5 Tips To Being A Great Podcast Guest

1. Use the right equipment

Being a guest on a podcast is something that’s good for you and your business. It’s a way of reaching new audiences by leveraging the hosts platform. To make it the best experience, using the right equipment will add a lot of value to you. There are a few obvious reasons for this, like sounding better in the interview and making sure there’s no echo. There’s a massive benefit to the listeners as well though. Because podcasting is primarily an audio based platform, there are statistics that say people are more likely to trust you when you sound great on a podcast than if you sound like you’re just talking through the computers speakers.

So how do you do this you might ask? Well, it’s actually easier than you might think. There are two essential pieces of equipment. First is a microphone, and second is headphones.

Let’s start with a microphone. The quality of microphones in most laptops is really average, they pick up a lot of room echo and outside noises while leaving your voice feeling flat. I do not recommend using that. Next up is a wired microphone and headphones combo. Think of the Apple cable with the little mic that plugs into your phone. This one is okay, but please, no AirPods, they’re not great for podcasting. The wired cable keeps the mic pretty close to your mouth, but if you are wearing a collared shirt of have the microphone sitting close to your chest, then be really careful about having it scratch up against your clothes as this degrades the sound quality of the recording a lot. You will still get a bit of echo from a room with this mic, but it’s a good general option.

The best microphone option is a USB or XLR input microphone. There are countless ones of these on the market. I’ll give you my recommendation in just a moment, but some general ones include the Blue Yeti microphones RODÈ lines. I don’t recommend a Yeti microphone as it picks up way too much room echo than it should from my experience. My #1 recommendation for a quick-setup USB microphone that has no learning curve is the RODÈ NT-USB Mini. I started with one of these and although I have upgraded my setup since then, I still use it when I travel or need to position myself in a different place and need to still have good audio. There are lots of other options on the market, but this is my favourite. It’s not overly expensive, but a great tool to have for podcasting and Zoom meetings in general.

Next up, headphones. Like I mentioned before, I don’t recommend AirPods. For podcasting, they lag too much, which means the sound takes a bit of time to get to them from when it’s spoken to when you hear it and leaves awkward gaps in the recording. For travel and general use, they’re awesome and I love mine. What I suggest for podcasting is a pair of wired headphones. These could be the wired Apple ones I recommended before or the pair you take on your workouts with you. If you want to elevate this and really look and feel like a podcaster, then a good pair of fully over the ear headphones are great. I personally use the Audio-Technica MH-50X headphones and they’re absolutely AMAZING. But they might be a bit of overkill for your needs.

2. Be Present (Turn off distractions, focus and take your phone out of view)

Okay, you might think this one is a bit odd but stay with me because it’s going to be helpful for your train of thought and the answers you give in the interview.

Staying present in your interview means you’re focussing on talking to the host, or hosts, and really listening to their questions and engaging with them in conversation. Think of it like you’re talking to someone in person. You are having a conversation and really enjoying what’s being said when, *ding*, you get a text message.

“Hmmmm… I wonder who that’s from? Ah, it’s nothing. Or maybe not. I wonder if it’s important?? Should I look? Someone might have died! I’m checking it.” - Your Brain

And just like that, you’ve lost your train of thought. What does this sound like in a podcast interview? A lot of awkward silences and “ummms” when you’re in the middle of talking.

Because podcasting is primarily and audio platform, being able to communicate strongly is important, and when you start to lose what you’re saying, you start to lose the connection with the audience.

So, what to do about it? It’s pretty simple. Put your phone and computer on Do Not Disturb or silent and put your phone away from you or upside down. Also, I recommend closing tabs on your computer like your calendar, email program, Facebook & closing down project management apps as these often ping, ding and ring which are all distracting.

3. Ask questions to the host

How many times have you noticed that good conversations are one sided? Not that many, right? It’s the same when it comes to being a podcast guest. Good episodes flow as a conversation. And when you really get into a chat with someone, you’re often bouncing questions and answers back and forth. Now, given that you as the guest will get the most airtime, it’s normal for you to be talking more than the host. But also remember that the audience has built a relationship with the host and trust their recommendations and endorsements, which in this case, means YOU.

