How to Best Be a Successful Podcast Guest - BM339

[Susan Friedmann]
 Welcome to Book Marketing Mentors, the weekly podcast where you learn proven strategies, tools, ideas, and tips from the masters. Every week, I introduce you to a marketing master who will share their expertise to help you market and sell more books. 

Today. My special guest is Michelle Glogovac. She's the cast matchmaker, an award-winning publicist, and host of the My Simplified Live podcast. She works with entrepreneurs, authors, and experts to hone their storytelling abilities, grow their businesses, and elevate themselves as thought leaders. Michelle is a wife, a mum of two, a stepmom of two, and a firm mom. I really like that. She's the founder and CEO of the MLG Collective Public Relations. 

Michelle, what a pleasure it is to welcome you to the show, and thank you for being this week's guest expert and mentor.
 
[Michelle Glogovac]
 Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to talk to you.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 Today we're on a podcast. So podcasting and talking about podcasting is such a perfect topic, and especially as you are the podcast matchmaker, help us understand exactly what and who you're matching.
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 I am matching my clients to podcast hosts that have a similar target audience messaging shows that my clients are able to educate, offer their expertise and their knowledge to audiences that they wouldn't otherwise reach on their own.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 Perfect. That, of course, leads us right into why it's so important for authors to be a podcast guest as opposed to necessarily having their own podcast. Yes, they could do that, but I think the easiest way is, especially in the beginning, is being a guest on somebody else's show. Would you agree with that?
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 Absolutely. I think that so many don't realize how much work goes into hosting your own show. My producer and I figured out that it takes a minimum of 4 hours to create a 30-minute episode. It's time-consuming, whereas, in those 4 hours, you could be a guest on more than four shows. Simply by showing up and being interviewed, you can reach much greater audiences, listeners, potential book buyers, and readers than if you just had your own show. 

Another one of the benefits is that if you have your own show, you have to grow that audience. You have to grow the show. You're repurposing the content, whereas if you are the guest, that audience is already established. They already have the trust between the host and the audience. You're extended that same trust simply by being invited to be a guest on the show. And then you're not only reaching their audience, but then by sharing your interviews, you're reaching another audience. The potential for how many people you can actually reach by guesting on a show is exponential.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 Yes, I absolutely love interviewing my experts. However, you're right in saying that it really is very time-consuming. But for me, this is my way of publicizing what I do, and my expertise, as well as obviously highlighting many different experts who can help my target audience how does an author get started being a podcast guest? There's one thing to say, yes, go and be a guest on shows. But where exactly do they start?
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 Well, you're going to start by creating topics that you can speak on. When we talk about topics, I really emphasize that they need to be unique. I love using the example maybe you make the best macaroni and cheese, but I can also make macaroni and cheese. So you would not want to have that as a topic. You want to make it stand out. What makes your mac and cheese so wonderful? Is it a one-pot, 30 minutes in the oven baked award-winning mac and cheese? 

The same thing can be talked about if you're an entrepreneur or you're in marketing, a lot of people can talk about the same topics. So what is it that makes you stand out from the crowd? Do you have a framework? Is there something that's very specific to what you've done, to the journey that you've gone on to get to where you are? And we create those topics that I think are the best starting point for any author. 

Anybody who wants to be a guest on shows is to come up with what you're going to speak on because you need it to relate to a host as to why you're the best person for this. Why wouldn't they have someone else come on their show to speak about this? You want to make it an educational type of topic. 
What can somebody learn from listening to you? And it doesn't have to be one word or two words I speak on marketing. 
What is it about marketing? Put it into a sentence that can be utilized as a title for the episode that you're going to be interviewed for. First and foremost, get topics ready. 

And I like to create three to six of them that get very specific, and they're going to be ones that over time, you're going to think, oh my gosh, I'm talking about this again. Everybody's heard it. And in reality, they haven't. You have to repeat yourself over and over again. It's just like social media, you know, repeating the same content because you're reaching different audiences. 

