How to Turn Podcast Guest Appearances Into Paying Clients | S3E004

[00:00:01] If you're tired of hiding your brilliance behind stage fright, scripts, or playing it safe, then you are in the perfect place. This is the Inspired Speaker Podcast, and I am your host, Danielle Benzon, professional rebel, voice coach, and your guide to speaking with confidence, charisma, and zero BS. Around here, we don't chase perfection. We choose connection.

[00:00:27] So grab a hot beverage, warm up those vocal cords, and get ready to fall wildly in love with the sound of your voice. Let's get inspired. Welcome, welcome, welcome, everybody, and I'm so excited about today's episode. Today, we're going to be talking about everything podcast guest-related, how we can turn our visibility into revenue, not just more exposure.

[00:00:55] We don't want to die of exposure. We have with us today Marlene Kakuri, and she is the podcast whisperer. She is also a co-author of Today's Inspired Leader, volume number six. She is so amazing. She's a good friend of mine, and I'm going to just talk about how wonderful she is the whole time. But she is here to tell you about how to make the most out of being a podcast guest and how to do it right, so that you get invited back and so that you make money out of doing it. Marlene, thank you so much for being here today.

[00:01:25] Thank you for having me. Hello, everybody. Oh, no, I've put you on the spot. Oh, dear. So, Marlene, you have been doing – you have been placing people in podcasts for quite some time. What is the number one – I know you've got a lot of content to share, but what is the number one mistake you see people make when they're trying to be a podcast guest? Like, what's the biggest fail you see?

[00:01:53] People think it's – visibility is just about getting the interview recorded, but actually, this is when the leverage starts, when it's recorded. What you do after is what matters for your business. Aha. So that's just the beginning. It's just – the recording is just the beginning. Boom, boom, boom. Yes, I love that. And so, yeah, this isn't just about visibility.

[00:02:20] It's not just about getting your face out there. It's about actually using that because we're in business, essentially. That's what we're doing here. So you have some tips to tell us about what to do before, what to do during, and what to do after a podcast. So if the recording is just the beginning, there's things I need to do before the beginning even. So what do I need to do before?

[00:02:46] Yes. One thing is when you get booked, you could announce this to LinkedIn, tag the host, and get excitement for people. Give back to the host and make people follow the podcast, and people get excited to hear your episode that's soon going to be recorded and released. Just this small thing can change everything.

[00:03:12] People could be like, oh, my God, if I will have this kind of guest, how much publicity I would get, I would like to invite this person to my show or my summit as well. Yeah. Excellent. Sorry, keep going, please.

[00:03:26] And there's always the whole process of making sure that you are prepared for the show, you know, like meeting with the host before, researching the podcast, researching previous guests of the podcast, and researching the company of the host. So you actually go there with the certainty that you know where you're stepping into. And then actually having the pre-chat is so important, too, because then you can agree with the host, you know, first of all,

[00:03:56] that you're aligned, what you're going to chat about, and what you're going to do after it is making the promise of both sides to support the promotion of the episode. Because there are many hosts who are not happy with guests who don't help to promote the episode they're being to. Or guests not happy with the host who don't promote the episodes they do with them. So it's very important to have this alignment also before the call. Absolutely.

[00:04:23] And, you know, you can do it like you can have a whole call before or if you know each other, you've got a bit of rapport, you can just have a quick chat beforehand. It doesn't need to be a separate call, but you definitely need to check in, make sure your expectations are on the same page. Which, that's very, very important. And I think that's a big thing, you know, that's the difference between showing up out of service and showing up out of ego. You show up out of ego, you're like, I'm so amazing, serve me. But if you're showing up out of service, you're like, okay, this is who your audience is.

[00:04:52] I know what kind of thing you do. I know what kind of thing they're looking for. And I know how I can fit in. And I think that's going to be much better received by any podcast host. Yes. And obviously, as a speaker, the whole work of going to speak anywhere is like gather stories, see which stories will fit that podcast show. That's very, also a big part of preparation, especially if you're a newer in speaking on a podcast. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:05:20] Okay, so I've booked the podcast. I've had the pre-talk. It is nighttime to do the recording. What do I need to do? What do I need to do on the recording? How do I impress people? Yes. There are a couple of things. One thing is don't leave your call to action until the end.

