Bringing Guests on Your Podcast
You have figured out your goal in starting a podcast, you have your tech stack setup, and you are ready to hit the record button. Let’s dive into the content (of both your episode and marketing) that will help you build a podcast that will ensure your listeners keep coming back for more. With The Room Podcast, we focus on bringing on a key guest to interview for each of our episodes. This may the right path for you, if so, let’s discuss the why's and how's!
Why bring on a guest?
Podcast content can take many forms. Here are a few common flavors:
And many more.
Regardless of what type of podcast you adopt, bringing on guests to your podcast is an effective way to:
How to find & reach out to a guest
In this section, we discuss effective ways to find guests and get them on your podcast. For The Room Podcast, we have had over 70 guests join us for recordings. Here are 3 of our approaches to building out your guest roster:
Guest Pipeline Tracker
Once you initiate your guest search, it is important that you stay organized and on-track with your guest pipeline so you can stay on top of who you reached out to, when, and at what stage of the funnel they are. Below is a coda template for what your guest pipeline tracker could look like. Copy, paste, and stay proactive!
Making sure your guests know what to expect
Congratulations! After some outreach, you have finally got a guest to agree to be on your podcast! Now what? Let’s make sure your guest knows what to expect and is aligned on all the tactical details of the recording.
Setting up time
When setting up time with your guest, ask what times they have available for the recording (we allot an hour for the recording session itself) and in supplement send over your availability via Calendly or calendar booking link. Make sure you are courteous about deferring to their preferred times, while also making it efficient to confirm and book a time. You will often be redirected to the guest’s EA to find time in many cases. Once you confirm a time, send over a calendar invite with any and all instructions about the recording. If you are using a virtual recording studio like Riverside (very highly recommended, see our tech stack section), make sure that link is in the calendar invite.
Recording studio
Use a virtual recording studio to ensure you are capturing high quality audio and visuals. Learn more about Riverside here.
Set expectations with the guest that you will be using a virtual recording studio, and align upfront on whether you are using just audio for the recording, or if you will also be capturing video. Note: if guests don’t get a warning they need to be camera ready, they often won’t want you using the video content. Not great if you are publishing your episode over youtube, or hoping to use clips for TikTok!
Sending over questions
It’s just as important your guests know how they are recording as it is what they are recording. Every guest will want to understand what is being discussed and how they should prepare. A week prior to the episode recording (at the very least 36 hours before the recording), make sure you send a google doc with your intended questions and topics for recording. Make sure the doc has comment permissions as this is a great opportunity for the guest to share feedback. Make sure their PR rep (if they have one) has access.
Reminders prior to recording
24 hours before the recording, make sure you send a reminder that the recording is happening. Be sure to include your questions/discussion topics, confirm the link of the recording, and request that the guest records in a quiet environment with headphones and ideally a microphone (if the guest has one) to ensure top notch sound quality.
Example of guest tracker
Priority
First Name
LinkedIn
Role
Company
Email
Date of last touch
Status
P0
Laura
Sent initial email
P1
Kelly
Sent follow-up email
P2
Ana
Follow-up meeting
