My podcast is fairly small but I still get pitches from people who want to be guests. I also get queries from people who are ready to recommend others to my podcast. Some are paid to find podcasts that will take guests. Some seem to be doing this for free.
When they ask these questions, a red flag goes up immediately:
(1) Do you use guests on your podcast?
(2) What type of guests are you looking for?
These questions might seem normal and appropriate. But they’re signaling, “Clueless.”
Before you pitch a podcast, you need to go to the podcast site. Read the show notes. Look at the illustrations. Listen to 2 or 3 episodes.
Listening to my podcast shouldn’t be a chore. If you’re really interested in my topic, you’ll want to hear everything I’ve said about it.
You’ll immediately see whether the podcast host uses guests. For my podcast, you’ll see that I do work with guests…but very rarely. I invite people I know. If I figure they’ll be good guests, we can work on a topic.
You’ll also see how I work with guests. We talk about their stories. We talk about how their storytelling influences their marketing strategy.
Most of all, you’ll see that I am not actively looking for guests. I use them infrequently so I don’t need one guest every week.
I actually had someone say, “I know a lot of people who’d be great podcast guests. What should I tell them about your podcast?”
The correct answer is, “Tell them to go to my podcast and listen to a few episodes. Maybe visit my blog, too. Sign up for my emails. You’ll get a sense of what I’m interested in.”
“Then,” I’d continue, “anyone who wants to be a guest needs to suggest two or three topics. You shouldn’t just suggest one, because I may have that topic in the works already.”
When you ask me those questions, you show you’re taking a broadcast approach. You’re wasting a lot of your time and other people’s time.
Don’t waste time telling me about yourself.
I don’t care if you won a national award in your industry if you can’t come up with a topic for the podcast.
Related article: Write a winning pitch to be a guest in a blog or podcast.