[00:05:44] For example, for me, I invite people to come to the podcast conversion lab at school, which is a business community platform. And if I only say that in the last minute, there might be people who drop off during the show. They just listen to five minutes into the show, but maybe I say it in the minute six. So it's important to actually have placed it in the beginning, the middle, and in the end if it's a longer show.

[00:06:09] So you make sure that people who drop off or drop in any moment of the show, they will hear your call to action. What's action? Smart. So for the call to action... Sorry, I'm going to interrupt you. I know you have more. So what we could have done, which we didn't do, but what we could have done is I could have included that in your intro. And that would have been... I mean, you rented it now, so it's good.

[00:06:31] But if you ask your host to include that, like if it's in your bio, for example, or that kind of thing, then you've got that extra. Like it's already primed. It's already there. Great advice. I love this. So pepper it through. Seed it through the whole thing. Love it. Okay, what else? And then every important part that I think other speakers are learning is like not just telling bullet points, but really telling stories.

[00:07:01] And that's what actually creates human connection. Not being afraid of being human and imperfect and telling the stories is what makes people remember you. And I'm guilty of that. I love bullet points. And I'm still... You're so efficient. You're so efficient in the way you speak. You're like, ba-ba-ba, this is what you're going to do. But I know that what really makes people remember you and make people want to spend more time with you if you have amazing stories to tell.

[00:07:31] So now I have to ask you, because you're just talking about stories. And I'm putting you totally on the spot. We haven't prepared any of this, so I apologize that I'm just asking you random things out of the blue. But that's the way I roll. Do you remember the first podcast you were a guest on? Yes. What was that like? What was your experience of being a guest on the first time? I did not prepare the stories. So that's what I learned.

[00:08:01] I mean, to be really efficient is to have more preparation. And that's what I learned from my first experience, too. That the more I prep, the more confident I go into the podcast. And then the more I can take out of my content bucket to share. And the very important is like origin story. For example, why I started working in podcast casting. And I would like to share that. I was going to say, what a great segue.

[00:08:31] I was just thinking it would be a perfect time to ask you. And it's just like, it's like we're psychic. We're connected. So I was going to ask. So this is the perfect time to segue. You know, we've got more content coming. But I want to know, because you started out. Not behind the mic, because you're behind the mic now. But like behind the computer, behind the mic. You know, really behind, behind. So how did you start out? And how did you get to be doing what you're doing now? What was your journey? Yeah.

[00:09:00] Since high school, I was the one who always raised my hand to speak. So I've been loving doing the things I'm scared of since a young age. And I went to debating clubs and Toastmasters. And I became leader of students. And then leader of non-profit organizations. And then leading partnership teams.

[00:09:25] And inside partnerships work, I realized the best kind of partnerships are podcast partnerships. So I love authentic storytelling, founder-led sales. And I find it so much stronger than ad-based sales in social media. Or just content drop in a blog.

[00:09:50] So real people that you can't have AI making the content of. But a real person telling the story. On the stage or podcast, I found it the best way to market or sell anything. So my experience from partnerships, I moved to podcast partnerships. And the last six years, I've been doing some of the other types of partnerships too. But every year moving towards more and more just podcast partnerships. And sending my clients to podcast.

[00:10:21] And now you have this community as well. And I just went to, I think it was your first one. Was that your first masterclass? First pop-up mastermind. The first mastermind. Sorry, not masterclass. So many words. My brain is like, ugh. So your first pop-up mastermind. So you've been doing this, obviously, the training and stuff for a while. But it was the first of this type of event. And I just went to it. And it was so amazing.

[00:10:49] Because Marlene, because you've got all these partnerships, you brought these amazing people into the room. And you facilitated things so well. And it was all very pertinent information. It wasn't like, you know, the same thing you hear over and over again from everybody. We all got to bring our questions and share our expertise. And it was just, it was such an exciting, it was like an electricity room. It was like one of those like, oh, oh, you do this. Oh, I have this great idea. Oh, you do this. And it was just, it was so like, there was so much excitement. And people were supporting each other.

[00:11:18] And you just did such a great job of bringing everyone together and focusing the room on the different topics. And it was just so cool. So I would recommend, you know, definitely those pop-up events. And also, you know, your community. Because that's, that's what's going on in the community is there's these people supporting each other. And of course, your expertise too. So, and these kind of things like what to do in before and during and after.