You might even get bored with the topics. I hope not, because they should be exciting for you. But you're going to repeat yourself a lot, and that is okay. I want to put that out there for everybody. You're also going to want to create a media kit. It's basically a one-page branded piece of paper that is digital, and it has your headshots so that the host can see that you're a real person. It has your full bio. It's going to have these topics, and I love to make mine clickable. So I put in where myself or my guests, my clients, have been featured. I include the cover art for the podcast that they've been on. If you click on it. It's just a PDF. It'll direct you right to the episode that they were interviewed on.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 Oh my goodness, this is such great information, and listeners, if you didn't get a chance to write it all down, I invite you to relisten to Michelle's wisdom. Personally, I particularly like the technique of making links. Clickable on your worksheet. Michelle, at what point in an author's book writing or marketing process would you recommend they actually start getting on podcasts?
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 First of all, I think it's never too early. Before you launch your book is when I would recommend it. I have clients who are authors. They're looking for an agent. Right now. The book is written, but they haven't pitched it to a publisher, they haven't secured it. But at the same time, part of that entire pitching process is showing that you have an established audience and that you are the expert in your field. Therefore, I would suggest you start pitching yourself to podcasts to be interviewed. Well, before you even send that book proposal out, then you already establish another audience that's going to want to buy your book when it comes out. 

It's kind of that double whammy of you growing your audience in order to sell your book proposal, but you're also growing your audience to sell the book when it launches. I think it's never too early to do it. Once your book comes out or is about to launch. I recommend that we start working together about four months before and the first month I take to read the book. So if you're doing this on your own, you don't need to do four months. You're better off around three months. 

But the first month I read the book, I create the media kit and create the topics. We do a one-on-one session and then it goes into researching podcasts that are going to be a good fit for you, for you to speak on, for who the listeners are, to be potential readers of your book, that sort of a thing. 

And then the pitching starts and the pitching can take a while because sometimes you get an automatic yes and it's very quick, but oftentimes it's in the follow-up. And that's why I think it's so important to follow up twice on every pitch that goes out. When I say follow-up, I don't mean the day after you send the pitch. Podcast hosts, the majority of them, and I think I speak for both of us, have jobs outside of our shows. We are not sitting in our emails pining away waiting for another guest pitch, give us time to read our emails, to go through your pitch, and to research. 

You see if you're a good fit. And so I recommend at least two or three weeks in between a pitch and a follow-up. And that's why it's going to take you three months prior to your book launch to do this research to start the pitching, and then you start recording the interviews I recommend. This is something that I think a lot of people forget they can actually do. But ask if your episode can go live the week of your launch. I worked with a client who did this, and she appeared to be everywhere during the week of the launch, which was amazing. It doesn't always work out, but it doesn't hurt to ask either.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 I always ask my guests when they want their interview to go live because it could coincide with the book launch or another important activity. Recently I've had guests who had summits or courses that they wanted to make listeners aware of. I love the fact that you talk about audience and building that audience because you're right. If an author is going to go after a traditional publisher, they want you to have a strong let me emphasize a strong marketing plan shows that you're going to be able to sell books. 

Gone are the days when you can rely on the publisher to sell books. Now they want you to be able to sell the books. One of the best ways to build an audience is obviously through podcast interviews. Michelle, where would you recommend authors go to start finding the right podcast to be on?
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 All kinds of places. I have a list. You can go on to Apple Podcasts, do a search. You can Google the type of podcast and the word podcast after it. You can go on to podcaster.com. They have a free search, and you can filter out which ones are current. If they've had an episode in the last month, you can go on Spotify. One of my favorite tips, though, is to go on Instagram and search the hashtags. 
You can put in a hashtag author podcast, or hashtag crime podcast. If you're doing something on a crime marketing podcast and you will find all of the podcasters because most of them are on social media too. Sharing these episodes, that's a great way to find and then also engage with the host so they become familiar with your name before they even get your pitch.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 One of the things that I really like is when a potential guest has actually listened to one of the Book Marketing Mentors episodes. The number of times that I get pitched by PR agencies or people who represent guests and they've never listened to the show because they have no idea what the show is about. They think because they've written a book or their client has written a book, therefore, I'm obviously going to be interested in interviewing them. And that couldn't be further from the truth for my particular show. I'm sure there are shows that use that approach, but mine doesn't. I'm much more interested in experts like yourself who can share marketing ideas to help authors market, publicize and promote their book. Yes, listening to the podcast beforehand is, in my opinion, critical. It also makes you look much more professional.
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 Yeah. Every podcast I pitch to, I listen to. It's not just the most recent episode I go through to find one that would relate to either myself or my clients, because I believe in personalizing every pitch. There is no copy and paste in PR, period. The same goes for podcast pitching because it is a form of PR. 
I will go through it.
I will listen and connect to whatever it is that if it is related to me or my client, I think it's great. This is what I learned from listening to your show. This is why this episode spoke to me. 

