If you’re using guests on your podcasts, we’re going to talk about three ways to feature guests in your show. They’re still going to help you connect with your audience, you’re going to still help them make the decisions they need to be making in the space they’re in with you, instead of using guests on your podcast as a distraction from what we normally talk about and what we normally share with our audience. These are three strategic ways to be using guests on your podcast.
The first way you can use guests on your podcast is: Interview Exchanges
I wanted to start here because this is the one that has the biggest asterisk. This is the one where it’s gotta be done with a lot of thoughtfulness. If it’s not done with a lot of thoughtfulness, you’re going to end up in just eek situation. Yes, eek is the technical term for the situation you would end up in. Again, I am a professional. I want you to look at who you’re going to have this with. I’m going to bring up my example really earlier because I think it models this really well. I did this with Rachael Cook, I want to say late last year early this year.
We essentially did very similar versions of the same episode on both shows. We talked about using your podcast as a sales tool. On our podcast on the Uncommonly More show, this show, we talked to Racheal and I hosted the show, obviously, talking about using challenges and things like that in the course of her content, and we used her show as an example of the ways that could be done. We together walked you through examples of what using those tools could look like, how our team helps her produce it, how she builds out these assets. It is a fantastic demonstration of her work and the work she does in The CEO Collective.
It’s also a fantastic example and way to get social proof and see behind the scenes of how we support our clients. Also, it’s a great win for you just to get ideas on how you can be creating content that supports getting people to your email lists, that supports putting people on a waitlist for a program, that supports putting people in a program. It’s a win-win-win. We then went over to her show and had a similar conversation about using your content strategically. We were able to talk to her audience who are looking at their content and creating content, and why I need to create content, and talk about how the strategy is important and highlight how we support Racheal and the strategy for her show.
We talked a little bit about what we talked about on the other podcast over on our show. They complemented each other and they helped both audiences. They gave us both recognition but they also helped both of us move our audience that was listening forward with the goals. They’re listening with us in mind. We were able to give them two new assets, two new perspectives. That’s what I want you to be looking for in that interview exchange is where it can be a win-win-win. If it is not a win-win-win, win for you, win for the guests, and win for the listener, it is not going to work. Somebody’s going to end up frustrated. The worst option of that is the listener, so pay attention.
Keep in mind that you’re looking at two groups of listeners.
Pay attention to where your wins are for everyone and where this makes sense. This doesn’t make sense for every one of our clients. This doesn’t make sense for every person I know. This doesn’t make sense for every biz bestie that I have. It’s not going to be something that you’re going to open up to everyone, it’s not going to be something that you’re going to find in the back corners of a Facebook group.
It’s going to be people who you know in your world, it’s going to be people who you have a symbiotic relationship with, whose work and their work are very complementary, but it’s not the same. You are very likely going to be working with the same kind of people, your ideal clients are going to have some overlap. They might not be exactly the same, but they’re going to have some overlap. That’s really important to look at when you’re looking at this interview exchange option.
The second way you can use guests on your podcast is: Expert Interviews
The next one is experts, or in some cases, creators of the things you use to deliver your service or deliver your program. If there is a tool that you teach inside of a program, have somebody, the person who created that tool, come on and talk about that tool. An example of this is when I had Lindsay Padilla, the co-founder of HelloAudio, come join us. HelloAudio is the tool we use for our private podcast, The Podcast Newsroom. It’s the tool we use when we put these together for our clients. We’ve created, I don’t know, maybe a dozen private podcasts this year for clients who wanted to offer it inside their program or as a lead magnet. We’ve talked about ways we can use those.
It made total sense for me to have Lindsay on the show and talk about how other people who use HelloAudio use this tool and say, “Here are all of these ways you can use private podcasting. Here are all of the ways HelloAudio is amazing. Here’s how we can help you implement it.” It was really that simple. A great example of this inside of a coaching program is if you are somebody who has your team also teaching inside of your membership. We do this with a couple of clients. I have clients who I come in with and I guest teach in their programs or I will help step in when they’re on sabbatical and teach something for them because I’m part of their team.
