Podcasts are on the rise. Whether you have a podcast or not, being a guest on a podcast is the fastest way to maximize your visibility.
In this episode I share exactly how to find the right shows for you, what kind of research to do, how to pitch yourself to podcast hosts and what NOT to do in your pitch.
Full Transcription at the bottom of this blog post.
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Full Transcription:
Hey everyone. Welcome back to the show today. We are going to talk about visibility, how you can get visible to a bigger audience and the way to do that, how to maximize your visibility is as a podcast guest, I’m not talking about having your own podcast, but being a podcast, guest, being a guest on other shows is an awesome way to maximize your visibility.
All right, so we know that podcasts are on the rise each and every week we are seeing new shows come out. People are launching their shows, talking about their shows on social media. And it’s awesome. Podcasting is an awesome platform to grow your audience. But if you don’t have your own podcast, I highly recommend considering being a guest on a show. So you can grow your visibility and grow your audience. Okay. But let’s talk about number one, how to do this, how to become a guest on a show and then number two, what not to do as a guest. Okay. All right. So first of all, what you want to do to be a guest on the show is you want to start looking at podcasts that are similar to your business or your niche. So what you’re going to do is you’re going to get on iTunes.
I highly recommend doing it on your computer. It’s a lot easier, but open up iTunes. And you’re either going to type in some keywords that are similar to your business or your niche, or maybe you already listened to some shows that you absolutely love type in those shows. And at the bottom of the screen, it is going to list shows that are very similar. It’s going to make show suggestions for you to listen, to make note of those shows at the bottom. Okay? So you’re going to make a list of all the shows, make sure you know, the host name and what niche or niche that they’re in. So once you’ve generated a list and let’s talk about your list for a moment, when you think to yourself, Oh my gosh, I want to be a guest on a podcast and I want to grow my visibility.
I’m going to reach out to Rachel Hollis. Well, I hate the bus, your dream bubble, but depending on where you’re at in your business, in your credibility, right? Your, I hate to say your business status. I just hate to use that term, but I am not going to approach Rachel Hollis. She doesn’t know who I am. I am not on her level yet to be pitching myself to Rachel Hollis, to be on her show. But I can certainly pitch to other people who are very similar in my niche and similar to my business size or my business growth. So be aware of the lists that you’re making, right? Those super popular podcasts that have millions of downloads, right in, they’re almost like celebrity. I call them entrepreneurial celebrities. You might not want to put them on your list because the chances of you being a guest on their show, well, may not work out for you.
So when you’re trying to decide on your list of shows, what you want to do is take a look at newer shows and how to know if they’re newer shows is most likely look at the number of episodes that they have. Look at shows that have less than 150 episodes. And then you also want to look at their ratings, their star ratings, and their written reviews. Take a look at those. Look for shows that have a less than a hundred ratings, most likely a show with less than a hundred ratings and less than 150 episodes is a newer show. That means their show is maybe only been out for a year, maybe two years, but they have, you know, they’re consistent with their show, right? So if you see that they’re showing up each and every week, you want to be on a show that is consistent and already has a pretty good audience.
So make that list of shows. Now what you have to do next is you’re not going to pitch the host yet. This is probably a really big mistake. Don’t do it yet. You need to do a little bit of research. I’m going to tell you right now, if you want to maximize your visibility and you want to be a pilot, God cast guest, don’t be lazy. Skip this part. You need to put the work in and you need to do a little bit of research. Okay? So first off you need to look them up on social and engage with their content. All right, it’s going to be a lot easier for you to be a guest on their show if you’re already engaging with their content. So make sure you’re looking them up on Facebook or LinkedIn or Instagram. Okay? If they have a podcast, most likely they are marketing their episodes on Instagram.
So get your booty on Instagram. Look up the show, look up the host, find their account on Instagram and you better start engaging with their content. If you want to be a guest on their show, hands down. Number one, that’s the first thing you want to do. Secondly, you want to pop over to their website and you want to see if they have a podcast section. Most podcasters will have a section on their website and on that section, they are going to most likely list or describe how they take on guests. They might even have a little application button as I do. Okay. You want to make sure that you follow their suggestions or rules on how to be a guest. So follow along on their website. Now, if they don’t have anything, if you can’t find anything on their website on how to connect with them or how to be a gas on how to apply to be a guest, then you can bump over to Instagram and send them a DM.