When you get the host engaged and asked questions that are relatable, the audience will connect with that as well. That means, when you ask a question back to the host, you are also asking the audience. Clever, right?

But what questions to ask, you might be asking?

These are going to be questions that get your point across. Let’s say you’re talking about marketing, specifically about the customer experience behind a website. You love this topic so you can talk about it for ages, sharing all the wonderful insights about all the different things you need to think about. Then, you get into one specific area, the ‘above the fold’ section on a website home page. You educate around what it is and what needs to go there. You then ask the host a question:

Guest: So, Ryan, have you thought about what your website looks like above the fold?

Host: I’ve taken a look at that before, but I’ve just changed my website and moved where the lead magnet was.

Guest: Did you notice that there were less opt-ins to your [insert lead magnet here]?

Host: I did actually. It’s dropped about 20% since I did the change over.

Guest: That’s a perfect example of how a small change can go on to make a big impact. [Conversation continues]

See what I mean? The question is related to the hosts experience which then relates to the audience listening. By doing this, it will help in positioning you as even more of an expert.

4. Become memorable with the audience

Have you ever remembered a quote? For me, I always remember Master Yoda saying “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” There are an exorbitant amount of quotes with more being made every day and shared online, through movies, TV shows, books, magazines and more. The reason I bring this up is because it’s how people listen. People will listen in soundbites and learn through stories.

Let me explain. A soundbite, if you’re unsure, is a short snippet or phrase that is easy to remember while also being impactful on the person listening. They’re the things we quote and remember. Of course, this doesn’t mean speak in short riddles and memorable quotes for the whole interview. What it means is that you can sum up your point in a soundbite, which will help the information stay in the listeners mind.

If you’ve been asked a question by the host and go on to give a valuable and insightful answer that has landed well, the audience will only retain a small portion of that. So at the end of your answer, try summing up what you’ve said in a memorable, or ‘quotable’, soundbite which will a listener could write down to give them a reminder fo the rest of the answer you gave.

The other element I mentioned before was to share stories. It’s the oldest way of sharing wisdom across generations. By tying stories into the conversation, you’ll resonate more with the audience and they are more likely to remember what you’ve said. You know your topic and to get on to a podcast, you’re probably an expert, or at least know your stuff, in your field. A good exercise you can do to help with thinking of stories during the interview, is to sit down and look at the questions you’re going to be asked, or think you’ll be asked, and begin relating those to your experiences. It’s your experience that the stories come from, so putting together a quick reference list for yourself will serve you well.

5. Share the episode to your network

There are two reasons that it’s beneficial to share your episode.

Hosts put a lot of work into crafting podcast episodes, especially when featuring guests, like you. I can tell you from experience that when you look behind the scenes at what goes into creating a podcast, there is a lot of work that goes into it. The part that you see is only a fraction of what needs to be done to take an episode from idea to published. When you get to go on to someone else’s platform, they’re sharing you to their audience, who they care about, even if they don’t know them personally. When the episode is published, the host will be sharing it, and it’s a courtesy to them to share it across your network, too.

The second reason is that as the guest, you are being positioned as the expert in your space, which is a great endorsement for you. You would be surprised how many people are sitting and waiting in the wings, just watching what you’re doing. When you share an episode, you’re putting out there that you’re an expert in that space and they’re listening to you be positioned as one by the host, meaning they’re more likely to build trust, and potentially, work with you. I’ve seen it happen when I’ve interviewed a guest, published the episode, shared it to my network and theirs and boom, people sitting back and watching have said that now is the right time to start working with them. It could be the one thing that tips a new client over the edge to start working with you.

Bonus Tip: Say Thank you

I’ve added this one because of personal experience. I don’t want this to feel like airing grievances, but I feel it needs to be said. When the interview is done, thank the host for spending their time with you to feature you on their platform. This might seem like a small thing, but every so often, it happens that a guest will skip the ‘Thank You’ part. There's no worse feeling for a host than when you've just finished a great interview and then the guest completely changes mood, wants to know when it's out and tries to instantly jump off the call. It makes the host feel used. I get it, you want are going on the platform, often times, as a marketing strategy for your business. But please, just remember to say thank you for being featured on the platform. I’ve even had people who left the call and then had their VA send a message to say thanks. Not a great way to be in a relationship.