And so that's literally the beginning of every pitch I send is to personalize it. There is a portion that it'll say, here are links to me or my clients and where we've recently been, but that's the only pasted portion of the pitch. The rest is completely genuine and unique to the host that you're pitching to. 

I get pitches daily myself for my show, where it's obviously haven't listened to anything, or they refer to me as my simplified life. That's not my name. My name's Michelle. Simple things that really make a big difference within the pitch. Besides being personal, it needs to be about the host and the audience. It cannot be about you. I've gotten pitches from authors that simply say they want to sell their book, and that's why they want to come on my show. 

It's obvious why people are pitching themselves as a host. We all know what the point is of you pitching to be on the show. You want that attention. You want to be able to market yourself and your services, your book, whatever it is. But you don't say that within a pitch. You don't say that on a podcast interview. What your point is. Is to educate and share your expertise. Your story. 

Give something to the audience that they're going to take away and learn from. That allows them to know that they're not alone in whatever journey they're on. That you've been through it too. That there are tips and tools that they can utilize because you've used them. You've tested them. And you've proven that these are things that will help them do X-Y-Z. That's the point of your pitch. That's the point of your interview. I can't say that more or louder because so often I'm still getting pitches that don't have anything to do with my audience or me. 

It's really frustrating because there is no rhyme or reason or a lot of times, the podcasting world is the wild, wild west, and there are no industry standards, and this should be a basic human standard, in my opinion, reaching out. You should do some homework, do your research, and know who you're talking to. Pitch what you can bring to the table, not what you want to sell.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 Oh, that's so important, Michelle. Thank you for sharing that. And really emphasizing the importance of knowing as much as you can about the show you want to be featured on. Michelle, one of the things that I know that you do are podcast book tours. Help us understand what these are. I've actually not heard of them before. This is a great learning opportunity and experience, not only for me, but also for all our listeners who are eager to explore new and exciting ways to promote their books.
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 I created this when COVID hit and we saw everything shut down. Authors were not doing book tours where they were going and signing books and bookstores, and nobody was doing in-person things. But you could do book tours on a podcast. You could book a bunch of podcasts, you could have them go live during the week of your launch, and your audience that you're reaching was actually way bigger than if you went on an in-person book tour. I create these for my clients. This is part of working together for so many months in advance that we book a bunch of podcasts so that when your book is launching. You're appearing everywhere. You're reaching multiple audiences. You're growing your sales for your book. 

Just do it from your closet or your office. Being able to not just reach more people. But you're able to do way more interviews than if you were to go do book signings. Because it's going to take maybe an hour out of your day to do one interview versus traveling to a place and doing it that way.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 That's fascinating. And you're right. The whole idea of these interviews coming out as your book is being launched is perfect. It's a great way to make your target audience aware so that they can go out and buy a copy of your book. Now, you also talk about repurposing the interview content. Talk to us more about that, because I am a lover of cutting, dicing, and slicing one thing into multiple opportunities. Tell us more about doing that with a podcast interview.
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 One of the biggest tips that I offer is to thank your host. And when I talk about thanking your host, I don't mean that you put it in your Instagram stories for 24 hours, and it gets taken down. I mean you repurpose the interview. You can create graphics for Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest, literally every platform. 

