164: {Sassy Solo} How to Land a Podcast Guest Spot

Friends, A LOT of you have been asking me about best practices around booking a podcast guest spot. 99% of the time, people do it the wrong way. In today's episode, I'm spilling alllll of the tea, so that next time you pitch, you'll be more likely to get that YES. 

Transcript

Caroline Pennington (00:01.62)
All right. One of the other requested feedback questions that you guys wanted to answer from me was how do you get to be a guest on this podcast and how do you get to be a guest on other podcasts? And that's such a great question because I will say podcasting has been the best thing that I've done. It is the top of funnel, how most people get to know me, my work, what I do, how I can help them, how I can serve them, all the things. And so if you're interested in

either starting a podcast or getting on a podcast as a guest, listen up. All right, so when I decided to start my podcasting journey, I started at the same time I started my personal branding journey on LinkedIn. So I did podcasting and personal branding on LinkedIn at the same time. I had no clue what I was doing for either, like literally no clue. And you guys, like I did so many cringey things, like so many cringe things.

on LinkedIn with my podcast with whatever. And it's okay. You just learn, like you just have to start and stay in it. Okay. So if you want to get on podcasts, I would start with smaller podcasts first, because those hosts are going to be more likely to say yes, when you pitch yourself to them. And when you pitch yourself to them, it's going to look like this. First of all, warm up to that person. So for example,

If someone just pitch slaps me and sends me an email or a DM trying to get on my podcast or has a PR agency do that for them. It's automatic. Heck no for me. Okay. Cause it means number one, you probably hadn't even listened to a podcast. Number two, you just are trying to use my platform to showcase yourself, which is very selfish and something I'm not for. I want this to be a community, place that we lift each other up. And so that vibe and that.

Approach doesn't work. So if you want to get on a podcast, actually listen to that person's podcast. You don't even honestly listen to whole episode, but listen to some of it. Show that you've actually made an effort to listen and send the host of thoughtful message, either a DM or email and tell them specifically why you think you can serve their audience. Okay. So what that means is.

Caroline Pennington (02:29.848)
Podcast hosts want to help grow their audience and serve their audience. And so for example, I don't want someone to on podcasts who just wants to talk about me, me, me. Okay. I want you to talk about what you're an expert in or what you've been through or what you built so that you can help and inspire other people. And when you're pitching yourself to be on a podcast, actually listen to their podcasts, writing a review for a podcast host will actually be a good way to get their attention.

We pay attention to those very closely. They matter a lot. So if you're listening to this podcast and like it, and would like to leave a review, I would love you and appreciate you for forever. Shameless plug there. And also I would follow up with the host with a professional pitch about who you are, what you do, what you're an expert in, how you can help serve their audience, how your skills and expertise can help.

their audience and then follow up with a, a one sheet or maybe three to five topics about what exactly you can talk on that would help serve their audience. And that would be a direct and professional and would be a better way to that you would get a most likely get a yes to be on the podcast. again, start with a smaller podcast.

And then as you get on more podcasts, you can start pitching yourself to larger and larger podcasts. If you have your own podcast, is easy or to get on podcasts because you can do a podcast swap. I've done podcast swaps and just been a guest on podcasts of over a hundred at this point. And I will say podcasting is the fastest way to grow your personal brand and grow as a professional because it's like wildfire. Like the podcasting game is like the wild, wild.

And so if you're interested in doing that, I would highly encourage you to do it. Even if you get a no, when you do a podcast pitch, it's okay. Pitch another guest or pitch another host. It's okay. And just keep going. Like just keep going. You'll get better at it every single time. I was nervous when I first started this. I was all the things, even though was a professional headhunter, a recruiter, like a professional interviewer. And even doing professional interviewing for 15 years, I was still nervous when I started the podcast before I pressed report.

Caroline Pennington (04:55.702)
So if you're nervous in the beginning, it's okay. It's normal. I'm here for you to support you and encourage you. And I can't wait to see you show up on more podcasts. So until next time, don't forget to like share and subscribe.