Podcast

One of the big misconceptions about podcasting is that you need a popular show to start making money. Then you can start reaching out to sponsors and more of your listeners will buy more of your stuff.

What if I told you that it’s possible to make thousands of dollars each month from podcasting before you get a single download for you show.

Not only can your listeners become clients, but your guests can also become your clients. I go deeper in the video, but there’s a basic process to follow…

#1: Determine your customer avatar

#2: Come up with a podcast idea that allows you to regularly interview people who fit that customer avatar

#3: Promote your product or service during the interview. I always invite people to schedule a free strategy session at the end of each episode and mention it whenever I can.

Podcasting is such an amazing opportunity. While it’s possible to make money with a podcast even if you don’t get a single listener, getting listeners to your podcast gives your show more potential for impact and income.

Getting listeners allows us to see our content is making a difference and that we can turn our content into a full-time business.

So how can we get more listeners for our podcasts? Here are 3 growth strategies that work.

 

#1: Have A Promo Plan For All Future Episodes

Many creators make the mistake of figuring out how they’ll promote something as soon as they hit the publish button.

This results in a 10-15 minute scramble of promoting the new episode on as many places that host can think of in the moment.

Instead, you need to have a promo plan in place. A promo plan details how you promote each new piece of content you publish. On this promo plan, you should list the following:

• Which social networks you’ll use to promote the new episode
• How often you’ll promote on those social networks on the day of and for the entire week
• Long-term approach if the episode is evergreen

Know how you will promote the episode before the time comes.

 

#2: Sponsorship Swaps

You can get together with other podcasters and do sponsorship swaps. Basically, you promote someone else’s podcast in your episode in exchange for that host to promote your podcast.

The end result is you and the other podcaster helping each other grow. The more podcasts you partner up with, the more you’ll grow.

One concern people have is that this strategy will take listeners away from your podcast by giving them an alternative. However, there are only seven days in a week, and most podcasts come out with 1-2 new episodes per week. That’s a 5-6 day gap between episodes where your listeners will want an alternative.

They’ll listen to the other person’s podcast while they wait for you to come out with the next new episode. And the great thing is that when your listeners listen to the podcasts you’ve sponsored, they’ll think of you since you made the recommendation. Get as much head space as you can.

 

#3: Get On More Podcasts

If you want more listeners, go where the listeners are. Podcast listeners listen to podcasts. Getting on more podcasts puts you in front of more listeners.

Getting on other people’s podcasts is also a great business model that some people use to make thousands of dollars each month. If you want to get on more podcasts, here are some suggestions…

• Use LinkedIn and search “podcast host”
• Look for podcasts in iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher
• When reaching out, focus on the value you can provide as a guest instead of asking to be on the show. Podcast hosts can discern whether someone wants to provide value as a guest or just wants the exposure and social cred

During the episode, mention the podcast as soon as you can. Some podcast hosts will mention your podcast in their intro, but if not, you can mention it in the response to the first question.

That’s because 99% of podcast hosts use a variation of one of the following questions as their Question #1:

• “Can you tell us a little more about yourself?”
• “Why did you get started with X?”

Perfect opportunity to mention your podcast and some of the other stuff you’re working on.

 

In Conclusion

Podcasting gets more popular each year. More people have been approaching me on how to launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts. If you want to chat with me about your podcast, you can schedule a free strategy call here.

Furthermore, make sure you grab your free ticket to the virtual Profitable Podcasting Summit. It’s a great event with over 20 speakers and more on the way.

What were your thoughts on these three strategies? Do you have any questions for me? Sound off in the comments below.

Podcasting is my favorite medium for growing a business.

You get to interview people, build relationships, and provide more value to your audience.

But podcasting does take work, and it can be confusing at times.

How do I launch a podcast? How do I get more listeners? How do I make money from all of this?

Those are the three most common questions people have about podcasting.

I’ve created a bunch of videos that address all of these areas.

If you’re looking to launch a podcast but want to know the tech, you might like this video…

In that video, I talk about literally everything you need to know. Here’s a small list of what I cover…

• Mic set-up
• Interview style
• Choosing your topic

At the 24 minute mark, I go into the Libsyn dashboard and show you how to create a podcast and get it on the big players (iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher).

Note: Use the coupon code BREAKTHROUGH to get the rest of this month and the next month of Libsyn for free.

Before you launch your podcast, you should think of how you will monetize it. Since you’re just about to start, a basic idea will be good enough.

One word of advice on the monetization piece: Don’t think of sponsors right away.

Sponsors are almost impossible to get if you have a new podcast. In fact, it took me almost three years just to land my first sponsor (thanks SkillShare).

Instead, think about what you can promote during each episode. Here are some suggestions:

• One of your products or services
• Someone else’s product or service with your affiliate link
• A link to schedule a free strategy call to see if you and the listener are a good fit for working together

I went into a lot more detail on the growth and monetization piece in my presentation at Co-Working Solutions. You can watch that entire presentation below…

One of the biggest misconceptions about making money with a podcast is that you only make money with a listener buys something from you or you get a sponsor.

