#HowToPodcast 13: The 7 Steps We Use to Book Podcast Guests w/ Logan Lyles

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:10.189 Want to expand the reach of your content, start a podcast, feature industry 2 00:00:10.310 --> 00:00:14.589 experts on your show and leverage the influence and reach of your guests to grow 3 00:00:14.669 --> 00:00:24.339 your brand. Learn more at sweetphish MEDIACOM. You're listening to be tob growth, 4 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:29.179 a daily podcast for B TOB leaders. We've interviewed names you've probably heard 5 00:00:29.179 --> 00:00:33.060 before, like Gary Vannerd truck and Simon Senek, but you've probably never heard 6 00:00:33.100 --> 00:00:37.369 from the majority of our guests. That's because the bulk of our interviews aren't 7 00:00:37.409 --> 00:00:41.969 with professional speakers and authors. Most of our guests are in the trenches leading 8 00:00:42.049 --> 00:00:46.850 sales and marketing teams. They're implementing strategy, they're experimenting with Pactics, they're 9 00:00:46.890 --> 00:00:51.399 building the fastest growing BB companies in the world. My name is James Carberry. 10 00:00:51.479 --> 00:00:55.000 I'm the founder of sweet fish media, a podcast agency for BBB brands, 11 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.200 and I'm also one of the CO hosts of this show. When we're 12 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:02.079 not interviewing sales and marketing leaders, you'll hear stories from behind the scenes of 13 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:04.790 our own business. Will share the ups and downs of our journey as we 14 00:01:04.870 --> 00:01:11.189 attempt to take over the world. Just getting well, maybe let's get into 15 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:19.700 the show. Welcome back to be tob growth. I'm Logan lyles with sweet 16 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:23.780 fish media. Today I'm going to be sharing this seven specific steps that we 17 00:01:23.980 --> 00:01:27.379 use to reach out to potential guests to book them to be on our podcast 18 00:01:27.659 --> 00:01:32.819 here on BB growth. Now, if you have a podcast, this episode 19 00:01:32.890 --> 00:01:36.209 is likely going to be valuable for you if you have an interview based show 20 00:01:36.250 --> 00:01:38.890 where you need to find and book guests for your show. It might also 21 00:01:40.010 --> 00:01:42.530 be valuable to two other types of folks out there may be listening to this 22 00:01:44.049 --> 00:01:48.599 one. If you are using content based networking, the three part framework that 23 00:01:48.680 --> 00:01:52.319 James Talks about in his book that we use here at sweet fish to build 24 00:01:52.400 --> 00:01:57.840 relationships with future customers through content collaboration before ever doing any sort of service pitch, 25 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:02.310 then this episode could be for you. Also, several of the touches 26 00:02:02.430 --> 00:02:08.229 that I mentioned here in my outreach to potential podcast guests could translate and apply 27 00:02:08.430 --> 00:02:14.710 very well to your cold outreach efforts and your prospecting efforts, across email, 28 00:02:15.069 --> 00:02:17.939 linked in and incorporating video. All right, let's get to it. I'm 29 00:02:17.939 --> 00:02:21.819 going to share with you the steps that I use to reach out to a 30 00:02:21.939 --> 00:02:28.099 new perspective podcast guests. It starts with two emails, three touches Dea Linkedin, 31 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:31.569 a touch with video and then finally, what some people call a breakup 32 00:02:31.650 --> 00:02:36.930 email. Now let's talk about the three emails, the first two that begin 33 00:02:37.050 --> 00:02:40.250 the sequence and the one that ends it. I just did word count on 34 00:02:40.449 --> 00:02:46.000 all of mine and notice they all fell between thirty and forty words. Now, 35 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:47.840 if you're thinking this seems way too short, how am I going to 36 00:02:49.080 --> 00:02:52.919 pitch someone to be a guest on my podcast or contribute to our blog or 37 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.439 do some other sort of content collaboration, then this isn't going to give this 38 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:00.189 them enough information, and I can tell you the opposite is true. I 39 00:03:00.590 --> 00:03:07.949 receive emails each and every week with five paragraph long pitches for guests to be 40 00:03:07.430 --> 00:03:10.629 on our PODCAST, be to be growth or one of the other shows that 41 00:03:10.789 --> 00:03:15.780 we produce, and it just strikes me as I don't have enough time to 42 00:03:15.939 --> 00:03:19.539 read this, even though there might be really good information in there. You 43 00:03:19.659 --> 00:03:23.500 want to Hook someone early. If you have an established show, then maybe 44 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:27.969 drop us that about your reach. If you've had some guests on that look 45 00:03:28.009 --> 00:03:31.729 like them or maybe that they admire, then maybe do a name drop there, 46 00:03:31.969 --> 00:03:37.289 but avoid the temptation to make it long and lengthy. It should be 47 00:03:37.689 --> 00:03:40.840 three or four sentences, thirty to forty words Max. The other thing you 48 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:46.719 want to do is remove all of your images and links from your email signature 49 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:52.360 and the email itself, because if you are cold emailing someone brand new that 50 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:57.150 you've never