[00:11:47] These are the kind of things that you share with us in the community. So, oh, I had a question and it's gone, but that's okay. Tell us a little bit more about the community before we go on to how to finish up after a podcast. Yes. Yes. So the community I created because I saw, first of all, like I've already sent people like five years to podcast, but I saw that best clients have different results than average clients. And like, why?

[00:12:16] So, because they do something differently about those episodes, those hosts, those relationships. So then I built, first of all, my coaching program and my content and my course for this part, what my best clients have done differently and what's the best practices from podcast industry, how to be a great guest and drive with guesting business to your, to your company. And, and then I was like, but there are so many great people who have done it successfully

[00:12:46] or, or people who want to learn how to do it successfully. And they were like, let's bring all of those together into the free community on school. And, and also to be a successful podcast guest, you need to be a great sales, great in speaking. So I bring together people who are sales trainers, speaker trainers, and anything else that can support a person that is an expert and want to go to podcasts. Which is really a no brainer, especially because it's a free community.

[00:13:16] Like, come on folks, Madeline has scienced this. She's figured it out. She's gone and done all these experiments and then gathered all the data and put it all in one place, which, which is so cool. And that's, that's very much what you do. You're, I love, you're so fun, but you're also so efficient. You're like, which is great. It's, um, it's a, it's a, it's refreshing because there's so much fluff out there. You know, there's so much like, oh, well, everything will just be fine if we just, and it's so lovely to have someone who's, who's very focused.

[00:13:45] You're very results focused. You're very, you really want your clients to succeed. You're really, um, you know, like these things need to happen. You're super fun as well. Like you're, you're great to talk to, but you're not going to let fun get in the way of getting things done because that's important too. We get them both done. So tell me about, is there anything else we need to focus on in the interviews? We're going to do stories. We're going to make sure we pepper our call to action all the way through.

[00:14:14] Is there anything else we need to do like during the interview to make sure it's a successful interview? Something that I also, uh, uh, get myself, uh, of course, sometimes is not trying to over deliver, but rather read and think what is the core? People can only remember maybe three ideas. So it's rather like limiting what you're giving away and maybe going deeper in those ideas,

[00:14:41] but not trying to give away too much because people cannot remember too much after one interview. That's true. And especially if they're not like at their computer or like taking notes, you want them to absorb, they want, you want them to like deeply understand something more than, you know, like a whole, like a checklist. Cause that's not necessarily where they are at when they're listening to it. Excellent advice. I'm loving this. So, but this is just the beginning. This recording where we've positioned ourselves.

[00:15:11] Well, we've got our offer. It's peppered through the whole thing. We've made it exciting with stories. We're staying focused and succinct and not trying to go too wide. We're going deep. We record it. And then what? This is where the real leverage happens. Crickets. Nothing. Yeah. Yes. So what often happens is nothing if you don't do anything about it.

[00:15:40] So already, you know, in the end of the recording, you could leverage the trust you built with the host and give the host a testimonial about how great hosts they are and ask the host to give a testimonial about how are you as a guest and then go and post it to give leverage to

[00:16:02] the host and you have get content and, and then give testimonial on LinkedIn to the host that about her show. And you can ask this back for you about you as a guest. And obviously now you have agreed to promote it is, is also use the content. Now sometimes host gives you great clips to use. Sometimes they give you the recording file and you can create great clips for at least

[00:16:31] one month of content or even a year of content. If you are very strategic about it, uh, because you can, uh, if you have making some fight fights that are very, you know, unique and still relevant to your business, you can reuse them with a new kind of month in next month. Um, and you can, you know, uh, just face it out with different months, a different show can be.

[00:16:56] And, and then where it's like a lot of money is left on the table is on the relationship with the host because now you've built a trust. You actually show that you are proactive, uh, guests who posts more than usual guests. And, and now there's opportunities for you to refer the host, any business they need. Do they need other podcast guests? Do they need clients for their own business? Give the host first.

[00:17:25] And then with all of this, you know, what you're giving, there is, it's not hard to ask also back referrals from the host, uh, any, any kind of other speaking opportunities for you or partnership opportunities or client referrals from the host, because now you've built a trust, you show, show the value. And now you're in a position that you can ask to get something back from the host.

