Your Ultimate Guide to Getting On 30 Podcasts as a Guest in just 30 days.
Podcast consumption is exploding. With that explosion comes opportunity. As more people are listening to podcasts so are more podcasts hosts looking for guests to appear on their shows. This allows you the chance to have your 15 minutes of fame.
I’m going to share the exact (and simple) strategy I used to get on 30 podcasts in 30 days.
IT ALL STARTS WITH WHY
Before I do that you need to understand why do you want to get on podcasts as a guest? Is it to:-
- Raise your profile
- Have a book/product/service you are launching or offering
- Want to practice your powers of persuasion or storytelling
- You want to reach people in your target market
Regardless of the end result it does help to know why you want to spend the time and effort to appear on each podcast. This needs to be clear because although the strategy is virtually free it will take some time and effort to appear on these shows. A podcast appearance becomes an asset, lead generation tool, branding exercise and will help in positioning you as an authority. The best part is that it’s free (apart from the time and effort involved in outreach and appearing on the show)
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT IS YOUR STORY OR MESSAGE
Now you have committed to the process it’s time to work out what you want to say. To be featured on a podcast you will need to work out the 2 who’s.
Who you are and who is your audience.
For you it best to have a key theme that you are an expert in and can talk about, plus several sub-subjects that either relate or are relevant to the key theme. Depending on the length of the show, you could be talking for anywhere from 5 minutes to 60 minutes. So you will need to be prepared.
Write out some ideas around what your key message is. Ideally if you can create either an unusual point of view (challenging) or a different slant (intriguing) you will be more likely to be accepted. Use some personal stories wherever possible to back up what you say. Hosts LOVE personal stories. They want the audience to connect with you, and by sharing personal stories and being a little vulnerable, you will make a bigger impact with their listeners.
- Area of Expertise (Key message)
- Problems you solve
- Personal stories
- 3-4 additional ideas or message
WHAT YOU NEED TO PREPARE
Before you jump into contacting your 1st podcast host you will need to be well prepared. What you will need is:-
- A bio –details about you including any links to your website or social media profiles
- An outreach script – something that is short and punchy (challenging or intriguing)
- Social proof – if you don’t have any other shows you’ve appeared on add them once you have your first published interview
- A media 1 sheet – Mainly for bigger US publications
- A mini-cheat sheet to help you prepare for your interview
- A give-away or offer (if you have one)
- A list of podcasts you want to appear on (see the next section)
Here is the outreach script I use to get on Podcasts.
Hello [podcast owner’s name],
I’d love to be a guest on [insert show name] as I loved the episode about [insert topic] but also to be able to give value to your audience.
Some of my Favourite Business Related Topics to Discuss:
Topic #1 — Short description of your first topic and key learnings
Topic #2 — Short description of your second topic and key learnings
Topic #3 — Short description of your third topic and key learnings
My website is:
LinkedIn:
Twitter:
Recent Shows I’ve appeared on: (One you have your 1st published)
I’d happily promote our interview to my audience as well.
- A commitment to send a solo email to my email list 550 + active subscribers
- 2500 Twitter followers
- 400+ Facebook group
- 11,000 LinkedIn connections
Offer you have (optional)
HOW TO FIND YOUR IDEAL PODCASTS
Now you have your message clear and your media kit ready it’s time to find your ideal podcasts. There are a few slow and fast ways to approach this.
The slow approach.
Search in iTunes for specific keywords
Browse the Apple’s iTunes Podcast Directory by selected category
Search Google for podcasts in your industry (Searching for things like “Entrepreneur + Podcast”)
Browse online podcast directories like cast.market or https://panoptikum.io/podcasts/
The fast approach.
Use Upwork or Fiverr and post a gig for data mining. Allow for around US$30-40 for your budget. For this, depending on your keywords and categories, you will get a list containing 100’s possibly even 1,000 of podcast. Don’t forget to ask for the email address and or contact form.
You job now is to go through them line by line and sort them into 3 categories. A, B and C. Why? Because if you want to appear on your dream podcast you will need to build up the skills and confidence (and awareness) on the smaller, less known ones. Start small, build up to your ideal podcast.
WHEN TO OUTREACH
The best time to start is now. The final strategy is to start your outreach.
The lowest hanging fruit is to use any LinkedIn contacts that have “podcast host” in their title. Even if they don’t host a show that is relevant you can ask for a referral (lots of podcasts hosts appear on other podcasts) or an introduction.
Work your way through the list and make a note of the date you contacted them, method (email, LinkedIn, web form, other) Try and do this as fast as you can for your C category because you want to get your 1st interview done quickly. Break the duck and gain confidence and also be able to add this to your outreach message showing you have been on other shows (makes it easier for them to say yes)
Depending on how much time you have or resources available you can reasonably expect to contact 10-15 per hour. If you are short of time you can always look at getting a Virtual Assistant to help with these kind of tasks because you have done all the prep work its just a matter of cut and paste for the most part.
Consistency is the key. Set aside 1 hour a day to complete your list and then review at the end.
Follow this strategy and you will find multiple opportunities to increase your profile.