I’ll get to that in a moment of what you should be saying in your DMS. Thirdly, if you want to be a guest on someone’s show, the best thing that you can do for them is leave them a review. And I’m talking a written review on Apple iTunes. Okay. Don’t just hit the five stars and leave because honestly we don’t see where those F you know, who’s leaving the five stars. Okay. And that’s just being lazy. That’s like leaving, um, you know, an emoji, uh, as a comment on Instagram like this, like that’s just so unfortunately I just feel that that’s just the easy way out. Leave a written review. What do you like about their show? What have you learned about it? How has it inspired you? Is there a specific episode that you really enjoyed listening to leave a written review and tell the host what you like about their show?
That is the best way to give them feedback and make them feel good. And then when you say, yeah, I left a review for your show. The host is going to be, you know, more inclined to have you as a guest on their show. All right, let’s talk about the pitch, right? So you’ve major list of the shows that you want to be a guest on. I hope you’re engaging with their content on the social media platforms. I hope you’ve listened to at least one or two episodes, and you’re going to leave them a review. Now it comes down to the pitch right now. You want to be on their show. So hands down, make sure that you’ve already looked at their website to see if they have an application process. Most podcast hosts will have an application process. So look for that first, if they don’t, all right, now you have the choice to either email them, or you can send them a DM on Instagram, if they’re on Instagram.
So here comes the pitch, right? You want to be as personal as possible. It does not need to be this beautiful, polished professional message or email. Because honestly, when I get those, I kind of go, Oh, did someone write this for you? Or was this just a copy paste? You want it to be very personal? Like you’re writing a letter to a friend. So first and foremost, make sure you use the host name in the DM or the email. And you want to complement their show, tell them why you like it. Next. You want to introduce yourself. You want to say who you serve. And then why you’re saying so passionate to, you know, why, why are you passionate to serve? Like how do you help your audience? And then what you teach, give the hosts some idea of why you want to be on the show.
What are you willing to teach? Or why do you want to inspire their audience? Okay. All right. Number three. The next point in your pitch is I think it’s a really a good idea to offer some sort of swap. So if you are a podcast, host yourself, I would offer a pot swap, right? That is the best way, because not only are you getting visible on their show, you’re allowing the host to come on your show and they’re getting visibility. So podcasts swaps are the easiest way to be a guest on a show. If you don’t have a podcast, another idea is to offer the host to be a guest expert in your Facebook group, have them come in your Facebook group for, you know, a one hour teaching. And they’re going to teach on whatever they’re an expert in. Okay? As long as you think that, um, they would benefit your audience.
If you don’t have a Facebook group, then you can offer the host to share one of their friends. That’s converting freebies in one of your email, correct pains, right? So you’re going to be a guest on their show and in exchange for being a guest as a thank you, you’re going to offer one of their high converting freebies in one of your email campaigns. The biggest thing you want to do in your pitch is you want to focus on a collaboration and it’s not about you, right? It’s not you getting in the spotlight. You want to make sure that you are spotlighting their audience, and you want to collaborate with the host. That is the best way, and the easiest way to become a guest on the podcast. Hands down, you need to make sure that you are focusing on their audience. What are you going to teach them?
How are you going to inspire them? What is the audience going to walk away with? What can they implement after you’ve been on the show, made sure that you are focusing on helping the audience. If you make it about yourself and your own vanity metrics. And I’m going to tell you, that’s going to blow up in your face because a podcast host can smell it a mile away when a spammy pitch is coming their way. So let’s talk about what not to do when it comes to either pitching yourself or being a guest on the show, don’t send an email or a DM without doing your research. And when you do your research, make sure or I’m sorry, when you’re actually sending the DM or the pitch, make sure you’re using the host name and don’t make it sound like a copy paste, mass email, make personalize them, make sure it’s personal to them.
I don’t know how many times I ever received an email. And it says, dear host of the social media for mompreneurs podcast. I delete it right then and there that tells me that this person did not do any research because I’m sorry. Number one, my name is right on the artwork for my podcast. My name is on Instagram. My name is all over my website. So that shows that this person was just looking up a bunch of podcasts, copy and pasted a message, and just put the host of the social media for marketers podcast. That tells me that this person does not care about my audience and does not care about me or my time. And they’re just looking to put themselves in a spotlight to grow their business. Nope. Sorry. You’re not going to be on my show. So make sure that you’re doing your research and you find out the host name.
And lastly, you want to focus on helping their audience, make your pitch about them and how your teachings or your message makes you different. I’m telling you if you just go in and you’re just yourself and you really want to help their audience, you will maximize your visibility by being a guest on podcasts. Okay? That’s it. If you guys have any questions, get on Instagram. DM me to ask me more questions about being a guest on podcasts, until next time.
