HOW TO GET ON PODCASTS – WITH JESSICA RHODES

Speaker 1 (00:00):
How about interviews? How about podcasts? Are you doing them? If so, are they working for you? Well, today I want to talk to you about how to use podcast guesting. So being a guest on podcasts to increase your brand awareness, to increase your leads and your profits. Before we start hit that little bell and subscribe to our channel. So you’re always the first one to know when new episodes become available here every week. Welcome to powerhouse business on YouTube. I’m your host, Carolin Soldo. I’m a business owner, business scaling master, and mom of two boys. I love thinking big pushing boundaries and doing things differently. Most of all, I’m all about achieving massive growth with ease and helping you scale your business by living the life you love.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
If you’re new to podcasting, one of the first things you might ask yourself is how do I get myself on a podcast, right? How do I approach these podcasters? What do I say to them? What are some great interview topics I should be pitching to them? What are some really good questions I should be asking them? And how do I land those high quality podcast interviews? And so you can hire someone like Jessica, who is going to be on our show today, but she’s also going to share with you how you can do this yourself and the secrets and the tricks of the trade so that, you know, what’s actually happening behind the scenes and you can get yourself booked on a podcast. Very soon. Jessica Rhodes is a leading expert on how to leverage podcast guesting for increased brand awareness, more leads and higher profits. She created the podcast booking industry in 2013. When she founded interview connections, the first and leading agency off its kind, she’s also the acclaimed author of interview connections, how to rock the podcast on both sides of the mic. And she’s been featured at podcast multimedia expo and welcome Jessica.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, hello, Jessica. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you so much for having me. I’m thrilled to be here. Yes. We have a great topic podcast. Guesting. I have not heard anybody really say it in that way, but that’s exactly what so many of us wanted to do to get our brand out there more and to get leads and clients, and that’s what you help people accomplish, right? Yes, absolutely. I’ve been doing this for eight years and I’m just, I love the strategy of being a guest on other people’s podcasts. So I can’t wait to share all that I can with your audience. Yeah. Well, that’s the biggest hurdle I had. So when you first think about a podcast and you don’t want to do your own, you’re thinking, well, how can I get myself on someone else’s podcast once you’re there, then the interview is fine, but how do you get there? How do you make that happen? So walk us through some of the first steps to make that. Yeah,

Speaker 3 (03:00):
So I mean, first being a guest on other people’s podcasts is really incredible for audience growth because while it’s so important to build your own audience and do have your own platform and your own show, the way you’ll get people to consume your content is by going in front of other people’s audiences that have already been cultivated. And the reason being a guest is so effective is that you’re now collaborating with a host that that audience knows likes and trusts. So the first step to really leveraging this is going into podcasts interviews with a clear objective, a clear intention and a clear goal. Why are you doing this? And what do you want to get out of it? That’s number one, because that’s going to help, you know, what types of shows are good fit for you. It’s going to help, you know, what topics to talk about, and then what your call to action should be at the end of your episode.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
What are some well, for me, I’m thinking gaining clients, right? That’s what people would ultimately want out of it. Um, growing a list, what are some, what are some, are there any bad reasons for going on a podcast? Right?

Speaker 3 (04:12):
I can’t think of any bad reasons, but some of those common goals that people have are increased visibility and brand awareness. That’s sort of the umbrella goal. So when you have increased visibility and brand awareness, you have more leads coming in. You have more quality leads because there’s a lot of different ways to get leads, but some ways are more effective than others, right? We know that if we turn on a Facebook ad and spend thousands of dollars on ads, you’ll get tons of leads, but how quality will they be? And how warm will they be? We run as it’s important to market in all different ways. But when someone comes through an ad, they don’t know you they’re a cold lead, but when you get a lead from a podcast interview, they’re much warmer because he spent a half an hour with you. They know you. I mean, even people watching this interview have now spent more time with me than they would if they just saw an ad for 30 seconds. So you get much warmer, more qualified leads.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yes. And I love podcasting myself. I’ve done more and more and more over the years. And I don’t have a number to justify or qualify how much money we’ve made on podcasting. But I know we’ve gained some amazing clients that we would have never met, you know, without being on a podcast. And it’s fun to make these partnerships and connections with people. So you talked about finding the right podcast and that’s a good question. When you go out there, there is, I don’t even know millions. You were,

