For Podcasters and their Guests

Rounding up For Podcasters and Their Guests. A final bit of advice and where to listen next to get more value as a podcaster, a guests, a brand or whatever your reason is to be involved in podcasts.

How do you take advantage of trending topics in your podcast, especially if the topic seems to be unconnected with what you want to talk about? Trending topics provide a tremendous platform to talk about your message but you need to have a good and a reasonable reasons to be getting involved in that discussion. So how do you do it? How do you use trending topics to promote your product, brand or cause?

How do you turn interviews into news and how do you stop your audience switching off. These are two of the topics covered in this weeks show "For Podcasters and Their Guests" which is all about embracing the power of the podcast interview.

Changing to a new format with the old Guestsnap podcast being replaced with "For Podcasters and their Guests". In this first new style episode I discuss branding, events you could tie your topics into and the importance of delivering value.

Listening back to your podcast interviews, whether as a podcast host or guest, is a vital step if you want to improve. My advice is to listen for one thing you could improve next time and then commit to do it. For me as an interviewer, it can be quite different to move to the other side but don't let that put you off. Just like me, I approached this in the same way. Get your core lines in place and go out there and just do it.

What is the first step you should focus on when preparing to be a podcast guest? It is understanding what the podcast audience will want. What value will they be looking for? How do you find out what that is? Listen to previous episodes, search for the host on google, look at the topics they cover. What is the tone, the content and value the podcast offers.

What is the one thing which can help you as a podcast guest ensure you deliver value, keep you focused and make the whole thing worthwhile. It's "lines". They are often seen as a technique for people trying to dodge interview questions but lines will help you make sense of an interview and deliver the value the host needs while ensuring you get across your message.

Hi, welcome back to the Guestsnap podcast, the place for podcast hosts and guests to learn about the techniques and the power of interviews This episode rounds up the series I've been doing on the questions you should ask your podcast guests. If you are a guest then it's just as relevant to you as you'll want to know what people might ask you. Lets recap the 7 main points and then what I've done is compiled the lessons and the videos I've also been releasing onto the Guestsnap website where you can do the whole course in one go for free. It's all in bite-sized chunks so it's really quick to follow.

Day 7 of 7 in our series on how to ask great podcast questions in an interview. A great source of questions is your podcast audience. Simply ask them what they would like to know. Tell them who your guest is and ask for their thoughts. It helps to engage your audience, get them involved in your program and it could provide questions you hadn't thought of.

If your podcast audience would appreciate it and the guest is happy to talk about that (do check with them first) then expand on your initial topic area. Guests can often give real insight into a wider topic. So, if you are interviewing a music band, what are the venues they recommend? Where is the sound best? What is the next up and coming trend? Widen the podcast interview.

Don't bore your podcast guests and audience People who appear regularly on podcasts get bored of the same old questions. They'll start delivering a stock answer. Even if they deliver it well, it will still lack that engaging question that a thoughtful answer would give. Your audience will feel this too and if they have heard the same old answer on another podcast then they have no reason to be interested again. So, don't get star struck. It's your show. How do you come up with boredom free questions? Look at something they said that everyone else "hasn't" been talking about. For example, skim through their blog and pick up on a point buried in one of the posts which you find interesting and ask them why they said that.

Ask questions which "genuinely" interest you. This might sound obvious but I want to emphasis the words "genuinely interests" you. Again, let's forget those "cliched questions" and think what would I really like to know? Ask yourself this. If I could ask anything, literally anything, what would I ask and why? Really feel why you want to know this too. The more you ask questions which come from your heart, the more the tone of your voice will engage your audience and the guest.

The problem with just telling facts in interviews is that people don't remember them well. People like stories. There is a place for facts in short form podcasts but if you have time, tell a story. Do you tell stories in your podcast or give facts and why? People love stories whatever your podcast is about, whether it is business or flower arranging. Remember stories have a similar format. They have a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning and middle is the bit you focus on the most. So, ask them the problem they faced. Get them to define it. Talk about what it was like and the struggle they had. Then ask them what started to change things? What influenced their decision? What was the key moment when they realised what they had to do. Then conclude with what happened and reinforce the learning they had because that is what your audience are probably going to remember the most.

Let me come back to this point from earlier. For every interview there seems to be a sort of cliched set of questions people instantly think to ask. However, if you want your interview to be remembered (which should be the aim), you need to stand out by asking new and different questions. How do you do this? There are lots of ways but here is a very simple trick you can use now. Simply reverse the question you would normally ask. So for example, instead of "what are the best....", it becomes "what are the worst....". Instead of "why did you decide to do....." it becomes "why did you decide not to do.....". Some of your questions reversed might sound crazy but you'll be surprised how many new angles come out of this and it'll get you thinking about questions differently.

