Click here to listen to the podcast and view show notes
Hey there, you’re listening to episode 138 of the Katie Lance podcast. And in this episode, I’m excited to share with you some tips, tools, and strategies for how you can become a better podcast guest. I have had so many amazing guests over the past few years here on the Katie Lance podcast. We’ve had so many great conversations and I’ve had the pleasure and honor of being on so many other great podcasts. But let’s face it. If you have not been on a lot of podcasts or maybe you’ve been on a podcast and you felt like, oh, I’m not sure how well that did. There’s definitely a few things that I have found over the years that make a really big difference in going from good to great when it comes to being a podcast guest. So I’ve got a few quick tips let’s get on with the show.
Okay. So maybe you’ve been asked to be on a podcast and maybe you’ve been on a lot of podcasts or maybe you’ve never been on a podcast. So how do you, how do you show up and, and what makes a big difference when it comes to being a great guest on a podcast? So I want to share a few tips in no particular order, uh, that I think really do make a big difference when it comes to being a prepared and great guest and then poorly providing a great interview on a podcast. Okay. The first thing is no distractions. This is huge. Turn off your devices, put your phone and do not disturb turn off your instant messenger. Stop multitasking. You shouldn’t be looking at your email. Yes, we can hear you typing. Um, don’t be chewing on anything. Uh, don’t have an ice filled glass.
That is really important. And one thing I would say about that too, is you can have water handy. I outfit have water, but just, you know, have maybe like still water with like a straw. Uh, you don’t want to be like gulping water, especially with podcasts. It’s all audio, right? And so there are no distractions is key, especially the dings and everything now, by the way, things happen. And the nice part about a podcast is you can edit it. So I always tell my guests, I always say, look at the end, if there’s anything that you don’t like, there’s anything that happens. We can always cut it out. Things happen, dogs bark in the background, right? Life happens. But if possible that’s first and foremost, try not to have distractions. Okay. The second thing is, don’t worry if you’re stumbling over your words, sometimes that happens.
And part of this is just being prepared ahead of time. So a lot of times when you work with a podcast or they will send you the questions ahead of time, or you can even ask like, Hey, can you send me some of your questions ahead of time? Or if they don’t have questions ahead of time, because some podcasters just want to kind of have a, and have it be organic. You could at least ask them, you know, can you give me a few topics that you’re going to ask me about? Um, and you might even send over to the interviewer, Hey, here are a few talking points that I’m really comfortable talking about. Here’s my expertise, um, which should not be related to like your product or anything like that, right? You shouldn’t, this isn’t the place to be like, Hey, I want to sell X, Y, and Z.
But like, if you are an expert, let’s say you are in real estate. I know we have a lot of folks who are in real estate who listened to the podcast. If you are a, an expert in negotiation, if you are an expert in social media, if you’re an expert in first-time home buyers, you could highlight that. And just let that podcaster, know that because sometimes we think people know, but sometimes we don’t know. And you know, I’ll never forget, actually, this was probably about a year or two ago. I interviewed, uh, Melanie diesel, who is an author, she’s a speaker. And when I reached out to her, she sent me like a podcast kit. It was like a podcast media kit. And it basically had some information about her. It had her background, it had like some suggestions for questions and talking points and it made my job as an interviewer, even easier.
Now I don’t think we all necessarily need to do that, but just as you start to be on more podcasts, especially if that’s part of your goal to grow your audience, or maybe you are promoting a book or something else you’re doing, the more you can kind of help the interviewer ask the right questions. That makes a big difference. And that will also help you not stumble over your words. So it’s okay if you do, you know, if you do end up stumbling, just pause, take a breath, you know, it’s okay to make fun of yourself. Um, I think one of the nice things about podcasts is it, it is kind of a casual environment. I always equate it to, you know, imagine if we’re sitting down having a cup of coffee, right. It’s not going to be a perfectly scripted conversation. So that’s important.
Okay. The third thing, and this kind of goes along with the last thing is it’s okay to laugh. Right? Um, I think sometimes when I listened to podcasts and I listened to two people chatting, it’s kind of nice to know that it’s not all serious. It’s not all business. So if something funny happens or something happens in the moment, it’s okay to laugh. Um, you know, we, we want to laugh with you. It’s it’s all good. Okay. The next thing is answer the questions that are asked of you. So I, you know, I always tell my guests, I’m like, look, I’m not Barbara Walters. This is a 2020. This is not like a gotcha interview. Really the goal when I interview someone for a podcast is to elevate them. I want to tell their story. I want to find out something interesting. I want to find out what they’re doing.
I want to share their expertise. I want my audience to learn something. So, you know, if your interviewer asks you something specific, you know, stick to what they’re asking, you know, try not to go on and on and on, um, think to yourself, gosh, is there a one or two points or examples I can make? Is there a analogy? Is there a story? You know, again, we want to kind of think about the end, the end user. So it’s, it’s less about you really and more about, is there an example or a story or analogy or tip that you can share while you’re answering the question? Try not to just ramble to fill silence. I hear this a lot with podcasters where there’s just, it just keeps going on and on and on. So, you know, short, simple, uh, and pause when needed. Um, another thing I would say is really care about your audio.
