Marc's Blog

Content Writing and Marketing Services

podcasting tips

5 Ways To Land More Guests On Your Podcast

by Leave a Comment

 

podcastHello everyone, I’m teenager entrepreneur Marc Guberti. In this post I’m going to share with you five different methods you can use to get more guests on your podcast.

But before I get into that, I want to talk to those of you who haven’t yet started a podcast, but are thinking about it, and tell you why podcasts are so valuable.

One of my favorite things about podcasting is that I get free mentors.

Rather than pay for an expensive consultation session, you can interview someone, ask questions that are also your audience’s questions, and get the answers as well as more insight about your niche. So I find that really valuable.

You also get to build relationships with, as you scale your podcast, some of the most influential and successful people on the planet.

That is no understatement at all. Basically with a podcast, and you being able to interview all of these people, you are going to reach more people with your podcast. If you really scale this up, you could even have a chat with one of your role models.

Some people are able to land that interview on their very first episode. I would not recommend doing that because you’re going to feel a lot of pressure interviewing your role model. While that’s also just the nature of the game, I recommend conducting some interviews before you ask your role model if he or she is available for a podcast interview.

Finally, exponential authority.

I mean, I don’t know if you’ve seen other people with podcasts do this, but they’ll say stuff like, “I’ve had guests like so-and-so and this person and that person.” That gives you more authority by association. So if you associate yourself with authority figures in your podcast, you’ll increase your own authority as well.

So now that you know why podcasts are awesome, I’m going to talk to you about methods, beginning with the ‘contact me’ page.

This page works both ways: your ‘contact me’ page and your guest’s ‘contact me’ page. In the beginning, your contact me page is going to do little to nothing unless you already have a big audience.

So what you want to do on your guest’s ‘contact me’ page is tell them about your podcast and your past guests, if you have any; if you don’t, focus more on what your podcast is about. You should be doing this either way, but you should have a stronger focus on what your podcast is about if you still haven’t had any guests.

You want to make this a really short email, less than five sentences, because some of these people are very busy and they only have a few seconds to decide if this is the right opportunity for them. The ‘contact me’ page seems to be a universal page on most blogs. You can usually find it easily at the top of the blog. If you cannot find it, go into the search engine on that person’s blog and search for the words ‘contact me’ or ‘contact us’. You can also go to the very bottom of a blog to look for the contact me option.

As you continue to get more guests and you continue to build your authority, some people are going to contact you directly and ask if they can be on your show. Some of your fans may also suggest people who could be on your show. So in the beginning, you’re doing a lot of work by contacting people, but eventually people are going to be contacting you asking to be on your show, or giving you ideas of who could appear on your next episode.

The second way to get more guests from your podcast is to use Twitter.

I absolutely love using Twitter for the purpose of getting more guests on my podcast episodes. I find people in my niche who I want to engage with and then ask them via Twitter if they would like to appear on my podcast. The great thing about Twitter is that it’s just 140 characters; sometimes I’ll find myself sending two tweets to the same person to get my point across, but that’s still less than 280 characters, and people usually engage with their followers on Twitter.

Responsive users are looking to see who has mentioned them, so they will see your tweet request. And a lot of them will engage with that tweet. I mean, some people might say, “Unfortunately I can’t do it.” But other people will say, “Great. Where do we start?” Another thing I do is include my email address within these tweets.

Why? Because you can’t easily continue a conversation like this on Twitter. Once you have the person’s attention, you’ll now want it to go beyond 140 characters. You’ll want to send them your scheduling link, which you definitely want to keep private or else you’re going to get a lot of people that you don’t want to interview filling up your calendar.

Even if you don’t have a scheduling calendar, you don’t want to be talking about, “Oh, let’s do it at this time, this date,” on Twitter. That’s why I provide my email address within the tweets that I send to these people. As a bonus, if you are a verified user, you can filter and see all of the verified users who are following you. If you have a lot of verified users following you, you can go through them and see which ones you really want to have on your podcast, and then contact them.

The reason I like this method is because in order to be verified you’ve likely done something really cool. Maybe you have an incredible story, or expertise. These are the types of people you want as guests on your podcast. So that’s how you use Twitter in order to get more people on your podcast. It doesn’t matter if you have hundreds of thousands of followers or just a few hundred followers, you can use this method to get more people on your podcast.

