Doing podcast interviews is a cost-effective way to promote your music, share your ideas, attract new fans, and build meaningful connections. It's also a great way to practice for live radio interviews.

Reading time: 4 minutes

Getting started

Start by identifying the best podcasts to pitch for a guest appearance. By "best" podcasts, I'm referring to those that will best serve their audience while helping you achieve the goal of promoting your music.

Begin your search on Apple Podcasts and Google and consider these three tiers for your search. Look first for podcasts that speak directly to a portion of your audience. The next tier of your search is for podcasts that have some overlap with your audience. The third tier of your search will include podcasts that touch on your general interests but have less overlap with your audience. Notice you're starting with the most relevant, progressing to somewhat relevant, and eventually less relevant. Use a spreadsheet or other list tool to track your efforts with the podcasts you decide to pitch.

Screening podcasts

The following questions will help you identify the best prospects for your guest pitch outreach.

Does the podcast include quest interviews?

At the risk of stating the obvious, don't spend time pitching to podcasts that don't do guest interviews.

Is the podcast still active?

There are a lot of dead podcasts out there. Target the ones that are actively publishing new episodes. If it's been several months or more since their last episode, you probably don't want to include them in your list of prospects.

How many episodes have they published?

Getting a guest spot with a podcast that has published over a thousand episodes can be more challenging than getting on one with under 50 episodes. Newer podcast hosts are generally hungry for quality guests like you, and quick wins will go a long way in building confidence and momentum.

How do you view the quality of the podcast?

Focus your efforts on podcasts with high-quality content and audio. These are the ones that will attract the most listeners to your interview. Look to their reviews for added insight.

Is the podcast a mutual fit?

While you want to grow your audience, you'll do well by thinking of their audience first. How can you give value to their audience? By providing value to podcast hosts and their audience, you'll more easily capture new listeners and earn the support of the podcast host.

Give podcast hosts what they want and need

Podcast hosts appreciate guests who sound good, interview well, deliver value to their audience, and promote their interview. Professional photos of yourself for the podcast's episode artwork will also go a long way to helping the host.

They'll also love you for your active online presence and commitment to sharing your episode. Go the extra mile by suggesting topics, questions, and show titles – podcast hosts spend significant time on these items.

Craft a compelling guest-pitch

Consider the following points in crafting your pitch.

• Acknowledge the host and their podcast with genuine compliments
• Listen to at least one of their episodes and tell the host what you loved about it
• Introduce and detail your episode topic ideas
• Provide social proof like testimonials, awards, past interviews, etc.
• Make it easy for them to schedule you as a guest by offering your schedule on Calendly or a similar scheduling app
• Give their podcast an honest review on Apple Podcasts and let them know you did so

Be prepared

Preparation will go a long way toward giving a quality guest interview. Start by preparing stories and anecdotes that you can use during the interview. Be concise and answer their original questions. Be conscious of your speaking time. Practice avoiding the use of filler words.

Get familiar yourself with their show format. Ask them if there will be an opportunity to pitch an event, a new release, or a service during your interview. If the host permits you to pitch something on their show, do so tactfully.

Use a quality mic and headset or earbuds. Be in a quiet, distraction-free room for remote interviews. Be mindful of your mic technique. Share the website or primary social handle that showcases your music, social media, projects, and more.

After the interview, send a thank you note and ask the host if they need anything else from you. Then promote your episode!

You can also apply these principles to radio, blogs and YouTube. Pretty awesome, right? If you need something for your press page, podcast interviews are a great edition.

As always, reply with any questions, comments or complaints. 😆 I'd love to hear from you.

Peace, love and more cowbell,
Robonzo
--

​Share this email and/or read it on the web​

Stay in touch!
​Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Threads​

​UnstarvingMusician.com​