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Guide: How to Book Your Dream Podcast Guests: Strategies for Landing the Perfect Guest

You know that feeling when you sit down to listen to your favourite podcast, and the guest is so compelling and exciting? You can’t wait for them to come on again. That feeling, multiplied by thousands of listeners, is what every podcaster dreams about. Landing the perfect guest isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible either—especially when you have a plan! In this guide, we’re going to discuss how you can book your dream podcast guests.

A good podcast guest can be an expert in your niche, someone who has unique or different insights from what you have on offer. They might also have an audience of their own—one that you could get in front of with your interview. But it isn’t easy to stand out when there are over two million podcasts available now and hosts jockeying for these experts’ attention.

I host my show “Wanna Be”, where we talk to high-achievers in the creative and entertainment industry. Some of the guests we’ve booked include Keke Palmer, Amandla Stenberg, Jameela Jamil, Ibram X Kendi, Malorie Blackman, to name a few. Here are some tips I learned along the way:

Research guests that your target listeners admire

The goal here is to capture your target listeners by targeting the people that influence them. This could take the form of looking at industry influencers on social media or in blog posts, following them on Twitter and subscribing to their email list, or using sites like Buzzsumo that show you what content is popular with specific audiences.

Shows like This American Life and Invisibilia typically book guests with a lot of name recognition. They do this by approaching experts and contacts who are already in their network. This isn’t always easy – it’s hard for new or independent producers without connections to celebrities–but sometimes, there will be an opportunity opening up that’s worth pursuing.

Ask for an Introduction

Introductions are a reliable way to land your dream podcast guests because they offer the kind of credibility that potential guests are looking for.

The best way to find a potential introduction is by networking with people who already have access to the person or organization you want an introduction from. If you don’t know anyone, try reaching out to their PR team and following them on social media so that they can see your request for an intro before it gets into email form.

Make sure your request is personalized–explain why this podcast will be valuable for them and what kinds of listeners would benefit from hearing about their work (and mention any successes). Remember not to send emails too frequently because there are many demands on influencers’ time! Show them how much value you’ll bring when trying to get in touch again soon after making initial contact.

Reach out to PRs, talent managers, agents and assistants

Most high-profile people have a manager or assistant that helps them manage their bookings or calendar. If you have a personal connection to the guest, make sure they know before reaching out. If not, it’s best practice to contact their PR representative or talent manager (the individual who typically handles booking).

The benefit of working with the managers is that they have other notable talents that they represent, so they can pitch more guests to your show or recommend your podcast to another agent in the company. This is especially true when it comes to authors.

Slide into the DMs

If you have no network or connections, you’ll have to pitch via a cold email or through the DM’s (direct messages). This is usually the fastest way to get in front of your dream guest, but they also have the worst success rate. It’s easier to ignore or say no to a stranger.

If you want to stand out, have your producer or production assistant reach out (or fake one if you don’t have one). The reason for this is, people like to know they’re joining something big. A production assistant sounds like you take your podcast seriously, and there’s a staff behind it. Even when that’s not the case, fake it til you make it. Think about it Oprah isn’t sending out her guest invitations, so why are you?

Additional tools you can try:

If you’re struggling to find your dream podcast guest on social media, try using LinkedIn and Twitter. With a bit of digging, you might be able to connect with your dream guest through one of their mutual contacts.

Use sites like Mixcloud & Soundcloud (Music), Bookseller (Books), IMDb (Film and TV) to look up emerging talent for your podcast. You might find someone who’s just getting started that you could interview as they grow their audience and see if there are any established names with the kind of reach you want. From here, it’s easier to read articles about them and see what else is coming out from them so you can be ready when they come on your show.

Activity: Create a list of dream guests

Create a list of 30 guests you’d like to book for your podcast (15mins)
From that list, select your top 5 guests (2-5 minutes)
Refer back to your shortlist add a sentence or two about why you’d like to book this guest

Before I started Wanna Be, I created a long list and a shortlist of guests on a Trello board. I’m pleased to say I still revisit that board and update the list with every new season. From my original list, I’ve interviewed 3/5 (sending all of the good vibes to Marie Forleo and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche). The point of this exercise is to help you set goals that you can refer back to. Every guest you book can move you closer to your dream guest.

As more and more talent view podcasts as a way to increase their exposure, the competition for getting talent is only going to get more challenging, but with these tips, you’ll set yourself apart from the crowd.

The Art of the Perfect Pitch Email – How to Get Your Dream Podcast Guest

What is the one thing every podcaster wants? A great guest. But how do you get your dream podcast guest to say yes? The answer may surprise you. You need to write a pitch that will stand out from all of the other emails they receive. In this blog post, we’ll teach you what makes for an effective pitch and show you examples of successful pitches that landed guests on some of our favourite podcasts!

