Have you ever wanted to be a podcast guest, but don’t know where or how to get started?
Angie Trueblood is a podcast visibility strategist, which means she and her team work with clients in a one-on-one capacity to help them land podcast interviews in front of relevant audiences so they can grow their businesses and achieve their goals.
I asked Angie to join me on the podcast because many of my clients are getting to that space where they would like to be on podcasts, but they don't know where to start. They're not sure anybody would be interested in having them. And so, I thought this would be the perfect conversation to have.
Are you expert enough?
According to Angie, not feeling ready is what keeps many people from taking that first step. Once you decide you're ready, the next steps are pretty tactical. They involve a little planning and deep work into the topics that you're going to pitch, but most of the folks that come to Angie wonder if they are “expert enough.” Angie’s answer to that is, “you are always expert enough in whatever field it is that you do compared to someone else.”
Those of us who are in more of a service provider space have a really hard time owning that expertise because often the work we do comes so easily to us that we don't see the value in what we do. Whereas other people are dying to know the ins and outs of what we do.
When you do things all the time, you forget how you learned it and what background got you there. A lot of what you teach doesn't have to be complicated. So, when you feel like you're teaching something easy, you think it's not a big deal. But to someone else, it is a big deal.
There’s a lot of different topics that you'll want to have ready when you start pitching yourself. And the how-to is a really easy topic for most of us to develop. But if you want to elevate yourself to more of that expert level or that expert authority, having some conversations around this strategy of why you do what you do can cement you as an expert or an authority in the field because you've transitioned out of the doing into being able to describe the why and the impact that what you do can have.
The right pitch
There’s a couple of different approaches in the world of podcast pitching. One that I've seen more of recently is more of the spray and pray approach where you just pitch the same pitch far and wide. It's like throwing spaghetti against a wall and whatever shakes out, you call it a win.
Most of us are very busy both in work and in life in general, and we don't have time to show up on podcasts that are so far out of the realm of catering to our ideal audience. We need to be intentional with who we're pitching to and who we are getting in front of. Make sure you understand the audiences you're pitching and know that they may be interested in hiring you, getting to know you better or following you.
If you’re pitching to podcasts that are not relevant to your audience, it's not a way to make a connection because at the end of the day, that really is the beauty of showing up and getting interviewed on podcasts. And so even if your pitch isn't accepted, it's not necessarily a reflection on you or the topic or your expertise, it's just that that wasn't a good fit for that audience.
Angie has said no to clients, but then gotten to know them because their pitch was warm and connected and really placed a value on creating a relationship. So even if it's a no, it doesn't mean that’s the only outcome that can happen, and that's why she focuses so much on making sure pitches are personalized. Angie once had a friend tell her that when she got her pitch, she felt like Angie really saw her. She felt seen and heard, and that's the best case scenario.
How to find podcasts with the right audience
You do not start in the search bar on Apple Podcasts. It’s a rabbit hole. First, start on a piece of paper or a Google Doc and brainstorm the types of business owners that your ideal client might be turning to. Not for the same type of help that you offer, but for other types of help that they might need when they hire you. Using Angie as an example, people go to her because they want to increase their visibility. They need to ramp up the size of their email list or they've got a book coming out.
There's tons of podcasts out there for authors and book marketing and book publishing. So, that's a logical place to pitch to because the people that are listening to those shows are interested in getting that book published and getting more eyes on it. It's about getting clear on who are the other types of business owners that serve your ideal client around the same time that they hire you and finding podcast hosts like that. So for Angie, if she identifies podcasts that serve authors, she would Google “podcasts for authors,” and then go into Apple Podcasts and search book publishing or book marketing, that type of thing. The strategy piece comes first before you start searching.
Podcast topics
Once you send a pitch and you know that you need to make it relatable, you also want to have some topics. When thinking of topics, look at the podcast that you're pitching to and see what types of topics they've had on, and what types of guests they've had on recently. You want to make sure you're not re-pitching the same topic.
Create a template that has a couple of different topics that would be relevant to your ideal client and to the types of shows you're reaching out to. And then you pick the one that's most relevant to that show and tweak and personalize it as much as you can. So, if I was reaching out to a podcast for authors, I would clearly state I know that your audience is interested in publishing books and they want to have something about marketing.
If you’re launching a podcast
When you are launching a podcast, you want to get as many eyes on it as possible. And a great way to make that happen is appearing as a guest on podcasts. With that in mind, again using Angie as an example, she would contact a relevant podcast and say, “I would love to come on your show and share with your authors how they can grow an email list before their book launches.” The pitch needs to be really clear and specific to their audience. And include a couple of bullet points that illustrate what that conversation could look like as well as a little more detail. That gives a podcast host an opportunity to paint a picture of what the conversation could be.
How to get the most out of a podcast episode
Podcast interviews are the gift that keeps on giving. As long as you're delivering value, you're in front of the right people and you are showing up with the intent not to sell, but to really just be an open book and deliver incredible value to the audience, you are giving people the chance to follow up or reach out.
When you are on a podcast, be sure to make an actual invitation to listeners. You don't want to just say a lot of interesting things and then hope they come find you. When you send an email to someone, you don't leave them hanging and wondering what you're asking, so don’t do that on a podcast. Don't leave people having to dig up where they can find you and connect with you. Connect the dots for them.
With that in mind, Angie is offering The Biz Podcast audience access to her roadmap for podcast pitching success that details the six steps needed in any effective podcast pitching strategy plus the most common mistakes to avoid. You can access that here: www.angietrueblood.com/thebiz. You can also find out more about Angie at www.angietrueblood.com/podcast or follow her on Facebook or Instagram.
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Podcast editing done by Eric Wellman