Many of the top podcasters make most of their money from their guests.

They interview guests who fit their client avatar and mention their products and services to their listeners. The guest gets curious and a post-interview conversation ensues.

It’s not uncommon for me to look at my virtual summits and see that some of the All-Access Pass Holders are people who were once on one of my podcasts.

Those are some ideas to help you monetize your show.

For growth, it just comes down to having a marketing plan and executing it.

For my marketing plan, I promote each new piece of content through the following assets:

• My blog
• Twitter
• Facebook
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Instagram Stories
• LinkedIn
• Pinterest
• Medium

I’m always looking to expand that list. And it’s common for me to go back to older episodes to give them a fresh sense of life. This is part of the repurposing strategy I use.

That way, I create less new content and get more exposure to my existing content.

Creating less content gives you more time to market your content. In the end, no one is paid based on how much content they are produced. They are paid for how much that content impacts people. You impact people by doing the marketing.

Impact people enough and present an offer…and you’ll have a profitable podcast soon enough.

If you enjoyed this content, you might also enjoy the Profitable Podcasting Summit. It’s a free virtual event where 20+ podcasting experts share how they launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts.

Get your free ticket here

Want to see how I can help you grow your podcast? Schedule a free strategy session today!

A podcast is your goldmine for attracting high-quality clients to your business. Podcasts give you the ability to attract listeners and guests to your show. And while there’s already so many blogs and YouTube channels out there, podcasting is ripe with opportunity. 

Convince and Convert laid out several fascinating statistics for podcasting in 2018. They provide 13 important statistics, but these are the three we should pay attention to.

• In 2018, Six Million More Americans Listen to Podcasts Weekly versus 2017

• • Takeaway: Podcasts are growing

• 23 Percent of Americans Have Listened to Podcasts in the Car

• • Takeaway: You can’t read blog posts or watch videos while driving. Podcasting provides a competitive advantage due to the audio nature of the content

• 18 Percent of Americans Now Own Smart Speakers

• • Takeaway: More smart speakers are coming soon, and more people will say, “Alexa, play the podcast Breakthrough Success.” It helps to mention 49% of podcasts are listened to at home…BUT wait until smart speakers are built into cars and podcasts become as mainstream as radios. It’s already happening.

Podcasting is growing, and if you have a podcast, you’re riding a big wave right now. For people who don’t have a podcast, it’s best to first decide what your show will be about and who you’ll serve.

We won’t dive too deep into starting a podcast, but it’s worth mentioning for anyone who doesn’t have a podcast yet. 

You can host your podcast using a site like Libsyn, Pippa, Blubrry, or another podcast hosting company. I personally use Libsyn because it allows me to easily publish podcast episodes on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and on other podcast players. 

Your costs for producing episodes depends on how many you produce. I produce 3 episodes each week for Breakthrough Success. That comes to roughly $20/mo on Libsyn and around $28/episode after I pay my audio editor and show notes writer. At 3 episodes per week, it comes to about 14 episodes per month. 

I also spend $20/mo for Acuity which makes scheduling episodes a breeze. You get most of the features with a $10/mo account, but I run several calendars on Acuity which is why I pay $20/mo.

I also use Skype’s Call Recorder to record podcast episodes. If I want to record a video interview, I’ll use Zoom.

My total expenses for hosting the podcast stand at around $450/mo. Why would I undertake an investment like that when I could use that $450/mo on other things (or save it. Or buy stocks and real estate).

The answer is that one $997/mo client pays off all of those expenses. And my podcast brings in more than enough clients to pay for itself.

Plus I get to interview influencers and learn so much from them while providing my listeners with epic content 🙂 

 

How Much Money Can You Make Podcasting

Client attraction is one of the top ways to make money with your podcast. Remember how I mentioned you can get $997/mo clients by hosting a podcast? 

Get 9 of those types of clients from your podcast, and you’re at a nifty 6-figure income. Get 21 of those clients and you’re making over $250K every year. 

The math adds up, and the best part is that client attraction isn’t the only way you can make money with your podcast. Some people listening to your show won’t want to become your clients right away. 

You need to strengthen the relationship with them through your episodes and get them to put some skin in the game. “Putting skin in the game” is marketing talk for turning a listener into a customer, even if it means a $1 purchase. 

It’s very easy to create something and charge $1 for it. In most cases however, you’re better off pricing that product at $7 or at $5/mo to boost your profitability.

The product I promote on Breakthrough Success depends on the timing. Right now, I’m promoting the heck out of Podcast Domination. I’ve mentioned it in every episode lately and charge $0.99 during the preorder phase. 

Some of the people who buy Podcast Domination may become clients in the future. But the great thing is that each customer is a strong lead. I consciously write my books with the intention of building the dialogue, landing more clients, and boosting overall product sales. My books act like silent salesmen.

