The Quick and Strategic Way to Get on Podcasts with Kristen Nolan

In this episode, I talk with Kristen Nolan about how podcast guesting can support real business growth when it’s done with intention. We unpack the mindset shift from fear to service, why authenticity matters more than polish, and how the right conversations can build trust faster than traditional outreach.

We also walk through what makes a strong guest strategy, from choosing aligned shows to keeping your call to action simple and clear. Kristen shares practical ways to prepare, measure what actually matters, and build momentum over time. If podcast guesting has been on your list but felt intimidating, this conversation will give you a steady place to begin.

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Interview Valet

Transcript

The Bad Interview And Core Lesson

Janice Hostager 0:04

I'm Janice Hostager. After three decades in the marketing business and many years of being an entrepreneur, I've learned a thing or two about marketing. Join me as we talk about marketing, small business, and life in between. Welcome to My Weekly Marketing. I remember the first time I was guest on a podcast. I was so nervous. Like sweaty palms, heart racing. I was overprepared, but still convinced I was going to forget everything I knew about marketing. I'm one of those people who can freeze in panic situations, so I had notes everywhere. Literally taped to the wall in front of me, tabs open on my computer, bullet points written out. And then even then, I remember thinking, what if I sound dumb? Or what if I ramble? Or what if I mess something up and embarrass the host? But the first interview actually went pretty well. She even asked me back for a second interview later on. So with my newfound podcasting confidence, I went on another person's podcast. But there the host put me on the spot and started asking me for statistics that I didn't have over and over again. He wanted numbers that I didn't have in front of me, and he kept asking me about research, which I hadn't pulled up. I honestly felt like he wanted to humiliate me to make himself look good. It was a bad experience. So I could always feel that panic rising again. But that split second where your brain goes blank and your inner critic says, see, you shouldn't have said yes to do that podcast. But I got through that interview and here's what I learned. Confidence is not about having every answer perfectly packaged. It's not about having every statistic in front of you. It's about being able to say something like, I don't have that number in front of me right now, but here's what I can tell you. And you just keep going. It's about trusting that you know enough to have the conversation. And it's about courage. Brene Brown said that courage is impossible without vulnerability. And I think that being on a podcast is definitely putting making yourself vulnerable. And that it's often born from facing adversity. And in that one podcast episode that I was on that I stumbled, that felt like adversity. And that's exactly what we're talking about today, because it takes courage to make yourself visible, to put yourself out there, but it also takes strategy. Today's guest knows both sides of that equation. Kristen Nolan has spent over a decade in corporate sales and account management across tech and retail, building her career on one simple truth. Authentic connection drives results. And now as a senior client account manager at Interview Valet, she architects full interview marketing campaigns, identifying target audiences, aligning messaging with demographics, and building funnels that actually turn listeners into buyers. She earned her MBA while she was supporting her military spouse through multiple relocations. So adapting under pressure and executing with stress is kind of her thing. So today we're talking about two things that go hand in hand: how to quiet that inner critic to build confidence, and how to strategically leverage being on a podcast as a guest to grow your business. Because a lot of times we don't stay invisible because we lack expertise. We stay invisible because we're afraid of being seen and afraid of who knows what. So let's change that. Here's my conversation with Kristen. Welcome, Kristen. Welcome to My Weekly Marketing.

Kristen Nolan 3:42

Thank you so much, Janice. Thank you for having me.

Janice Hostager 3:45

So I mentioned Interview Valet in the intro. And for people who aren't really in the podcast world, what is Interview Valet and what do you actually do and who do you help?

Kristen Nolan 3:55

Yeah, so Interview Valet, we are a podcast interview marketing agency. Not to be confused with a podcast booking agency. So one thing that we do that is different, right? When we talk about booking our clients on podcasts, we do that and we get to talk about the strategy around what it means to show up as a well-prepared guest. How do you sound great, look great? And how do you utilize an interview in a way that makes the most sense to maximize your time? Right. So when when I say that, what is it, what does it look like when you prepare? What does it look like as a guest on a podcast? And what does it look like after the recording stops? So we really go through, you know, different approaches on how to be a great guest and and how to maximize the value that you have with podcast interview marketing.

