The Podcast Discoveries Series

by Case Lane

With the rise of podcasts as an open market of free-for-all conversations, entertainment, knowledge and jokes, podcast hosts are free to manage their shows as they see fit.

There are no rules, requirements or regulations. 

But after researching 1,117 podcasts to find relevant and interesting podcasts that might have me on as an interview guest, I decided to distribute the information about what I discovered.

As a podcast host, guest and listener, I found the observations from my research to be compelling, and helpful to those in the industry.

So this post is being offered only as a list of potential ideas for podcast hosts who are not sure what they would like to do with interviewing, or who would like to attract more potential relevant guests.

Everyone else, stop reading before you start complaining that you do not want to implement any of these practices, okay!

This post also does not apply to those who are, or are using, paid public relations services who have connections inside podcast networks and other means for directly contacting shows.

This is for podcast D-I-Yers and their teams who are looking for insight into the process.

The Inadvertent Podcast Research Project

The latest statistics state there are probably now at least 1,000,000 podcasts.  If you are interviewing guests to provide relevant information or entertainment, and to help differentiate yourself in the market…

How do you find the people you want to talk to?

During a months long quest to be interviewed on podcasts, I was startled to gather information, and learn more than I imagined about the podcast industry.

In this blog series, I am going to let you know what I learned from my inadvertent deep research dive into best practices for podcast industry hosts, and how you can implement them in your own podcast world.

When searching for relevant guests, some podcasters can actively pull people from their community, past lives, or even their neighborhood.  But others may not have anyone around who fits their ideal description for a guest.

However, you may be able to easily attract these guests through the overlooked idea of simply making sure that potential guests can find you. 

You can put out a welcome mat that says ‘yes, I want to interview interesting people,’ and make it clear through your podcast, website or social media that you want people to reach out and talk to you.

The Background

Months prior to the release of my new book Recast, I set a goal to be interviewed on 50 podcasts as part of a virtual promotional tour.  What I did not know then, is I would have to research more than 1,000 podcasts to find the 50 who have now said ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’ so far.

On purpose, 100% of the podcasters I approached, I had never heard of before.  The podcasters I have heard of are some of the biggest names in the business.  I immediately put them on my dream list to be approached in the future.  But for this tour, I wanted to find the relevant podcasters, who were speaking to the audience I wanted to reach.

For your reference, here are the results from which I draw the conclusions in this post:

I researched 1, 117 podcasts, meaning I looked at the podcast details, first to determine if it was relevant to my search, then to find contact information. 

About two-thirds were not relevant to my topic as defined by me, but you may think differently when you understand my process.

The balance were sent an interview request (either an e-mail or communication through their own form)

Of those who were sent an interview request, 25% replied – that’s double the rate quoted in most how-to articles.

Of those who replied:

Nearly half said ‘Yes’ and those interviews have taken place or have been scheduled. 

About one third said maybe, for mostly scheduling reasons

And the balance, less than one-quarter said an outright ‘No.’

For the 75% who never responded…that is absolutely expected and understandable.

Based on my learnings from the above, here is my take on best practices for podcast hosts, who want to put out a welcome mat for potential guests

1. Provide a Way to Communicate
2. Understand the Consequences of Asking for Payments, Reviews and other upfront requests
3. Use Relevant Categories, Clear Descriptions and Specific Keywords
4. Try to Un-conflict Conflicting Show Names
5. No Need to Respond
6. Confirm Technical Requirements
7. Confirm Promotional Expectations

Provide a Way to Communicate

Potential podcast guests need a process for telling you they exist, and the most welcoming podcast hosts present this opening front and center on their website.

Podcast Guest Interview Request Form

Podcasters use a specific guest interview request form to gather upfront information about potential guests.  These forms can be long or short, have general questions or specific, and be a great source for potential ideas.

However podcast hosts must understand that the presentation of the form is also a reflection on them.  And potential guests will make a decision about the host based on the form content.  This may be exactly what you want.

Create the form as you see fit for your show, content and audience. But keep in mind the potential concerns from possible guests.

Online business is all about niches, and reaching your specific community.  However, if you find that few guests are completing your form, you may want to look at your requested content.

Among the concerns:

Lack of space:  An answer box without a stated character limitation becomes a source of frustration when a potential guest wants to explain their pitch, but finds no room for entering the information.  A good option for this is a ‘do you have anything to add’ type of box.