Speaker 3 (05:32):
There are over 1.7 million valid podcasts and that grows every day.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yes. So how do we, where do we start to find podcasts? There’s the quality, but there’s also, I guess, you know what we can accomplish right? In terms of who will say yes to us actually coming on their podcast. Yeah. So

Speaker 3 (05:55):
As an entrepreneur, you want to going on mid range, established podcasts. Now we’re going on Oprah and Joe Rogan be amazing and, you know, have millions and millions of people find you. Yes. However, the strategy that I teach in and execute for myself and my clients is that of networking. And that happens when you’re going on shows, hosted by entrepreneurs, just like you, where there’s collaboration happening, there’s relationship building happening. And that’s what makes podcasting unique to say traditional media, where there’s a journalist that’s hired by big company to interview you with podcasting. You’re actually building relationship with a fellow entrepreneur. So step one and finding the right shows is go on shows, hosted by somebody that you would love to know, right? Like you want to have a relationship with them. You can see there’s synergy. Maybe you work with the same types of people.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
You kind of hang out in the same circles. I mean, when you reached out to me, I’m like, Oh yeah. Like, I definitely want to know you, you look amazing. How do we not know each other already? So the networking that comes from podcast interviews is honestly the most important aspect to it. So when finding shows find shows that are hosted by people you want to connect with, and you can do that through searching websites, like listen, notes.com, where you can search the name of somebody and see all the podcasts that they’ve been a guest on, or see the shows that they’re hosting. So literally just kind of searching the names of influencers and people, leaders thought leaders in your industry and seeing kind of where they’re hanging out. So you can then go be in those circles.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
So you have to really mean it, right. We all get pitched all types of stuff. And we can tell if someone really wants to like authentically connect with us or if someone just sort of is, you know, putting stuff out there all over the place. So I really mean it and pick someone that you really want to talk to and connect with amazing mindset. I love that. So you talk a lot about, um, picking topics, right? And, and I know for myself, I recently worked with someone and, and, you know, to get me on more podcasts and, and we pick topics. So what topics are, you know, am I available to talk about it? How does that then align with the services and the programs and everything we do? So how do we pick good topics?

Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah. So your interview topics need to do a couple things. They need to have you stand out as a unique expert in your field. So let’s take leadership. For example, there’s a lot of leadership coaches that is an incredibly broad topic. People learn about leadership from everywhere, from just getting started in their career to executives running multiple million dollar companies. So who are you a leadership expert for? It’s important to have a topic that clearly communicates your target audience and kind of what your specialty is. So I’ll give you an example for me. One of my interview topics is how B to B entrepreneurs can leverage podcast interviews to get more clients. So it’s pretty, and it also in the topic, you can see who I’m talking to. So I have in the topic, B2B entrepreneurs, cause we work with entrepreneurs that are B2B and that makes it so somebody that’s just talking to, you know, a hobby podcaster, I can be clear that, well, I can talk about podcasting. My specialty is in not, you know, getting ads on podcasts and things like that. Um, so have your topics really communicate who you work with and also address the pain point for your ideal target audience, right? Me to be entrepreneurs, they’re always wanting more clients. So I address that pain point in the topic.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
Yes. Makes sense. And that’s how you get the attention. That’s great. So something I wanted to ask you, which is not really about, you know, getting on the show, but then being on the show. And I want to go back to getting on the show again, but this, I don’t want to forget this question. Is this idea of your podcast personality or a video personality? I had this interesting discussion with a client just yesterday and she said, I’m so weird when I interview people or when I go on shows, I don’t, I forget who I am. So how do you have any tips for how to step into our, not to like fake it or be different, but you know what I mean? Like what our personality is on interviews and podcasts and shows.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
Oh yeah. This is such an amazing question. I’ve never been asked this before, but it’s such an important question because you know, you’ve done probably hundreds, maybe thousands of videos. I’ve done a lot of videos, a lot of podcasts. And you know, sometimes we forget that when you’re first getting out there, it’s not supernatural. Like I remember when I first did my first interview, literally just talking into a microphone, you kind of step up a little bit now I’m used to it. So the first tip is it’s practice, right? There’s this saying in podcasting, probably in many different industries. If your first interview is amazing, you waited too long to start. So just know that getting started is the most important thing. I look back to my podcast and videos. I did six, seven years ago and I’m, it’s a little cringey, right? Because you’re like, Oh gosh, that is not where I am now.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
So I think the first thing is just to remember that you are going to be a little bit awkward and it takes time to figure that out. Um, authenticity is one of our core values at interview connections. It’s super important to us. So just, I think that in order to be authentic on the microphone on camera, you have to release the fear of looking bad and you have to release, you know, the need to be liked and they need to look good, right? As humans, we always want to look good. We’re caring about what people think. So doing some inner work to really not care what other people think and just be yourself is really important, but it really just comes down to practice. I mean, that’s why I advise entrepreneurs do this every single week, do an interview every single week, be a guest, host a podcast, be on video because it truly comes down to practice. And then rewatching going back and listening to your interviews just, I know it can be painful, but it’s really important. I’m reading this book called Mamba mentality about Coby Brian. And it’s interesting to see how athletes, um, approach their sport. They’re watching tapes, they’re watching videos, they’re studying. And that’s the same thing. You have to watch your content and listen to it in order to improve and be even better.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
I love that tip. Yes. I began to do that when I got over the cringiness of, Oh my God, I hate watching myself right now. Right. But you can catch the little things that you might do with your face or the fillers, the ums, the leg, and you know, and all that stuff. And even like hand gestures. And that’s how you over time sort of Polish it up and not to be robotic ever, but you can, you know, optimize it that way. That’s, that’s so important. You know, what has helped me? I don’t know if you did this, but I have my speaking crushes, so to speak the people, you know, they’re all public speakers and some of them are in crazy industries, not related to what I do at all, but I love the way they feel and the way they come across when they speak. So if I have a big appearance or a show or something, and I’m nervous, sometimes I love listening to them. And just hearing the voice allows me to sort of step into that vibration and how high or low the energy is. And it centers me back to where I want to be myself.