Confidence, Service Mindset, And Visibility

Janice Hostager 4:44

Gotcha. Yeah, I worked with Interview Valet a lot. You've sent me some fabulous guests, by the way. So I appreciate that. Yeah. So before you make the decision, well, let me say, as a business owner, a small business owner, sometimes we don't want to reach out and get on podcasts, right? Yeah. So what do you see over and over again with entrepreneurs who want to grow but hesitate to put themselves out there?

Kristen Nolan 5:09

Yeah, I think it really comes from a place of, you know, confidence, right? When I remember when Tom, there were a couple of us that guest on behalf of Interview Valley. And Tom had he set up a meeting and he said, I would really like it if you guys would guest on behalf of Interview LA. And I remember thinking, who's gonna want to hear my story? Like, I'm, you know, I'm not a CEO, I'm I'm just me. And I think what you have to do is change your mindset around that, right? If you have a company, you have a product, you have a service, and you help people, right? So, like, yes, you want to sell something, but the core of that is that you're there to help people. And so if you look at it from a lens of not who wants to listen to me, but rather what am I depriving the world of by silencing myself and not sharing what I have to offer, it stops being about you and it starts being about helping others. And I think when we come from that place of service, we're able to look at it in a very different way.

Janice Hostager 6:08

Love that. Because that is really true. I mean, immediately we think about, well, wait, you know, what do I have the offer? And that's that, and that's that inner critic, right? And it's like, where do you think that that shows up the most when we're trying to grow a business?

Kristen Nolan 6:23

Well, I think it's it's what holds us back, right? We don't take, we don't take chances. We kind of have a checklist, right? So, like, you know, maybe you're posting on LinkedIn every day, or maybe you're doing your social media things. And you're like, okay, I'm doing all of these things. Why am I not seeing the results? And what it is, is that you're doing all of the same things that everyone else is doing. And so you have to really self-identify what it is that takes you out of your comfort zone because that's where we grow the most, right? When we're in those uncomfortable places, when we're trying to figure out, you know, what it is that we want to do next. And so I think it's really our own insecurities that prevent us from going to the next level.

Janice Hostager 7:04

Yes, I 100% agree with that. Yeah. But what's the difference between like a healthy self-evaluation and self-sabotage, say?

Kristen Nolan 7:12

Yeah. I mean, I've had clients that will sign up for a podcast campaign and they'll record a couple of podcasts and just go, okay, I I'm too busy, right? I'm too busy because they aren't as competent. They don't feel as equipped to maybe answer some questions, right? Not every host is gonna, they're gonna, they're gonna take you out of your comfort zone. I've had a client that, you know, he had his own podcast. He did, you know, 50 podcasts with us. And around like the 25 mark, a host threw him for a loop. He asked him a question and he was like, I've never been asked that. I didn't know how to answer that. And one of the most beautiful things about recording a podcast is that nine times out of 10, it's pre-recorded. So if I go in and I say something really ridiculous, or you stump me and I stumble on my words, I can go, Janice, you know, when we were at, you know, the five minute mark, I stuttered and I said something really crazy. Would you mind editing that out? Or, you know, hey, I need to stop and we need to go back and revisit that. So, you know, there are so many reasons that I think people come up with in their mind why, why it's too hard. But I think there are so many ways that if you're willing to sort of rip the band-aid off, if you will, put yourself out there, be uncomfortable and take a chance, the benefits are so plentiful that it's it's silly not to.

Janice Hostager 8:37

It really, it really ups your and not only your visibility, but also your authority, right? Because you are somebody that and you probably you probably know a lot more than you think you know. I think we get so into our little silos that we forget that people outside of that silo don't know anything about oftentimes about what we're talking about.

Strategy Over Spray-And-Pray Pitching

Kristen Nolan 9:00

100%. And, you know, as I'm working with my clients, I will tell them, right? Like, you know, if you like me, maybe someone's an executive coach, right? There's a million executive coaches. What is it that makes you different, right? I had a client, um, she's an executive coach. She talks about Sawbana leadership, right? I had no idea what that is, but I'm like, I'm intrigued because of the way that she speaks about it. So as we are talking about people going on podcasts, one of the great things is that you have an instant authority, right? You don't have to go on and the host says, you know, tell us about yourself and you recite your resume and all the things. The host is vouching for you, right? They have the audience that that trusts them. They have looked at you and said, Hey, you'd be a great fit for my podcast. So going on, you have sort of an immediate authority. And the listeners get to listen to you have a casual conversation with someone that they also trust for 30 minutes to get an idea of who you are, what's important to you. You know, you present them with a problem and then you share a solution and they go, you know what? I love that. I want to work with that person. I want to learn more about that person, or I want to learn more about that idea. So that's something that can be so impactful to you because a lot of times people say, Well, you know, I have this great product or I have this great idea, but people don't know about me. And so this is a great opportunity to get that visibility there.

