The One Thing You Should NEVER Do as a Podcast Guest

Put yourself in this scenario…

You wrap up a hard day of work. It had ups. It had downs. Just like most days tend to offer…

You enjoy dinner with the family. After much struggle, you get the kids bathed and in bed for the evening…

Finally, you have a few minutes to unwind and decompress…

You slide into your PJs. You pour yourself a pint of beer or a glass of wine (maybe both, no judgement here)…

You head to the living room and plop down into your favorite chair. You turn on the TV and pull up the guide…

“Hey, this show seems intriguing,” you say to yourself as you read the description…

So you press the OK button. And BOOM! Instead of the show that caught your attention, an infomercial is running in its place, telling you why you need to buy this year’s version of the Slap Chop.

“What the hell,” you say to yourself, “this isn’t what I signed up for!”

And now, your night is ruined. RUINED…

Actually, this is a minor inconvenience born from true first world problem scenarios that can be remedied by finding something else to watch. But it still sucks…because you had an expectation and it wasn’t met.

This is what happens when listeners download a podcast based on the title and show description…but then discover they’re actually tuned into an infomercial…

BECAUSE YOU SHOWED UP TO SELL.

And that is THE. ONE. THING. You DO NOT want to do when you make a guest appearance on a podcast. Going into sales mode makes the entire experience transactional for everyone. And when a podcast is transactional, everybody involved loses.

The audience loses because they listen to this podcast for VALUE, not a sales pitch
The hosts and producers lose because the content doesn’t serve their audience, potentially leading said audience to abandoning the podcast altogether. Now, they’re audience is shrinking and they’re pissed at you
YOU lose because the point of being a podcast guest is to deliver an impactful message that makes people seek you out for more. If you do nothing but sell, that’s not going to happen.

When it comes to a podcast, whether you’re the producer or the guest, the golden rule to keep front of mind is the following: It’s all about the listener experience.

When you lose sight of that, content goes off the rails. Production quality suffers. And listeners have no reason to recommend the show to anyone else because the content isn’t serving them, thus crushing any hope of the audience exponentially growing and, by default, amplifying your message to a wider listener base.

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As you gear up for guest appearances and execute your Podcast Guest Marketing campaigns, put yourself in the audience’s ears. Would you want to listen to someone drone on endlessly about how great their product or service is and why you have no other option but to do business with them?

Or, would you rather listen to someone rooted in value with a compelling, relatable story to tell? Or someone who helps you solve a problem or think about a scenario from a new perspective? Or someone who showed up with the audience in mind and a desire to leave an impact?

The latter sounds like a much better listening experience, does it not?

Believe me. It is.

Think About Things Differently

While a podcast is not the place to outright sell your goods, it is a great stage to “sell without selling.”

What does that mean? It means that as you provide value via the conversations you have with the hosts – telling your story in an engaging way and showcasing your expertise to the audience – you’re positioning yourself as a resource the audience will instinctively seek out for more value. Whether they follow you on social media, pick up the free giveaway you offer, start listening to your podcast, subscribe to your email list, or enter your ecosystem in any capacity that allows you to nurture them, the value you provide will sell you to the audience. No sales pitch necessary.

PLUS, if you do a great job helping the creators of the show produce quality content that will resonate with their audience, they’ll do everything in their power to sell you to their audience. And because the audience trusts the hosts (if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be listening), they’ll, by extension, trust you, too.

Whenever you have a podcast guest opportunity in front of you, understand your role is to show up as a knowledgeable, reputable, value-driven resource. The hosts clearly see value in your message. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t expose you to their audience.

If you do nothing but sell, your reputation suffers and the value that positioned you as a viable guest for that podcast is lost. In many cases, your interview may never even get published, thus producing nothing but wasted time and opportunity.

Hold up your end of the collaboration by helping them create content that’s going to resonate with their listeners in a powerful way. Position yourself as an authority…not an overbearing salesperson.

When you do this, everybody wins.