of the email is going to want to know first and foremost if you will make their target audience happy, and if you will bring your listeners over to the episode, hopefully making them new followers! 🤞

So be sure that that is the main focus of your pitch! Everything else in the pitch should lead back to that. The information you give about yourself, how you think you’d be a great fit as a guest, everything. It all should be relevant to how you being a guest will help their podcast.

Keep the pitch concise. The call to action should be asking them if you can schedule a quick phone call to learn more about each other and see if it could be a good fit. 📞

If you have been a guest on podcasts before, you want to mention those and provide links so the podcast host knows you are a proven pro.

When you do have the quick call with host, be prepared to answer any questions they have and ask questions yourself. Ask about logistics and expectations. That way you know what you are getting into! 😳

For a ton more info on how to write a pitch, check out this blog post.

4. Prepare

If you have done your research and pitch well, this part should be somewhat easy. But don’t overlook it! 👀

Of course, you want to prepare your content. Ask the host if they will send you a list of interview questions ahead of time. If they don’t, make your own short online of what you want to make sure to cover.

Having something written in front of you is going to be a huge help once recording starts! 😅

Sometimes people prepare for the content, but not the technical aspects. Don’t fall into that trap! 🪤

If the episode is recorded virtually, make sure you have all the audio equipment and online capabilities you are going to need. If you can, ask the host exactly what you need so you can be sure to be completely prepared.

It may seem like preparing like this doesn’t really fall under “How to Get on Podcasts,” but it does! Every time you record on another show, you are building a list of appearances that you can show future hosts when you pitch them. 😎

So you want to do a good job and show you are one of the top guests in your field!

Special Tip

One important tip to add here: Make sure to send the host all the information about you that you want them to share, especially links to your podcast, social media, website, etc. 📲

Type it up nicely so they can just copy and paste it into their own social media promotional posts for the episode, the show notes, and even to read on the episode in their intro or outro.

That leads us to the next step in how to get on podcasts…

5. Promote

Yes, being a podcast guest is a great way to share your voice with the world and have important conversations. Sometimes we overlook the really important stuff when we write these how-do business type blog posts! 👔

But this is a how-to business type blog post so we’re going to focus here on the other aspect of why it is great to be a guest on someone else’s show: It is free content marketing! 🤑

But it only works if you actually do the marketing part.

Work with show hosts to get the links to your interview episode so you can share them widely on your website, social media, etc. 🔗

Remember, most social media algorithms prefer shares to new posts so share the podcast’s posts along with creating your own! 🤝

And Google loves when podcast websites reference each other so be sure to create links to each other! This is a great way to help people find your show! 🕵

If you know the release date ahead of time, hype that up to your current listeners. Even better, if the host can send you an audio teaser to share with the folks who listen to your show.

Don’t forget to promote via email lists too! 💌

There are a ton of cross promotion opportunities when you are a guest on a show so make sure you think through them all (for more ideas check out our blog post completely dedicated to cross promotion).

Again, doing well as a guest will help you get booked as a guest for other shows. In the case of promotion, keep numbers on audience growth and engagement. Ask the podcast host if they can give you that data. Then you can use the data in your future pitches! 📈

6. Repeat

Once you’ve followed all the steps of how to get on podcasts, guess what? It is time to start again! 🚀

The steps of how to get on a podcast should be done in order, but you may be in different parts of the cycle for different shows. For example, you might be preparing for an upcoming interview, but also pitching other podcasts at the same time.

If possible, don’t wait for the completion of one interview to start working on booking other episodes. At the very least, keep researching relevant podcasts in your spare time. 🧑‍💻

If you create a template pitch email, it won’t take much time to shoot out an email to a couple of podcasts.

Remember, podcasters are always looking for free content and ways to make their target audience and listeners happy. Even if you get rejected by one podcasting host, chances are the next one you contact will be happy to record an episode with you. 🥳

Keep doing the best you can at each step and you’ll be sure to succeed and create more guest opportunities for yourself! 🤩🤩🤩

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May 14, 2024

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