I’ve been podcasting since 2006. At one time, I hosted the #1 self-help show in North America…though that was a long time ago, before any of the celebs showed up. Actually, let’s be real. It was before anyone else showed up. But enough about that. The important part here is I’ve produced hundreds of episodes and have guested on probably about as many.
These days, I focus mostly on The Mountain Top Podcast For Men, which indeed has a different guest on every week. Since it’s a ListenNotes top 1% show, I get a whole lot of pitches, both from publicists and potential guests themselves.
Lately I’ve concluded there has to be someone out there hawking some sort of course for would-be podcast guests. That’s because almost every pitch I get sounds the same…and they miss the mark.
Finally, after sifting through dozens of pitches that offer little more than frustration on my end, I’ve decided what the heck? Let me give you a baker’s dozen real-world strategies for podcast pitching and guesting that will actually work.
Why am I forking this over for free on Substack? Really, I should be paying you to read this. Good guests are hard to find, so if you can differentiate both your pitch and your guest appearance from the endless stream of frustrating examples, you’re the one doing me the favor.
That said, the other side of the coin is I get dozens of pitches per week, and only have one guest slot per week to offer. Moreover, I usually research potential guests myself and hand-select them. Often, I have repeat guests on. So at prima facie, pitching me would appear to be low-probability venture to begin with.
But yes, I get so few pitches that are actually good—and for guests who actually seem compelling—that if you get most of what follows right your chances are actually pretty good.
So on with it…
Make Your Pitch Concise
Forget what you’ve been told. As a host, I neither want nor need your accolades about how my last show was so compelling and interesting, or how you’ve been my biggest fan for months now, etc., etc. There’s no need to butter me up. I’m a grown-ass man who can (and will) remain objective.
Get to the point. Tell me who the guest is, what they want to talk about, and how notable they are as a subject matter expert. If they have a “one sheet”, fine. Link me up.
I absolutely do not need extensive backstory, a litany of other shows they’ve been on, or anything else “fluffy”. Just tell me why my listeners want to hear from the guest, then quit while you’re ahead.
Probably not unlike this post, the longer it gets, the less likely I am to act on it the way you’d like me to.
Make Your Pitch Relevant
The first suggestion here is to know who you’re pitching, and what kind of show they host. If you’re trying to jam an off-topic square peg in a round hole, it’s not going to work any better than selling ice to Eskimos.
For example, my show is 100% for men. If you pitch me a guest who helps women lose weight, it’s not worth your keystrokes. Meanwhile, your personal backstory is generally not meaningful to any audience who’s there for actionable tips and/or to be entertained. If the show’s specifically about people’s personal stories, then go nuts of course. But there aren’t many of those shows left because nobody listens to them.
The hidden peril there is we as hosts see a lot of the same publicists’ names in our inbox. If you’re one of them, we’re less likely to even open your emailed pitches with each infraction, let alone take them seriously.
Have A Unique Topic
The more episodes there are of a certain podcast, the greater the likelihood that the hosts have covered all the basics surrounding their core topic…probably more than twice. Given that bigger, more influential shows with large audiences tend to have already produced hundreds of episodes, it makes perfect sense that you absolutely must find at least a somewhat unique topical hook to pitch.
Unfortunately, conventional podcast pitch wisdom seems to dictate that potential guests paint their expertise with as broad a brush stroke as possible, thinking that gives them a better chance. The opposite is true, however. Pitch me a guest with a specific, relevant hook I’ve never talked about on the show before, mix it with at least a modicum of notability, and chances are near 100% you’re in.
Hint: "Living your best life”, “men’s health”, “trauma recovery”, and “resilience” are not unique topics.
Actually Book The Show
It pains me to add this one, but people in general have become insanely flaky. If you go to the trouble to pitch me a guest, and I respond favorably with a scheduling link, please actually schedule the recording.
If you’re a publicist, please check with your client to make sure they’d actually like to be on my show before sending me a pitch. If, on the other hand, you have a publicist who flakes out on guest opportunities you were actually up for, please find a new publicist.
Get A Hi-Res Headshot
If you expect to be taken seriously as a podcast guest, have a good headshot ready. By “good”, I mean it flatters you, has solid photographic quality and is at least 1400x1400. If that sounds gigantic, granted…but that’s the suggested size for album art nowadays. Expect there will be a need to crop the pic to a different size, so the pic probably shouldn’t be a giant close-up.
For what it’s worth, AI headshots are here, and they’re not a fad. Because most such services work from real, actual pics of you, they’re more likely to look like you on your best day than anything a far more expensive photographer would shoot and retouch.
Be Ready To Record
Apparently having a quiet room, a decent mic (e.g. your iPhone has one) and headphones is too much for many wannabe guests. But it shouldn’t be. Treat both yourself and the show’s audience with respect.