I have the expertise and it’s a value. Me coming on to their podcast and saying, “Oh, you’ll see Stacey inside of our XYZ program. She’s answering questions about marketing or podcasting, or whatever it is that I’m there to help with or she’s teaching this class or she’s taught a class that’s now inside the content library,” that’s a way for you to use my expertise as a way to help sell your program because I’m inside of there. I’m paying attention.
Also, set expectations that you’re not the only one helping people inside this program, and that you bring in your team as support, so that they have an understanding of what’s happening and that they have a clear expectation of what’s going to be inside the community.
I get to go sit in front of an audience and be an expert. Sweet! Because some people are going to come to check out my stuff in addition to your stuff, where can you be bringing in experts that you use in your programs, and tools that you use to deliver your services? If you’re somebody who is an Active Campaign expert, are there people who use tools that you use in your email marketing strategy, in your Active Campaign setup, and in the marketing pieces you integrate? Whatever the case may be, where can you bring somebody else in that space to expand your conversation, to create some new energy, to show and not just tell about different ways that you can use the tool that you’re using? I want you to pay attention to that and really look at your process and see where there are things that you can highlight.
The third way you can use guests on your podcast is: Case Studies
This is by far my favorite and this is the one I really bring our clients into generally during onboarding. I’m like, “Cool in this first quarter of us working together, where can we bring in some case study episodes?” Because when you can bring in episodes of you sitting down and talking with your clients, talking about their experience working with you, you’re able to create social proof in a whole nother way and not just an “I’ve got a testimonial page on my website that nobody ever reads” but in a “Here’s what this process looks like. Here’s what you can expect. Here’s what someone actually going through the process can tell you to expect.”
A great example of this is our episode with Sarah. I loved talking to Sarah. She’s got a podcast called The Former Lawyer Podcast. I highly recommend it if you’re a former lawyer, a wannabe former lawyer, or if you know someone who is. It’s a great, great show. We’ve been working together at this point for a little more than a year. We talked about what it’s been like, where she was before her process, how she started, and how she moved through it. We’re going to have a couple more of these coming out in Q4 because, in full transparency, I’m terrible about asking our clients to do this.
Go back to the episode where I talk about committing to being annoying. This is one of the annoying things I’m committing to doing in Q4 and for all of next year is asking at least one of our clients to appear on the show and talk about our work together once a quarter because I know how valuable it is for you. I know how valuable it’s for them because it gets people to go and hear their shows. It gets their show in front of a new audience, another audience. A lot of our clients have very complementary services to what we offer. It makes total sense, it’s win-win. I also know for you, it’s really valuable to see what’s possible.
I don’t know why it makes me so nervous. But it does. It makes everybody nervous. Where can we be building a system? That’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m building a system to ask for this and so we’re sending out those emails in September. I’m going to be committing to at least once a quarter featuring these.
We’ve got clients who have courses or memberships where a critical part of our launch run-up is case study episodes, conversations with people who have lived experience, and working with you so that someone else can be the person telling your listeners, “This is what this is like.” It’s so valuable. It’s so important.
I want you to look at where you can do that in Q4, this one above all else. Where can you add one case study episode in Q4 for what you’re selling in Q1, whatever the case may be? This is a sales asset that will serve you for so long. It will be so valuable. I send these case study episodes to prospective clients all the time. It often does the closing for me, because it’s somebody besides me talking about how great this is.
I want you to challenge yourself to do at least one of these kinds of episodes as you move through Q4. I want you to be looking at, in 2023 for your show, where can you be building these in each quarter consistently featuring at least that case study episode.
The interview exchange and the expert interviews are going to be fewer because they don’t have as much value as that case study episode does. Also, there’s probably just going to be fewer of them, like the opportunity for them to show up is going to be less. You have more clients who you can do case studies with, then you have these other two things. Prioritize that one even if it’s the scariest. I know, I’m with you. I do this for a living.
I encourage clients to do this all the time. I get how scary it can feel to be like, “Can you come on my show and talk about us?” But it’s such a difference maker and so valuable and in all reality objectively, every client I’ve ever asked has been more than happy to do it and shared it and had a great experience. I’m going to go try to be annoying. I’m going to encourage you to do the same and we’ll do it together.