[00:17:49] So make friends, really be friendly, be generous, make friends. And I love the other testimonial idea because often you record a podcast and it only gets published maybe even six months time, you know? So if you get the testimonials early, that can start creating that excitement of like the promoting it before, because you don't want to promote it too far ahead. Um, but you can start getting that a little bit, little bit things going, you know, and

[00:18:18] then ramp it up closer to the time. Hopefully the host is in communication with you telling you when it's going to be posted and all that kind of stuff too. You could even, even just, you know, use the logo of the podcast and just say, I just stop recording that podcast, you know, subscribe. And soon you will hear my episode. You know, there's many creative ways to do it, to build excitement. Uh, so it doesn't have to be only a big one way, not just testimonials. You can use other, other content ideas.

[00:18:49] Yeah. And I love, I love also that you, you continue the relationships because I think that's, that makes it more, I mean, unless you don't like them, then obviously don't. But if you get along, this is what business is really about, right? Like this is, it's kind of like this, we kind of segue into networking a little bit, but it's about building relationships where you are working with people that you like and you're referring business and they're referring business to you. This whole kind of transactional, like, oh, I've got something from you. So you're useless now. Like I've burned that bridge.

[00:19:19] That's, I mean, we're not used car salesmen. We don't need to think about people that way. We can, we can build relationships and it's always better. You know, people are more likely to do business with people that they trust and they, you have to know them to trust them. You know, it takes, it takes some time. They're more likely to refer business to people they trust. Like everything is better when you have relationships. I think that's such a huge piece that people don't think about because they're thinking about visibility and they're thinking about promotion. They're not thinking about relationships.

[00:19:47] So I think that's a huge piece that just, you've said it, but I just want to double down on that for everyone who's listening because relationships, relationships, relationships. Very important. Yes. Podcast guesting is really about using the relationship capital of the podcast host and other guests, because now you can also reach out to some other guests that have you both been in Danielle's show. I think we should chat.

[00:20:13] It's a, it's a warm outreach with maybe your clients, potential clients or partners, you know, because now you have the trust transfer that you have both been in the same show. Hmm. And you probably have something in common. You probably have ideals in common. And that's something else that you talked about that we haven't talked about yet, but that, that you and I talk about quite a bit and that you talk about in your, in your work is that this is why podcasting is so cool because you just kind of get to be yourself

[00:20:41] and talk about what you love, you know? So tell me a bit about like, compared to other types of promotion, visibility, all that kind of stuff, you know, why podcasting is so impactful in comparison to those other mediums. Yes. Because you get like 30, 60 minutes of time from listeners. Where else you can get that much time?

[00:21:10] Like Instagram reel is like one minute, like a couple of seconds. You know, podcast is the, one of the only places you get so much time spent with you. Uh, so that's why it's much more powerful than, than, uh, ads or, or, uh, Instagram reels finally, but you can always leverage it to make reels off your show. Totally. Yeah. You can repurpose it, but also it allows you to be more.

[00:21:39] Or don't you feel that it's more real? Like, because you're just having a conversation, you're chatting about the things that you're passionate about. I think some, like sometimes we can get a bit deer in the headlights with other things like, Oh my God, I have to make an image and I'll have to find an image that feels like it resonates with me and like, and that becomes like this whole heavy, whereas having a chat with you is fun. It's best kind of content.

[00:22:06] It's really, it's more authentic, natural, and it's a content engine. You can create so much content from podcast interviews. If you just go like a couple of podcasts per month. Yeah. Yeah. And repurpose it all, as you said, which is, which is so useful. Uh, so tell me about, cause I know that you have, you, you, you place people, right? Like this is one of the things is it that you do is that you place people in podcasts.

[00:22:29] So tell me about some of your clients who have had some, some, some serious success in their, their, I guess, like speaking tour, podcast tour. What do you call it? Yeah. Podcast tour. Podcast tour. Yeah. Yes. For example, um, I have a client who was a business, small business coach and, uh, or business coach for small businesses. Yeah.

[00:22:56] And he, he really used, used the podcast. We replaced him to, to, uh, place them on his website. So clients actually can, you know, listen who he is before they go and jump on a, uh, discovery call with him. He uses them to invite, uh, people to his free masterclass. So he gets their really leads from podcast listeners to his masterclasses.

