How To Make the Most of Your Podcast Guest Appearances

Big impact for so little effort

I’m looking forward to speaking to fellow authors at the 2024 Relatable Media Book Fair this November. I thought I’d craft this article to give writers ideas to maximize interviews. Not just podcast interviews – any interviews: print, radio, even TV.

The benefits outweigh any ad dollars for the credibility of being featured on someone else’s platform and its free! These events shouldn’t be one and done. They should be a consistent series of interactions you can develop with a modicum of time. And it can be joyful to meet and talk to other professionals.

Get ready

1. Learn about your host and their podcast. Listen/watch to a few episodes to understand their format and audience. Follow their socials, comment, and share. Subscribe to their newsletter, and read their blog. Consider buying their book, other products, or services, so you can speak from experience.
2. Consider how you can help the audience. What value do you offer? Now, draft several questions that your host could ask you so you can demonstrate your expertise and help others. Make sure to include the talking points you want to get across. Consider giving something away for free.
3. Decide what your call-to-action would be.
4. Create a media kit. Make it downloadable, but also a web page. Include questions that you could be asked, links to other press and awards you’ve gotten, testimonials, a list of your services, a short bio, a short blurb about your book, with your head shot and a photo of your book. Send a link to your Media Press Kit page to your host. My friend Elizabeth Cottrell, another 2024 RV Book Fair speaker, prepared a wonderful, simple About page and Media kit.
5. Send the podcast host a copy of your book for free. Send two with a short note for them to share with someone who might enjoy it. That extra book might lead to another opportunity.
6. Promote the upcoming podcast date on your site, in your newsletter, blog, and social media messages.

During the interview

1. Listen actively, making it a real conversation, but make sure to slip in your talking points and call-to-action with the one link to contact you and find your offer.
2. Keep your answers succinct, using some of those memorable sound bites that you thought of beforehand. Take a breath at the end of sentences to allow for easy editing into short promotional videos later. If the host doesn’t ask your questions, slip your key points into answers. Mention the title of your book in an answer.
3. Be a polite guest. Resist the urge to do a hard sales pitch.

After the show

1. Again, promote the episode. Ask for the full raw recording to make smaller clips for marketing. Share in a blog post, newsletter, and social media. Ask friends to share too.
2. Follow up with your host to let them know how you are promoting it and to find out their promotion plan, so that you can comment on their posts and share them. Ask how they thought the interview went. Keep in touch to develop a relationship where you help each other. Ask them who else might interview you and for referrals. If you have a podcast, reciprocate in kind, if it’s appropriate. Look for opportunities to cooperate again, either in blog posts, webinars, or other interviews.

Follow these suggestions to make the most out your guest opportunities on podcasts and with bloggers. Make free publicity a cornerstone campaign to promote your business. I have some other impactful, no cost tips in “30 Ways To Leverage Other People’s Platforms To Increase Awareness, Credibility, and Revenues.” Promotional activities are covered in the beginning of my book, “Rockin’ ROI: How To Bootstrap Ecommerce With Performance-Based Marketing,” which describes how to ramp up campaigns profitably.

Now, if you are looking to find podcasts to be on, I have one quick tip. Do what Lucia and I did: we met through the Radio Guest List newsletter. You can watch our interview to get more tips to leverage other people’s platforms for free.

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I publish a newsletter on LinkedIn each month with great tips that I learn from others, as well as my own recommendations to be more successful in marketing and business. Find it here…

Speaking of experts I admire, I’ve been lucky enough to interview some smart people who can help you with legal advice, offline and online marketing, making better decisions, and creating a better home environment for work and life. Get their best advice here…