emailed with before, you want to increase your chances of getting past 51 00:03:57.189 --> 00:04:00.990 an e spam filter and make sure that the email is actually opened and read. 52 00:04:01.550 --> 00:04:05.550 You know, on most emails that I send we have our standard signature 53 00:04:05.629 --> 00:04:10.379 here. We use sister to have a banner for our podcast and we have, 54 00:04:10.699 --> 00:04:14.099 you know, our social media links. But when I'm doing outreach to 55 00:04:14.500 --> 00:04:18.339 new podcast guests, I use the sequencing tool through hub spot sales tools and 56 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:23.420 I have a very basic signature on that one that just has my first and 57 00:04:23.500 --> 00:04:27.610 last name. COHOST OF BE TOB growth, sweet phish media, not sweet 58 00:04:27.610 --> 00:04:31.050 phish Mediacom. Again, I want to remove all images and links as I'm 59 00:04:31.410 --> 00:04:36.610 cold outreaching to someone, whether that's a sales outreach or a pitch for content 60 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:43.839 collaboration. My next few steps I break up linkedin into three specific steps. 61 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:46.680 Now, a lot of people like to identify someone that they want to work 62 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:49.839 with or someone that they want to have on their podcast or someone they want 63 00:04:49.920 --> 00:04:55.750 to collaborate on content with, and they go straight to that linkedin connection request. 64 00:04:56.310 --> 00:05:00.069 Now what I prefer to do is stop and slow down a little bit 65 00:05:00.149 --> 00:05:04.949 and put two steps before that linkedin connection request to maximize the chances of that 66 00:05:05.189 --> 00:05:10.459 being accepted. Number one is just to follow them on Linkedin. If you 67 00:05:10.579 --> 00:05:15.500 view some people's profile, you'll notice that that big connect button actually says follow. 68 00:05:15.620 --> 00:05:18.620 It depends on the user and how they've set up their profile. If 69 00:05:18.660 --> 00:05:21.610 it's not there, click on the three little dots for kind of the extra 70 00:05:21.689 --> 00:05:27.290 options and just click follow. That will put you into their notification feed that 71 00:05:27.410 --> 00:05:30.050 they have a new follower, unless they've turned that piece off, but most 72 00:05:30.089 --> 00:05:34.800 people haven't, and it gives you some visibility without asking for anything, so 73 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:40.160 that when further emails, your video step that I'm going to mention here in 74 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:44.959 a second and your linkedin connection request come through, they've seen your name somewhere 75 00:05:44.959 --> 00:05:48.720 before. The other step along these lines is when you're on their profile. 76 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:54.470 Now you could break this up into another step the following day or, for 77 00:05:54.589 --> 00:05:58.509 efficiency, while you're there hitting follow, you could scroll down, look at 78 00:05:58.509 --> 00:06:00.589 their content and engage in this next step. I'll leave them up to you, 79 00:06:01.189 --> 00:06:04.100 but I have seen it to be very, very effective to look at 80 00:06:04.139 --> 00:06:08.500 some of their recent activity. Have they commented on a post? Had they 81 00:06:08.579 --> 00:06:12.779 shared something? Have they written a post themselves? And truly take a second 82 00:06:13.060 --> 00:06:15.819 to engage with that. Don't just scroll through their feed and hit thumbs up 83 00:06:15.980 --> 00:06:19.889 on five different posts. That's very obvious that. Hey, I'm just trying 84 00:06:19.930 --> 00:06:24.610 to get on your radar. Look for something that you can truly engage in. 85 00:06:24.889 --> 00:06:27.970 And if you're looking for a way to leave meaningful comments, check out 86 00:06:27.970 --> 00:06:31.050 the episode that James and I did on how to leave meaningful comments on Linkedin. 87 00:06:31.370 --> 00:06:34.319 That will link to in the show notes of this episode here. So 88 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:38.959 we've got our first two emails. Again, keep them short, keep the 89 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:44.279 images and links out, hit them with a linkedin follow, engage with their 90 00:06:44.439 --> 00:06:48.149 linkedin content and then the next step is to send a linkedin connection request. 91 00:06:48.550 --> 00:06:53.990 What I prefer to do is always personalize this, and the other thing to 92 00:06:54.110 --> 00:06:59.310 keep in mind here is to keep it short and even maximize that first line, 93 00:06:59.470 --> 00:07:02.379 because most often when you see a linkedin connection request, whether it's on 94 00:07:02.500 --> 00:07:06.300 your desktop or on your phone, if they've personalized that, you don't see 95 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:11.459 the whole message unless you click see more. Assume that the person seeing it 96 00:07:11.779 --> 00:07:15.100 is not going to click see more, because more often than not that's going 97 00:07:15.220 --> 00:07:17.529 to be the case. So what I like to do is if I say 98 00:07:18.009 --> 00:07:23.810 hey John Comma or dash, I don't put a line break and start a 99 00:07:24.009 --> 00:07:28.209 new paragraph with why I reached out. I put it after a space in 100 00:07:28.329 --> 00:07:32.079 that very first line so that I can put something valuable there, like you'd 101 00:07:32.120 --> 00:07:36.199 be a great guest on our podcast. And notice how I didn't say we 102 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:40.879 have a leading podcast, we get this, we get this many downloads. 