The third way to get more guests on your podcast is through referral.

After you interview someone, ask that person if he or she can recommend anyone who would be a great guest for your podcast. This allows you to leverage your guests to build relationships that you couldn’t have built on your own. Some people are inaccessible to you but not the person you interviewed; that person can make the introduction.

This is an underrated method. It may not be the method that will get you the majority of your guests, but you can get a few really cool guests by asking every one of your guests, “Who would you like to see on my podcast? Who can you introduce me to?” The main rule I follow is to build as many relationships as possible. I like to follow the approach in which you build one meaningful relationship every single day.

So I build a lot of relationships without expecting anything in return. But sure enough, I get many things in return. I mean, I don’t go into the relationship with expectations. But I often engage with a new contact only to find that same person lending a hand a few months down the line, perhaps by saying, “I know this person who would be great for your podcast,” or, “I know someone who is looking for people to interview for his podcast.” So you never know what opportunities will open up when you start to build relationships; try to build one meaningful relationship a day and expect nothing in return.

The fourth way to get more guests for your podcast is to read books about your niche.

When you read books about your niche, it helps you build knowledge about your niche. That’s one of the most common reasons people say, “Read books.” But there are more benefits to reading books, especially when it comes to having your own podcast. What I’ve noticed is a lot of authors like to mention other authors and other people’s works within their own books. It’s a pattern I see a lot.

So with this pattern in mind, you can come across more people who would make for great guests on your episodes. Even if you can’t get the main author, you can go through that author’s book, see which books and authors he or she recommends, and then contact those individuals to see if they would like to be on your podcast. Plus, reading a book written by a guest on your podcast will greatly strengthen the interview.

What I like to do when I’m interviewing someone (and have read their book in advance) is underline key points found within their book. By doing that, I am able to bring up key points when I first contact them about being a guest, as well as formulate better questions once they agree to be a guest on my podcast. I don’t have to reread the book, I just focus on the important points I’ve already underlined.

If you get really good at reading books you could get through 10 books a month, and read as many books as possible from authors who have books on pre-order. You can say, “I have this podcast, I’d love to interview you about your upcoming book.” Some of them will send you a copy or a few chapters to help you formulate questions to make the interview better.

Authors with books on pre-order are the easiest people to get on your podcast because they are looking for more exposure at this specific moment of time. What these authors try to do is get a bunch of podcast interviews, or a bunch of guest posting opportunities all within less than four weeks from the time the book actually launches.

Getting high authority authors when they are in this pre-order stage will allow you to get more people later on because, as mentioned before, authority by association means you will be associated with some of these really successful authors (who you had contacted back when their books were on pre-order).

The final way to get more guests on your podcast, is to contact more people.

I mean, it sounds really simple. Contact more people, get more of them to say yes. But you need to contact more people in order to multiply your results. If you want to get more people on your podcast as guests, then instead of contacting five people, contact 10 people. By contacting twice as many people, in theory, you get twice as many guests for your podcast.

I like to make this a daily habit. I’ll contact at least three people a day for either a podcast appearance or a summit experience. This daily habit keeps me in check and makes it easier for me to contact different people and get interviews with them. So, with this habit, I contact over 1000 people in any given year. And if I get 33% of those people to say yes, I’ll have enough podcast material for an entire year. And if I do a weekly, rather than daily, podcast, I’ll have nearly 300 extra interviews that can be organized into summits.

I personally recommend not having too long of a queue. Let’s say you get 20 interviews for your podcast and you do an episode every week; that is unfair to guest number 20. So at that point you would increase the frequency in which you publish new episodes. It will challenge you to reach out to more people. It will challenge you to learn more about your niche. And it is such a fun experience!

In my experience, though, scheduling can get really annoying – things like suggesting different times and dates. I stopped doing that and started using Acuity. Acuity lets you set up a calendar and people can simply choose which times and dates work for them, which also work for you.

This makes it easier for you to contact more people because you don’t have to go back and forth with scheduling technicalities. Instead of going through all that hassle, you can just send them a link to your Acuity calendar, and that makes it easier for you and easier for the guest to schedule an interview.