Speaker 3 (13:20):
Yes. I love that. It’s so important to have those mentors that, that you can learn from and really embody. Um, and I think to add to that, having a ritual to go into an interview, you know, something that allows you to kind of reset and get centered, you know, having your, your water, turning off all of your other applications, really getting focused. Um, there’s all different things to things like before I go on video for, you know, our master classes, I’ll have a little dance party with myself, you know, I’ll dance it out and just like, get that energy up. So kind of choose a ritual that you can use to kind of get into the zone.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Yeah. And to your point, get the energy up, we’ll get it down. Like stop. Some people have to get it up and some people have to get it way down. So it kind of depends on where you’re naturally fall.

Speaker 3 (14:07):
Exactly. Yeah. And also just another tip for people getting interviewed on podcasts, watch their show, listen to their show, get to know the hose, right. So you can match their energy. And just to your point, sometimes you have to get your energy up. Sometimes you have to get it down because for a podcast hosts and their guests to have chemistry, they have to be matching energy. So as like, yes, if you want to learn about that hose so you can kind of match their style.

Speaker 2 (14:34):
And uh, Oh my God, I had an horrible, horrible situation once. And you know, so when you, when you work with someone like, like you would Jessica, right, you really do a good job, preparing your people for the shows. Right. And to, to know the host and, and you do a whole lot, but I went on a show once and I was so embarrassed and shocked because I didn’t expect what was going to happen. That show was full of jokes and full of like obscene stuff that I did not expect. And that was their style that they had done it for years this way. And it’s not that that’s bad, but I didn’t expect it because I didn’t look at any of the episodes. I was just like, you know, busy and you know, here it is, and I’m showing up and I’m usually really good being spontaneous, but that got me. So like out of my, my thing, it was not good. So yeah. Be prepared who listen to the episodes, look at the host. Really, really good advice.

Speaker 3 (15:34):
Yeah. Definitely. That’s, that’s always, uh, throws you off a little bit.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
So how do you, how do you, if you do it yourself, right? Um, from, from your experience, how do you approach a podcast? Do they have certain requirements? I’m sure many of them will tell you exactly what they want to hear, but what are some of the best practices?

Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah. So when you’re reaching out to podcast hosts, I mean, first it’s about doing your research and your due diligence. So kind of looking across their website, reading about their show. A lot of times the contact page of their website will actually say, if you want to pitch yourself as a guest, use this form. So first just do your research to see if they’ve already indicated how you can apply to be a guest, listen to their podcast. So again, when you listen to someone show, sometimes they might mention how they end up choosing their guests. So doing that research and getting that Intel can really help you write an effective pitch. Um, so after you’ve done that research that you is starting to build and form that relationship. So getting connected on social media with the host, um, like their posts, comment on their posts, respond to their story, just get on their radar in a value add way, not like in a creepy stalky way, but just be a human that is starting to build a relationship. Um, you can also reach out and ask them, just say, Hey, I’ve been listening to your podcast. I really love what you’re doing. Are you open to a guest suggestion? I believe my topic that value to your show.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
So appreciative that you respected their time and asked to check in with them. So now you’ve got the contact information of the gatekeeper, right? Where you might not have gone otherwise, and then you can send your pitch to them. So you don’t have to do that as an agency, we’re pitching so many shows. We can’t ask every single person, but we do have hosts that we have relationship with. So you can just reach out directly. And in that, you know, keep it personal race, show your personality because what really turns my casters off feeling like they got a fist, every single other host. So personalize it, make sure that you’ve demonstrated that you’ve done your research and communicate why doors, topic would provide value to their audience. And then most importantly, follow up. Most posts are not going to respond to your pitch. The first time you do need to follow up and avoid things like bumping into the top of your inbox. Nobody likes that. So you could call out to say, Hey, I’ve reached out to a couple of days and I haven’t heard back. I thought you might find value in this interview. I did on somebody else’s show because the host wants to listen to you as a guest to make sure that you’re a good speaker and they want to hear you. So providing a link to another interview’s done will help your chances of getting books. Awesome. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
So there’s a lot more that goes into this and we think right, when you first get started, you think I’ll send some emails around and you know, I love your relationship approach and it’s such a great way to build a network and also really build a great reputation, right. And honor, honor the hosts and honor the people and everybody. So that’s, that’s awesome. So tell us about how you can help people there in my audience, you have so many amazing experts and it’s always about how can we increase that brand awareness? How can we get the message out there more? And many of them don’t have a huge staff and all the resources to, you know, customize every pitch. And like you said, build the relationship. It takes time. Right? And, and that’s, that’s sometimes really scarce for people. So how do you make our life easier?

Speaker 3 (19:16):
Yeah. So we work with a lot of entrepreneurs that have either no team or a very small team, and we really become their team. Right. So when we work with entrepreneurs, we’re doing all of the works. You find the ratios, pitch them to the race, shows, make that connection happen. Um, one of my clients is saying, I love that. Like I love that I never have to get the rejection. Right. You don’t have to hear one who says, it’s not a fit. So we’re hitting you both on all the ratios. And then we’re also really helping you build this network, you know, because relationships are why the strategy is so important in our client, community, networking calls and trainings to really help people monetize the microphone. Because, you know, you can send a bunch of pitches and get yourself sure that you have the right call to action that you’re pitching the right topics. That’s something that we do for our clients. Yeah. Yeah. Why I recently looked at

Speaker 2 (20:18):
My not of them going on more podcast interviews myself. I’m really setting myself up with my, um, my offers to, and not to like sell anything on a podcast. Right. But what other resources and value can you, can you offer? So, um, talk to us maybe a little bit about how to elegantly lead to an offer or, you know, weave in a download or a freebie or whatever is also permitted.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
Yeah. Having a call to action is super important because when people hear you on a podcast, that’s often the first time that they’re meeting you, it’s so rarely we’ll listen or go right from hearing you on a podcast to investing multiple thousands into your program. So it’s important to have a call to action that gets them into your ecosystem. And that call to action is going to be different depending on how you tend to sign up clients. So if you tend to sign up people that raise you for a consultation call, you would want to offer a consultation hall as your call to action. If you have a robust email marketing system where you know that when people download an offer, they go into different buckets and you’ve got all of the things. You get people onto your email list. Some people don’t have a great email marketing system, just get them reaching out to you directly. And like culturally directed people to her LinkedIn, I thought there was an amazing call to action because she was like, I’m only going to all the time so she can be right in touch with people in the inbox. So your call to action has to be something that’s going to help you convert clients. So whether that’s getting people onto your email list, reaching out to you via email for a free consultation on a social media platform that you’re active on, those are some of the most common and effective cGAS. Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (22:08):
And speaking of you know, resources and training, I know you do a lot of masterclasses. You do a lot of free stuff. And so do you have anything as far as resources are concerned? I think there might be something coming up for you.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
Yes. Yeah. We have a signature podcast. Guesting masterclass is a five day workshop. We do bonus session where we interview clients. Who’ve seen amazing results. So you can learn from other people that are out there using the strategy. Our next one is 19, but if you hear this interview after that interview, we always promote the next one. At the top of our website, it’s a free workshop. You get to learn how to get started as a guest strategies for monetizing, how to pitch, how to sell on a podcast without selling and fishing. So we love doing that because we really want to pull back the curtain and share how the show you work all the time. They were like, I’ve never even thought about doing this. So we run that master class really provide a ton of value and teach people how the strategy works. Yeah, no. So I highly recommend that