This blog post is a silent salesman, and I hope you buy my book through this link 🙂

Oops. Not so silent anymore. We all gotta make money to continue pursuing our dreams at a high level of intensity. 

But going back to the book, I use the book to achieve a few key objectives:

• Fulfill the promise that a reader will learn how to grow, launch, and monetize their podcast by reading the book. If you don’t fulfill your promises (i.e. unethical clickbait), nothing else matters.

• Demonstrate my expertise because potential clients only hire people who demonstrate high expertise and/or a low price. Since I don’t underprice myself, I focus on providing massive value to demonstrate I know what I’m talking about.

• Provide a call-to-action. At the END of the book, I tell readers how they can schedule a free strategy call with me. I DO NOT include this link at the beginning of the book. 

While I’d get more strategy call sessions by including the call-to-action at the beginning of the book, some people would find that link through Amazon’s preview option.  

That preview options allows you to view the first 10% of any Kindle book free of charge. That means I’d be on strategy calls with some people who didn’t put any of their skin in the game. Sometimes you can turn these people into clients, but it’s much easier to convert someone who has already made some kind of investment in what you’re doing, no matter how big or small.

Remember, at $997/mo, you only need 9 clients to make 6-figures. You just need 6 clients if you raise your services to $1497/mo. 

 

How To Charge Those Kinds Of Prices

The higher you charge, the fewer clients and customers you need to reach your income goals.”

For some people, charging $97 for a consultation session is difficult. Technically, it’s easy. Just change the order page or PayPal button to reflect the new price. However, some people don’t believe their consultation session is worth $97. These people are underpricing themselves.

Other people command $1997 price points just to spend an hour with them. There are services that cost five figures each month, and some people have no problem writing a $1 million check for a Lamborghini. 

$997/mo is the example I’ve used, but if you can (note: yes, you can) charge higher than $997/mo, then you need fewer clients to hit your income goals. 

Ask yourself what it would take to double your price without doubling the time you spend on each activity. You don’t go from $97 to $197 by going from a 30 minute consultation session to a 1 hour consultation session. How can you make that same jump without the extra 30 minutes.

The two answers to this question are demonstrating your expertise and showcasing your credibility. It’s no wonder the highest priced products and services are flooded with testimonials.

Want to get high profile testimonials? It’s not as difficult as you think. Interview high profile guests on your podcast. Build relationships with them. Tell them about your product or service and offer it for free (for an ongoing service like scheduling social media content, offer one free month). 

Then you’ll start getting testimonials from key players in your niche. Some of those same people may become clients or buy a bunch of your products. Even if none of those key players become long-term clients, those testimonials will provide you with strong social proof as more people come across your products and services. 

Notice how the podcast helps with a key element in converting people into clients? If you do it right, you can also use the podcast to demonstrate your expertise as well. You can release a solo episode every week, share insights in between a guest’s answers, and do a bunch of things to demonstrate your expertise during each episode.

 

So How Do We Actually Get Clients

Everything you’ve currently read has been the set-up for attracting clients with your podcast. If you have been skimming, I recommend quickly scrolling up and gleaning the key highlights from what I mentioned earlier.

Most prospects turn into clients through free strategy sessions. Almost everyone in the business leads people into a free strategy session to convert them into a client. Anytime I’ve hired a coach, I made that decision based on a free strategy session. 

If you want clients, then you will need an Acuity account. Acuity makes it easy for you to create a calendar that only shows the times when you are available. That way, it’s easier for prospects to pick times that work for you instead of engaging in a back-and-forth conversation to find the ideal time.

If you even have to engage in that kind of back-and-forth conversation, you will lose clients.

Acuity is the best option available, but it comes with a universal problem all calendar apps come with. The long link problem. 

Remember, you’re goal is to recruit clients with your podcast. If we were talking about blog posts, you could easily include a hyperlink to your schedule page and move on.  

But with a podcast, that option doesn’t exist. You have to verbally say what the link is. I ran into this problem when promoting my book Podcast Domination. On a blog, I can just include that hyperlink in there.

On a podcast, I have to figure out how to tell people to visit this link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FSHGR9N 

I’d have to say Amazon dot com slash gp slash product slash B07FSHGR9N during the episode. That’s hard to say while keeping the episode natural. It’s even harder for a listener to remember.

Especially if that listener is driving like the 23% of Americans who listen to podcasts in the car.

I took that same link and turned it into this:

www.marcguberti.com/pd 

Much easier for me to say and even easier for a listener to remember.

Marc Guberti dot com slash P D is much easier for people to remember than the other one. 

How do you create links like this? If you have a WordPress powered blog, I recommend the Pretty Links plugin. It’s the one I used to create the link above, and I also get to track stats. By creating a custom link for my podcast, I can track how many clicks can be specifically attributed to my podcast. 