Do you have any tips for landing podcast interviews? Will you try any of the tips mentioned in this post? Reach out in the comment section below.

If you’re new to this blog, please subscribe with the form below to receive more content like this. And don’t forget to pass on this post if you know someone who may benefit from it.

Until next time,

-Marc

*image credit: Pixabay

3 Steps To Hosting A Great Podcast Interview

by 2 Comments

podcast

When I first thought of starting my own podcast, I thought the host just compiled a bunch of questions and the guests did most of the work.

Boy was I wrong.

By this point, I’ve conducted dozens of interviews. And each one requires preparation and thoughtful discussion. There’s far more to conducting a podcast interview than writing a bunch of questions and reading them off the screen.

Even so, it’s not that difficult to become a ‘natural’ at podcasting. It just takes practice and preparation. And the more prepared you are, the easier and more fun the interviews will be.

The following tips will help you conduct great interviews with your podcast guests and improve the quality of your show:

#1: Preparation 

Preparation will make or break your podcast. It’s easy for listeners to tell if something was well-planned or completely spontaneous. To prepare a podcast episode, start with the introductory script.

In other words, how you will introduce your podcast’s episode and guests.

Ever notice how the hosts of great podcasts can always introduce their guests without stumbling on a word? Probably not; you simply expect it. But good introductions don’t happen without preparation.

It’s easy to take this for granted until you become a host yourself and discover a whole new world. Here’s the script I use for my intros:

“Hello and welcome. I am your host, Marc Guberti, and this is the podcast for marketers and small business owners who are looking for the breakthrough for their businesses. I am very excited about this show. We are going to discuss [Topic] with our guest [Name of guest]. [A few facts about the guest]. It is my pleasure to welcome [name of guest] to the show.”

The next time you listen to one of my podcast episodes, look at my rubric as you hear me deliver the intro. While each introduction may be slightly different, I use this rubric for nearly all of them.

The second part of preparation is writing down your questions. Question writing becomes easier with practice because you can use the good ones more than once.  For instance, I always ask my guests for an inspirational quote.

That’s one question down. But how many are left to go?

I usually jot down 10-15 questions, but I recommend always writing more than you need. Some guests like to elaborate while others will give short answers to almost every question.

During the episode, ask the important questions first, but leave room for bonus questions in case you want or need to make the episode longer (of course, if this means sacrificing value, then don’t bother sacrificing value for episode length).

Preparation will also make you better at attracting guests to your podcast.

#2: Conducting The Interview

The interview consists of more than just reading the intro and questions one by one. While you technically could conduct an interview in this manner, it’s no fun for anyone—you, your guest, or your listeners.

A podcast interview is a conversation, not a job interview. In a job interview, questions get fired out, and responses get fired back, with a bit more on-the-fly tactical planning. The interviewer is doing everything he/she can to assess whether a person is a good fit for a particular job.

A podcast interview, however, is more casual and you may even develop a bond with your guests. You already know your guests are extraordinary in their own ways, or you wouldn’t have invited them.

When you ask a question, listen carefully to what the other person says, and acknowledge it, before adding your own points and/or proceeding to the next question. Remember that your listeners are interested in what your guests have to say, so try to keep yourself out of the spotlight as much as possible.

The key element of a podcast interview is conversation. Like most conversations, it’s difficult to jot down notes, but unlike most conversations, this one is being (legally) recorded.

You can focus on the conversation itself, then go back to listen to the entire episode later, or you can hire someone to take notes for you. Trying to take notes while leading a podcast and guests is overwhelming.

That’s why I prefer to listening to the recordings or asking someone else to do it for me. This lets me stay focused on truly listening to my guests and coming up with a nice transition into the next question. Transitions are important because they help  conversations appear more natural.

Imagine someone asking you questions all day. As soon as you’ve answered one, they ask you another, and so it goes. That’s not a conversation. That’s more like a job interview.

During your interview, spend some time listening and some time thinking about how you will transition into your next question (but not at the expense of missing out on interesting follow-up questions). If you listen only, it will be awkward moving from question to question.

The moment I hear a guest make a excellent point that I can use as a transition, I hold it in my mind. If I forget it, it’s much harder to make the transition. Making mental notes of important points helps guests feel more comfortable and the interview going smoothly.