Speaker 2 (23:17):
Way to learn, like learn from the people who’ve been doing this for like years and years, and you’re working with amazing clients and you’ve been doing this for, you know, ever

Speaker 3 (23:27):
Eight years. We were the first to market. So we’ve got tons of experience.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
You know, if it’s something you want to try yourself, give it a, give it a try, but yeah, the easiest way to save yourself some time. And the whole headache is to hire someone like Jessica and her team to help you get on the right podcasts as

Speaker 3 (23:46):
Quickly and as easily as possible. And really, you know, um, get the benefit from, you know, guesting on podcasts. Yes, absolutely. We would love for anyone in the audience. That’s interested in doing this strategy. Perfect. Jessica w what else can we give our audience one last tip or big mistake we need to be avoiding or anything else that comes to mind? Yeah. Well, my tip is to just get started because the most dangerous thing in business, nobody knows who you are. It’s really difficult to grow. So just start increasing your visibility, start doing interviews, start doing videos, just get your expertise out there. So you’re no longer a secret anymore. Just get started. I always like to say, you know, I believe in our audiences message and I believe that anybody, you know, when coming from a place of service can make it happen. We just got, got to start getting the message out there. And podcasting is it’s a growing industry. It’s such an amazing opportunity. So definitely go for it. I’m going to put all the links down below in the description where you can check out Jessica’s masterclass and her resources and connect with her mine. How do you like people to connect with you? By the way, Facebook, we have a Facebook group, all big groups. So that is my favorite way to set up of our community, where we bring people together. That is where you can join our community.

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Awesome. Well with that, I

Speaker 3 (25:22):
Want to respect your time. I’ll wrap it up. Thank you so much for being here, Jessica, you were amazing and hope to collaborate with you more. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
And now we would love to hear from you, leave me a comment down below and let me know what you think about podcasting. How are you planning to as podcasting and being a guest on podcasts in your own business? And if you’re running your own podcast, how do you select your guests? Let me know down below in the comments and that’s half a conversation, speaking of podcasting and being a guest on shows. Well, I am looking for guests for my YouTube show. So if you would like to be a guest on my show and share your thought leadership, share your message, your tips, your tricks, and what it is that you do for the world, God, down below in the description, we have instructions there for you on how to apply to be on my show. I look forward to see your application and potentially having you on the show very soon.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
And I’ll stay focused on your goals because I believe that your message is meant to be out there with so many more people and being on a podcast or being on a YouTube show is the way to do it as always. If you liked this episode, give us a, like, subscribe to our channel and share it out there with the world, and then make sure you come back again next week. Thank you so much for watching and I’ll see you soon. Do you often stressed and overwhelmed from growing your business? Do you crave more ease and happiness from your success? What if I gave you a tool that has the power to instantly make you feel focused, peaceful, and at ease all while growing your business faster than ever before, I’ve created the business growth scorecard that has helped countless business women place overwhelmed with confidence and not a scorecard is available online. It’s free takes less than 10 minutes and provides you with a customized growth plan, including your personal scores, go to business growth, scorecard.com to take the test right now, I look forward to helping you grow your business with ease and access.

Speaker 4 (27:48):
[inaudible].