Janice Hostager 10:19

Oh, absolutely. And I heard somewhere recently that somebody said, um, every business owner should be putting themselves out there once each day, like every day, putting yourself out there, doing something. And I started thinking about that. And that's my weak area, honestly. It's um, you know, and I work in marketing. I my whole life has been in marketing. But uh we all have things that hold us back. And for me, it's that first step, that first visibility. But I love that you talk about the guest who was thrown for a loop by the interviewer because that actually happened to me, and I talk talk about it in the intro, where I had somebody ask me a bunch of statistics in in an interview, and I I didn't have them handy and I I couldn't tell them. So I I just like uh uh I d I don't I don't know. I mean that's you know and I was able to walk my way through it and around it and kind of rephrase the question. So I felt it made more sense. But that's absolutely true. I mean, I I I've had guests that have messed up and I've messed up, you know, doing podcasts, and it is easy to edit it out, but you think that, you know, if you're putting yourself out there, people are looking for perfection. And that's really, I don't think that's why people tune into podcasts. I think people listen because they want to hear real people with real conversations talking about like things that they relate to in in ways just like them, right?

Who Should And Shouldn’t Be A Guest

Kristen Nolan 11:45

Yeah, absolutely. I think um, you know, we have we have, you know, in the day of AI, right? You know, I've listened to podcasts and they've been so perfect. I'm like, is that a real person or is that AI? I mean, I like honestly, I've sent it to teammates and been like, I think this is AI. And so I think it really comes down to like that authenticity. I one of the things we do is, you know, we'll do like an interview analysis with our clients, right? What went well? What are some, you know, ways that you can be better? And one of the things that we that we do is we'll, you know, if you use words, you know, specific words a lot. I say like and a ton. I am mindful of it, I try to correct it, but like again, it's not perfect, but this is who I am. And I think that coming from a place of being authentically who you are, and that way, if a, you know, if someone listens to you on a podcast and wants to work with you, they go, I already know Kristen. I know, you know, that she uses like a lot. I know because I because they they see you and they hear you on the podcast, so they know what to expect. It's not, you know, something, it's not a surprise, right? So I think being authentic, especially in this day and age of AI, is so critical because people listen to you and they feel connected, right? And that's what it's really about. It's that but it's about that connection.

Janice Hostager 13:00

100%. Yeah. And now we have like when I edit podcasts, well, I don't edit my own, but my editor uses something called the script, which will pull out all the ums, because I do that too. Um I just did it there, right? Um, yeah, and and I think, and his we have this back and forth where I want to clean up everything that I say and take care of all, get rid of all those ums and and so on. He's like, no, this is what makes it authentic. And it is nice to have that because I have had some guests that have said, you know, you know, this, you know that, and just over and over where it becomes distracting. And I'll pull out some of those for sure and clean them up a little bit. But you're absolutely right. Um I just did it again.

Kristen Nolan 13:44

Now I'm right. Now you're now you're like hyper, I do that too. I I you get hyper aware and you're like, oh yeah.

Janice Hostager 13:51

But yeah, so I think you're absolutely right. So are people, do you think people like overcomplicate the podcasting visibility in general, but just especially podcasting, like when they are ready to say, okay, I I want to do some podcasts. Do you think it's it's just not as complicated as they think?