#3: Follow-Up After The Interview

Your podcast episode doesn’t end when you’ve thanked your guests for showing up and sharing their knowledge. Sure, that can happen, but there’s usually follow-up conversation that takes place after the interview (that doesn’t make it into the episode).

Those conversations help you develop stronger relationships with your guests. At the end of some of these conversations, I often find myself talking about potential partnerships or collaborations.

Why end the conversation along with your episode when there’s so much more to talk about?

Some people use it as an opportunity to encourage guests to share the episode. They strategize on how to sprinkle the conversation with a call to action. My advice is to keep that in the background.

I always tell my guests that I’ll send them a link when the episode is live, but I don’t push them to share it on their social networks. Every guest and episode provides me with a massive amount of knowledge, and that alone is enough. Of course, shares are an added bonus!

In Conclusion

Conducting successful podcast interviews becomes easier with practice. But having the right approach will give you a big advantage when it comes time for your next interview.

Interviewing people is fun and it fills you with new knowledge. There were several instances in which I thought I knew exactly what tip a certain guest would provide only to be thrown a curveball full of new and novel insight.

One of Jim Rohn’s many powerful quotes reads like this: “Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”

This quote resonates with me since I’m both a college student and entrepreneur. Reading it motivates me to continue as an entrepreneur, even when the going gets tough.

Conducting great podcast interviews is the easiest way to produce new content for your brand and learn new things at the same time.

I truly believe that everyone should have a podcast even though it can take time to gain traction. The important thing is that you’ll continue to grow, and improve your show, with each new guest you invite and interview.

What are your thoughts on conducting podcast interviews? Do you have a podcast? Sound off in the comments section below.

image credit: Pixabay.com

How To Prepare For Your Podcast Launch

by 4 Comments

Podcast Launch

After many false starts, it’s finally happening. A few weeks ago, I had a spur of the moment idea.

Create a podcast!

It was a spur of the moment idea, but it’s not the first time I thought of creating a podcast. I thought of creating a podcast in which I would provide digital marketing advice the way I do on YouTube.

That never happened.

I also thought of hosting a podcast where I would answer people’s questions. People emailed me their questions, and although I answered those people individually, I never turned those questions into a podcast.

I have all of those emails saved, so the possibility of me finally answering those questions for everyone (over a year later) is VERY strong.

Podcasting has eluded me for a long period of time. I always felt as if an invisible wall stood in front of me. But the spur of the moment idea got stronger, and I was sending out emails to potential guests.

Once the first guest said yes, I knew I was committed. Whatever was holding me back no longer stood in my way.

 

How To Find Great Guests For Your Podcast

If you don’t have guests in your podcast episodes, then you don’t have to worry about this step. However, having guests is a great way to get more exposure for your podcast because the guests will promote the episodes they are featured in.

I decided to have guests on my podcast. Once I was committed to the podcast (the first guest said yes), I had to think of ways to get more guests on the show.

I started off by asking people who I know within my niche. Some of these people said yes while others were too busy at the time.

However, this tactic will only work for a short period of time. You have to come across new people and ask them to be a guest on your podcast. These people must also be the type of guests you are looking for.

Now it’s time for the power tip. Believe it or not, it’s easy to find great guests for your podcast. I often read blog posts on ProBlogger. For a long time, I read those blog posts with a focus on obtaining more knowledge.

I still read ProBlogger’s content with the aim of learning something new. But now I look at the author. Getting your content on ProBlogger is tough. You have to be a highly skilled blogger to get your content featured there.

When I read guest contributions that I liked, I’ll read the author’s bio. If I like the content, and the author seems like the right fit for my podcast, I contact that author.

I’ll let the author know how I found him/her, invite the author as a guest, and then tell him/her what the podcast is all about—all in five sentences or less.

I am replicating this method across various blogs and media sites with prominent writers who would be great to have on my podcast.

 

The One Picture That Saved Me

So I have several guests. Now what? I had to get back to them but knew nothing about creating a podcast episode and how to interact with the guests as the show date got closer.

It was a picture I saved over a year ago in case I ever started my own podcast. It revealed the workflow that goes into a seamless experience.

podcast workflow

If you are worried about what type of work creating a podcast entails, this workflow will bring a lot more clarity to what type of work creating a podcast entails—and how to get it done.

