Getting guests for your podcast: Full Guide

You’ve probably been there—a podcaster podcasting with a great show, killer content, and a passion. However, no matter how hard you try, getting guests for your podcast feels like pulling teeth. That’s where Mike was, a client of mine, before he cracked the code.

Mike had been podcasting for over a year. His show was solid; he put in the work, did his research, and had a clear vision. But when it came to booking guests, he hit a wall. He sent dozens of emails, DMs, and even tried networking events, but the responses were either “I’m too busy” or crickets.

Here’s where Mike went wrong

He was trying to sell himself rather than focusing on what his guests actually wanted. He’d send long emails about his podcast, how many downloads he had, and how much he admired their work. What Mike didn’t realize was that he was making a few common mistakes. First, he was asking for too much upfront. People are busy, and when you bombard them with a long, detailed email about why they should be on your show, they’re likely to skip it. Second, he was focusing on what the guest could do for him whether they know him or not, rather than someone who knew him or have worked with him and most importantly what he could do for the guest.

I’m going to show you exactly what you need to know about getting people to be on your show as guests—whether they be interviewees, special co-hosts, or whatever the case may be. Tracking down the people you want on your show isn’t always the easiest task, but I’m going to let you in on a few tricks I’ve learned over the years to identify who an ideal guest is and how to get them on your show. Let’s get started!

What You’ll Learn

I’ll be going over things like how to make sure you’re asking without being annoying, tips so these people are more likely to pay attention to you, and specific times when they’re more likely to say yes. And yes, this stuff will work even if you are a small creator & they are big personalities and you’ve never done this before. So stick around, and here we go!

Start with Who You Know

All right, tip number one: I’m going to assume that you kind of know this one already, but it should be a given(perhaps just in case) you want to start with anybody who you know who happens to be a big deal. If you are in a relationship, even a little one, don’t be hesitant to reach out. This is the ideal moment to get in touch with someone you’ve already interacted with, use your podcast or program as a platform to help them. That’s the strategy you should always employ, but begin with those you are familiar with.

First, get them on board. Ask them to introduce you to other specialists you’d like to interview but might not have a direct link to after your interview. That is rather evident., so let’s move on to tip number two.

Identifying the Ideal Podcast Guest

So, You would first ask, who’s my ideal candidate to be on my show? These are individuals who are smarter than you, cooler than you, richer than you, more successful than you, and have done far greater things than you have to date. You want to get in front of those people via your podcast episode and interview them—pick their brain, if you will. But it’s very strategic brain-picking, and it’s mutually beneficial. You get to pick their brain, and they get more exposure for themselves and their brand. Seems like a win-win to me.

Make Sure They’re Cooler Than You
When identifying who should be on your show, make sure they’re cooler than you. That’s my number one bit of advice.

Reaching Out to Potential Guests

Next, if you want to reach out to someone and ask them to be on your podcast but don’t have their email address, I recommend sending them a tweet, looking them up on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or all of the above. LinkedIn, specifically, will tell you about mutual connections, and so will Facebook. If you’re looking to get ahold of an individual and you can’t directly message them, you can ask someone who is a mutual connection to maybe make a formal introduction to that individual and go from there.

Scheduling the Interview
Chances are, unless you’re trying to get an A or B-list celebrity, it won’t be that difficult to get someone scheduled for your show. It’s just a matter of aligning schedules and their availability.

Use Your Network for Introductions

Now, if you don’t have a relationship with these people, try to find somebody who you know who actually does have a relationship with them. When you can get an introduction from somebody they already know, it always cuts through the noise and makes that conversation much easier to start.

Leverage people you have—or are about to—interview: People enjoy being linked with well-known or powerful individuals because it enhances their sense of importance.You can send a desirable guest an email with a list of the “famous” people who have appeared on your podcast if some of your friends or their connections are well-known. It is still acceptable to claim that they were interviewed for your podcast even if it hasn’t released yet.

Get Noticed by Being Helpful

Get noticed by becoming noticeably helpful, and “noticeable” is the key word here. Now, if you happen to be following this person fairly closely, you might see that there are upcoming events or things that they’re working on that they could use some support with right now. For example, maybe they have an event and you want to be a volunteer. You show up, you overdeliver, and you might even get noticed by this person or someone important on their team.

Another example brings me to my friend, who back in the day reached out to me out of nowhere. I had no idea who this person was. He reached out and gave me some really quick advice on how to grow my email list—very specific advice—and it worked the next day. Because he was so helpful to me, I wanted to help him back. I brought him to a podcast and helped him expand his brand, and his brand, Social Triggers, became well-known because I helped him spread the word. He helped me first; I wanted to help him back. A lot of reciprocity can come into play when you really help a person out based on something that you know they need help with.

