The Truth About Guest Interviews w/J. Rosemarie Francis

J. Rosemarie Francis (00:00)
There's something fulfilling about meeting someone from another country across the world and getting into an interview on a podcast. There is something magical and amazing about that. I'm not going to publish a guest interview today. If you are new or aspiring podcaster, I wanna talk to you about why you would and wouldn't want guests on your podcast. 

It's 5 a.m. in Austin, Texas, and 6 a.m. in New York, New York. Welcome to Tools of the Podcast Trade.

So I was all set on publishing one of my interviews and then I started to think about guesting and the amazing opportunity it is to have guests on your podcast, but also being a guest on other people's podcasts. There's a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of having guests on your podcast. Now I like to have guests, one, because I get

the perspective, I get the guest's perspective on a particular topic. When I started Solo Mums Talk, I wanted to hear the stories of other Solo Mums so listeners could hear that they're not alone in their journey. The same thing with this podcast, Tools of the Podcast Trade, I wanted to interview aspiring podcasters and new podcasters.

and just hear their struggles, their mindset and why they wanted to do a podcast. But as it turns out, I ended up interviewing experts because I joined Podmatch, which is a podcast-matching platform. And I got solicited by a lot of people who wanted to be a guest on the podcast. Now, it is a good thing.

to have guests on your podcast, but only in one respect. If it benefits your show and it benefits your audience. I discovered that many people who want to be guests on your podcast only want to do so to market and sell whatever they're selling. Or they want to make themselves known. And there is nothing wrong with that. You as the podcast host though,

need to determine what it is you want out of that guest interview. Now, that is something I didn't do. didn't, I just said, okay, you wanna be a guest? All right, nice. And for the longest while, I would have these people on my show. The interviews, 90 % of the time were amazing, fun, and interesting. And there were times when I reconnected with those guests later on.

and it became a thing, or I joined their group. And so for those relationships, it's a beneficial, it's a two-way benefit. But I discovered that one, for the people in your interview who was uninterested in selling what they were selling, I did not publish those interviews. Thank them for their time, but don't publish it. Number two, don't add them to your email list because...

they will unsubscribe at the first chance they get. And number three, if they can't commit to sharing the episode with their audience, I wouldn't share the episode with my audience. I would publish it or not. It's in my podcast lineup, but I would not share it on social media as an episode. And this is why solo episodes are so important. It is so important for you

podcaster, host to establish yourself as the expert. And so today I want to bring you into this world of guesting. So why would you want to have a guest on your podcast? It helps to build connections with one other podcaster, and two industry experts. It gives you a different perspective

on your content, your topic, and it helps to build community. So your listeners have a diverse voice. They have a diversity in the voices they hear on your podcast, on your topic, if that makes sense. So those are the pros. Build connection, fresh new content, new perspective, and building community.

but I would recommend that to get those benefits, even if you have a solo show, have a mixture of both, but mostly solo episode. One recommendation for quote unquote guest interviews would be to have a discussion, one of the person, two or three people, and just have a discussion on a topic with you being the host guiding the conversation.

I think that's a better format than a question-and-answer format. Make yourself the expert first, then invite others into your domain. Make connections off podcasts. Join memberships, and masterminds, go to podcasts, conferences, meetups, and stuff like that. When you have a guest, you are the expert.

Guiding the conversation. Some hosts charge guests for coming on their podcasts. My mind isn't there yet. Have your guests sign a guest release and in that guest release, have them commit to sharing the episode with their audience. Give them links, share the episode with them, but also give them links and clips and stuff like that so they can share it. So make it convenient for them to share the episode with their audience.

If they don't share the episode with their audience, don't waste time and effort promoting the episode. Go ahead and publish it if you feel like it, but I wouldn't waste any time promoting the episode because it benefits the guests more than it benefits you. That guest interview benefits them more than it benefits your podcast. The other thing I'd like to say is don't add guests to your

email list unless you have an understanding with that guest or you understand that guest to be a potential customer or a potential consumer of your content. For example, let's say your podcast is about and you invite someone on to talk about their book. They may not be interested in your content. They're just interested in that one episode, talk about their book.

And so them being on your email list doesn't help you or your show. I know this sounds a little harsh because you want the podcast host-guest relationship to be harmonious. It should be a network, a meshing of ideas and community, and the relationship should benefit both parties. But I've discovered.

after maybe 300 interviews guest interviews benefit the guests more than it benefits the show. It's the reason most experts in the field, including myself, encourage others to be guests on other people's podcasts. And it especially may be a disadvantage to the show if the guests just have the interview, and talk about themselves and their stuff.

and then just walk away. The only benefit, the only person that benefit, and especially if you publicize their interview, they're the only ones that benefit. Now, I am not saying that it isn't a good thing to have guests on. What I'm saying is that my lesson learned is to be more particular about the type of guests I have on, and from now on, I would have a pre-interview.

to see if the person is suitable for your show or a good addition to your audience. I don't like pre-interviews because they take up a lot of my time, but I would suggest that, and going forward, that's something I would do. Have a 15-minute chat and see if the person meshes with your show and audience, and get that commitment for them to share the interview

with their audience. If they do not think it's important enough to share with their audience, then it's not important enough for them to be on your show and it won't benefit you or your show. It won't benefit your audience. And this is what the whole thing is about, your avatar, your audience. Because let's face it, their audience already knows about them and knows their offers.

So they have no real incentive to promote your podcast to their audience other than the fact that it's quid quo pro. So my suggestion, what this episode is about today is to have you sort through if you were considering having guests on your show, whether it would benefit you or not. Hope this helps.

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