After many years in the podcasting industry, we have cracked the code on what makes a great guest–it’s someone who not only shows up prepared and on time, but also someone who understands the importance of promoting an interview. Because if you thought your obligations ended after the recording finished… well, you thought wrong!
Treating an interview like a one night stand and ghosting the host after the show doesn’t benefit anyone, especially guest.
When a host invites a guest onto their podcast it’s because they think the guest has useful information for their audience. They are inviting you into a scared space they have built and continually work hard to maintain. Essentially, they are inviting you into their virtual home and the polite thing to do is to show your appreciation by promoting the episode before and after it goes live. Podcasting is a two-way street that is mutually beneficial to both parties, which is why the host and the guest need to promote to ensure the episode is as successful as it deserves. After all, the more ears on an interview, the better!
Three Ways Promoting Your Podcast Interviews Are Beneficial That You May Not Have Considered
Outside of the obvious benefits podcast interviews can bring like speaking directly to your target audience, gaining exposure, and establishing your authority on the subject, there are some some more subtle benefits to adequately promoting your interviews.
Promoting episodes is not only a great way to develop a relationship with that show host but other hosts in the future. Oftentimes when you are making introductions to podcasts, they will look at your content online to see how you have promoted your pervious interviews. If they can easily see you have done your due diligence to promote past interviews, it increases the likelihood they will say yes.
Secondly, promoting is also a great way to get invited onto more shows. If the hosts see you’re serious about your commitment to promoting your interviews it helps the chances they will introduce you other podcast hosts they know. A third benefit is if they see that you’re out there consistently boosting the episode, it gives you favorability that they’ll air your episode again over a seasonal lull, like summertime or over the holidays when they aren’t producing as much new content.
What Does Good Promotion Look Like?
Oftentimes, they will send you some promotional material, so you don’t have to make your own. We have seen our hosts give the guest unique episode graphics to use as needed, sample headlines, show transcript, and even entire email mockups. But if you are creatively inclined, you can create your own materials like sizzle reels and audiograms.
A really easy way to promote your episode is by talking about it on your social media platforms. If you have an email list, don’t be afraid to send a quick blurb out. Writing a blog on your website is also a great way to promote your podcast interview. Some guests will even change their email signature block to highlight the episode. And the great thing about promoting in these manners is that it can be done before or after the interview.
Taking interview promotion seriously is the best way to stand out as a great guest. Don’t be afraid to let a host know about your desire to promote an episode. In fact, being transparent from the beginning about your intentions to promote the show is the probably the best thing you could do at that stage of the relationship. We aren’t just telling you this to add more work or give you homework. Our experience getting guests on over 50,000 interviews over the last eight years has shown that the promoting your podcast interviews have a significant impact on your results. Which spurred the launch of our new Commitment to Collaborative Promotion program. This isn’t just fluff, its backed by data.
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