Guests can bring a fresh perspective and new ideas to your show, give your audience a different voice to listen to, and add dimension to your episodes. Your listeners can also get advice from experts who could otherwise be charging a lot of money for their consulting.
It is a great opportunity to grow your podcast further as often you are tapping into your guests’ audiences and they will likely promote your podcast when their episode goes live.
You should always consider your audience when deciding who to invite as a guest onto your show. How are your listeners going to benefit from your content with this guest? Whether each episode is going to have a guest interview or you will bring guests onto your show periodically, you still need to find and approach the right guests to invite them onto your podcast.
There are many potential ways to find great podcast guests.
The first thing you should always do is do some research. You need to think about the kind of people that will make great guests on your show.
You want this partnership to be mutually beneficial. So, of course, it makes sense that the content that you will create together will add value to your podcast and appeal to your listeners, while also providing value to your guest. Providing value to your guest could be in many forms, whether that is expanding their brand or promoting a product, showcasing their expertise and establishing themselves as an industry leader in your area, or to appeal to their own listeners and audience.
Once you have an idea of the kind of people you would like to have on your podcast, here are 10 ways to find these people, and to reach out to them to invite them onto your show!
You should not underestimate the power of using your existing network. It is usually the best place to begin when your podcast is just starting out. People that you already have a connection with are likely to agree to come on board and speak on your show.
Often securing the first guest is the hardest and afterwards other guests will be more likely to agree to an interview too.
Reaching out to other podcasters in your niche can be another way to secure guests for your show. They are already familiar with the processes of recording episodes and will not be as shy or reserved about recording an episode. They will already have the recording equipment set up so your sound quality will be great, and they have the opportunity to grow their own following as well and tap in to your audience.
Similar to asking other podcasters onto your show, asking other content creators, like YouTubers or Blog writers, is a good idea because they are already creating similar content. It is another good opportunity for cross-promotion and getting exposure to each other’s audiences.
If a potential guest has recently written a book or are launching a new product or service, they will likely be keen to promote it to as many people as possible and boost their sales. While you will want to ensure the entire episode does not turn into a sales pitch that will frustrate your audience, a guest will likely agree to be on your podcast if you are providing them with access to their ideal target market through your listenership.
As with any industry, having connections is extremely beneficial. If you can reach out to a potential guest and let them know that they were referred to you by a mutual contact, they will be more likely to engage. They will feel comfortable knowing that a common connection has already been on the show. You can even send them the recording of the episode so they can hear it and envision themselves doing the same thing.
You can also ask guests during your interview questions like “who in the industry would you love to work with?”, “whose work are you currently admiring?”, “If you could have lunch with anybody in this industry who would it be?” and use their answers as inspiration for potential guests to reach out to.
Conferences and industry events are great places to meet industry experts and leaders in your space.
Networking and meeting these people face-to-face builds a connection with them that cold-emailing would not, which gives you a better chance of having them come on your show. It could be a speaker at the event, the organiser, or a fellow attendee that you can invite.
Everybody there is in the same field as you and can offer an interesting perspective and fresh content for your show.
The power of social media should never be underestimated and can be an excellent place to find people that are speaking about your podcast’s topic or theme. You can look in Facebook Groups, by Twitter hashtags, in subreddit threads, and you will be sure to find people who are vocal and passionate about your niche topic.
If you are looking for industry experts, heads of companies, and people who are writing and publishing articles related to your topic, LinkedIn is a great place to find these people. LinkedIn is the place for professional networking and reaching out to like-minded experts, and is a clear runner for finding guests that would be a great addition to bring to your podcast.
When you have built up a bigger following, one of the best places to find out who your audience would be interested in hearing on your podcast, is to ask the audience themselves. The guest episode will sure to be successful as you are giving your listeners exactly what they want. Ask them in your episodes who they would like to hear from and be sure to give them an easy way to submit their recommendations, be it by email, your website, or social media.
There are numerous podcast guest services out there that you can use to find guests. The benefit of these is that you are finding and reaching out to people who already know they want to be podcast guests. Finding guests can be very easy and they are likely to agree to come onto your show.
Check out PodcastGuests.com, PodchaserConnect , MatchMaker.fm and PodMatch.
Whichever method you use to secure guests for your podcast, always be sure to make the benefits obvious to potential guests so they are keen to agree to come on the show.
Once they have agreed, make it as seamless and stress-free as possible for them – give them a list of some questions that you intend to ask during the interview ahead of time so they can think about what they might like to say. Provide a media pack so they can easily share and promote the episode across their social media when the episode is released.
We cover lots of tips on how to make your guests comfortable and have a smooth recording experience in our How to record your podcast remotely with guests post.
Make sure it is easy for potential guests to reach you too! Perhaps there are experts out there who would love to be on your show but they don’t know how to contact you to request to be on your podcast. Having your contact details easily available, either in your show notes or on your website, with an invitation for people to reach out if they would like to be a guest, will make them far more likely to get in touch.
Now that you have your guests booked, you need to think about how you are going to record the episodes. Will they be in person with you, or recording remotely?
Check out our tips on How to record your podcast remotely with guests!