Now I have a professional mic because I decided to invest in that for the podcast, but you don’t need a professional mic. If you have apple earbuds, those can work. If you have, you know, the old school like Mike, you know, where you plug it in and you’ve got the, the wired earbuds, those, those work great too. You might get like a Yeti mic or a road bike, but your audio really does count. And so, you know, I always tell my guests, first of all, don’t join from your phone or your mobile device. First and foremost, joined from a computer. That’s going to be better than your phone, but really try not to just use like the laptop speakers or your laptop microphone. Oftentimes there’s an echo. So it’s not the end of the world. You know, I’ve done a lot of interviews where, you know, the audio isn’t as great as it could be.
But what’s interesting about audio is I feel like the audio really does make a difference. You know, I look at like, even with video, I’m willing to overlook if the video is not that great quality, but if I can’t hear you, that’s sometimes a little frustrating. So, um, your audio really does make, make a big difference. Okay. Another tip I want to share is try to listen to one or two previous shows that your podcast or has done. So if you’re asked to be on a podcast, I know a lot of us are really busy, but if possible, look at their show and at least listen to a few minutes of some of their other episodes, just so you get a sense of what their show is all about. And I, I also think you want to do your due due diligence. I know I get asked to be on a lot of podcasts and some of them are a great fit and some of them sometimes aren’t necessarily a great fit.
And I don’t know that until I actually do my research to see, well, what’s their podcast all about and what are some of the other topics and conversations that they’ve had. So listened to a few of those podcasts as well. Okay. One other thing I would say is avoid being overly salesy. So, um, I don’t get this a lot from a lot of the guests I have on which is awesome. I think a lot of people realize that the goal of a podcast is to really bring value, but on the flip side, I’ve also listened to podcasts that ends up, ended up turning into kind of a big sales pitch. So we want to try to avoid the sales pitch. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having some sort of call to action at the end. You know, if you are, if you’re an expert in marketing or you are a business expert and you’ve got some sort of checklist or ebook or workbook, or, you know, something to kind of point people, um, in your direction, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
I do that all the time. Those of you who’ve listened to the show a long time. You know, I talk a lot about social media. And so one of the things we share quite often as our content grid, it’s something I get asked about all the time. So often on a podcast, I might say, you know, Hey, for any of the listeners who are curious about how to really get organized with social media or content, we have a free content grid. It’s just Katie, lance.com/content grid, uh, and people can download it for free, right. So just kind of a quick mention of it. And I always like to double check with the podcast host ahead of time that that’s okay. But you know, generally speaking, we want to kind of just avoid the, the big sales pitch. So those are just kind of a couple of a couple things that I think make a big difference.
I think also I’ll just add a few sort of bonus items that specifically for our podcast, you know, we try to let people know ahead of time if they’re going to be on video or if it’s audio only. So if you’re asked to be on a podcast, it’s always good to ask like, Hey, is this video or is this audio just good to know? Just so you’re prepared with your setup. Um, I also like to send, uh, my whoever’s interviewing me. I’ll send them a short bio of who I am. So if they want to include that in their show notes, or if they run a read part of that, I, you know, I think that’s always nice to have that’s something we ask for all of our guests. I always say, Hey, send me a short bio. And by short, I mean, just a few sentences.
It doesn’t have to be like your entire, um, you know, work history. So something quick that I could read when I introduce you, uh, or something, you know, that I could have inside the show notes, to give people a little bit of background of who, of who, uh, who you are and what you’re all about. We also ask for headshots for our podcast guests, because we like to promote them. You know, we’ll create graphics on Facebook, on Instagram, you know, on, on some of the different platforms. And so it’s great to be able to highlight our, um, our guests with their headshots. So those are just a few things that we look for. Um, I would love to hear from you. I am curious from our podcast listeners, if you are a podcast or do you run a podcast or maybe you just enjoy listening to podcasts, I would imagine you enjoy listening to podcasts.
That’s why you’re listening to this podcast, but if you run a podcast, I would just be curious and I would love to connect with you and make sure I subscribe to your channel so I can give you a lesson. So feel free to reach out. You can always email me Katie at Katie, lance.com. Let me know that you’ve listened to the podcast, or of course you can find me on social. Usually the best place these days is over on Instagram. I’m @KatieLance over on Instagram. I would also love to know if I missed anything. Is there anything, if those of you who’ve been on podcast or those of you who’ve listened to a lot of podcasts, am I missing anything from my, my episode here today? So let me know, reach out to me. Like I said, I’d love to, I’d love to hear from, uh, from our podcast listeners. I write my friends. Thank you so much tuning in today. I so, so appreciate it. Hey, we are working on our podcast plan for the new year for 2022. So I would love to hear from you if there are topics or folks who would like me to interview with, we’d love to hear what resonates with you, our, our podcast community. All right. Thank you so much. My friends. I appreciate it until next time. Have a great day. We’ll see you soon. Bye for now.