Target Authors of Upcoming Books

Find authors of upcoming books. Here’s the thing about authors: Authors are typically going to be going on a media blitz when their book is about to come out. So if you can plan ahead of time and be proactive in seeking out someone who you know has a book coming out, offer them some space on your podcast or show to help promote their book. They’re more likely to say yes at this point, and they’ve perhaps built this into their schedule already.

Now, if you follow this person already, you might know that they have a book coming out, but you can also check the upcoming books on Amazon. You can see the release dates for certain books coming up and reach out to those authors ahead of time before other people start asking them. If you get in first, they might say yes.

Connect with the Decision-Makers

Find the decision-makers who work with that celebrity or big guest. It might be an assistant or someone who works on their marketing team. You can go through LinkedIn or social profiles to see who works for that person or their company. This can give you a door in. You help that person, and they might want to help you out too. Again, don’t just think about helping the celebrity, but consider who around them might need help, who can then influence this person’s decision to work with you or invite them on your show.

Leverage Your Clout and Numbers

This one’s obvious too, but I didn’t want to start with it. If you have any sort of clout, specifically numbers that this person is going to be attracted to—yes, you might not have that up front, but whatever you have available, whether it’s an email list that you’re going to send to, the size of your blog, how many channel subscribers you have, and of course the number of podcast downloads—those numbers, if they’re not zero, do matter to people.

If you can show that you also have a strong tie to your audience, then that guest is just going to be more likely to want to come on, deliver value, and also feel the benefits of it too. For example, if you have a podcast that gets 10,000 downloads per episode, then mention that. Even if you have a thousand downloads per episode, you can talk more strongly about the kind of people in your audience and how they’re so perfect for that guest to connect with. That’s exactly the kind of audience that your guest would want to reach.

Support Their Charity or Cause

If this person happens to support a charity or organization, you can support that charity or organization too if they agree to become a guest on your show. It becomes a little bit of an incentive, a little bit of a form of payment if you will, but for something that this person realizes you know they care about. That knowledge goes a long way. I’ve actually done that a couple of times, and it’s always a nice bonus to add. I don’t throw it in right away, but in a follow-up, I’ll also mention that I know they believe in such-and-such company or organization, and I’d love to support it and have them come on and talk about it too.

Name-Dropping Wisely

Number eight—and I gotta say, I’ve seen this one works on my clients quite often—is when a person comes and reaches out to you to be a guest on their show and tells that a lot of your own friends and colleagues have been on the show too. It immediately tells you, “Okay, this person is worth their time. This person may be worth my time as well.”

Of course, don’t go crazy with it—use common sense—but name-dropping after you’ve interviewed some people or perhaps worked with some people that this person might actually know or care about can go a long way in proving that you’re not just a random person coming out of nowhere. Instead, you’re someone who has been in the space for a while and knows who the big players are, and now you’re inviting another big player on too.

Rally Your Audience

This is, in fact, how Pat Flynn was able to get MKBHD on the show. First of all, He was very, very active by commenting on his videos and whatnot. Of course, Pat doesn’t believe that he saw him there, but where he did see me was when Pat’s tribe, his own audience, started to step up and say, “Hey, you should interview MKBHD.” This was happening on Twitter. He saw it, reached out to Pat, and said it was cool. Now, it’s not just Pat asking—it’s his whole audience asking, people saying and proving that it’s going to be a good collaboration.

Now, obviously, this is something that comes with a lot of responsibility. You don’t want to do this all the time—it can come across as overwhelming sometimes, depending on the size of your audience. So just be careful with this, but it can work.

The Power of Follow-Up

Number ten is to follow up. As I often say, the fortune is in the follow-up. If you ask or reach out or send a DM or a video or something like that and they don’t respond, you can follow up with them a few days later. I wouldn’t follow up all the time—don’t message them every day asking, “Hey, did you see it yet? Did you see it yet? Did you see it yet?” That’s probably not going to come across very well.

But a message on day one, and then another one on day four, just saying, “Hey, I was just wondering if you saw this. It’s totally cool if you’re not able to do it, but I’d love to have you on the show.” That often works because the person might think, “Oh, I didn’t see the message,” or they might see that you’re serious about this. And of course, they might have had time to think about it too. So it never hurts to follow up, but it does hurt to follow up way too much and way too often. Give it a couple of shots, and then if not, let it go.

Build Relationships with Adjacent Creators

Build relationships with people who are near the person you are trying to reach. This is different from reaching out to decision-makers. I mean, a person who might share a similar audience with this big guest, like an adjacent business owner or another creator. If you can first get that person on your show, it’s not just name-dropping—you could potentially even ask them to help introduce you. You could say, “Hey, I know that you work with this person, and I would love to have them on my show. If it makes sense to you, could you please help me make that connection?” If you’re building real relationships and offering value, they might be happy to do that. Relationships always win, and if you’re making connections that matter, they’ll want to help you too.

