So, you are looking to find podcast guests? I think I can help you with that.
This article is only applicable to those podcasters who will be sourcing amazing, highly qualified guests for their podcast episodes. For those that need it, it’s a critical element in how to start a podcast.
When I finally said yes and committed to launching a successful podcast, one of the biggest fears I had was my ability to find podcast guests that wanted to be on. I didn’t want to have to “sell” them on the opportunity and I didn’t want to settle for guests that weren’t really a good match. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a great network of people that fit my ideal guest profile. I had – maybe – 3 potential guests that I could reach out to and was building a plan to launch 2 episodes every single week. It was a bit concerning to say the least. However, since launching I have not had ANY trouble with being able to find podcast guests and I’ll tell you exactly how I’m doing it below.
Step 1: You need to define your podcast guest avatar
This is simply the specific characteristics of that perfect guest.
You should determine:
- What is the name of your avatar (ideal podcast guest)
- What are their demographic traits
- What are their physiological traits
- Associate them to an image of an actual person
With this information defined, create a simple one-page document capturing all the information above – think of it as a personal resume for your ideal guest.
Once you know your avatar, the next thing you need to do is:
Step 2: Find where your ideal podcast guest hangs out offline and online
Offline
If you want to find podcast guests offline, it can seem difficult at first but not once you know your avatar this becomes much easier. The first thing you should do is get on Google and search YourCityName + PodcastKeyword + Events.
For me, one of the things I searched was Atlanta Startup Events. When I did this, I found there were actually a ton of events nearby and I immediately started attending them. Just last weekend I attended an event where I found 3 guests! If you aren’t near a large city/town, you may have to travel a bit. This may seem like a bummer but once you make that first great connection, it will totally pay off. Chances are, it will not be the person you actually meet at the event but they will introduce you to someone in their network.
When you are looking for them online you can look for areas of the internet that they may be hanging out. Below are some ideas.
Facebook is another community great for finding a guest. Yes, there is more to Facebook then your high school friend posting cat videos.
You need to join Facebook Groups that are applicable to your niche. The more focused on your nche, the better. Similar to Reddit, you should be adding value to these groups and also consistently browsing the post for potential guest. If you find someone that seems like they may be a good fit, add them as a friend and shoot them a message on Messenger. Unfortunately, I don’t have a fancy tool to monitor these groups yet.
You can also try apps like MeetUp, but I don’t think it is nearly as popular as it once was. Maybe there’s a newer app whenever you read this – try and searching the app store for something similar.
There are two simple things I do one Reddit.
First, I monitor applicable subReddits for post relevant to my podcast niche and post in them as much as possible. Posting often will help build your credibility in that community. When it makes sense, meaning when I can add value, I mention the podcast but this doesn’t really generate many guest leads.
Second, I look at the comments on the various post that are in some way tied back to my podcast niche. For example, you may see a post from someone knowledgeable on the topic that would be a great fit for your podcast. When you find that person, you can simply send them a private message (pm).
This may sound super time consuming to sit around and monitor Reddit all day. Probably not the best ROI on your time.
To make this process much more efficient, I use a tool called TrackReddit. This free tool allows you to monitor specific keywords and phrases on Reddit and then be notified by email every time someone makes a post using this keyword or phrase. In the settings, you can determine if you want it to only look in the post titles or if you want it to also look in the comments. When you get these email notifications you can quickly visit that post to see if either you can add value to the post or if the poster/commenter would be a good fit for your podcast. Tread cautiously with Reddit. Like I mentioned above, if you are not adding value and simply spamming and promoting your show, they will “boo you off stage”. Add value and prinkle in some promo.
Podcast Guest Booking Platform
I had Joon Han on my podcast and he shared how he realized that not everyone wants to pick through the internet and hunt local events hoping to find their next great podcast guest. He also knew guests were always looking for great podcasts to be featured on. This sparked an idea in his head – a web based platform that connects great podcasts with amazing guests.
Then AwesomeGuests was birth.
If you are a podcast host looking for guests or guests looking for cool podcasts to be featured on, then you should definitely sign up for AwesomeGuests. Be sure to click the link above if you want to find a pool of awesome guests for your new podcast.
The second thing you need to ask yourself is…
Step 3: Find anyone that is already talking to my ideal podcast guest
This was the most impactful thing I did in terms of finding guests!
It may seem like cheating, but I consider it being smart and resourceful. Once I knew who my avatar was, I realized that there were tons of people already talking to them every day and all I had to do was find out who these people talking to them were and I would have tons of podcast guest leads.
Other podcasts
Even though I have a very niche podcast, there was still other podcasts out there talking to my avatar. Many of them I was already listening to but since I didn’t know who my avatar was at first, I was not in the frame of mind to acknowledge they were right in front of me. Once I knew who I was looking for, I began finding potential guest all over the place.
For example, I was on the way to work listening to The Art of Paid Traffic from Rick Mulready and heard a conversation with Charlie Liu and as soon as I heard him say his business was still a side hustle, I got online and hunted down his email address. I found it on his website but you can also use tools like Hunter.io to determine someone’s email address. I did the same thing for Cielo de la Paz – thanks, Rick!
If you find a podcast that talking with your ideal guests, you should go see if that person has a blog. A lot of the time, a podcast host will create a blog post for each episode. I didn’t want to personally go through each blog post and gather the information so I hired someone on Fiverr to do it for me. They charged me $20 to gather 100 leads – not a bad deal to me.
Then you just have to reach out to those leads exactly like I show you.
YouTube
Similar to listening to the various podcasts, I’ve done the same thing several times on YouTube. In fact, I was sitting at a Starbucks waiting for a networking event to start and I watched part of an interview with Greg Jeffries. The second I heard him say that he had recently turned his side hustle into his full-time business, I got on his website and hunted down his email. He was episode 23 on my podcast.
Your guests can be found on there, use it. Searching for the traits of your avatar on Google will surely turn up potential guest. When you are doing this, don’t be scared to go past page 2 in the search results. Your guest will likely not appear in the first few pages of results unless they are just ultimate badasses on their topic.
These are the places that I go to source all my guests.
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