103 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:44.790 I started with them. Now, if you're not using this for podcast outreach, 104 00:07:44.949 --> 00:07:47.230 it would be a little bit different. But make sure you maximize everything 105 00:07:47.350 --> 00:07:51.550 on that first line to be about them and show that it's personalized. They 106 00:07:51.589 --> 00:07:55.790 may not click see more, they may only glance at it for a second, 107 00:07:55.790 --> 00:08:00.139 so maximize the space available there. My next step, after the first 108 00:08:00.139 --> 00:08:05.139 two emails and the three steps on Linkedin, is to send a personalized video 109 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:07.779 email with bombomb. Now there are a number of tools you can use for 110 00:08:09.019 --> 00:08:11.459 sending video. I really love bombomb because I do a lot of great people 111 00:08:11.500 --> 00:08:16.129 there. They have a fantastic company that's right in my backyard here in color 112 00:08:16.250 --> 00:08:18.889 to springs. But their tool is very easy to use as well to send 113 00:08:18.930 --> 00:08:24.129 video either through linkedin messages, through text, through email. And one of 114 00:08:24.170 --> 00:08:28.240 the things I like about this touch via email, specifically with bombomb, is 115 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:33.200 that when I embedded into the email with their gmail plug in, it gives 116 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:39.639 an animated gift preview of the first few seconds of the video right there in 117 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:41.070 the email. So you can have some fun with this. You can write 118 00:08:41.070 --> 00:08:45.470 their name on a white board. You can write a question on the White 119 00:08:45.549 --> 00:08:48.429 Board. You might look away and look back at the camera like you're surprised 120 00:08:48.509 --> 00:08:52.549 that it turned on. You might move into the frame so that they see 121 00:08:52.669 --> 00:08:58.580 that replaying because again, before they click the animated gift preview to see the 122 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:01.700 video, it's going to play on a loop, just like the gifts that 123 00:09:01.820 --> 00:09:05.860 we see everywhere, that we're sending back and forth via text and slack and 124 00:09:05.019 --> 00:09:09.570 social media every day. So make your own gift of yourself and then convey 125 00:09:09.929 --> 00:09:16.450 value, Beasas sanct and reach out with an authentic message, looking them into 126 00:09:16.450 --> 00:09:20.730 the eye, okay, into the Webcam, but putting your best foot forward 127 00:09:20.850 --> 00:09:24.279 in a personalized video touch. So those are my suggestions. I highly recommend 128 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:28.240 bomb bomb. You can use any tool that you like there. If you 129 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:31.159 are using bombomb, think about how you can get creative with that animated gift 130 00:09:31.240 --> 00:09:35.480 that the tool gives you. And then my final touch that I mentioned earlier 131 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:41.029 is a breakup email and then scheduling some sort of follow up task that goes 132 00:09:41.110 --> 00:09:45.350 into a queer sequence for me in the future. So hopefully this has been 133 00:09:45.389 --> 00:09:48.029 valuable for you. Again, some of the key points here are to mix 134 00:09:48.070 --> 00:09:54.980 it up between automated emails, custom emails and incorporating video and adding in some 135 00:09:54.139 --> 00:10:00.580 creativity to those steps. Break up your linkedin steps into the three steps, 136 00:10:00.659 --> 00:10:05.100 which are follow engagement and then a personalized connection request. This is the strategy 137 00:10:05.299 --> 00:10:09.570 that I use and is very effective for me in finding guests to connect with 138 00:10:09.769 --> 00:10:13.370 and bring onto the show here on BB growth. Now, if you'd like 139 00:10:13.529 --> 00:10:18.529 a copy of a three email sequence for booking podcast guests that has some variables 140 00:10:18.570 --> 00:10:22.879 that you can customize for your own situation, shoot me a DM or a 141 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:28.679 personalized linkedin connection request. If we're not yet connected on Linkedin, the one 142 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:33.480 thing I'll ask is just start the DM or the connection request with I want 143 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:39.350 the podcast email templates again at DM or a personalized connection request. That just 144 00:10:39.509 --> 00:10:43.429 starts with I want the podcast email templates and I will get you a link 145 00:10:43.509 --> 00:10:48.350 to a Google doc where you can take these three emails and customize it for 146 00:10:48.470 --> 00:10:54.299 your own podcast or your own content collaboration efforts as you seek to implement content 147 00:10:54.379 --> 00:10:56.740 based networking in your own framework. All right, that's what I've got for 148 00:10:56.820 --> 00:11:03.450 today. As always, thank you so much for listening. We totally get 149 00:11:03.450 --> 00:11:07.129 it. We publish a ton of content on this podcast and it can be 150 00:11:07.250 --> 00:11:11.769 a lot to keep up with. That's why we've started the B tob growth 151 00:11:11.929 --> 00:11:16.529 big three, a no fluff email that boils down our three biggest takeaways from 152 00:11:16.529 --> 00:11:22.240 an entire week of episodes. Sign up today at Sweet Phish Mediacom Big Three. 153 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:24.960 That sweet fish Mediacom Big Three