How should you start when trying to write podcast interview questions. Start with your audience. When you start to think about the questions (or themes) to discuss with your guest, start with why your audience follows you. What value have they come to get from your podcast? What questions can you in turn ask that will deliver that value? For example, If you are interviewing a business person then what tips can they pass on to your audience, if your audience are after tips. If you are interviewing an author for a podcast, which your audience enjoy because of the in depth stories your guests tell then ask them about that inspiration that drove them. In short, what did the audience come for. Make sure you give it to them.

What questions should you ask a guest in your podcast? Start with your audience. Write down what you would need to ask in order to deliver the value your podcast audience came for.

How to avoid losing a lot of money targeting your audience In order to avoid losing a lot of money targeting the wrong audience you need to do what I didn't do! We're all told to identify our target market first when setting up a podcast, vlog or blog. I couldn't agree more BUT while I agree that is the right advice, if you identify the wrong market, you may get a big audience but you could end up losing a lot of money, not gaining it. That's exactly what I did. So how do you avoid doing what I did? How do you target your audience correctly for a podcast, vlog or blog?

Another rant today. Similar to my recent one. If your podcast is about news or frankly any topic then you really need to avoid asking the "expected" questions. A podcast question like "Why did you do that?" is pretty obvious but what about asking "Why didn't you do that?". Simply turning a point to the reverse can open up new thought processes and get your podcast guest more engaged. So many interviews these days just use the expected questions. You can think of anyone and write down a list of what you think you should ask but I urge you to think of new interview questions.

Bit of a rant today. Just been listening to a well-known guest on a podcast who has been asked almost exactly the same questions as they were asked on another podcast. I switched off, I think the guest did too. If I had been interviewing them, I would have been thinking what "new" could I be asking? One of the key things I learnt as an interviewer, especially when you are trying to get noticed is you need to come up with new questions, questions which stand out. So listen to their last appearance, write down the questions they were asked and then ask different questions or the opposite to what they asked.

Simple tip today but a powerful one. Audiences wanted to feel involved in a show. One of things people discovered about radio was that listeners develop a very personal connection with the people talking. They view you as a friend, so engage them. Ask them what you think. Not only will you get them talking about you on social media but you could get valuable feedback for your podcast as well new content ideas for future podcast shows.

How can you turn your podcast into a trusted news service. Quite easily actually. Your podcast audience already value your content or they wouldn't be listening so if you can provide them with genuine insight as a story happens or soon after they'll be turning to you to know what is going on. It shows you are part of the story giving you credibility and authority and it allows you to inject yourself into the social media conversation going on online about the topic you podcast is all about.

7 top tips for interviews which gets noticed 1. Ditch the pre-scripted questions. 2- Do write down why you choose to interview this guest. Go after that value. 3 - Create your structure from general themes not questions. 4 - Listen as your guest talks. The best interviews come from things you never expected to ask. 5 - Demonstrate your knowledge of the topic. Your audience will like it and guests will engage more. 6 - Learn your guest's pacing and style beforehand from other podcasts. You'll connect much better on the day 7 - Finally, keep things on track. Your audience look to you to guide the interview to the value they came for.

Get a sense of their pacing and style beforehand. I love You Tube for this. You know what it’s like. The moment you see someone move and speak you get that instant feeling of what they are about. It helps you break the ice much faster when it comes to the interview as you are no longer trying to work out who they are for the first few minutes. Listen to other podcasts they appeared on too. What points did your guest raise that you think were not covered properly?

A couple tips today. Firstly, just to emphasis the importance of listening and then of the importance of research. Why sounding like you "know stuff" helps you engage with your audience.

Today's tip - Don't forget to keep your interview on track. The whole point about writing your aim earlier is to give your podcast interview direction. Your audience wants something and it’s your job to deliver that. If a guest floats around and they are not supporting your theme, ask them nicely, “how does this relate to the central theme?” Ask early and they’ll mentally click that you want to stay tightly on topic. A focused interview is also one your audience will connect with and remember better.

Write down the themes you would need to cover in order to meet the aims of your podcast. Remember writing themes is fine, but not scripted questions. Just write a few words to prompt where you want to go with the podcast interview. Think about how many areas you might need based on the length of the interview and your format, especially if you have a fast paced style.

Today's tip - Don't write a list of pre-scripted questions for your podcast interview. If you have to have them, turn the sheet over when you start the interview and only refer to them if you absolutely have to but don't have them in front of you. If your eyes spot them you'll end up trying to read them word for word however hard you try not to. You'll also feel pressure to get your next question "right" and you'll fail to pick up on those subtle hooks that a guest may offer which could take you down a whole different line of questioning which might prove much more interesting. So ditch the pre-written scripted questions.