Recently, podcasting has come up as a hobby and is gaining extremely successful traction amongst people of all age groups. One of the elements that make podcasting a truly great feat is bringing in guests who are engaging and enhancing the quality of the podcast. This makes the podcast well-liked amongst the masses.
For people who are just starting off a podcast, it might be difficult to find the right guests who impact listeners. Thus it is very important to know where to source them and the best ways to get them on board. Let us explore!
What Exactly Is Podcasting?
Podcasting refers to audio broadcasting on a specific topic or expressing opinions on a happening. Some podcasters also podcast as a form of social commentary. Whatever element the podcast covers, it is used as an informative means and for promotional purposes. Some podcasts venture into interviewing people excelling in the fields they decide to unravel the podcast into.
It is very easy to launch a podcast. All you need is a skilled oratory, a microphone, a script, and creativity. Podcasting is a great tool to create connections with an audience, with people, or just establish networks in general.
It uses auditory means to capture the audience through a specific theme. Businesses can use podcasts to inform their consumers, market themselves, and capture new markets through good podcasting tactics. All in all, it’s a great tool for all people alike.
How does having a guest impact your podcast?
Having a guest or a skilled individual successful in the field, your podcast honors your audience’s tastes. It adds an element of professionalism to your podcast to have someone known and knowledgeable in the field. They act as a resource person to your audience and impart knowledge and perspectives they otherwise might not have thought of.
Your audience is interested in what you have to offer. If you take the extra step to bring to their doorstep quality content that can change their trajectory of interest, they will intellectually invest in your podcast. This will help with your image and reach. The guest’s audience will also tune into your podcast out of interest, and your prospect pool increases.
How to find the right guests for your podcast?
1. Research:
Explore the field of prospects and look at the skilled individuals in your particular domain. Do other podcasts cover the same categories as yours? Have they had guests over? Contacting this pool will be helpful as they will have the experience and the willingness. Previous experience increases an affirmative response. However, make sure you include unique elements in your podcast that are outstanding and different from the referral podcast you picked the guest from. This ensures your audience is intrigued and the guest doesn’t feel like they’re repeating what they already did prior.
2. Explore other platforms:
Conduct research on platforms like Blogger Youtube or Instagram and look for content creators talking about the same domains as you. If interests intersect, there’s a large probability for them to feature on your show. The interviewee might also have a large audience due to their content creation background, and you receive visibility this way.
3. Invite them formally:
Once you’ve conducted your research and shortlisted some prospects who are looking promising, it’s time to send out an invite. Remember to keep it clear and concise and pitch an experience to them. Send the pitch by email and use formal engaging language. It should reflect your respect for their art, time, and opinions. It should also reflect your work ethic and objectives.
4. Search the internet:
The internet is a vast pool that hosts multiple experts in their domains. Looking at a website that will provide you with people or experts in their topic acting as freelance workers, usually tend to have a good knowledge of what they workaround. They make good podcast guests.
5. Ask for referrals:
Referral asking can be done in two ways. You can either ask your audience for referrals. They could suggest guest speakers experts in their domain that audiences love. This will reel in a crowd. Another way to go around referrals is to ask previous interviewees or guests to refer people they might be connected to of the same domain.
The Secret To A Good Podcast
Here are some secret tips to make a stellar podcast about having guests over.
1. Find impactful guests:
always put yourself in the audience’s shoes. Would calling the specific judge you’ve shortlisted to encourage you to be engaging and invested in the podcast. Starting with lesser-known guests helps you build a rapport that later invites popular guests who will widen your audience.
Buzzsumo is a tool that helps you leverage impactful guests using data. They assess content creators and influencers based on their activity insights, tweet reply retweet ratios, etc. Using this tool to prioritize who and how to call guests is advantageous.
2. Research your guest:
Always run a Google search on your guests and assess the type of content they post. This will help you build narratives similar to theirs and create conversation and shared narratives.
Awario is a tool that helps with this. It lists mentions and interactions, helping you create a blueprint of the public’s mind towards the particular person.
3. Create a convincing pitch:
a strong pitch that delivers is essential. Keep the following pointers in mind while making your pitch.
1. Introduce yourself and your podcast
2. Why the guest is an asset to your audience
3. How you plan to conduct the interview (Platform)
4. The date and time at which you want to conduct the interview
The Podcast Space is a space that has an E-Mail outreach template that you can customize and use to onboard your guests.
5. Automation tools that help with sending Outreach E-Mails
We will explore two tools that help with sending outreach emails.
1. Hunter
Hunter looks through your prospect’s website if they have one and curates resources for an e-mail template meant to work best for you. Then you can choose which one you want to send to your prospect. Gathering their contact details is essential as it helps in later stages.
2. Lemlist
Lemlist is the second tool that helps in sending outreach emails. Once you choose a prospect, you can enter information about them and schedule emails to proof and send to them. This saves you time as well as a repetitive action. It also allows you to access read and opened and followed up statistics.
Websites that help you find podcast guests
1. PodcastGuests.Com
This member-based website allows you to connect with similar-minded prospects who can be guests for your podcast. Once you visit the website, you have to fill out a form to connect with interviewees or interviewers based on interests, availability, etc.
2. Podmatch
Podmatch is a service that allows the booking of podcast services. It has over 25k members and has generated over 19k impactful quality interviews.
3. MatchMaker
MatchMaker is also called “tinder, but for podcasters,” it matches guests to podcasters of similar interests. It lets you create a profile and join a community of over 25,000 people. You can connect with, browse, and overview a whole community of like-minded individuals. They have a Lite plan that you can avail of.
Conclusion
Now that you know the different ways to efficiently and effectively get a guest for your podcast to take off, you can go ahead and apply them. The importance of a guest is immense, and so is a podcast’s impact on its audience. Go ahead and conquer your audience!
