I think you’ll agree with me when I say :
Having Guests on Podcast brings more exposure to your Podcasting Business
You get to tap into your guest’s audience. Be it their email subscribers, or their podcast listeners, once they let their audience know about their guesting on your Podcast, more people get to know about you and your podcast.
This is how “interview podcasts” are really powerful in increasing your reach since you can tap into the audience of as many guests as you interview.
For those who might know, “Interview Podcast” is one of the popular Podcasting categories where a Podcast host invites a guest to engage in an interactive session that would benefit both the listeners as well as the Podcast show.
On the other side, Podcast guests love to be featured on other Podcasts.
The reason is they get to increase their reach by tapping into the Podcast host’s listeners.
By now, you may have noticed that both the parties — podcast guest and the podcast host, get to benefit from each other.
So if you are interested to know more about podcast guests, such as how to pitch to them, book them, interview them and more, stay till the end and you will go back with plenty of information to start inviting some guests to your own Podcast show.
Below is a detailed list of all the questions I get asked regarding booking guests on Podcasts. However, I decided to come up with a blog post for all of them rather than answering them individually.
#1 How to Find Podcast Guests
I have so many people asking me this question — “ How to find podcast guests”. Thus, I decided to answer it here instead of replying to them individually.
If you’ve read “Traffic Secrets” by the Marketing Expert Russel Brunson, you must have across the concept of “Dream 100”.
Russel tells us to find our Dream 100 in the places that they most congregate. Be it on blogs, Facebook, groups, YouTube, or even on Podcasts and other places, getting in front of them there makes the task of getting your Dream 100 easier.
I would like to borrow that same idea and tell you that finding your Podcasts is easy if you know where they are actually congregating.
But unlike the “Dream 100” you need not find hundreds of them or go looking for them anywhere and everywhere.
Let me help you with this simple Checklist of what should you look for when finding the guest for your Podcast.
- Your guest should be an established personality in their niche, more like an expert in their field. Your listeners would love to hear it from someone who is experienced and an expert in their field. It builds trust and authority.
- Their expertise should in the same niche as your Podcast. Finding someone who isn’t related to your niche and bringing them up on the show is really humiliating for the guests as well as disappointing for your listeners.
- Your desired guest should have a certain audience. Having someone over for your Podcast with a following of 100,000 is better than someone with a following of 1000. This might sound rude, but it’s practical.
- Your desired guest should be at least on either audio, video or a blog platform. In other terms, that person should either have a YouTube channel, a Podcast, an Email list, or a popular blog of their own.
- The logic behind is pretty simple. If your guest doesn’t have an established presence on either of these, how do you expect to connect with their audience if you don’t find one in the first place?
The above-listed points are something you should consider before pitching to your desired guests.
Now that you know what should you look for in your guests, let’s get to the fun part — where can you actually find your guests.
1. Social Media
Social Media is one of the popular ways to find your desired guests. Be it on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter or YouTube, you’ll always find your guests congregating on each and every platform.
Let me help you find some guests on some of the popular social media platforms.
Instagram — You can easily tap into Instagram’s algorithm and find yourself your guests by entering your niche keywords in the Search Bar on Instagram.
What makes things easier for you is that most of the people on Instagram have some kind of link attached to their Bio.
That’s your cue. Browse through it, it may be their portfolio website, their YouTube Channel, or their Blog link — you get to know them better this way.
Feel free to explore any other way you can find your guests on Instagram.
Facebook — Ranking as the top social media platform in the world today, Facebook is definitely a platform you might want to tap into.
One of the easiest ways of finding your Podcast guests is by finding your niche-related Facebook Groups.
You’ll find most of them either being the admin of the group or just hanging around in them.
Facebook Search Bar works as well. However, it’s harder to find guests when you don’t even know their names in the first place.
Pinterest — Being the third largest search engine, Pinterest definitely cannot be overlooked.
Finding your guests on Pinterest might not be the best place to look, but as I promised, I won’t leave the stone unturned here.
Search for your niche in the Pinterest search bar and take your time to browse and scroll through as many pins as you can.
Then, make a list of all those creators who have a somewhat large number of followers there. You’ll even notice several people reposting their TikTok videos as Pins on Pinterest, which of course is good news.
Want an easier way to find guests? This is where Pinterest Boards come in to steal the show.
Pinterest boards are elements on which you can save your or someone else’s Pins. You can customize the name of your Pinterest boards.
Pinterest Boards are supposed to be extremely niche-focused.
For example, if someone creates a board with the name “Travel”, they’ll most likely save Pins in the Travel niche, be it of others or Pins posted by themselves.
In a simpler term, it’s like the cupboard in your home where you have separate cabinets for socks, underwear, shirts and pants.