 

Building Relationships With Influencers

I know many people within my niche, so I had a group of people who I could contact. I asked them if they would like to be a guest, and a bunch of these people said yes.

But at some point, I didn’t know any of these people. How did they get to know me?

To put it simply, I helped them first. I wrote guest posts, promoted products, appeared on their podcasts, and similar things of that nature. When you help someone in a big way, you get that person’s attention.

A successful relationship between you and any influencer starts with an imbalance. You help the influencer as much as you can (multiple guest posts, promote the person’s product multiple times, etc) before that influencer does anything for you in return.

Then, you ask for the favor. In the case of a guest appearance on a podcast, the favor benefits both you and the influencer because you’ll both get more exposure.

The key thing to take away is that it takes time to get the influencers on your podcasts. You have to build relationships with them if you want them on your podcast. The more credible your podcast becomes, the easier it will be for you to get influencers.

If you are considering creating a podcast, then my recommendation is to build relationships with influencers now. Even if you don’t launch your podcast, those relationships will help you in the long-run.

 

You’ll Need Help

No, this is not the part where I promote consultation services or anything like that.

There are a lot of components that go into a successful podcast launch and successfully maintaining the podcast. You’ll end up doing most or all of the work associated with your podcast’s launch.

To save time, you’ll want to eventually outsource some of the tasks to other freelancers. I am a big fan of outsourcing, and it saves me countless hours of time in a given day. If I didn’t outsource, it wouldn’t be possible for me to expand into new opportunities—like podcasting.

I don’t have a team of freelancers helping me with my podcast yet, but I have given it a lot of thought. I am considering hiring someone to edit the audio and help me with the show notes. I’m sure I will consider (and hire) freelancers with more roles as time goes by.

Don’t be afraid of hiring freelancers to help you out with your podcast. Even if you feel like you have your podcast under control, you can hire freelancers to help you with tasks outside of your podcast. That way, you’ll have more time that you can utilize towards your podcast’s success.

 

In Conclusion

If there was one thing I thought I would NEVER do, I thought I would never start a podcast. So many false starts, a demanding schedule, and a vague idea of how I would get started.

Now I finally have my own podcast, and it feels great. When I first considered launching a podcast, it seemed very difficult. I have learned that things only look difficult when you haven’t implemented them yet.

Then you are forever stuck at square one having no idea how to advance to the next level. The decision to implement is the equivalent of driving on the road to success instead of walking on that road with mental baggage.

If you want to create a podcast, my best advice is to just do it. Once you begin the process, creating and maintaining the podcast will automatically become easier. The work will be the same, but now you’ll have clarity on what to do.

What are your thoughts on launching a successful podcast? Which of these tidbits was your favorite? Sound off in the comments section below.

6 Reasons To Start A Podcast

by 4 Comments

start your own podcast

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to create a podcast by the end of 2015, and for a good reason. After seeing the growth of podcasts on the web and successful podcasters such as Pat Flynn of The Smart Passive Income Podcast and Steve Scott of the Self-Publishing Questions Podcast, I decided I needed to have a piece of the action (you’ll see a podcast from me by the end of 2015; I haven’t given up on that New Year’s resolution). Here are six reasons why you would want to start your own podcast:

 

#1: You’ll Tap Into New Traffic

Podcasts are popular on the web, and some podcasts get millions of downloads. If you put your podcast on the iTunes Store, you would instantly tap into a new audience. As your podcast becomes more popular, more people will first hear about you through your podcast. Some of the people who first hear about you on your podcast may decide to subscribe to your blog and buy your products later on.

Not only do you get to tap into a new audience, but you can lead this new audience to your landing page. At the beginning of all of your podcast episodes, you have the opportunity to introduce yourself to new readers and promote your landing page at the same time. Just give your listeners a brief summary of what you offer on your landing page and then include a link in the podcast’s description to your landing page. If you get hundreds of people to download your podcast on iTunes every month, that’s hundreds of people who could potentially subscribe to your email list.

 

#2: Audio Content Is Becoming Popular

Audio is becoming more important than ever in a busy world filled with multi-taskers. In most multi-tasking scenarios, we do two things not as efficiently compared to our level of efficiency when we choose to focus on one thing at a time. Audio is different. If you go out for a walk, a run, or drive to the grocery store, then you can’t read a book at the same time. Reading and driving is the perfect formula for disaster. What is the substitute for reading? The answer is listening to podcasts.