Promotion, Repurposing, And Networking

Kristen Nolan 14:09

So yes and no, right? So I think it depends, and it goes back to the strategy piece, right? I think, you know, some people are like, I and I've seen the advertisement on my Facebook, it'll pop up and it's like, pitch yourself to 3.8 million podcasts. And I like look at that because I've been in the industry and go, why would anyone want to do that? Right. Like, if you're just going on podcasts to go on podcasts, that's a hobby. That's not a business decision. So when we talk about strategy, it needs to be that you're you're maximizing the visibility, right? And so a lot of times people will come to me and say, I want to be on these very large podcasts. I've had clients say, I want to be on Joe Rogan. And I'm like, you don't want to be on Joe Rogan. Those are not your people, right? Let's find out who is your target audience and where are they hanging out. And if we can find that, it's like, it's, it's almost like if you think about like a keynote speech, right? If you're going to, if your target audience is dentists and you're going to a dentist convention and you're in front of a thousand dentists, that would be, that would be great, right? Podcasting works in a very similar way, with the exception of I don't have to travel and I don't have to physically be in front of a thousand people, right? I can go on a podcast, I can have a like a conversation, it's just you and I. So if I'm an introverted person and the thought of going and speaking in front of a huge audience is terrifying to me, podcasting is wonderful for you, right? It's just you and I having a conversation. And so when I think of the best podcast that I've listened to, it's usually the ones, and I may sound a little crazy when I say this, where I feel like I'm sitting in a coffee shop and I have two people next to me having a conversation and I'm listening to them and going, oh, wow, that's really great. And so it's not like a sales, you know, you're not doing a sales commercial. It's literally a conversation. And so if we can frame it around, I'm just going to have coffee with Janice today and we're just going to talk about things. It's so much less pressure than if I'm like, I got to prepare this, I got to do this. Now, I do tell my clients, don't show up unless you're prepared, right? We give them a brief sheet. Um, you know, I tell them who the target audience is. I may give them some pointers. I want them to show up, understanding the people that they're going to be speaking with. Um, and there are some hosts that will provide um, you know, questions. I do have some clients that, you know, want what I call some training wheels, right? They want to know what to expect. And in those cases, those are maybe the first one or two podcasts that I'll strategically book them on so they can kind of have that. And then they get comfortable and then they move out of that, right? But I think it's really about how we're looking at what what is that, what does that look like, right? And how do I approach that? And it really comes down to the strategy.

Janice Hostager 16:53

Right. Yeah, yeah. I agree 100%. I think there is so much benefit that can come if you really are, especially or hyper focused on a pick a particular uh ideal customer, and there are so many niche podcasts out there that it's just it's perfect for that. Yeah, absolutely. Is there anybody that you think should not be a podcast guest? Like who this isn't really right for?

Kristen Nolan 17:21

So I think people that come to be a podcast guest from a space of ego, right? I want to, I want to be an influencer. I want to be on like, I want to be on the top podcast, right? I want to be on Joe Rogan. I'm like, that's not realistic, right? And so we have to have those conversations around what type of guests does Joe Rogan have? And then are you that caliber of guest? And sometimes that's a very difficult conversation. And we do that with, you know, other podcasts like Brene Brown and things like that. But I think the best guests come from a place of I'm here to educate and I'm here to teach about what my background is or what my product is or what my service is. So if you're coming from a place of ego, it's probably not gonna be the right fit for you. You're not gonna have, you know, hosts are not gonna welcome you. And I always tell my clients, you know, going on a going on a podcast is like someone inviting you into their home, right? You go in with respect. We're not going on to sell, we're not selling anything. We're we're teaching and we're sharing the expertise and what we have. And so um, anybody that's coming on to sell, that's probably not for you.

Janice Hostager 18:34

That is that is very true. I've had guests that have done that, and I've had guests that have tried to turn the interview around a little bit. And it's it's pretty upsetting, actually. It's just it's makes me angry. Yeah. Because I'll ask them a question, they'll like, no, I don't want to answer that one. But here's what I will tell you. Or they'll pitch themselves in every answer that they give. I don't I don't think that's good for the listener. And my number one priority is to my listeners because without them, I don't have a podcast. So uh I as much as I try and pre-screen and I and I've gotten better about picking up who's gonna be like that. Um, but yeah, I think you're right. That's not the right attitude for podcasts at all.

Kristen Nolan 19:10

Yeah. I like I've had a client that shared with me that, you know, she went on a podcast. And so she'd asked for the questions beforehand and she told the host, like, hey, you asked me a question. I'm gonna answer the question. I want you to ask me in order. And when I'm done answering the question, I'm gonna nod so you know that you can go on to the next question. And I was absolutely mortified because I'm like, you should be, you should maybe be a host versus a guest, because that's probably more of your lane with with how you want to conduct the interview.

Janice Hostager 19:40

Yeah. That's that's a really good way to be have your eyes opened is to just try to turn it around a little bit. So that makes that's what makes a poor guest, but what makes somebody a great podcast guest?