A pitch should be short and simple, usually no more than two or three paragraphs in length. Your email needs to stand out from the dozens (or even hundreds) of emails your guest has received each day. Be sure to include a brief description about yourself, what you want from this podcast appearance, and any other key information they need to say yes.

A successful pitch should be focused, engaging and memorable. The key to writing a good email is making sure that you capture your guest’s attention in the subject line, get their interest with an intriguing opening paragraph about why they should do this particular podcast appearance, then sell them on your show through a few well-crafted paragraphs explaining what, who, how and why.

Case Study: Booking Ibram X. Kendi on Wanna Be

Below is the actual email we used to book Dr Kendi (author of NYT bestseller How To Be An Anti-racist). We use a similar template for all guest booking, and of course, we refine and adapt based on the guest. I’ve highlighted some of the key areas that make this pitch successful.

The subject line for this particular email pitch was: FOA: Ibram X. Kendi – Award-winning Podcast Invitation.

Keep your introductions brief and polite. Whether it goes direct to your guest or their agent, they don’t have time to read through your email, so get your ask in nice and early.
Our podcast elevator pitch is 1 sentence and covers what it is (a podcast), who it’s for (women of colour), and how it helps (career opportunities). We then add social proof by placing the guest among their peers or people they know.
Formatting is key with your stats. Do not bury them in rambling paragraphs. Put your most impressive information or stats first. The biggest number, name, award etc. This section reinforces why your podcast is worth paying attention to, even if you’re starting.
Providing multiple dates shows flexibility and makes it harder for them to say no.
All other non-essential should towards the end of the email. Setting a follow-up deadline gives an air of professionalism. It shows you’re working towards a schedule (which gives the impression of a bigger operation even if you’re just one person).

If your brand new to podcasting with no data or guests, then your email pitch should be no more than 2-3 brief paragraphs. Make it clear you’re pitching a podcast and what to expect from the experience of being on your show. Include how often you’ll contact them when they can expect feedback after airing their episode and how much time they will need for recording an interview.

You’re one step closer to getting your dream podcast guest! With this pitch, you should be able to get a response from most influencers or celebrities (if that’s who you’re after). Remember that the art of successful pitching is not in the way you ask but how well you listen and respond to their needs. By following these simple tips, we can help make sure your next email gets an answer quickly. Interested in learning more about our services? Join us over in The Club to share what’s worked for you with other members.

Grow Your Audience With These Podcast Goal Setting Tips

Before starting a podcast making sure that you have goals is one of the best ways to ensure your podcast will succeed. When I started a podcast, I created a short goal statement for my podcasting by writing about the topics I would include in my show and what kind of people I want to attract. You can set goals for yourself, your podcast topic or even your episodes if you’ve been going for a while and need to refocus.

Here’s an example of a goal statement I use for each new season of Wanna Be:

The Wanna Be podcast is created for women of colour who want to break into creative and entertainment in the UK or internationally. The goal is to give women hope, reassurance, strategies on building their network, increasing their exposure/visibility, inspiration and advice through a series of interviews with high-profile creative professionals who have broken into creative fields.

It’s not perfect, and some might argue it’s trying to do too much. But I’m an overachiever, so doing a lot is my goal. This statement has evolved and adapted over the years. If you’ve listened to Wanna Be, you’ll instantly hear how the above statement has been translated into the episodes. Check out this episode with Elaine Welteroth, for example.

Create your own goal statement

What’s your podcast goal? Are you seeking subscribers, interviews, reviews, or something else? Whatever it is, put pen to paper and write it down. Writing your goals ensures that they are clear in your own mind and clearly understood by others (which could be a big step towards achieving them).

Setting a goal for podcasting will allow you to focus on what you or your podcast will become. This gives your podcast a clear direction and allows followers to understand better what your message is. The following steps will show you how to set up a goal statement.

Here are some examples of podcast goal statement templates that you can use as a starting point:

My name is _____ and this is my podcast, _____. Our goal is to help you overcome ______ through unbiased, researched information. Each week I’ll/we’ll _____ [e.g. take on a new topic, share personal stories] to connect with you, offer ideas to solve _____
My podcast is for people who feel ______. I want to ______ [e.g. inspire] and ______[e.g. educate] listeners about ______. I’m especially passionate to help _________ with this content.
The goal of this podcast is to _____ [e.g. motivate] _____ [your target audience] to share their stories without worrying about _________ [insert your target audience’s fears or worries].