Make no mistake, this is a must if you expect to guest on a number of shows and be invited back. For any decent sized show, it’s an imperative. Get your setup right and don’t mess with it from there. Nothing makes a podcast guest happier than having your sound quality in order up front without a whole lot of fiddling.
Further, your first impression deserves to be much more effective than a frustrating exchange of hand gestures to the effect of, “I can’t hear you”.
Bear in mind that although AI tools on platforms like Riverside.fm and Descript are pretty good, it’s nearly impossible for a host to edit out their own voice coming through on the other side of the recording.
Bring Some Energy
A major rule in show biz is you have to be “bigger” when recording audio. If you’ve ever wondered why the hosts on smaller podcasts (and, well NPR) sound so blasted tired and boring, I just gave you the answer. In reality, they’re not so much “boring” by nature as making the mistake of speaking in their “normal” voice!
Go ahead, project just a bit more and enunciate a little more clearly. You’ll be shocked how “normal”, yet slightly more interesting you sound in the final edit.
Be Easy To Edit
Speaking of editing, this is a major one. If you are clear and well-spoken with a minimum of stumbling, pregnant pauses and filler words (e.g. “ums and ahs”) the host will love, love, love you. That means you’ll be invited back and recommended to other show hosts. Ha…that adds up to more guest spots with less cold pitching, right? Nice.
Know Your Stuff, But Not At The Host’s Expense
Oh, HELL no. If I ask you a bunch of different questions and you keep spitting out the same answer like you’re a rag doll with a pull string, forget it. I’m pulling the plug on the entire gig.
Either know your content and have at least a “tight 30” to talk about, or stop torturing multiple podcast audiences until you do.
Granted, it’s okay to be a bit of a “one trick pony” rather than a limitless wellspring of knowledge on your subject. But if you’re not the latter just yet, you’d better have plenty on that one trick to discuss.
On a similar note, if you’re guesting on a show hosted by someone who shares your niche (which is insanely common, of course), it’s an absolute must to respect each other’s knowledge and perhaps even elevate each other. If you challenge the host with oneupmanship in an attempt to look smarter than they are, chances are near 100% that you’ll not be invited back. Hey, you may actually be smarter than the host. But whether you actually are or were just having a Dunning-Kruger moment doesn’t matter. The host will likely edit out the infraction anyway, if not vaporize the whole episode completely.
Give Right-Sized Responses
One time I had a 20-minute time slot of audio to fill for a specific purpose. The guest took over 19 minutes to answer the first question. Don’t do that. As rare as it is nowadays, have some self-awareness. A great habit to get into is to treat every media appearance you do as if it’s AM talk radio. You have a max of seven minutes until the next break, and the host will cut you off if you’re long-winded. Actually, aim for 90 seconds.
Think “Info-tainment”
Okay, so there are indeed some wonkish shows out there, as well as others that are pure fun. But hear me out on this. If you bring that magic balance of genuine fun and real, actionable tips, you are likely to conquer the world of podcast guesting.
Promote The Show…And Better Yet, The Host
Apparently, this is too much to ask for probably 70% of guests out there. They happily take the opportunity and run. If you and/or your publicists happily agree up front to promote the show and/or leave a review on Spotify, please have the common decency to follow through on that.
If you blatantly ghost the host when notified of your episode’s release, it’s unreasonable to expect to be invited back, let alone get recommended to other hosts. This is an especially heinous infraction if your publicist has hounded the host two-dozen times wondering when the show is going to drop, even after having been told there was a backlog.
Oh, and by the way…if you host a podcast on a similar subject that features guests, you might want to think about trading guests spots. Words cannot describe the magnitude of the faux pas publicists make of bragging in their pitch about how a potential guest is also a fellow podcaster with an awesome show, without even suggesting a guest swap.
I recently got a pitch that was mostly about how cool and popular the client’s own podcast was. I actually asked in response whether this was a request to be on my show or an invitation to be a guest on his. The two word response was, “on yours”. My response to that was zero response.
If you’re pitching a host to be their guest when you have absolutely no intention of guest swapping, the quick in dirty hint is don’t mention your own podcast at all.
Have An Affiliate Program
This is kind of a bonus, but it’s a really good one. If you have any way to monetize your book, infoproducts, coaching programs, etc. it’s a massive feather in your cap for scoring guest gigs. Truth be told, the vast majority of guests on my show don’t have an affiliate program, and it isn’t a linchpin to deciding to have them on or not. But it sure is a nice surprise when they do. The true beauty of this factor is it seamlessly leads to other rev-gen opportunities for you as the guest (e.g. shout outs to the show’s email subscriber list, JV promos, etc.)
There you have it. It’s all basically common sense, huh? Ultimately, both the host and the guest are doing each other a favor, right? So it pays to be both gracious and well-prepared. Put yourself in the shoes of a host who gets bunches of pitches, think like they do and reap the PR benefits like a champ.
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