Laddering Up To Bigger Shows

Kristen Nolan 19:53

Absolutely. So I think being prepared, right? We want to make sure that you know who the host is, who their audience is, and you want to come in with a sense of how am I bringing value, right? Bringing value to the host and bringing value to the audience. And I think a lot of times people think that I'm gonna go be on a podcast. As soon as a recording stops, I'm gonna sit back and I'm gonna take advantage of the host's audience. And I do not believe that that is that that is the right way to do it, right? I think that when the recording stops, that's when, that's when the real benefits start, right? So having a relationship and connecting with the host on LinkedIn is a key thing for me, right? You wanna connect, you wanna, you wanna um go back and forth, you wanna be able to network. I tell my clients, I, you know, this if if someone is a good host and their their audience is the right target audience for you, there is a networking opportunity there for you, right? You can you can send them clients that make sense, they can send you clients that make sense. I had a client that um was a guest on a podcast and she was asked to be a keynote speaker at a future conference for that host because he loved her energy so much. So they were able to continue the relationship beyond that. I believe that when the podcast episode is is released, and this is a huge piece that I think a lot of times people miss, is around the promotion, right? And I tell my clients, if you're promoting the episode, the host is going to see that and they're gonna promote it more. It's mutually beneficial to the both of you. And then the last piece that I also think people tend to miss out on is the repurposing, right? I can take our video and I can pull 30 to 60 second clips, right? If you hate putting together videos every day, like you talked about in the beginning, a podcast is a great way to not have to do that. If I come to you and I say, Hey, Janice, after our recording, when this publishes, can I get a copy of it so I can pull some, you know, short clips that I can share on my social media? Nine times out of 10, the host is going to be like, absolutely, because again, it's mutually beneficial. You are then able to take those. Clips and repurpose them on social media, and it's a win-win for everybody.

Janice Hostager 22:04

Yeah, I 100% agree with everything you said, and especially the networking part. I think that was something that I wasn't really looking for when I started podcasting.

Kristen Nolan 22:12

Yeah.

Janice Hostager 22:13

But I've gotten to know so many amazing people through podcasting. And I do reach out to some of them and say, you know, um, I'd love to have you maybe just have you on another episode. I'd love to see if you can work out because I have clients of my own. And and and so yeah, definitely networking is is, I think, kind of forgotten about podcasting.

Kristen Nolan 22:37

And I think um to piggyback on that, I think that those relationships, um, especially, and I mentioned this before, but like as we're in the age of AI, I think that relationships are so critical. So one of our core values at Interview Valet is relationships are the ultimate currency. And I'm sure you can attest to this that you probably get a ton of emails and it's like, you know, hey, Janice, we have this guest for you. And it's like somebody that has nothing to do with like what you want to talk about, right? And it's just now people can just, you know, kind of rapid fire those pitches, if you will. And so it's like there's no value to you as a host, right? So what happens is the relationships that we have with people are going to be so critical because there's this what we call AI slap, right? If people can mass produce these introductions or these pitches, what does it come down to, right? If you see an email from my team, you go, oh, that's Interview Valet. I know them, I can trust them. I know they're not sending me AI stuff that doesn't make sense. And so if we're able to make those connections now and we're able to build those relationships now, I think that those are going to be far more beneficial later as we continue to see, you know, the A the AI slot kind of coming through.

Janice Hostager 23:53

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And and I do see a lot of that. And and what is really interesting to me is that all the emails are the same. So it's like they went to Chat GPT and said, I need an email to pitch for podcasts. And I I can just spot them the first line because they're all the same. I and so that's definitely one mistake people I think make when they're pitching is that they don't think about the audience and and how will it benefit me? You know, I never heard of you. I don't know anything about you. How is my audience gonna benefit from this? How am I gonna benefit from this? You know, give before taking kind of thing. Um are there some other things that mistakes that people will make when they're pitching?