Write down what you’d like your podcast to help you accomplish

Where will your podcast take you? While you’re planning out your podcast, it’s smart to look ahead. Are you trying to leave your job and become a full-time podcaster eventually? Maybe you want to do this to promote the business that comes before your podcast. Either way, all of these scenarios call for different goals and different purposes for starting a podcast in the first place. Write them down! This is an important part of the planning process. If you write them down (and stick them on the wall or to your recording desk), you’re less likely to abandon your podcast. I speak from experience here — planning out your goals is a must if you want to stay consistent.

Knowing these details will help you create your podcast episodes and decide what your content should be. If you can’t come up with these types of details ahead of time, writing them down as you answer the following questions will help clarify your podcasting goals.

Takeaway:

Having realistic podcast goals will help you succeed long term, so be specific. Think about your own needs, do your research, and list some priorities to create goals that you can realistically achieve within the next year. Also, you might find it helps to set some monthly goals to keep yourself accountable.

Take action: Using one of the examples above, create a podcast goal statement. Read it out loud and edit as needed until you’re happy. Tweet it and tag @ContentisQn so we can feedback and reshare it.

How to pick the most impactful name for your podcast

Like your artwork, naming your podcast is a big decision, and it’s not one you should take lightly. People spend days, weeks and even months selecting the right name because it’s that important. You don’t need to do that. It’s more important that you start and avoid overthinking it. You can always change your name. My feed went from Melanin Millennials to Wanna Be in seconds, and I’ve continued growing a community with the same level of loyalty ever since.

When you start your podcast, you might think you’ll only cover the one thing you’re into right now. And while that might be true, the joy of podcasting means that a conversation or story can take you anywhere. You’ll want to pick a name that covers the depth and breadth of your industry. Keep reading, and I’ll reveal the two sure-fire ways your podcast name can have an impact.

Before you get started, here are a couple of dos and don’ts:

DO:

Think about your content and themes
Keep it short and sweet -under 30 characters is the golden rule.
Pick a name that feels true to you.
Make it relevant and easy to search.
Ditch the ‘The’, ‘Podcast’ and ‘cast’
Say it out loud a few times and have friends say it too!
Remember that you can change your name.
Think about a name that gives you room to grow and expand

DON’T

Choose something abstract and obscure to your target audience.
Pick something so long that it can get cut-off (or clipped) when displayed in a podcast player
Pick an inside joke that only your friends/family will understand
Use foreign terms that will be challenging to your target audience, e.g. using a German phrase when your target audience only speaks English.
Pick hard to spell words, homophones (words that sound the same but spelt differently) or special characters.
Use numbers. Potential listeners shouldn’t have to ask: Do you write the number or spell it out?
Choose a name that’s been used by another ‘active’ podcast.

Remember, you can break all the rules and still come out on top! Most designers I’ve interviewed often say that they liked to learn the rules so that they could break them. Ain’t nobody got time for that! What I will share with you is that it’s important to be intentional when naming your podcast. You know your audience best, so go with your instincts.

TAKE ACTION:

Set a 2 min countdown timer on your phone. Open a Google doc, notebook or spreadsheet and spend 2 mins writing down as many podcast names as you can.

When times up, review your titles and put a * next to your top 3.

Now let’s compare your Top 3 choices with the podcast naming conventions below.

Here are some tips on how to pick the right name based on the type of podcast you’re making:

Use your name/ brand name
- The Michelle Obama Podcast
- Ian Wrights Everyday People
- The Penguin Podcast
- The Marie Forleo Podcast

Use a headline
- How to Fail with Elizabeth Day
- The Curious Case of Rutherford & Fry
- The Secret To

Topic-driven
- Life Coach School
- Catching Melanie’s Killer
- The Guilty Feminist

The description
- Self-care Club
- Happy Mum, Happy Baby
- The Conversation Weekly

Clever and abstract
- The Receipts
- Table Manners
- Positively England

Call To Action
- Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel
- Welcome To Your Fantasy
- Don’t Call Me Resilient

Let’s dive deeper into the anatomy of a good name

Nobody tells you that the secret to a good name often lies in how intimately you know your target audience and how well you can translate that intimacy into copywriting. Your podcast name (and artwork) often need to communicate what’s in it for the listener. Here are two scientifically-proven ways to do just that.

Power- Power words not only grab attention but also trigger action. When you incorporate a power word in your podcast name, you’ll hook people in quickly.
Emotion- Emotional words are all about engagement and creating an emotional response for the listener. We’re going to look at some great names and break down why they’re effective.