You can do the same thing with bit.ly links. You can customize the text that appears after the slash. The link http://bit.ly/podcastdomination also gets you to the book’s Amazon Page. 

The only danger with using bit.ly is that your ideal link might be taken. For instance, bit.ly/pd will send you over to someone’s Flickr Profile. Therefore, I can’t use that customization to link to my book. 

 

Distribute Each Episode For Added Exposure

You now have a solid foundation for attracting clients with your podcast. Now you need to spread the word and attract more listeners to your show. 

You could technically still reach your 10 client goal without getting a single podcast download, but it helps big time to have a strong listener base. More listeners means more potential clients.

You have to start by getting your podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, and Spotify at the very minimum. The more podcast players you can get on, the better. 

That’s something you get out of the way the moment you start your podcast. A good podcast hosting company like Libsyn will provide you with quick and simple instructions on how to get your podcasts on those places. 

You should also get your podcast on Alexa. Since that’s still new, I’ll briefly talk about it since home speakers are still an emerging trend. All you have to do is fill out TuneIn’s podcast submission page and wait for approval.

If you ask Alexa to play a podcast, it will search on TuneIn to find a podcast that matches up with your request.

That’s why if you say, “Alexa, play the podcast Breakthrough Success,” Alexa will play the latest episode. My podcast was approved for TuneIn and now Alexa can play the Breakthrough Success Podcast.

 

Create A Social Media Posting Calendar

The real distribution begins when you create a social media posting calendar for your podcast. This is where you share your podcast multiple times across all of your social networks. 

Most people make the mistake of only posting about their new episodes on the days they come out. There’s no follow-up in this approach which leaves a lot of traffic on the table.

For each new piece of content, you need a weeklong calendar of aggressive promotion. Create several custom tweets, post on Facebook, pin on Pinterest, post on Instagram, reach out to influencers, and promote your episodes as far as you can promote them.

For the custom tweets, I include images and quotes from the show. When I include a quote, I always tag the guest. That way, the guest sees I tagged him/her and is therefore more likely to share my content. 

Your social media posting calendar may look different depending on your frequency, but you should plan at least a week out. Even when that week is over, you should still continue to occasionally promote each episode you create. 

To this day, I’m still promoting Episode #1 of Breakthrough Success because it’s still valuable and a bunch of people haven’t listened to it yet. I also want to give my audience the gift of seeing where I was when I was starting out with the show. You only realize how far you’ve come when you take a look at some of your past stuff.

 

Distribute Even Further With Repurpose.io

Repurpose.io is an awesome tool that allows you to do as the name suggests—repurpose your podcast episodes. 

You can turn your podcast episodes into YouTube and Facebook Watch videos for $12/mo. Before this tool, I invested several hours to coming up with audio snippets from certain episodes and posting them on YouTube. However, it was tedious and I didn’t see a big enough ROI.  

Repurpose.io is a game changer because it’s all automated. You set it up once and all of your future episodes get published on your YouTube and Facebook channels. I currently don’t have Facebook Watch set-up, but here’s how a Repurpose.io video looks on YouTube.

Pretty nice set-and-forget for $12/mo. You can also pay $20/mo if you want to do this with multiple podcasts and/or Facebook Watch channels.

Interview More People On Your Podcast

Do you remember when I said you could get clients with your podcast without getting a single listener? I wasn’t joking.

Every guest you interview on your podcast is a potential client. You’re in the middle of a sales call the moment the guest joins you on Skype or Zoom depending on what you use to record episodes. 

If you interview 100 people for your podcast and get 10% of them to convert, you’ve got 10 new clients. You can interview people who you believe would be great potential clients to work with. You can determine in the conversation if the potential client would be easy or difficult to work with and make your pitch accordingly.

While getting more listeners helps with attracting guests on your show, I find that very few people ask for download numbers. It doesn’t matter if you’re getting thousands of downloads or less than 10 downloads per episode for most potential guests. They just want to be on more podcasts. 

 

100 > 100

Most podcast hosts with 100 episodes under their belt get there by interviewing 100 people. Some get there by interviewing slightly less than 100 people because of the intro episode and a few other episodes. Other hosts get there with a solo show and don’t interview anyone (to that, I say you’re missing out on a lot of relationship building).

Some podcast hosts with 100 episodes have interviewed more than 100 people, hence 100 > 100. In 100 episodes, you can interview more than 100 people. To break that down, in one episode, you can interview more than one person.

In fact, you can technically interview as many people as you want in one episode. Nothing is stopping you from interviewing 3 or 4 people in the same episode.

Just arrange with a group of people to all join in on Skype or Zoom at the same time. Then, ask questions and let all of the guests answer each of the questions you ask. You can allow conversations to develop between guests to add a different flavor to your episodes. 

That’s 300-400 potential clients in 100 episodes if all of your episodes are round tables. That’s a lot of potential.

How Guests Become Clients

Earlier I mentioned how you can shorten your link using Pretty Links if you use a WordPress blog or by using bit.ly if you don’t have that luxury. That shortened link is essential to turn guests into clients.

