How do you find and invite engaging guests for your podcast interviews?

Before you can know your audience, you must know your "why." Knowing your why means this: "What is the purpose of your podcast in the first place?" (Hint: this has to go beyond you, your brand, and your business. It has to be deeply rooted in serving others.) Once you know your why, develop an ideal listener/avatar, your avatar is "who" you say the podcast is for, which directly ties back to your why for starting in the first place. Once you have an avatar, your next step in becoming an impactful podcaster is to TALK TO YOUR LISTENERS. The best way to do this is any time you see them engage, ask them for a quick video conference call. Learn more about them and document what you learn. Then, improve your avatar and how you serve them!

To gain insights into your audience, consider these three often-overlooked steps: 1) Survey your listeners: Request feedback from your listeners via email, or your podcast's website. Inquire about their preferences for guests and topics, as well as any suggestions for improvement. This will enable you to tailor your podcast to your audience. 2) Create polls on social media: Use platforms like LinkedIn to create polls. This engagement can provide valuable insights into your audience's preferences and help you identify potential guests who align with those interests. 3) Attend industry events: Participate in relevant conferences, seminars, or networking events to meet potential guests and gain insights into your audience's interests.

Knowing our audience and niche has been extremely beneficial to our podcast success so far and it's just the start. The Crodie Files Podcast Is aimed at all Administrative Assistants and Business Support Professionals globally. We get to know our audience by building our professional networks prior to us launching, in fact, a few years of building personal connections, attending networking groups, expos for the industry and building our personal branding has definitely helped. Not only has this enabled us to gain valuable insight into the profession, that we are already in ourselves, but also by talking to our audience personally, we have gained so much value into the topics they want discussed and answered via our podcast.

Besides survey'ing in all sorts of ways (which btw worked very well for me), is to be open and be bold. The conversations I thought will have the lowest listen rate were the most listened to and become most popular in my top 5. Therefore I suggest everyone to take chances, you never actually know what will click with your audience or how people will find your topic while there's a trending topic on social media.

Another important thing to remember is to know what your audience wants their life to look like. What's their aspiration? How can your podcast enhance their life? What's in it for them?

Researching your guests is vital to a successful podcast interview. 4 ways to do this: #1. Listen to them on other podcasts. How do they treat the host during their time together? Is what they share valuable? #2. Check their social media and website. Do they mention the podcasts they've been a guest on? If not, that would be a red flag. #3. Have a short pre-call. Do the two of you seem to have good chemistry? If not, don't do the interview! #4. GO WITH YOUR GUT. Do you have a discomfort about them? Does something feel off? Don't ignore that feeling! ... Once, I went against my gut and had the worst interview of my entire podcasting career. Final thought: Have your listeners in mind when vetting guests. It's for them, not just for you.

In my experience, over many years of producing multiple shows with guests, I have developed some methods to find the right guest without an intro call every time. Firstly, I can read the energy in the potential guest's photo/s and gauge their intent from the words they use to pitch themselves. A lot of this comes from intuition and trusting your gut because for me it's not just an interview - it's an energetic connection which goes beyond the conversation we record and often leads to long term friendships around the world. I'm writing a book on this - stay tuned!

Our podcast is about Mental Health and more specifically about burnout. We created it after our own burnout episodes to break the taboo. Most of the time people now come to us as they are willing to share their story as we did in the past to help others. People either send us private messages on LinkedIn or emails directly on our site via the Contact Us page. Sometimes we go on LinkedIn to check for speakers especially when we want to interview doctors/ psychologists or we get recommandations from others. At the end of the day, most people who come as speakers are aligned with our ethics and approach to help others from Humans to Humans.

I've realized the crucial role of researching guests for my podcast. Researching their background, achievements, and content, from interviews to social media, enables me to connect personally and tailor my approach. This preparation enriches our conversations, allowing me to ask questions that resonate with their experiences and passions. It’s about showing genuine interest and respect for their work, which enhances the dialogue's depth and engagement. This attention to detail ensures meaningful discussions that honor our guests and captivate our listeners.

Look for areas of differentiation, as well as alignment, with the purpose of your podcast. Do a bit of prework with your guest to establish a "stake" you both will hold for the podcast discussion, to help each of you guide your contributions. If you can't reach agreement (with passion) around a shared stake, they may not be the right person for your podcast right now.