Phone numbers:  Asking a potential guest for a phone number before you have agreed to the interview could be considered scammy, and an attempt to load up your email list with personal information.

Irrelevant questions: Questions that are unrelated to the podcast may appear to be a waste of time.  The potential host is unlikely to be the only person the potential guest is approaching.  Quirky, extraneous questions just take up more time to complete. However, if this is the personality you want guests to also reflect on your show, the questions can be legitimate.

A standard Website Contact Form that specifically mentions podcast guests

This is a great alternative to the specific podcast guest form.  Specifically stating that potential podcast guests should complete the standard website contact form indicates the host is open to attracting guests, and is likely to read the submitted information.   In most cases, this also provides sufficient space for the guest to submit their pitch.

A website e-mail address

An ‘open’ e-mail address that is not specifically limited to clients or the media can be used by the potential guest.  The assumption is the email whether it says info@ or support@ or hello@, will still go to the host or podcast team.

Email in podcast description

Providing your email exactly where people are researching the podcast is extremely helpful, but rarely used.  No doubt podcasters are concerned about spam.  But if you do not have a website, or are using a free hosting service, you may want to include an email where it can be easily found.

Website Generic contact form

If you do not want to display your e-mail, but have a generic contact form, guests can fill that out.  However, since people are leery of those contact requests going into a no-reply black hole, a note about your expected response time or other welcoming comments would make usage more likely.

Social Media

Although podcasters will likely want to drive potential guests to their social sites, you should be aware that this would be the most time consuming, and potentially, least used approach by podcasters approaching multiple hosts.

With the exception of those who spend most of their time on social media, the time and effort required to go back and forth in trying to make a cold pitch may discourage some people.

But again, this may be your intention.  If you only want to work with people who engage with you on social, you can leave social media sites as your only public communication process.

Understand the Consequences of Asking for Payments, Review Requests and other contentious practices

In my research, a small number of podcasters asked for payment, review requests (often 5-star), listens or subscribers before they would commit to an interview.  Sometimes before they would even consider an interview.

A host must decide if these practices are valuable to the podcast’s brand, reputation, and viability.  For example, how valid are commanded reviews?  For some people, it’s the number of reviews that hold meaning, not the method in which they are obtained.  For others, organic reviews are more valuable and encouraged.

Given that there are tens of thousands of potential podcasts for guests to choose from, hosts can expect that some percentage of potential guests will not be willing to accept any type of ‘extra’ command in exchange for an interview.  In other cases, they will almost certainly say ‘yes.’

No doubt the ‘big names,’ are not asked, nor respond to additional requests, however that does not mean they are not aware of who participates in these practices and who does not.  Some podcasters are striving to build a recognized, formal podcaster community that delivers value to listeners, and sets an example for model online entrepreneurship behavior.

So do what you believe is right for your show, and expect both understanding, and negative feedback from your decision.

Use Relevant Categories, Clear Descriptions and Specific Keywords

Potential guests are going to search for relevant podcasts by categories and keywords.  Make sure your title, description and category convey the message you want to communicate.

If possible, select more than one category since your topic may cover more than one area.

For podcasts that cross multiple categories, use the description to specifically describe your content.  If you want to encourage guests, state in your description that you will be interviewing guests of X,Y,Z background or interest.

The descriptions for each episode are also important.  If you want potential guests to understand the types of people you interview, include background, knowledge, interests and other relevant facts in the episode description.

In the Apple Podcasts show page, the first three lines of the episode description are visible.  A potential guest can scan through the information, and determine if they would be a good fit.

You can always look at the descriptions of other podcasts to develop ideas about what you would like to do.

If you really want to attract only a certain kind of guest, for example one who may speak on topics like spirituality, mental health, politics, religion, and so on, put that message in your description.

Neither side is served by misunderstandings or conflicts over the meaning of certain words.

Un-conflict Conflicting Podcast Names

For our purposes, to un-conflict is to take the conflict away.  Do a search for your podcast name, and see if you own the first page of the Google search results.

If you don’t own the first page, get your podcast listed in all available directories.  In my research, a podcast listed in multiple directories, beyond the most obvious, typically owned the first page of the search results because Google returned the locations where the podcast appears. 

If you don’t own the first page, check on the status of the conflicting name podcasts, especially the ones that come out above you.  Even if a podcast is dead, losing search results domination means that if someone is looking for you, they might not find you, or they might go to another podcast with a similar name, see that it’s dead, and assume that you are no longer recording.