Very few guests will become clients on the spot. Most of them will want a strategy session with you so they can see how you would help them. During the episode, you’re going to mention that link and provide your listeners with the call-to-action.

Your guest is going to hear that same call-to-action intended for your listeners. And if you think about it, your guests are also your listeners. They listen to what you say, wait for you to ask the next question, and then answer it. 

If a guest sees you as an expert, they’ll follow up about the free strategy session you mentioned earlier in the episode. You also have the pre and post episode conversations to drive the free strategy call home. 

It’s important to not push the conversation towards the free strategy session. Don’t start off by telling the guest about your free strategy call offer. Let the conversation develop. 

If the guest asks you what else you do besides the podcast, you can then mention your services and mention that you offer a free strategy session. If the guest expresses he/she has a pain point that you solve, mention that you can solve that problem and you can jump on a strategy session with him/her on a future date. 

Some guests won’t be interested in buying your services, but they’ll know people who are interested. For this group of guests, you can ask them for referrals. I only recommend asking for referrals if you get into a conversation about what you do and believe the interview went well. 

 

The Final Step Of The Strategy

Hosting your own podcast allows you to grow an audience and have guests on your show. Both of those groups of people are potential clients. But there’s one more core group we need to tap into for maximum success.

The final step is to interview podcast hosts in your niche. Once you’ve honed in on your pitch and have had some guests on your show, it’s time to reach out. 

Some of the podcast hosts you interview will then invite you to be a guest on their shows. This is what you want. When you get interviewed, the host is now a potential client. Depending on how much you wow that host, you might get a client on the spot. 

You also get access to that host’s listeners. At the end of a podcast episode, the host traditionally asks a question like, “Where else can we find you?” When you get that question, tell listeners they can schedule a free strategy call with you. 

As you get on more podcasts with this strategy, more podcast hosts will reach out to you and invite you to be on their shows. Eventually, you won’t have to do the outreach anymore. All of the podcast hosts will come swarming to you. With each interview, you’ll get your message in front of more potential clients.

At this point, you may have a client overflow. All that’s left to do for this final step is to find and reach out to podcast hosts.

 

Finding Podcast Hosts

Finding podcast hosts is the easy part. One of the most common ways to find podcast hosts is by searching through podcasts on iTunes and Stitcher (while I like Spotify, it’s still a very music oriented platform, so I recommend doing this research on a platform that only displays podcasts).

Just search your niche, find podcasts, see which ones take guests, and reach out to those hosts (more on outreach coming soon).

There are two other ways you can find podcast hosts.

The first tactic is to go on LinkedIn and search “[your niche] podcast host.” LinkedIn will then display a bunch of people who are podcast hosts in your niche.

All you do at that point is start building relationships.

The second tactic is to google “[your niche] podcasts.” Instead of seeing all of the podcast hosts like you can on LinkedIn, Google will provide you articles. Most of those articles will allow you to easily identify the top podcasts in your niche.

For instance, when I Google “business podcast,” I get these results

A lot of these articles lead to curated lists of top podcasts in your niche. These podcasts are the big fish, so getting on them may be more challenging. However, if you get on one of these podcasts, you have a much greater chance to get on other podcasts.

 

Reaching Out To Podcast Hosts

Once you find podcast hosts, you need to reach out to them and ask to be a guest on their podcasts. You’ll get some rejections but mostly a bunch of yeses as podcast hosts need guests to fill up their episode calendars.

You reaching out to them saves them the time of finding another guest for their show. While this sounds like a win-win scenario, plenty of people know about this win-win scenario.

I’ve received hundreds of emails from people asking to be on Breakthrough Success. I couldn’t cater to them all, and that was even back when I was releasing five episodes each week. As a podcast host gets more guests coming their way and reaches out to more guests, that host will become more picky.

For instance, I publish three episodes each week on Breakthrough Success. I know that’s a little under 40 episodes per quarter. That’s a little less than 40 people who I can interview, and the more yeses I say now, the fewer yeses I can say in the future. 

Asking to be a guest on someone’s show isn’t enough anymore, especially for established podcasts. The key to getting on more podcasts is to make the host’s life as easy as possible. 

If you’ve hosted a podcast, you know there’s a lot of prep work. Here’s a list of what goes into producing an episode:

1. Finding the guest
2. Scheduling the interview
3. Determining a good topic
4. Writing the guest’s bio
5. Writing questions
6. Conducting the interview
7. Editing the episode
8. Writing the show notes
9. Scheduling the episode

That’s a lot of steps, and some of them are very time consuming. Since I delegate most of the post-production, I typically spend most of my time on Steps 3-6. 

As previously mentioned, you want to make the host’s life as easy as possible. The best way you can do that is by providing a 1-sheet that cuts down on the host’s prep time. On my 1-sheet, I include my bio, a list of suggested topics, and pictures of a few podcasts I’ve appeared on. 

