196: How to Find the Right Podcasts to Guest Speak On (Even If You’re Just Starting)

If you’ve ever thought, “Where do I even find podcasts to pitch to?” — this episode is for you.

Big shows on Spotify and Apple are great… but they’re not always where your best guest opportunities are hiding. The real magic? Finding the right shows — the ones that align with your message, mission, and audience.

In this solo episode, I break down:
 🎯 Why finding the right shows matters — so you don’t waste time pitching to podcasts that aren’t a fit (and so you actually want to share the episode once it airs!)
✨ How to spot alignment between your values, niche topics, and their message
🔍 The two ways to find shows: going out and finding them OR letting them come to you
🧭 My exact breadcrumb trail strategy for finding aligned, indie shows (hint: start with a podcast you already love and follow the guest trail)
🤝 How to build connections and get referrals from hosts you’ve already guested with

Plus, I share how I use my free Podcast Pitch Tracker to keep everything organized as I find new shows.

And if you want to skip the searching and fast-track your podcast tour, I’ve got 4 years of podcasting connections you can tap into. 😉

🎧 Listen to this episode to learn how to search smarter, build better connections, and book more aligned interviews.

🔗 Grab the free Podcast Pitch Tracker here → https://candacedudley.myflodesk.com/tracker

Podcasting for Authority: signature group program
🎟️ Learn more here: https://stan.store/CandaceDudley/p/signature-group-program

🎙️Hosts + Guests -> Join the Matchmaking Community [HERE]

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:19

Okay, welcome back. So today is another one of my most common questions. Tell me how to find the podcast, the search, because when you go to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, those big places, and you search, you usually end up seeing those big production company type podcasts. And that's really not who we're looking for yet, yet in this podcasting tour that we're we're trying to embark on, right? So what do we do about that? But first, let's talk why is finding the right show important? Why is that podcast? It's not just about the quantity, how many we can get on, it's about the quality and why does that matter? This is a vital part in the process, and this makes sure that there's alignment on both sides for you and the host so that we are not wasting any time. This makes sure that you want to share the episode when it's released, because when we don't get on the right shows and we don't check for that, which is part of my process, that's when we end up not wanting to share the show when it airs or feeling like we don't actually drive with the host or what they're about. And that's when we can burn bridges that we didn't need to, right? This goes back to those niche topics in step one. So you can head back to episode 182 about that and work on what topics you're going to speak about. These niche topics are important. Every time I work with a client, they're the first step that we follow. So how do you know it's the right one? This goes right along with those niche speaking topics. Do your speaking topics and what you're about and what you value, does that match up with that show's values, message, mission in some way? It doesn't have to match 10 out of 10, but you should jive with the host. You should, when you're listening to this show, think, yeah, I like this, or you agree or you're nodding along. It shouldn't be like you're listening and you're scrunching your face, thinking like, that's dumb, or I don't agree with that. I'm not saying you need to agree with agree with every single word that the host is saying in their show, but if you are differing a lot in your values and your mission and theirs, it's not gonna be a fit. It's not gonna feel good. And you know, when we're doing this to be building our business and referrals and hoping to grow your network and visibility, this is really important. And again, it goes back to those niche speaking topics so that you know what you're gonna be talking about. It makes it a lot easier to find that show. So there's two ways to find the shows. You can go find them or you can let them come to you. So let's talk about that second one here first. Taking those niche speaking topics, those three topics that you know inside and out, they relate to your offers, all of those pieces that we cover in step one in my five-step process. You take those speaking topics and you share them on threads. You can do this once a week, and you don't have to overthink this. Threads is very casual, very laid back. You can just say, Hey, I know I could bring so much value to a podcast with these three topics. Do you or someone you know have a show that you can tag in this cut in the comments here? Um, and you just post it out there and tweak them as you go and share that. So that's letting them come to you. You can share this with your email lists on social media wherever. Um, you're just getting this out there and let people know that you do want to guests speak on podcasts. Because I always tell my clients, if if you don't tell anyone you want to guest on a podcast, you're not gonna guess on a podcast because nobody's a mind reader, and likely no one's just going to offer to have you on if they don't even know you're interested in it. So letting that be known and putting that out there, that's one approach. That might be slow, who knows? It's kind of more like up in the air if the right people are gonna see it and say, Yes, let's have you on the show. Or you can take more control over it and you can go searching for the shows. Now, go with me here. This is a little bit of the time-consuming part, but as you get going, you can really create a lot of momentum. And this is another part that you can hire me to do for you where I find the aligned shows. And likely I already can think of a ton of them if you let me know what you and your business and your values are about, because of the network I've created over the last four years of producing 200 plus shows, guessing on over 50 shows just in 2025 alone. So tapping into that, you can utilize that. But here's how I do it. Because I I'm not about gatekeeping, and I know that people don't do or work the same exact way. And so you can absolutely take this information and run with it. So here's what you do: you can start here on my show, because here you are. If you're driving with me, guess what? There's guest episodes, and they are people that also have podcasts. So you start with a show that's independently run, like mine, where it's a smaller type show, it's not a huge production, right? And you can scroll through, you'll find guest episodes. Go to the ones who are also podcast hosts. A lot of mine are, especially my most recent ones. Most of them were all podcasts that I really drived with when I was on their show, and then I invited them over to be on my show. So you can hop over to their show, do the same thing. And while you do this, make sure you download my free tracker that's in the show notes because you're going to start this breadcrumb trail that you're sort of following. You're gonna want to be linking in my tracker the podcast, a link to the show, put the name in, put the host name in, and their social media you can link in there because it's a Google spreadsheet, so you can put links right in it. But you're gonna want to do that so that you have that all in one place. While you're bebopping around gathering all that, if you're listening to the show and you think of stuff or notes of how it relates to you, there's a column to type in some notes. So that's all something you want to keep track of. Keep that all straight in your head, and the the tracker is gonna help you do that as well. You can also ask a host if you've already been on a show or two or you know a host, you can ask them if they know any other hosts that might be a good fit for you that you could reach out to. So instead of just going to search and and going down whatever rabbit holes you find, you can actually talk to someone that you've actually met or know, and that might be a good starting point as well. This is a fun part. This is the part where you get to take all your prep work from the other podcast episodes we've talked about. If you've gone through that or if you've been in my program or if you've done my free guesting masterclass, this is where we take all those niche speaking topics that we've prepped and we're ready for it, and we know what we're gonna pitch. And this is where we go find the shows that you'll actually be sharing your expertise with. So this is the exciting part. If it doesn't sound fun for you, but you're ready to start your podcast tour, you know I'm always ready to get you booked. So you can tap into my four years worth of podcasting connections. All the links are in the show notes that uh anything I've mentioned, talked about today, you can head to the show notes. But hopefully that gives you a quick snapshot of how you can begin to go find those podcasts that are going to be a fit for you. Remember, we're looking for aligned shows, we're looking for quality, not just quantity. Get on as many shows as we can. And if you're worried about, oh my gosh, I found the show now, how do I pitch them? Go back, check out last week or two weeks ago's episode. That's all laid out right there. Okay, peace out.