How to Find Podcast Guests: Your Guide to Pitching
So, you’ve started your podcast and now you’re starting to think about adding guests into the mix. Exciting times! In this article, we’re going to be exploring who to pitch to, how/what to pitch and how it is a case of when it rains it pours (because I really think once you’ve had a few guests, you won’t have a shortage of guests). Let’s get started with a fundamental question:
Have you Defined Your Target Audience?
If you haven’t defined your target audience or ideal listener: let me stop you right there.
Let’s start with a few questions so you can think about this:
What is the purpose of your podcast, or what is the unique point of view you are bringing to the table?
Who struggles with the topics you’re covering?
Who stands to gain the most from the insights shared?
Who would be naturally interested in these discussions?
Who do you want to listen to your podcast?
It might help you think up a persona for your ideal listener - and give your ideal listener a name. For example, let’s call your ideal listener Sarah, and let’s call your hypothetical podcast The Daily Tea. The Daily Tea is your podcast talking about your expertise as a 5-time successful cafe owner. You talk about the highs and lows of being a cafe owner.
Sarah, funnily enough, is also a cafe owner. But, she’s never had a successful cafe. She might be tuning in to listen to your advice about running a cafe, advice on hiring the right barista, and advice about choosing the right location for the cafe. She’s got a 15-minute commute in the morning before she gets to the cafe (pretty early - 6am start). A random but important detail, because that will help dictate how long your podcast might be.
Let’s give Sarah a hypothetical quick-reference profile as our ideal listener:
→ Mid-twenties to late forties. Tech-savvy, smartphone user.
→ Commutes 15 minutes to her cafe every day.
→ Needs advice on how to run a successful cafe.
Why Is This Important?
It’s important because this is now going to become your ‘true north’ when thinking about guests coming onto your podcast.
Are your guests going to be beneficial to your target audience, or are they going to alienate them? Because if we start alienating your target audience - they might not come back to listen again!
So, from herein, we’ll be thinking about your ideal listener when crafting podcast topics and inviting podcast guests.
Shortlisting Your Guests
With that out the way, you can start to brainstorm guests thinking about the following questions:
Who is my ultimate dream guest?
Who is my dream guest who would resonate with my ideal listener?
Who jumps to mind in the first instance as a guest? Are they a realistic guest?
Who in my close network would be willing to be a guest without much friction?
Who in my wider network would I be able to ask through existing trusted connections/ personal relationships?
It’s always going to be easier inviting close connections to be a guest; because the rapport is already there. It might take a few podcasts with a close connection for you to be confident to reach out to your wider network (unless they’ve started approaching you already).
Your first guest or two might not be well-known - and that is OK! If anything, you’re boosting your visibility into their network (whether it be IRL or digital).
With your brainstorm out of the way, I would be writing all these names down along with their contact details. You might need to do a little digging to get emails with some Google search. Then we can move over to the pitching:
What To Pitch
Here’s a template to get the creative juices flowing:
Subject: Invitation to Join The Small Business CTO Podcast
Subject: Hi [Guest’s Name],
I hope you're doing well! I wanted to reach out to see if you’d be open to joining [Me or Name] as a guest on [Podcast Name] - I’d love to have you on!
Here’s what’s in it for you:
→ Feature on a podcast that’s on track to hit [Metric] downloads.
→ Exposure to a listener base of [Your Target Audience].
→ A chance to chat about [Their Business or Themselves].
Would you be available on [Time and Date] for a 45-minute to 1-hour recording at [Location]?
We’re open to topics but have a few ideas to get started:
→ Idea 1
→ Idea 2
→ Idea 3
Let me know what you think, if you have any ideas, or if now is not the right time. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
Working Towards Your Dream Guest
You have noticed that I asked you to think about your ultimate dream guest in the questions above, and while you could pitch directly to your dream guest in the first wave - I would wait.
Wait until you’ve had a few guests on, and until you’ve worked out your style of guest interview. Once you have a couple of examples up your sleeve, you’ll have an even better pitch for when you’re pitching to your dream guest in the (near) future.
With that - good luck! I hope this serves as a starting point for pitching out to podcast guests. I’ll switch on comments below so you can add any extra thoughts!