Conversely, in the research, a podcast that had only one listing for its name was usually either in a name conflict with one or many other podcasts, or was dead.

No Need to Respond to Pitches

The majority of cold interview requests never receive a response, and that is expected.

If you are interested in the guest, but have a full calendar, a legitimate ‘maybe next year’ is relevant.

Sending an outright ‘no’ typically depends on the circumstances. If you want to give the potential guest a reason, such as your podcast is coming to an end, then you eliminate the possibility of follow-up requests.

Robo-replies with specific information like you are no longer accepting guests are also helpful.

Confirm Technical Requirements

In the short span of a few months, Zoom video has gone from a ‘new’ app some people use, to the default provider of face-to-face global communications.

Zoom was by far the dominant choice for podcast interviewers.

When you schedule an interview with your potential guest, confirm the technical requirements especially if you have special requests or want to use a less popular communications app.

Existing podcasters may already be set-up for a quiet discussion, but new interviewees could have limited experience.

You can put the technical requirements in your confirmation email or calendar event.

Confirm Promotional Expectations

Unsurprisingly, podcast hosts are frustrated if podcast guests do not promote the show.  For hosts, the minimum requirement is to advise the guest when the show is available, and the link you prefer for posts.

If you do not provide your preferred link, the guest will have to select their own preferred option, like the Apple Podcasts link, or not link to the show at all.

When the show is available, promotion usually extends only to social media and the guest’s e-mail lists.  You will see the social posts, but not the e-mail list unless you sign-up for the guest’s community.

Good practice is to also provide your social media handles so the guest can tag you on social, and you’ll know when the episode is promoted.

An even more effective promotion is to provide graphics for the episode that the guest can use to promote on their own. But this is not necessary unless you are creating graphics for your own promotion, then you can share those with the guest.

NOTE: Podcast guests: there are some tips for creating your own consistent graphics for posts in the next article in this series: How to Be a Valuable Podcast Guest.

Conclusion

If you are a podcast host who wants to have guests on your podcast, and you welcome cold requests from potential guests in the world, these practices can help attract more of the people you are looking for.

You can also reverse engineer the requests to ensure you narrow your guest list to those who best meet the vision for your podcast and your intentions.

The general best practice is communication and mutual understanding. If someone sends you a pitch that provides value for your audience, then together you can arrange a productive interview that you both use to grow your show.

More Information

The best part about researching 1,117 podcasts was being accepted as a guest on so many awesome shows!  You can find links to all of those fabulous podcasts here.

The second best part was my new found insight into the podcast industry.

This research was so eye-opening that this post is one of five about what I learned about the podcast industry from researching 1,117 podcasts. 

Here are the links to all of the posts in the Podcast Discoveries Series:

Introduction to the Podcast Discoveries Series

How to Become A Guest on a Podcast

How to be a Welcoming Podcast Interview Host:  The Best and Worst Practices

How to be a Valued Podcast Interview Guest:  The Best and Worst Practices

Maximize Your Podcast Listening: Use Interviews to learn from Virtual Mentors

Additional Resources

Research Checklist: Podcast Guests: If you would like a free checklist for how to research and find the right podcast for you. Click here to download.

Podcast Directories: If you would like to get your own copy of the podcast directory listing and instructions based on my research click here (coming soon)

Podcast Guest Interview Blueprint Package (the ultimate course for podcast guests): Podcast Guests: If you would like the comprehensive guide to finding and contacting podcasts that are right for you, including as bonuses the Interview Checklist and the Directories List. Click here for this special offer.

Podcast Discoveries Book: Readers: If you would like the entire story of this epic research journey to discover and contact podcasts for guest interviews. Click here to download at Amazon.com. NOTE: the book is also available at Apple Bookstore, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and other popular sites where ebooks are sold.

Research Report: To purchase, the entire research report click here (coming soon)

Podcast Discoveries on the Ready Entrepreneur Podcast: This information will be explained in upcoming episodes of The Ready Entrepreneur Podcast. Subscribe at Apple Podcasts to stay up to date.

Podcast Discoveries on YouTube: To watch videos explaining the Podcast Discoveries process for finding your new favorite podcasts, click here (coming soon)

Disclosure: Links to Amazon.com and related companies are affiliate links that earn for eligible purchases at no additional cost to you.