Each time I run on the treadmill, I either listen to a podcast or a playlist of my favorite songs. Most of the time, I either listen to Pat Flynn or Steve Scott while running. I run for over an hour every day so I can listen to multiple episodes on their podcasts within a given week. In car rides, I either listen to Joel Osteen DVDs.

It is easier for us to listen to things than it is for us to read things. That’s why social media posts with videos get more engagement than social media posts without videos. That’s why YouTube is very popular. Audio content is easier for us to consume. You can listen with your eyes closed while lying on your couch.

 

#3: More Credibility

Having your own podcast gives you a new level of credibility. Why would you want more credibility? The simple answer is that credibility makes us look good. Would you rather buy the Twitter book from the person with 1,000 Twitter followers or the person with 10,000 Twitter followers (assuming the books were the same number of pages and both at the same price)?

The longer explanation is that credibility is easy to gain nowadays that we need more of it to truly stand out. Having a big social media audience isn’t enough. Having a popular blog isn’t enough. Having your own book isn’t enough. Having your own podcast isn’t enough. Many of the highly credible people in our niches have all four of these things, and more. You need to do more things of great value within your niche to really stand out.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1BybH3l”]You need to do more things of great value within your niche to really stand out.[/tweetthis]

#4: More Interaction With Your Audience

One thing I really like about the layout Steve Scott uses for his Self-Publishing Questions podcast is that he starts every podcast with a listener’s question. Starting with a listener’s question is a great way to come up with episode topics while encouraging more interaction. Steve encourages his listeners to ask their own questions to possibly get featured on his podcast and get their questions answered.

At the end of every podcast, you have the ability to encourage interaction. If you have a comment section at the bottom of every episode, then encourage your listeners to respond in the comments section. If your episodes don’t have comment sections, then encourage your listeners to contact you via email. As you continue to grow your audience, more people will take the time to interact with you.

 

#5: Podcasting Is A Big Deal

Podcasting is a proven, reliable method to reach more people and interact with your audience. As a whole, we have downloaded over 1 billion podcast episodes, and that doesn’t even include all of the podcast episodes we listen to without downloading. I don’t download Pat Flynn’s or Steve Scott’s podcast episodes. Instead, I listen to their episodes on their respective websites.

I think some people aren’t taking the plunge into podcasting because they are unaware of how big podcasting has become. Podcasting is a big deal, and based on its growth in recent years, podcasting has a great future.

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1BybH3l”]Podcasting is a big deal, and based on its growth in recent years, podcasting has a great future[/tweetthis]

#6: You Can Interview Experts

When you start your own podcast, you give yourself the ability to interview experts in real-time for free. Instead of asking an expert questions via email or paying for a consultation session, you get to ask them questions 1-on-1 for the whole world to hear. Interviewing the top experts in your niche will boost your credibility, and you can potentially start joint ventures with some of these experts. Even if you don’t get the joint venture, many of these experts will promote your podcast episode that they got featured in. Your podcast episode now reaches new audiences, the audiences of the experts who you interview.

Interviewing the experts in your niche also allows you to learn more about your niche. You can think of these 1-on-1 conversations as 1-on-1 consultation sessions in which you ask the questions and get detailed answers from the experts. Don’t be afraid to ask questions about topics that you don’t fully understand. The job of an expert is to empower others with their knowledge. You can be more than sure that the podcast hosts learn new things from the experts they interview. If you want to become successful in what you do, you must constantly learn more about what you do, no matter how much you think you already know.

 

In Conclusion

Having your own podcast is a big deal. Having a podcast will boost your credibility and allow you to tap into new audiences. With a podcast, you have the power to provide your audience with audio content that they can listen to while exercising, driving, or doing a wide range of other activities. Although blog posts get their points across, readers can’t effectively exercise or drive while reading blog posts. When blogging, podcasting, social media, an email list, and a few other things mix together, you’ll have the recipe for success.

Do you have a podcast? Do you want to start a podcast? Do you have any tips for newbie podcasters? Please share your thoughts and advice below.