Finding people is easier with niche-focused Pinterest boards.
Twitter — Twitter might not be the best place to look for Podcast guests as well, but you’ll definitely find some really rare and good ones here.
So get on Twitter and get on its Search Bar. Type in your niche. You’ll definitely be a person with the blue tick beside their profile name.
Now, get inside their profile and look out for their “tweets”, “Tweets and replies” and “likes” section.
“Tweets” include the ones they create themselves as well as the ones they retweet. Our main goal is to focus on the ones they retweet. This is how we infiltrate their network and look for guests.
“Tweets and replies” include replies/comments on other tweets that these people find reliable, interesting and worth commenting on. This is how you get access to the others in the same niche as well.
“Likes” is where you easily find the ones these people find trustworthy and reliable people. You get access to them as well.
YouTube — Being the second largest search engine in the world, YouTube definitely deserves to be on your guest-acquisition list.
Since it’s YouTube, I presume that your desired guest is someone who already owns a popular YouTube channel.
Now, one of the best ways and easiest ways to approach your desired guest from YouTube is by contacting them from their YouTube channel profile banner.
You’ll mostly find several social links on the bottom right side of the Channel banner.
Contact them and ask them if they would love to hop on to your Podcast. Feel free to send them a structured template as well.
Another way of approaching the YouTube channel admin is by commenting on either of their videos.
This isn’t much effective, but if written properly, your comment can definitely be seen by the creator and your request can be considered by them as well.
Yes, there are several other Social Media platforms where you might get clients.
However, if you notice. I chose the ones where your chances of getting guests for your Podcast are higher. Feel free to explore other Social Media platforms on your own.
2. Niche Blogs
You must have read several blogs on the internet. But, did you ever wonder if you might actually be able to have that blog’s admin feature as a guest on your Podcast?
Search for the blog in your niche. Look out for blogs that receive:
- Your niche should be relevant to that of the blog
- An adequate amount of traffic — (min. 500/month)
- Run a newsletter
- Have at least 500 subscribers on their email list
- The Blog should have a DA(Domain Authority) of at least 30
- The blog should have the Contact details of the admin
Note : This isn’t necessary, but try to contact blog owners that have their presence either on a Podcast or YouTube.
Here’s a list of blogs in some popular niches :
Niche : Travel
Blogs :
- Alex in Wanderland
- The Blonde Abroad
- Hey Nadine
- Wandering Earl
- HoneyTrek
Niche : Marketing
Blogs :
- Neil Patel
- Smart Passive Income
- Smart Blogger
- Authority Hacker
- Adam Enfroy
Niche : Finance
Blogs :
- NerdWallet
- The Penny Hoarder
- A Wealth Of Common Sense
- Money Crashers
- Get Rich Slowly
Niche : Fitness
Blogs :
- ACE Insights Blog
- The Art of Healthy Living
- Nerd Fitness
- Shape
- My FitnessPal Blog
Now, there are hundreds and thousands of other niches. Feel free to use the power of Google to search for your favourite bloggers and book them as guests on your Podcasts.
Type “Your Niche + Blogs” in the Google Search Bar and you’ll easily come across several lists of the top blogs in your niche.
3. Podcasts
How can I leave behind Podcasts when I am talking about booking guests in your niche.
The easiest way to hunt for your guests is by approaching Podcasters running a Podcast similar to your niche.
This has several other benefits rather than just making Podcasters guest on your show.
Being in the same niche, you can brainstorm, share, and develop several ideas to increase both of yours’ outreach by not just leveraging your networks but going beyond and collaborating on a whole different level.
Secondly, getting Podcasters as guests on your show helps build relations with them that may come in handy in the future.
(Want a FREE Checklist to Pick up the Perfect Guest Podcasters for your own Podcast? Sign Up below and Get Your Free Checklist delivered to Your Email)
- Just an email idea to get leads into your email list. Do help me out with this
#2 How Much Do Podcast Guests Get Paid?
Nothing.
No Podcast guest gets paid to appear on someone else’s Podcast.
I believe that the major currency that works between Podcasters and Podcast guests is “Networking”.
Each Podcaster wants to grow their Podcast.
Getting guests on their shows can help them expand their Podcast and help it reach beyond their own listeners.
On the other hand, Podcast guests, when invited to a Podcast, use this opportunity to grow their reach by getting in front of that Podcast’s listeners.
In this way, both the parties leverage each other’s networks.
#3 How to Find Podcasts with Celebrity Guests?
Interested in getting celebs on your own Podcast? What’s better than learning from Podcasters who actually have celeb guests on their show.
