If you have a show where you find people to interview every week, it can be pretty tough to find a guest week after week.
Where do you start? How do you find relevant guests in your field? Once you do find them, how can you convince them to be on your podcast? Hopefully these tips will help you find the best guests for your podcast every single episode!
Ole Fashioned Research
Depending on what your podcast is about and what industry you’re in, doing some research can really yield some great results. If you simply Google “experts in [industry]” you might be surprised at the results.
You might even find that there’s a lot of people trying to get their voices heard and don’t have a really good platform, that’s where you come in!
Other Podcasts
Start listening to other podcasts that are in your niche. Maybe you will find some interviews with people that interest you and you would like to be on your show.
If they’ve been on another podcast, chances are they would agree to be on yours! When going with this route, I would recommend going a different route with your interview. That way you can keep it fresh for yourself, the guest, and especially the listeners! Another plus is that you can get a little cross promotion from their podcast.
Someone Selling Something
If you know someone in your industry has a book coming out, or a course they’ve just released, that’s the perfect time to have them on your podcast! They’re going to want to get the word out about their product and why not let your audience know about something that could potentially help them out as well as your guest.
Just be careful about making the interview valuable, and not just about the product. Your audience can tell if the interview is just a blatant sales pitch, and they might be turned off of your podcast. Maybe let your guests know that they can plug themselves at the end of the interview and go through some of the points you will be discussing around the topic of the product.
Social Media
Connecting with people has never been easier. If you have a following this is an especially useful strategy. Just post a status asking if your followers, or someone they know, who is in the certain topic you will be discussing that week, wants to be on the show this week.
Reddit is also a great resource to find guests. There are plenty of podcasting subreddits and ones specifically made to find guests, just make sure you are following the rules posted by the moderators.
Previous Guests
Sometimes the guests you have on your show, know other people in their circle who would love to be on a podcast. This can be a great resource to gain some momentum gaining interviews.
Other Media
There are plenty of people making videos or blogging about the topics in your niche. Keep an eye out for someone that you are a fan of, and ask them to be on the podcast! If you already read/watch content from this person, what are you waiting for! This can be a good way of cross promoting as well.
Something to Keep in Mind
Finding guests is obviously very important for having a good podcast, you need good quality guests that are involved in the right niche, but you should focus more on finding the right guests, rather than finding ones with a big social following. Pandering to their audience can result in a dry or hollow interview, that will turn off your existing listener base. You want to add the most value for your audience.
If you made it this far, consider reaching out to me at matt@ieditpodcasts.com to chat about great and creative ways to improve your podcast, or if you would like some help with your entire podcasting process, including launching your show, consultations, editing, or just a more personal conversation!
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