You can have a successful podcast without any of these rules. We’re here to help you expand your imagination. Below I’ve shortlisted podcasts that have charted in the UK Top 200 podcast on Apple Podcasts who have used power, emotion or the popular conventions mentioned earlier.

How to fail- Headline

This works because…

‘How to’ is a hugely popular way of grabbing potential listeners attention. It’s saying upfront that they’ll learn or gain something from engaging. ‘Fail’ is a power word, and its combination with ‘how to’ stop you in your tracks and makes you question yourself and what you want. Do you want to learn how to fail? For the right audience, it will resonate deeply.

The Guilty Feminist- Topic-driven

This works because…

It’s incredibly readable, and the use of the emotional word ‘Guilty’ makes you pause. It’s relatable because we’ve all felt guilty at some point. Feminist is speaking directly to the audience. This podcast is for folx that identify as feminists but occasionally fall short of the expectations and beliefs society holds about feminists.

The Conversation Weekly

This works because…

They’ve used the brand name and made it crystal clear what people will get and when they’ll get it. There are no emotional or power words, yet it’s highly effective for the audience they already have and those that might be aware of them.

Today in Focus- Clever and abstract

This works because…

This is produced by The Guardian, which have a huge reputation and online presence. It’s incredibly readable, and ‘Focus’ is an emotional word that creates an emotional response in the listener. It’s a clever name because it’s a daily podcast that focuses on one in-depth news story. It’s doing what it says on the tin, but the phrasing is clever and intriguing, so you might not connect the dots until you engage with the show and understand it’s purpose.

TAKE ACTION:

You’ve been given the two huge secrets to creating a great name. Refer back to the list you brainstormed earlier and pick out the ones with power and/or emotion built-in. If you need some more inspiration, check out this Power Words Glossary, created by copywriter Karl Stepp.

Where to distribute your podcast

It can be a bit overwhelming trying to work out where you should be distributing your podcast to.

Apple podcasts is the most important for a large number of reasons. Despite Spotify making gains in the podcast space over the last 5 years, Apple are still the dominant player when it comes to audience figures accounting for well over half of all total podcast listens.

It’s worth noting too that many podcast apps use the Apple Podcasts directory to fill out their own listings.

Podcast Addict for example even has a “Use iTunes Search Engine” checkbox in their search functionality – an app which has over 10m downloads on Android alone.

What happens if you don’t meet the guidelines?

It’s not always clear exactly what’s wrong with your podcast submission to Apple podcasts, particularly when there are so many moving parts.

If you don’t meet these guidelines, your podcast won’t be accepted into Apple’s podcast directory.

By submitting your show to Apple, you are ensuring that you reach the largest audience possible.

Here’s where to get started – http://podcastsconnect.apple.com/

But why stop there? There’s plenty of other places you can submit your show to.

Spotify is next up in this list, but is a harder platform to get onto. Most large platforms have direct partnerships with Spotify and can help get your show enlisted onto their platform.

After that, it’s a vast number of apps competing for the last slice of the listening pie. Here’s a brief shortlist of platforms that should be on your radar.

Castbox
Deezer
Google Podcasts
Pocket Casts
Podbean
Podcast addict
Stitcher

Tips on artwork resolution + image guidelines

I think the single most common reason for rejections from Apple Podcasts that I personally had to deal with was podcast artwork not meeting Apple’s required image guidelines.

Here’s a shortlist of the requirements you should stick to.

The file resolution should be from 1400x1400px -> 3000x3000px at a 1:1 ratio. Rectangles will not be accepted.
The DPI should be 72
The filesize for the artwork shouldn’t be more than 256KB
Avoid transparency – you don’t know what background your logo will end up on
I’ve found the preferable file format to use is JPEG because of its smaller file size. PNG is accepted, but you may struggle to get that into the required file limits, particularly at a 3000x3000px resolution.

Here’s some further reading from Apple on the matter – https://help.apple.com/itc/podcasts_connect/#/itcad20d3488

Choosing audio editing software

There’s a lot of audio editing software out there. Let’s go through some free and paid for options.

Free

The defacto standard for free audio editing software has been Audacity which has been available since the year 2000. It’s available for Windows and Mac, and has a basic feature set that is more than enough for any podcaster just starting out.

You can use this to record your podcast, chop up the audio, remove ummms and awkward pauses, normalise the audio so that the quiets and louds are less extreme on the listeners ears, and edit in an existing theme tune.

Paid

If you’re looking for something more advanced to start adding in EQ, compression, and other effects – then there are plenty of good step up options.

