How to Find Podcasts to Guest Star on

How to Find Podcasts to Guest Star on

Step 1: Locate Useful Podcasts
It’s actually not that difficult to find relevant podcasts in your field. You can utilize a variety of reliable search engines to locate pertinent podcasts by entering the keywords for your niche:

Find fresh, emerging podcasts on iTunes by searching the “New and Noteworthy” and “What’s Hot” sections.
Stitcher
SoundCloud
Google: Look up the “best __ podcasts”
AudioSear.ch
Each podcast’s name should be entered into your spreadsheet in the following manner:
podcasts-spreadsheet

You need to determine whether or not the podcasts on your list are worth pitching now that you’ve assembled them.

Step 2: Assess Your Podcasting Goals
Being a guest on a podcast with no listeners is pointless, and pitching an empty slot to a program that doesn’t want guests is also a waste of time. You must qualify your targets before you start pitching.

Run a podcast through the following checklist to determine its eligibility:

Are they up to date? There should still be at least two new episodes posted each month.
Do they frequently have visitors? There are some podcasts without guest interviews.
Do they have a sizable following? The hardest component to evaluate is by far this.
Stats on a podcast’s audience are notoriously difficult to gather. Several platforms frequently host podcasts at once, and only a few of them provide precise audience measurement metrics.

A podcast may have a sizable audience on one platform but not on another, further complicating issues.

For instance, the fantastic podcast Innovation Crush explores innovation in work and life. Their SoundCloud page has 677,000 followers, which indicates their fame.

However, with only 14 reviews on their iTunes page, they appear to be less popular.

Checking every platform where a podcast is listed is the only reliable approach to determine its audience.

Reviews are the simplest way for iTunes to estimate audience size. They are undoubtedly a good size if they have more than 100 reviews. If they are under 25, it is usually best to avoid them.
The same guidelines apply to Stitcher. Anything with more than 25 reviews is valid. Stitcher, however, also lists the top 100 podcasts for each genre. Anything that appears on a top 100 list is also worthwhile.
Any podcast with more than 1,000 subscribers is worthwhile for SoundCloud to appear on. As this is a sign that their audience numbers are inflated, check to see that their “following” count isn’t as high as their “follower” count.
Your pitch should be ready to go once you’ve narrowed down your list to about 50 pertinent podcasts. Gathering pertinent data is the initial step in this process.

  1. Gather Information About Your Podcasts
    For each podcast you propose, you must gather the following 6 essential pieces of information:

The name of the show.
website for the program.
Name of the host.
Email from the host.
a recent visitor.
theme of the program.
Except for the host’s email, all of the information on this list should be available on their iTunes page (or on whichever other platform they host on).

However, getting the host’s email poses a special problem.

In the field of podcasting, there is no standard for listing host contact information. The host’s email should ideally be accessible to the public, such as on their website or in their podcast listing, or the podcast site should provide a contact form.

However, if that’s not the case, you look up the host’s email address in other ways.

We utilize Hunter.io, a fantastic program designed especially for locating emails. Check out this post by Irina Maltseva for more strategies.

  1. Present Your Podcasts
    You now have everything you need to make a pitch; all that is left is for you to do it.

It’s crucial to keep in mind that with podcasts, quality comes before quantity.

Efficiency in pitching is unnecessary because you’ll be spending at least 30 to 60 minutes per episode actually recording the podcast. It’s better to pitch slowly and deliberately and make sure you get on the best shows you can.

We advise going through each podcast you found through research one at a time. Select one of the email templates below to use as a starting point, and then edit it to reflect the information you’ve learned about the podcast and host.

It should be noted that Mailshake is by far our preferred tool if you choose to send bulk emails.

Template for a Direct Pitch
This is a straightforward, no-frills pitch. The headline is so straightforward that it ought to grab the host’s interest and enable you to make a direct pitch:

TEMPLATE FOR EMAIL

SUBTITLE: Your program.

BODY:

Salut, Host Name

The podcast “Name” is fantastic. As I was listening to your interview with Guest, it occurred to me that I already knew the ideal interview subject.

Me.

I’m INSERT YOURSELF HERE WITH INTERESTING AND APPLICABLE INFORMATION.

I would make a great guest given the interest your audience has in Topic.

We’ll book something if you can give me some dates that work for you.

Best,

WHO YOU ARE

We’ve discovered that this straightforward change can boost conversions by as much as 100%.

What Takes Place After Your Podcast Appearance?
You will book a lot of podcasts if you follow this plan.

Some great people will interview you, more potential readers will be aware of you, more people will buy your book, and then…

What?

If you know how to leverage that attention, getting attention through podcasts and book sales is wonderful for your profession.

There are many people out there who have spent tens of thousands of dollars on PR firms, had writers from The New York Times interview them, and then found themselves unable to turn that attention into commercial revenue.