Make It Easy: One Clear Landing Page

Kristen Nolan 24:29

Yeah, I think finding relevance, right? Like what what is it, what is the value that you bring? Like when we're when I'm like talking to a new client and I'm building their one sheet, right? I I'm talking about and we will do like topics, right? And how I explain it to them is the topic should read as if it's a podcast episode title, right? We want them to be engaging. We want the host to go, oh, that's really cool. Like I want to talk to them about that. And so I think it's it's really about how you present yourself to. And so when you talk about getting those, you know, AI generated emails, like that's your foot forward, right? That's the first your your initial impression to a host, and you only get one opportunity to make that first impression. So you want to make sure that it's like very professional, on brand with you, and it's the right foot forward that you want with the host to get the outcome that you want, right? And it could be, you know, hey, I, you know, I listen to these couple of podcasts, and I love that you share this value and this value and you talk about this. I feel the same. And here's some ways that, you know, I could bring value to your audience. We have an internal podcast at Interview Valet. And um, I do some work with that as well. And there will oftentimes be people that, you know, pitch themselves, and I'm just like, this has nothing to do with, because our podcast is highly knit, you know, it's a highly niche podcast. Um, and I'm like, you're just literally kind of casting a wide net and seeing what comes in. And I don't think that that's the best approach either because we're not thinking about is that on brand with what I want? Right. Is this, is this a good representation of who I am? When I'm looking at potential podcasts for my clients, I'm looking at and I'm listening to the host. Will the host and the client have a good conversation? Will they, will they align on things, right? It's not just, hey, I'm looking at the description and going, okay, the target audience is great. I'm taking it a step further and going, are they gonna have a good conversation? Is this a good opportunity for networking? You know, is there more to that? And I think so often we're just sort of like, you know, throwing spaghetti on a wall and seeing what sticks. And that's not the best strategy.

Janice Hostager 26:36

No, it definitely is not. Yeah. I think it burns some bridges, actually. Absolutely. So back to pitching. Um, do you have a way in which you recommend people approach it? Let's say I've I've never done a podcast before, but I want to be on I don't know, Amy Porterfield's podcast, who's a big marketing podcast. I probably wouldn't start there, right? So how do you like do you have a way to work up to the bigger names or is there like how do you approach that?

Kristen Nolan 27:07

Yeah. So um at Interview Valet, pitch is one of our four-letter words. We prefer the word introduction because we want to introduce people. We don't pitch them. You pitch a ball. We want to introduce people so that they can have those relationships. But um, if I have a client and they say I want to be on a very high-level podcast, what we what we can do is we source multiple databases. So I can take the Amy Porterfield podcast and I can see what other podcasts the listeners of that podcast listen to, right? So you're in the same audience, it just may not be as large of an audience. So if you're just starting out, you know, you start out with a couple of of the smaller podcasts, again, similar audience, and you you get really good at telling your stories, at connecting with the audience, and then you work your way up. And so when we have clients that maybe have never podcasted before, maybe they've never spoken before, I've had a client in the past that said, I've never even listened to a podcast before. Someone told me to do this and I gave you guys a call and thought it was a great idea. And so it's really around the strategy of how do you work yourself up to that? And then how do we highlight what you're doing and how do we work with the host to show, you know, the value that you bring to them? So it's really just sort of like you crawl before you walk or you crawl before you run, essentially.

Janice Hostager 28:24

So you basically build that relationship with the audience before you approach, okay. Gotcha.

Kristen Nolan 28:30

Yes. And and the other thing that I will also mention is that when people want to be on these higher level podcasts with, you know, that I would consider to be like viral ones, we look at what value do you bring to the host? Because a lot of times people will come and they'll say, you know, I want to be on entrepreneurs on fire. And I'm like, okay, that's great. Well, what does your social media look like? What does your email list look like? Right? Is it is it going to bring value to the host for you to be a guest? And if not, then sometimes there are, you know, what we call pay-to-play, right? A host will say, I'm gonna have you as a guest on my podcast. However, you have to pay a certain amount of money to do that. And like entrepreneurs on fire, he charges to be a guest on the podcast. And people pay it because they see the value there.

Janice Hostager 29:17

Yeah. I didn't realize that. That's interesting.

Kristen Nolan 29:19

Yeah.

Janice Hostager 29:20

Um, he did he does it or he used to do a podcast every day. Does he still do that? Yes, he still does it every day. Okay. Wow. Yeah. Um, so one thing I think that I didn't really realize about podcasting that until I got into it is that if you have an appearance on a podcast, and let's say you have a launch coming up or or something's coming out, that it often is more of a a branding exercise than it is a top of funnel exercise, right? So you think, okay, 5,000 people are gonna hear me, whatever, whatever number, and they're all gonna want to run and download my freebie. And that's not always the way it works because that's a big leap to go from you're out on on a run, you're listening to a podcast, you've got to remember who that host what podcast it was, which you probably would remember that, but you've got to remember who the host was, you've got to go back, find their email, find their website, you know, to to go back and get that freebie. So I think that's important to know because I think I've had guests on where they've been really disappointed at the amount of traffic that they didn't get from being out of podcast.