I opted against including a list of suggested questions on my 1-sheet because I rarely look at the suggested questions on other people’s 1-sheets. The problem with suggested questions is that some hosts may simply ask all of those suggested questions in the interview.

I prefer to create a different experience on my podcast by asking questions that few people would think of. Similarly, I don’t want everyone asking me the same questions when I appear on other podcasts (except the backstory question which is virtually impossible to avoid and a good ice breaker).

Including your 1-sheet will increase the amount of yeses you hear from the podcast hosts you reach out to. You can create your 1-sheet using KeyNote/PowerPoint or Canva. For my 1-sheet, I used KeyNote and exported the slide as an image. Regardless of how you create your 1-sheet, it will work wonders for getting interviewed on more podcasts.

 

In Conclusion

Your podcast can bring in all of the clients you’ll ever need for your business. Before you start using your podcast to attract clients, set a monthly income target.

Then determine how many clients you need to hit your monthly target. Get clear on the numbers before you take action.

Then it comes down to interviewing many guests and attracting even more listeners to your show. Combine that with promoting your free strategy session, and you’ll have a winning formula for your podcast. 

You can then take that winning formula on the road by appearing on other podcasts in your niche.

What do you use your podcast for? Do you have a podcast or are eager to start one? How are you attracting clients for your business? Have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

Want to see how I can help you grow your podcast? Schedule a free strategy session today!

One of the most important things you can do for your podcast is find great podcast guests. Interviewing great guests for your show will boost your authority due to your association with influential people in your niche.

There are many places to find great guests, but some people get overwhelmed with the process, stick with one method, or don’t know where to look.

If you host a weekly podcast, it’s not as difficult. You just need to get 52 YESes each year, and just a little more than that if you want to have episodes scheduled in advance.

When you release multiple episodes each week, you need to find more guests. Some day, Breakthrough Success will be a daily podcast. I’ll need to find at least 6 guests per week (I might do a solo appearance on the show once per week when it becomes daily).

Regardless of whether you are just getting started with your podcast or have been at it for a while, the guests on your show make the show. You can develop your skill as a great host, but even if you ask the best questions, the only way to get the best answers is to get the best guests on your show.

There are a few places you can go to find great guests for your next podcast episode. Here are 10 of them.

 

#1: Other Podcasts

By far the most popular way to find guests is to go on other podcasts in your niche. Not only are these guests good, but they also have experience with getting interviewed on podcasts.

I frequently go on EOFire to find potential guests for my show. Since John Lee Dumas publishes a new episode every day, there’s more potential guests to choose from.

However, you don’t want to become a me-too podcast. You don’t want to interview everyone who appeared on one podcast (in my example, EOFire). You want to incorporate a variety of platforms to find and reach out to guests AND ask different questions from other podcast hosts.

SUGGESTED ARTICLE: [3 STEPS TO HOSTING A GREAT PODCAST INTERVIEW]

 

#2: Virtual Summits

Virtual summits bring together the top experts in a niche. They get interviewed by the host and share their insights. Virtual summits are often touted as a powerful approach to growing a hyper-engaged audience, but they’re also great places to find potential podcast guests.

Search “[your niche] summit” and you’ll come up with several results. While most virtual summits have around 20 speakers, some virtual summits have over 50 speakers. The more virtual summits you come across, the more potential guests for your podcast.

 

#3: In-Person Events

This one takes more time but leads to healthy relationships. If you go to in-person events related to your niche, go up to the speakers and the action takers. Ask them if they would be interested in being guests on your show.

You can ask for the person’s email or write out your calendar link (if you have one…but if you don’t have one yet, I recommend Acuity). You may have to do some follow-up on your end (Spoiler Alert: you probably will), but if you kick it off during the in-person event, the interview will reflect that.

 

#4: LinkedIn

I am astonished at how many people view LinkedIn as nothing more than the “Online Résumé” Social Network. It is so much more than that.

You can find potential clients, people who can help you grow your business, and so many great people on that platform.

But in the context of this blog post, LinkedIn is also a great place to find guests for your show. LinkedIn’s search engine allows you to enter keywords and find people in the same way Google’s search engine helps you find articles, videos, and other content.

Do you want to find content marketers in New York who went to Fordham University? You can do that with LinkedIn and connect with each of those people.

SUGGESTED EPISODE: [LEVERAGE LINKEDIN TO GENERATE NON-STOP SALES, LEADS, AND REVENUE WITH JOHN NEMO]

The level of detail for any LinkedIn search is powerful and will help you find great guests for your show. To top it all off, the potential guest’s LinkedIn profile will usually give you everything you need for the prep.

A bio, past experience that can help you frame your questions, a profile picture, and, for some profiles, more details than you could possibly fit into a podcast episode.

 

#5: Amazon

The Everything Store continues on its path to global dominance. It has countless products, perks like Amazon Prime, and Alexa.