Here’s a list of popular Podcasts worldwide that have celebrities as their Podcast guests –
- The Joe Rogan Experience
- The Kingcast
- Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
- Red Table Talk
- Drama Queens
- Work in Progress with Sophia Bush
- Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin
Yes, it’s true that finding Celebrity guests for your Podcasts isn’t an easy task.
You’ll usually find celebs more active on Social Media platforms. You’ll usually find business contact details on the Bio somewhere. That’s how you can come in contact with them and ask them to feature on your Podcast.
But what if you could network with those Podcasters who are actually bringing celebs on their show? Of course, you wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to get in touch with them.
You might have assumed that celebs agree to guest on Podcasts that have a large audience. A massive one.
For starters, I would advise you to leverage other platforms and content to maximise your reach and grow your listeners.
That being said, finding Podcasts with Celebrity guests isn’t that of a big deal.
A simple Google search such as “Podcasts with Celebrity Guests” can help you come across some really good ones.
A celebrity usually has a huge following and the Podcaster who brings one on their show can definitely benefit from them.
#4 How to Book Podcast Guests on Your Show
There’s a procedure or a process to book guests for your Podcast show.
First, you pitch your Podcast guest. I will talk more about this in the following question below this.
If the guest agrees to your pitch, you send them the questions that you’re going to ask them on the show. This way they’re prepared beforehand.
It’s like assigning them homework by telling them to do this and that. But, all of it is necessary for the benefit of both of you.
Next, you record your session with the guest.
Now it’s important to let them prepare the questions in advance so that neither of you wastes time talking about unnecessary and irrelevant information.
In case you need help learning to book guests for your Podcasts efficiently, feel free to get on my Ultimate Podcast Guest Booking Program where I teach you the exact actionable steps you need to take to start getting booked on your favourite Podcasts.
#5 How to Interview Podcast Guests
Once you’ve successfully booked your Podcast guests for your show, it’s time to interview them.
Before you interview them, I’d suggest that you send them some kind of homework in which they can prepare themselves for the questions beforehand.
This method saves a lot of time and makes the guest feel confident for the interview as well.
If necessary or needed, you can even specify the time span that your guests should spend on each question for your show.
And do let them know if the Podcast interview is going to be on video or not.
Need a definite action plan to follow? Here’s a list of 7 things to keep in mind before booking your dream Podcast guest.
Choose Interesting Guests
Get on with guests that add value to your listeners rather than talking about something which might not resonate with your listeners.
Background Research on Guests
Know your Podcast guests better by “stalking” them on their social media channels, podcasts, blogs or YouTube.
This is important to understand the kind of value that they might be able to bring to your show.
Write Your Own Guest Bio
You’ll often notice that guests might end up submitting their Bio in a format that might not relate well with your audience.
Of course, it might not be their fault, but it’s your responsibility to include hooks, relatable stories, offers, and CTA in your Guest Bio. And craft it in such a way that your audience can deeply relate to and help them.
You can help yourself to know your guest better by visiting their websites or Portfolio. Search for an “About Page” on their website. This will help you out with crafting an optimal guest bio for your show.
Be Ready with Questions Beforehand
Having questions beforehand can help you out with what should and shouldn’t be included in your Podcast interview.
Questions with Answers such as “Yes/No” are definitely a no-go for the interview.
In simple terms, you can target questions that interest your audience, that your audience can relate to and can be of immense help to them or their business.
Analyse what your audience wants. Maybe post a poll somewhere with some questions, look out for the ones that receive the maximum votes and use them on your show.
Introduce your Podcast to your Guest
Your guest deserves to know more about the Podcast that they are featuring.
And it’s your job to let them understand what your Podcast show tailors around, how it helps your audience or listeners, and how can it benefit them, i.e your guest.
Be sure to introduce this to your guest on a call or over coffee. You can come up with several other ideas and brainstorm together.
Maybe even collaborate together on something else. The sky is the limit.
You should send an email that covers your Podcast format, the kind of listeners on your show, how much time would they be required to give you, and how would you promote the Podcast episode.
If you follow all the points mentioned above, you’ll definitely be able to carry out an awesome interview with your guest.
#6 How to Pitch Podcast Guests for Your Show
Emails. The best way to pitch your guests to invite them over to your Podcast is none other than using emails.
Craft a professional and persuasive email to pitch to your guests.
Having difficulty getting their emails? Tools like Hunter.io and Apollo.io can help you get their emails.
Need help creating a professional email? Don’t know what to include or what to exclude in your email? Afraid your email might end up in the “SPAM” box?
Get your Free Ebook on How to Write an Effective Email to Book your Podcast Guest
Conclusion
I hope this list helped you get a better understanding of your Podcast guests.
Now I want to turn it over to you.
Which of these do you feel helped you the most? Let me know by leaving a comment below.
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