Interview Analysis And Continuous Improvement

Kristen Nolan 30:25

Yeah. And I think that with this, there's like a multi-layer strategy with that, right? So as you're talking, um, you know, people are running, they're, you know, as people are listening to podcasts, they're running, they're in the car, they're doing a bunch of different things. I think um one thing that I always tell my clients that you can guarantee is at the end of a podcast, a host is gonna say, Well, where can our listeners find you? And I see it happen all the time where people will say, You here's my LinkedIn, here's my email, find me here. They give you like 50, like a laundry list of 50 different places to find them. That's not the right thing to do, right? You want to have one concise place. So whether that is um what we call a welcome page or a landing page, hey, you can find me here at this website. It's, you know, you spell it out, you give them something memorable. Like I always say, you know, mine is um interviewvalet.com slash Kristen, and I'll give like a, you know, my name is spelled K-R-I-S-T-E-N. Don't spell it with an I. Most people do. And that way it's sort of like something to to remind them of the spelling of my name. And so you, you want to do that, right? So you you make it easy for them. And then the other part to that is that you also get, because it's not just leads, right? Like we we look at everything from a leads perspective. You also have to look at what is the what is the SEO value, what is the um LMO or LLMO or whatever there, I feel like the terminology changes, but what are the AI models um picking up on from the value of you being on a podcast? So yes, leads are important, but there's also all of these other things that I think people maybe don't consider. Also, you know, you're building the relationship with the host. You're you're moving yourself up as a thought leader, right? The more podcasts you do, the more content you get. You're you're able to do that. So it's sort of this like strategic multi-level approach that isn't just, you know, isn't just like the specific leads, just like it's not just the specific downloads, right? A lot of times people will say, Well, I want an X number of downloads. Well, that can be deceiving, right? Like we we want to talk about what is the comprehensive profile of the value that you as a you as a guest bring, as well as what does the host bring.

Janice Hostager 32:35

That's absolutely true. Because I think if you start exp raising your expectations in terms of sales from a podcast appearance, there's so much friction that it will get in the way. And and even at the end of my podcast, I will say you can find my show notes at myweeklymarketing.com forward slash, and I'll give a number, an episode number. And even there, the numbers of people that I get are are not as high as definitely uh I don't know. I I can't tell you percent terrible statistics, but it it's a small percentage of people that will actually click through and go to the show notes and find the link and click the link and go and and to that thing. I mean, we're so busy, we've got, you know, stuff in front of our eyes all the time that uh I I I just really think it's important to set that expectation.

Kristen Nolan 33:21

Yeah, absolutely. I and and that's the thing. I think going into it um, you know, with a specific expectation, like a certain number of visitors to your website or anything like that, I think it's really about how how am I offering the value, right? And then what what else is it that I'm getting? Because, you know, if you get like if I am, if I have a guest, like I had as an example, I had a client that was with us. He was in law firm growth. He had one person find, like listen to him on a podcast, one person, and that he was able to close a $90,000 deal just from that one person. And he was a service-based business, right? And so that, I mean, took care of any any of the cost involved with it, right? It was it was a huge payoff for him. So I think, you know, going into it, having a mentality of like, I'm here to serve what it is, is that it takes podcast interview marketing, it's not a megaphone, it's a magnet, right? So it's organically bringing people to you versus you just shouting at people.

Janice Hostager 34:23

Love that analogy. Yeah. Yeah. So all right, let's so let's say I I I'm doing what you say. I've got a really unique value proposition. I want to get out there and and do some podcasts, but they're still feeling a little nervous, but maybe excited. So what would be their first step?