And I easily do it by using Canva. I create templates that are branded. It's really plug-and-play. And you change up the name of the episode, the name of the podcast, and what episode number it is, and you share it. I've gotten feedback from people. I want to say clients because it hasn't been a client who says that they won't share a graphic that a host provides them because it doesn't match their branding or their feel, and so it makes their feed a little off. 

My solution to that is to then create your own graphic because a podcast host is not going to get heartburn over you sharing the episode, but with your own graphic. They're going to get heartburn over you not sharing it at all. This is a great way to share it not just on social media, but you can create on your own website. Show notes. 

Most podcast hosts have shown ups that they create, basically a summary of what was talked about for the show and then bullet points about the topics that were specific. You can pull in timestamps quotes for it and then you can also ask the host for the embedded link to their player. It's an HTML code. It's very simple. This sounds very techie, but I'm not a tech person. Trust me when I say it's simple. And you copy and paste it and you can put it on your website so that your visitors can play your episode from your website, but the download then gets credited back to the host. It's a win-win for everybody. It's also going to drive traffic to your website. 

You can provide links back to the show which is going to drive more traffic to the host website. You can create graphics that have quotes that you've said. There's nothing better for a person to become a thought leader than to use their own quotes. For a long time, I was using quotes within my feet of like, Oprah and then I went, well wait, I can talk too. And I provided some really great quotes and some of these interviews. So I have graphics. They're called what Michelle said. It's got my headshot and then it's a quote from me. It'll offer tips and tools for readers, listeners, and followers to garner from me. 

But these are great ways to repurpose where you've been to go back and revisit shows that you've been interviewed on. Because like I said, you have to repeat yourself over and over. So the more places that you can put where you've been featured, put it on your media page. 
You should definitely have a media page that links back to that episode. But it's great to create more content from the quotes, from creating tips of this is where I was just featured and I talked about this, go visit it. That sort of a thing. You can definitely pull it apart and utilize transcripts. You can upload that into otter for free. There are all kinds of different things that you can do to repurpose one podcast interview.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 Wow, you've given me a brilliant idea that I hadn't thought about before. The embedding link. I give my guests a link to the actual interview, which is the URL, but I hadn't thought about the embedded link, which is really a great tip. Thank you, Michelle. You're giving us so many tips and tricks and a few mistakes that listeners need to avoid that you've managed to slip in very nicely with our listeners, wanted to find out more about you and the incredible services you offer. How can they do that?
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 You can find my website and all of my services and about me at www.the Mlgcollective.com I'm also on social media. It's Michelle Glogovac on Instagram. I'm on Twitter. I'm always raising a ruckus on Twitter. Mick Glogovac for that. I'm also on Facebook, and LinkedIn, connect with me anywhere. I'm always online, probably too much, but I'm always happy to chat with people to learn about them. And if you have a pitch you want me to review, I'm more than happy to do that. Your topics as well.
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 Fabulous. And I'll put those links into the show notes because often our listeners aren't necessarily able to write it down at this point. And Michelle, as you know, we always end our podcast with a golden nugget. So what's your golden nugget that you'd like to share with us?
 
 [Michelle Glogovac]
 My golden nugget would be to recognize that each of you has something that is unique, that others need to hear. It is your duty to share that knowledge, that expertise, your story, and your message with others. And podcasting is one of the best ways that you can do it to reach more people. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and to share your story, to share what you've learned and how you can help others. Because if you don't do it, then who else will?
 
 [Susan Friedmann]
 Listeners, this is another one of those amazing interviews that I highly recommend you listen to several times so that you can capture all the amazing nuggets Michelle has been gracious enough to share with us. Michelle, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us. And thank you all for taking time out of your precious day to listen to this interview. And I sincerely hope that it sparked some ideas you can use to sell more books. Here's wishing you much book and author marketing success.

 For more information on Michelle's services go to https://themlgcollective.com/