[00:23:22] People, people want to, or need to spend hours with you before they really trust to work with you. So podcast interview can be the one stepping stone. Then they come to your free masterclass, spend more time with you, build more trust. And then they're ready to take the next action and buy something from you. So, uh, so he has been really leveraging all of the interviews in his social media. He gets, uh, more leads from social media because of the podcast interview has been to

[00:23:50] and from more people to his masterclass, thanks to the podcast interviews and also in his website as a visibility to people learning a little bit about him before the client calls. And he's been very happy with this experience. And then we, uh, we had, for example, um, an SEO agency owner who had two businesses. He was, um, expert in SEO and also, uh, intuitive coach. And with one year and a half, we worked together. It was a very different.

[00:24:20] It was a very different career. Yeah. So we, we sent him to different kinds of shows like marketing shows and, uh, then, um, uh, more spiritual shows. And then with, with all this time working together, he getting a more speaking experience, getting more clear of what he does. He combined two businesses and now he's an executive, um, leaders coach because he combined

[00:24:47] the intuition, intuition tactics and the marketing tactics into the more, uh, deep, uh, leadership coaching. So he, all of this speaking experience and podcasts help him to, you know, actually get his two businesses in the one higher level business. I love that. It's kind of like a way to find yourself in public. You know, you're, you're exploring and you're growing and you're, because I think conversations, conversations are so powerful.

[00:25:14] And if you are unclear on something, having conversations about it over and over again, that's going to bring you clarity and people asking you questions and looking at things from different angles. So it's a great way to grow yourself and grow your business while you're growing your business. You're going to grow the inside of your business while you're growing the outside of your business kind of thing. I love that. That's so cool. So, um, so let's remind us one last time about your membership because all of these people,

[00:25:42] these people that are successful, they're in the membership too. You've got, you've got different types of, of, um, specialists, you know, so that the, the, the membership is, is very filled out. Um, tell us more about how we can join this membership, this free, this free community. Uh, there's a couple of ways.

[00:26:06] First, if you can go to school, uh, and find inside school.com, the podcast conversion lab and, uh, led by Marlene Gaccoli. And, and you can find it there or you can go to my LinkedIn. I have in my LinkedIn also the podcast, uh, interview leverage method newsletter where I talk about my school group as well as tips about podcast guesting and, and, and yes.

[00:26:33] And, and also we're going to have in the show notes, the podcast conversion lab link. Of course we're going to have it in the show notes, but that's wonderful. It's always nice to say it as well, because not everyone reads the show notes. Um, and I love that. I love that you have such a unique name that everyone will be able to find you on school and on LinkedIn. I also have not that unique, but unique enough. Uh, we're very lucky these, the poor John Smiths and Jane Doe's of the world. They have so much trouble getting found on the internet, but we're okay. Hey, we're lucky.

[00:27:02] We, we stand out just, just by being ourselves. So that's pretty cool. Um, Marlene, this has been awesome. You are just a powerhouse of information. I just love how you're just so full. You're like, I have all of the information. Let me share it all with you. Uh, it's, it's a bit meta talking about podcasts on a podcast, but I know a lot of, you know, a lot of our audience are speakers and this is an extremely important tool to grow your business in an authentic way. And that's what we're all about here. This is about being real.

[00:27:30] It's about having conversations, about making connections, about making relationships. So thank you so much for being here. Thank you for inviting people into your community. I'll see you there. Cause I'm in there. And, um, yeah, just, do you have any final, like last words of wisdom before we wrap up today? Guest and ghost. The real leverage is what you do afterwards. Oh, don't guest and ghost.

[00:27:59] I love it when there's alliteration. It's always easier to remember. Thank you so much, Madeline. And, uh, everybody will see you in the next one. Thanks for listening to the inspired speaker podcast. If today's episode sparked something in you, I invite you to take one small courageous step, practice, speak, share. If you'd like support turning that spark into a full on speaking mastery blaze, then come

[00:28:26] join me at the inspired speaker academy.com. Remember your voice matters. The world needs to hear it because competent speakers change the world. One story, one stage, one moment at a time until next time. Keep shining your light and keep speaking your truth.