Attend Their Events

Number twelve: Show up at places where you know these people will be. Now, you don’t want to be weird or stalker-ish, but if they’re attending conferences or events, and you’re already going to be there, make it a point to introduce yourself. Don’t push too hard for the interview right there; just focus on making that initial connection and providing some sort of value or memorable moment. Then follow up later. Showing up in person is still one of the best ways to get noticed and start building that connection.

A face-to-face connection increases the likelihood that someone may appear on your show. I know someone who met Pat Flynn at an event and convinced him to appear on her program. He informed her that, when conducted in person, he nearly always consents to podcast interviews.

Reference Their Work

Talk about a particular aspect of their work that truly caught your attention and how it relates to the theme of your show. Prove to them that you completed your assignment. It shows real interest when you can cite a specific piece of their work—a book, article, lecture, or even a tweet—that spoke to you and is related to the topic you wish to cover on your program. It’s not just, “Hey, I want you on my show because you’re a big name,” but rather, “I want you on my show because what you’re talking about really matters to my audience, and here’s how.”

Offer Something Exclusive

Present a unique offering. Include a pitch for any platform or unique content delivery technique you have, such as a behind-the-scenes look, a live audience Q&A session, or a special series. Make it something unique for them to accomplish, or something that offers them a perspective they would not find elsewhere. This uniqueness may be alluring, particularly to visitors who are searching for something new and frequently conduct interviews.

Make the Ask

Never hesitate to make the request. Often, the biggest obstacle is simply not thinking you can have this individual on your show in the first place. Make the request, then. Act with assurance, civility, and the knowledge that you’re contributing value as well. It’s simple to get nervous and believe that “They’re too busy, too big, or they’ll never say yes.” You would be shocked to learn that the answer is always no if you don’t inquire. Nothing is at stake for you.

Leveraging Social Media to Reach Out to Potential Guests

Saying “Hey, do you want to be on my podcast?” to someone has never been simpler. We can communicate with people without first obtaining their consent thanks to a small app called Twitter and, well, the social media cosmos. We may bypass the middleman and get right to the source.

This table will summarize different methods to contact potential podcast guests and their pros/cons.

Conducting Remote Interviews

Keeping it Simple with Skype or Zoom
Now, when you are just starting out, I don’t recommend trying to identify a studio, ensuring you have equipment in your backpack, and going to the person or having the person come to you. Instead, I would simply do the recording via Skype or Zoom. In this day and age, it’s very easy to do. You get one window with you in it, one window with the guest in it, and you’ve got a video archive and an audio archive. You’re talking about a podcast, YouTube video, and transcribed video into a blog post—all from one interview. I have talked more about Recording Software For Podcasting in this blog

The Convenience of Remote Interviews
Doing interviews means you never have to leave your office, and more importantly, you’ll have a better chance of getting people on your show if you don’t have to go anywhere. If they can just click on a link—most phones have the Zoom app—they can instantly be connected with you and begin a conversation while all you’re doing is recording that video call. So, it’s not a large production by any means.

Patience in Securing High-Profile Guests

The Waiting Game
But social media should do the trick. It does take time; the more important and more popular your potential guest is, the longer it’s going to take you to get them on your show. I’ve waited up to three or four months to get some A and B-list celebrities and marketing profiles on the show in the past, but it’s well worth the wait.

Why It’s Worth the Wait
Why? Well, it’s credibility for you to get that individual on the show. The idea, hopefully, is to get them to share the interview with their network, in turn exposing your show.

Maximizing the Value of Your Podcast Guests

Finding the Right Guests
There are plenty of people to interview, so finding candidates is simple. However, before you ask them to appear on your show, you should make sure they’re smarter, richer, cooler, and doing hotter things than you. If not, you’re merely squandering your time. What purpose does that serve? Because your guests will tell their network that they were on your podcast, which is awesome, you want to learn from them and take advantage of their network.

This table will compare strategies for engaging high-profile guests and the expected time to secure them.

Conclusion

The core point is you have to be good in SALES. Yeah, sales is everywhere. And when you have a podcast you have to sell yourself to the guest first. If things are still hard for you, maybe you are an entrepreneur and you don’t have much time for all these, The last best advice I would give is hire a Guest Booker from Fiverr. I have specified some special freelancers on the search list. Go through the link to check them.

Podcasting is a different game, and without a precise blueprint, the game will get tougher midway. Grow your podcast from scratch with Zero Audience and learn about how successful podcasters cracked the code by winning our Free Guide with step by step Guidelines.

Get your complete podcast equipment setup by visiting Podcast Equipment Bundle. Get in touch with podcasting services and experts those will save you tons of time at Podcast Production Services.

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