When pitching your podcast to potential guests, the best thing to do is to avoid using a template. You want your outreach to feel human and specific to each potential guest. Here's what I suggest: #1. Lead with value - Tell them what you like about them and what makes them special. #2. Make a meaningful request - ASK them to be a guest and tell them what you'd want them to cover. #3. Offer credibility - Don't list out your resume; instead, mention a common connection that you both know. Then, LINK to where they can learn more about the show. #4. Keep the above short - The shorter, the better. Don't go on and on; people don't have time for that! My final thought is to use a service like PodMatch.com to book guests instead of social DMs.

As a podcast host, I hate those generic messages - I love your xyz podcast & we think xyz person world be perfect on it. It’s really obvious (especially when your podcast title is deliberately long) that they’ve just automatically inserted it. And the guest that they’re suggesting is a specialist in US tax & your listeners are based in Australia & New Zealand ?? So, do take the time to genuinely see if there is a fit, even if your assistant is doing it for you - get them to have a listen to an episode & then say & offer something meaningful in the intro email. We send a guest briefing to each guest before we confirm them, so that both parties can be sure they will get value from doing a podcast together, and especially the audience!

You can consider creating a “media kit” to share with potential guests which would include a description of your podcast, link to prior episodes, social handles, and other useful information. This can be reused to make pitching your podcast more efficient, and also helps your guests more easily promote the podcast afterward.

In a podcast you need to know enough about the topic and the guest to be able to steer the conversation and keep it going by asking the right questions.

If schedules permit, it’s helpful to have a pre-interview call with your guest. This helps to set expectations, align on topic, flow, and style, and builds a rapport with the guest which can go a long way in creating a comfortable, successful interview thereafter. It can also help you be better prepared to manage any quirks that you may not have expected from your guest ahead of time, e.g. if they ramble or tend to go off topic, if they speak very slowly, etc. The reality is that interesting, smart guests are not always the most engaging (or perhaps too much so) and that’s okay! With the right preparation, you will become skilled at making any interview a hit.

When I started out many years ago, many of my episodes were scripted - but now there's very little preparation as much of what I need to ask is guided by intuition. I do my research, find the highlights on my guest and seek the curious questions that others might find interesting and generally have about 4 key topics/messages I like to address and pull out of the conversation. I also listen for the keys as people talk and hang on to those to tease out the direction of where it could go next - so very agile in the approach which makes it very organic, going with the flow.

Your interviews do not need to be scripted, and it’s often best if they aren’t to keep them natural. However, a rough outline can be helpful to prepare ahead of time and discuss with your guest to ensure you both cover the most important points in the time allotted, and to make it easier to adjust on the fly if you end up spending more time on one topic vs. another (your tolerance for deviations on topic may vary depending on the format and purpose of your podcast).

Personally, something I like doing is keep it a light conversations and connect their answers with my next question. My main goal ALWAYS is to get the best of them while making them super comfortable.

Leveraging warm leads within your own network and connections can be a game-changer in finding engaging guests for your podcast. Beyond utilizing connections for sales, the power of personal and second-tier connections often uncovers a wealth of potential guests who can bring value and depth to your interviews. Furthermore, establishing a system of guest recommendations post-interview can continuously refresh your roster with insightful contributors.

Clarity about your WHY is the prime factor. The guests are invited based on the why being justified. The design element is important to keep in mind. For e.g., my human library audio podcast is called "U n' I with Rashmi Shetty" where 'U' stands for uniqueness & 'I ' for Individuality that each of us carries. The conversation is around dissecting these two aspects. So I look for stories of people : -who have gone beyond themselves to make a difference in society. -Who operate from a space of contentment and not follow a popular trend. This helps in the filtration process too for the guests to be on the show.

There is one criteria for me when it comes to inviting guests or accepting requests. Do you have something my audience can take away that is needed and useful. If it’s not good for them it’s not good for the podcast. In my first season I talked to friends and did solo on topics I like. Season two, if it’s important to the people listening then I should be finding someone to talk about it and share something to help them. This mindset shift resulted in the first two episodes doubling the number of downloads of the whole first season!

Never forget why you got into podcasting in the first place - this should be what lights you up in an interview and does the same for others! Think about how you can stand out and how you can take it from just a podcast to something much more that provides value and impact in the world.

When you can clearly articulate your purpose and can communicate this with your potential guests you give yourself the best chance of having them join you. For me at the Cricket Library Podcast, we have the aim of providing a platform for people to share their stories of how the game of cricket has impacted their lives and the lives of others in a positive way. When potential guests resonate with this purpose they are more inclined to be guests on the pod.