But Amazon is also a great place to find potential guests for your show.

They say that nothing builds your authority as quickly as publishing your own book. There are a few ways to take that…

The common way to take this insight is to get out there and write your book. There’s no problem with that. I aspire to write at least 1 book for every year I’m alive (I’m 20 and currently working on Book #20).

The other way you can take this advice is to think, “Well, if Amazon has so many books on its platform, it’s a great place to find authors in my niche.”

Simply search for Kindle books in your niche, and thousands of results will show up. That’s thousands of authors you can contact and invite onto your show.

One of the shortcuts I use for finding guests on Amazon is to scroll through the “Customer who bought this item also bought” and “Sponsored products related to this item” sections of the sales page to find more books and authors.

If you have your own book published on Amazon, I strongly encourage you to go on your book’s Amazon page and scroll through both of those sections to find guests. Not only will you find great guests, but you’ll also have a better idea of what type of content your readers buy and want more of.

Many of the people who bought Content Marketing Secrets have also bought books that show them how to sell more of their books and grow their audiences. What products do your customers frequently buy in addition to your own?

 

#6: Guest Blogs

Guest blogs take in experts to write content for them. It’s the blogging version of appearing on someone else’s podcast. Find prominent guest blogs in your niche and contact the people who wrote content that would be valuable for your listeners.

This works similarly to leveraging other podcasts, but I don’t recommend turning this into your main strategy for finding guests. Not all guest bloggers make great podcast guests, and some don’t have the proper audio to provide a great experience.

No matter how great the content is, bad audio will turn people away.

 

#7: Word-of-Mouth

This gets easier as you interview more guests and become more established. At the end of each interview, especially when you show is just beginning, ask the guest if they know anyone who would be a great fit for your show.

If you and the guest had a great interview, this tactic works like a charm. You will usually get anywhere from 1-3 recommendations. You can reach out to those people, get them on your show, and continue repeating the process while finding guests through other tactics.

 

#8: Books

We return to books, and you’ll hear more about them one more time before you finish reading this blog post.

We already know about finding books on Amazon and contacting those authors.

The next step is reading the best books in our niches. Within those pages, you’ll come across insights, stories, and more potential guests for your show.

It’s very common for authors to mention other people in their books. I’ve read some books and came away from those books with 5 potential guests for my show.

[SUGGESTED TRAINING: WRITE 1 KINDLE BOOK EVERY MONTH]

Scrolling through podcasts may be a more time effective approach for finding great guests, but if you’re reading books anyway (and that’s great for self-education, an essential for success), you might as well take note of interesting people mentioned in those books who would make great guests for your show.

 

#9: Product Testimonials

Maybe you don’t read books. I get that. Some people prefer to learn by listening to audiobooks, watching videos, or reading blog posts like this one.

But one thing anyone can do is go through the testimonials. The testimonials for any book are either on the back cover or fill up the first few pages of the book. With the right book, you can use the testimonials section to find 20-50 potential guests for your show. This is no exaggeration. Some books are loaded with 5-10 pages of testimonials before they get into the actual content.

You can take the same approach for training courses. If someone’s case study is highlighted on the sales page, reach out to that person to have him/her on your show. Interviewing the success stories also makes it easier to interview the person who created the training course.

Look for testimonials not just for what they say, but also for who’s giving them. Would they be a good fit for your show?

 

#10: YouTube

The digital surfer’s frequent hangout is also a place where potential guests hang out. Instead of searching for your version of cute kitten videos or turning away from the social network entirely to avoid searching for your version of cute kitten videos, you can search for keywords in your niche.

See which channels offer valuable content and connect with the people behind the channels. You can invite them to be guests on your show and learn a lot through the experience.

 

In Conclusion

The better the guests, the better the podcast. Unless you host a solo show, there’s no way around it. You need a variety of tactics to find the best guests for your show. In the end, you may not utilize all 10 of these tactics. I know I don’t.

I currently focus on other people’s podcasts, everything I said about books, and LinkedIn. I was more aggressive with word-of-mouth requests earlier in my journey and only use virtual summits to find speakers for my own virtual summits. Most of the virtual summit speakers have been on several podcasts anyway.

How do you find guests for your show? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.

ACTION STEP: Pick at least three of these tactics. Reach out to at least one guest using each of those 3+ tactics. That means you’re reaching out to three people for your show. Do this even if you don’t have a podcast but want to launch soon. The only reason Breakthrough Success is a thing is because I sent emails months before I was ready.

Podcasts present an extraordinary opportunity to feed several birds with one scone. I can go on and on about why podcasting is so powerful, but here’s a brief list:

• Content production
• Connections
• Self-education
• Environment (surrounding yourself with likeminded people)
• Exposure when guests share their respective episodes

While podcasting is incredible, it’s just a hobby if you can’t profit from it. Some people are quicker to label an unprofitable blog as a hobby than an unprofitable podcast. These people believe that the relationship building and all of the benefits I listed above outweigh the expenses of hosting your own podcast.