Kristen Nolan 34:39

So I will tell you, when I first started doing this on behalf of Interview Valet, I picked topics that I was really, really comfortable with, right? So I'm a mom. I, you know, so I would talk about, you know, what is your busy schedule like, right? And so the topics that I chose, while still relevant to my work at Interview Valet, were topics that I felt really equipped and and able to talk about. So if you need to pick topics that you're like, okay, these are my training wheel topics, do it, right? And then work your way up. And so as I sort of do, you know, more podcasts, then I sort of evolve what I want to talk about, what I can talk about. So, and I will tell you, my first podcast episode that I did as a guest is not great. Like going into it and having like very low expectations, I think is very realistic, right? If you're just going there, you're ripping the band-aid off, you're having a good conversation, you're you're understanding what that's like, you're learning, you're growing, and then you're taking that into the next one and you're making it even better, right? And so one of the things that we do is we do something called an interview analysis. So for our clients, the first three podcasts that they do, we send them an analysis. What went well, what maybe didn't go as great. And here are some ways that we think you could improve, right? It's it's always positive. Um, but it'll be things like, you know, what was your share of speaking, right? We want it to be more like 50-50, 60-40, so that it's a conversation and you're not just speaking at the host. We want to make you aware of, you know, are you saying specific words like an um? Are you, you know, what are some key phrases that we see that you use that you can take and and brand, right? You're you're using these phrases quite a bit. These are things that you should probably lean into and make part of your marketing strategy. So, you know, and then there's additional things that we also talk about, but really just providing the value and and showing up with an attitude of like, this is going to be something that may not be in my wheelhouse. I'm going to be a little comfortable, but I'm going to do it anyway because I'm going to rip the bandit off and I'm going to make it better each and every time that I that I hit record.

Janice Hostager 36:55

Yeah, I think that's 100% on. It's like anything doing video, anything, you just have to do it again and again and again and again. And eventually you will get better at it and uh it'll become easier. And absolutely there's so much value in podcasting for sure. Absolutely. So you you work with guests getting them on podcasts. Do you work with podcasters finding guests for them as well? Does it work that way as well?

Kristen Nolan 37:21

So we we have kind of two teams. Um, so I am a client account manager, and then we have um podcast relationship managers. So our podcast relationship managers, they manage the relationship with the hosts, and then I manage the relationship with um with the clients. And there are, I think, like six or seven of us. And so it's really we, we have it's it's actually really interesting how we have kind of things laid out. I I will often tell my clients, like, we have what we call a triple layer approach, right? So I'll kind of pull back the curtain for you as a host so you can kind of get an idea of what that looks like too. But we have a prospecting team. So the prospectors will go through and send um a potential uh, you know, bunch of podcasts to me. I, as a client account manager, would go through and say, yes, this is a good fit or no, it's not a good fit. If it's not a good fit, I'm gonna give a reason so we can refine the process. If it is a good fit, I'm gonna pass it over to my podcast relationship manager. They're gonna look at it and go, oh yeah, Janice has been looking for this type of guest. This is great. I'm gonna make the introduction. And the host says yes or no. So by the time that it gets to the host, we've had many people internally go, yes, this is the right fit, or no, this is not the right fit. And so it's not just like throwing spaghetti at a wall. Like we're we have multiple eyes on it, going, okay, this is a good fit, and this is the right fit for the podcast host and the client.

Janice Hostager 38:41

Gotcha. That's very thorough. That's so appreciated if for someone like me who's busy and and ha having to screen guests is tough. So that's good to know. Absolutely. So, Kristen, where can people find out more about you?

Kristen Nolan 38:54

Yeah, absolutely. So you can find me at my landing page. It is Interview Valet with a v dot com slash Kristen, and that's K-R-I-S-T-E-N with an E, not an I. Everyone misspells that. And there you'll be able to do your free interview analysis if you would like to get that. Tom has his book, Podcast Guest Profits. He's our CEO. And then there's also an opportunity to schedule a discovery call if you'd like to learn more about working with Interview Valet. You can also, my social media information is there. I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn and learn more about you.

Janice Hostager 39:27

Love it. And of course, everything will be in the show notes for today, too. Kristen, thank you so much. I have learned a lot about podcasting. I've been after years of in this doing this, I there's still more to learn. So I appreciate it.

Kristen Nolan 39:40

Yeah, absolutely awesome. I really enjoyed our conversation.

Janice Hostager 39:44

I love that she reminded us that confidence doesn't magically appear before you take action. It grows because you take action. So if podcast guesting has been sitting in the back of your mind as something you might want to do someday, maybe this is your nudge. You have a story to tell. So getting out there on podcasts is a great way to do that. For more information about anything we talked about today, visit myweeklymarketing.com forward slash one forty eight. I'll see you next time. Bye for now.