Logic Pro X

My personal preference is Logic for audio editing – which is only available on MacOS. You can record multiple microphones at once from an external audio interface, and edit them all individually down the line adding in compression, a de-esser, and some EQ – all with the stock plugins.

Logic costs £199.99 as a one off fee which includes all future updates.

Find out more

Adobe Audition

Another option that’s popular with podcast producers I know is Adobe Audition which is available on Windows and Mac. This is from the same suite of software that gives you Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and more.

You can purchase Adobe Audition on it’s own individual monthly subscription for £19.97/month
Paid software (Adobe Audition, Logic Pro, Pro Tools)

Find out more

Other Options

Protools (Paid – Free version available) https://www.avid.com/pro-tools
Reaper (Paid) https://www.reaper.fm/
PreSonus Studio One (Paid) https://www.presonus.com/products/Studio-One
GarageBand (Free – Mac Only) https://www.apple.com/mac/garageband/

Audio file formats

When exporting your audio file, you need to be mindful of a few things.

Do you really need stereo?

It’s unlikely that you need stereo audio for your podcast, particularly if it’s a talk show. Personally I would mixdown to mono

Don’t export with a Variable Bit Rate (VBR)

VBR is a form of file compression that changes the bitrate of your audio file on the fly so that it’s not consistent. Some podcast hosts that run dynamic advertising use the bitrate to predict where a midroll ad should sit inside of your show.

If the bitrate of the file is constantly changing, these ads can start to appear in random places instead of where you set them to.

The VBR option in the Logic bounce screen

Some podcast hosts will convert the file format

What you upload isn’t necessarily what you’ll end up with. Many podcast hosts have different file requirements and limitations. For example, some may have a time limit (e.g 30 minutes), or others may have a file size limit (e.g 100MB)

And on top of this, many podcast hosts will also convert the file format of your audio file. If you’ve uploaded a 1GB WAV file, that’ll be expensive for your podcast host to distribute, as well as mean your listeners have to wait for an age to be able to listen to your latest episode

James Cridland goes in depth here about file formats for some further reading – https://podnews.net/article/mp3-aac-m4a-podcasts

Keep Backups

This should go without saying, but always keep backups! Even if the final project has been uploaded to your podcast host, there’s not a guarantee that your episode will stay up there forever. If you stop paying for your podcast, your content may get taken down and deleted without warning – depending on the podcast hosting provider.

I personally use a trifecta of backup systems, but for many that’s overkill.

Apple’s Time Machine software with a 2TB USB hard drive on my desk which is constantly backing up files on my computer.
Backblaze backs up the entire contents of my computer to the cloud. If my house ever burns down, all of the files on my computer are available offsite – and backblaze will send me a hard drive in the post with all of my data on it ready to upload to a new computer.
Google Drive gives me the option to do incremental backups of project, however this is slightly more manual. It’s also great for working on show notes and episode scripts in a collaborative manner with your co-hosts.

There are other platforms out there like OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, and more that have similar sets of functionality.

Podcasting Basics: Why you need a podcast host

Whilst you could email MP3 files to your friends, there are better ways of sharing your podcast to a wide audience.

To give a comparison to the music world, think of a podcast host like a distributor – and in some cases a label – all rolled into one. Many provide marketing, sales representation, and also technical support to ensure your podcast runs smoothly.

At its core, podcast distribution is based on RSS technology. Developed in the 1990s for news websites, podcasters began to use the same technology to share their content in the very late 1990s, and early 2000s.

Early platforms like Libsyn (2004) and Blubrry (2005) adopted this technology and made it mainstream so that the barrier to entry for podcast distribution was lower than it ever had been.

Because of their adoption, podcasting listening platforms are also now built on top of RSS. Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Overcast – any listening destination you can think of is absorbing podcast information from an RSS feed.

Nowadays podcast hosts are jam packed full of fancy features so that you can upload your episode audio files, artwork, title, description, tags, and more. Many now have additional features such as audio editing tools, royalty free music, and website creation tools.

Ultimately using a podcast host means that you don’t have to program your own RSS feed from scratch.

Where to host your podcast

As time has gone on, the list of podcasts hosts has ever expanded into a huge multitude of options with various limitations, paid tiers, bonus features, and technical support.

There’s no one size fits all podcast host, so do your research!

Here’s a short list of podcast hosts that I’ve personally had a play around with and can recommend.

I’ve also linked off to some additional resources below which have some more expansive research on the various offerings from even more podcast platforms.

Apple have their own recommendations list for podcast platforms. I would advise taking a look at this too – https://itunespartner.apple.com/podcasts/partner-search

Here’s another great resource to do some research on what the various podcast hosts offer – https://podcasthosting.org/