What happens when you have to pay for your team, living expenses, and anything else? How much does an unprofitable podcast contribute? An unprofitable podcast would actually hurt your ability to make those payments.

If times get tough, you’ll shut down the podcast. That will open up more revenue you can use to make payments and grow your business.

It’s essential to make your podcast profitable. By the end of this blog post, you will have clarity on some of the actions you can take to make your podcast profitable.

 

Look At Your Expenses

Few people like to look at where their money is going. It’s very ironic since money is the lifeline of your brand, but most people lose track.

The idea goes like this: As long as I continue making payments and don’t lose my way of living, I’m doing fine.

This is how expenses mount and businesses break even but never make a profit. The profit, if any, is just enough to keep things going.

When I looked at my expenses, I noticed something astonishing. Ever since I boosted the frequency of my episodes, I spent over $1,000/mo maintaining the podcast.

The kicker? My podcast wasn’t making me a penny.

Think about how this pattern becomes more significant as we think in years. Here I was with a $12,000/yr money eater. All five of those benefits listed above don’t seem so shiny now.

Most of the expenses came from my team. I hired an editor and show notes writer so I’d just focus on prepping for and conducting the interviews. Libsyn only cost $40/mo, and that’s just because I published five episodes every week (now daily).

Having a team behind your podcast is critical for getting the episodes out. I couldn’t have started Breakthrough Success without my team behind me, but when I saw how much this was costing me each month, I knew I needed to make a change.

I previously hired employees on UpWork where I could find potential hires anywhere in the world. While some people on UpWork charge $3/hr, others charge well over that for their work.

After interviewing many experts on my show, I came across John Jonas, the founder of onlinejobs.ph. On this site, I came across Filipino workers happy to work for $3-6/hr. While I was skeptical (I had heard the phrase “you get what you pay for”, I was amazed by their work. They over delivered and help me to this day.

Paying more attention to my expenses allowed me to cut them by more than half. With any part of your business, there are two ways to make more money. The first way is to boost your revenue. The rest of this blog post will focus on that.

However, the second way to make more money from your business is by reducing expenses. If you cut your expenses by $500/mo, that’s an extra $500/mo you get to keep or reinvest into more things.

 

Grow Your Audience

The size of your audience determines how much revenue you make from your podcast. If you get 10,000 downloads from each episode, you’ll have more clout to contact potential sponsors. Some sponsors may even seek you out.

Sponsor opportunities can become very lucrative as your listenership grows. In her book Entrepreneurial You, Dorie Clark shares that many podcasts get around $20-$35 for each thousand listeners when the episode is sponsored. Some podcast hosts make slightly less while others make much more than that for every thousand downloads.

If you get 10,000 downloads for each episode, we’re talking about $200-$350 for every episode. If you run a daily show, that’s $6,000 to $10,500 every month.

To grow your audience, you need a strategy for promoting every episode. Tell your social media audience, communicate with your list, and tell the guest when their episode comes out. That way, not only will you promote the episode, but your guest will also promote the episode.

Depending on how well you know some of your guests and the overall topic of the interview, you can recommend some of your other episodes. If one of my guests enjoys reading Seth Godin’s books, I’ll mention the episode when I interviewed Seth Godin.

 

Leverage The Post-Interview

The end of any Breakthrough Success interview never represents how the conversation truly ends. I thank the guest for being on the show and we have a quick conversation. I tell them they can share or not share. I never want to put pressure on my guests to share their episodes.

During the post-interview, I will also ask guests if they know anyone who would be a great fit for the show. This makes it easier for me to attract great guests on my show, and more guests typically means more exposure.

The post-interview is important for strengthening the relationship and inviting guests to share your episode when it  comes out. Some of your guests will share the episode months and even years after it has been published.

 

Craft A Monetization Plan

Getting sponsors onboard is one way to generate revenue for your podcast. In the beginning, you won’t have a line of sponsors approaching you. Instead, you may decide to promote brands as an affiliate.

You’ll hear me promote Audible and other resources in future episodes. These are resources I have promoted before without the incentive, but now I am more actively promoting them to boost my podcasting profits.

You need a plan for monetizing your podcast with each promotion and throughout the conversation. I mention Audible when I ask guests to share their three favorite books. At the end of episodes, I mention one of my offers. All of that can change as I get approached by sponsors interested in getting featured on my show.

Know where in the episode you’ll mention sponsors and which questions will lead into offers. You can also use your outro to promote offers and/or sponsors, but never your intro. If you promote an offer or sponsor in the intro, that’s the first impression new listeners will have of you…and that’s a very bad first impression.

 

In Conclusion

Podcasting is a great opportunity, but to continue exploring and growing with this opportunity, you need to make a profit from your efforts. Become more conscious of your expenses and how much money you’re leaving behind by not crafting a monetization plan.

How do you make your podcast profitable? What have you seen that works very well? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.