Hey, I wanted to come at you with a quick one
today. I know I've been talking a lot about what
makes good podcast pitches and how to figure
out what a good podcast pitch is and how to get
yourself on podcasts. Sometimes people will pitch
you and there are a few red flags to watch out
for. So There's a couple of reasons why they
are red flags. Uh, one is the biggest, the biggest
and worst offender I think is it's a thinly filled,
thinly veiled excuse to get you on a sales call.
So this has happened to me a couple of times
where, uh, a podcast reached out. I got put into
their CRM. We had the podcast interview and then
I said, uh, And then they said, so what's with,
you know, what are you doing with your book or
whatever? And then they straight up pitched me
on their book or their book service rather. They
tried to sell me their service and then they
put me into a sales funnel. And then when I demanded
to stop getting sold to, they deleted my episode.
So just like real garbage, a real garbage thing.
Right. Um, another time, uh, guy got me on his
show, uh, had me end with, so did you have fun
today? Everything was good. And I'm like, yeah.
And then he pitched me on his SEO services. Um,
and so I've, I've, I've now gotten, uh, really,
uh, what's, what's the word, um, guarded about
when someone reaches out to me. So I'll show
you kind of I'll tell you like kind of how to
handle it But here are the red flags to look
out for when When someone tries to get you on
their podcast First of all, they repeat multiple
times that there's no cost to coming on the podcast
now This is also like a garbage thing to do right
is like invite people on and then say that you
charge No, like that's not how this works. This
is not this is podcasts are generally earned
media. And just because John Lee Dumas does it
on entrepreneurs on fire doesn't mean anybody
can do it. I don't think he should do it either.
But whatever that, you know, he's obviously built
a more successful business than me. I have scruples,
though, like I understand that I'm getting good.
I'm getting hopefully good content from from
my guests, and they are getting, they're also
getting good content, but they're, you know,
they're getting in front of a new audience. That
is the symbiotic relationship between a host
and a guest. And paying to be on a show diminishes
that trust, I think, right? You know, it's not
like, as far as I know, It's not like Scarlett
Johansson pays to go on The Tonight Show, right?
They do what's called a press junket to promote
the movie. Right. So, you know, that's the first
thing I think is also this is a side rant, I
guess, but also like. There are podcasts that
charge and then don't disclose that they're that
that they are charging and that's also like a
garbage move. And I would absolutely like if
I paid to go on a podcast, I would disclose it
immediately and multiple times and say like,
oh yeah, you know, I paid to be here because
that's really important for me to know for me
to let the audience know. So anyway, they repeat
multiple times. First red flag. They repeat multiple
times that there's no cost to come on the podcast.
Number two, the topic is super vague. Something
like how you help people grow. Right. The last
one I got pitched the impetus for this episode
and the post I made on LinkedIn is they said,
we'd love for you to come on the show to talk
about what the future looks like for Joe Casabona.
And I said, like, who's your audience? Well,
like, why is this relevant? Like, why would your
audience care about the future of Joe Casabona
if they don't know who Joe Casabona is? So that's
number two. Number three, getting back to who's
your audience is the show's target audience is
you, but your clients would never listen. So
like, again, going back to the show, the show's
target audience is coaches, consultants and course
creators. And so they were targeting coaches,
consultants and course creators. so that they
could get them on the podcast and then pitch
them. And, you know, maybe you're thinking, Joe,
that's not, that's not really generous thinking,
right? That's not sure. Like their target audience
is you, but like you can provide insight, right?
I mean, on the Streamline Solopreneur, my audience
is solopreneur parents. I have solopreneur parents
on the show. The guests I have are for my Tiger
audience. And yeah, you're absolutely right.
But these last two red flags are the thing that
really take the cake. The fourth red flag and
the first cake taker, I guess, is they publish
three to five interviews a day. Because that
is a telltale sign. They are going for quality
or for quantity over quality. And they are basically
showing their hand that they take this many sales
calls in a day. And there are multiple hosts,
which is to say their sales team is all recording
these interviews. And then once recording stops,
they do the hard sell. So like each of these
points to the fact that the value is all for
the show and not for you. Thinly veiled sales
call attempt. So now I did post this on LinkedIn
and I said like, what are a couple of other red
flags? Um, my friend, crystal prophet, who is
a, um, content strategist, marketing expert also
in the podcast space, uh, said when they say
they've been publishing episodes for a long time,
and then you look up their show and nothing new
has been posted on their show or social channels
for months. Yep. Like they're just not, they're
just not dedicated to it. Um, my friend, Jeff,
also a podcast producer in the B2B space. said
that they ask you to write the interview questions
for them, right? That's a telltale sign that
they're not looking to do any work for the show.
And so all of these mean that they are just trying
to get you into their funnel. And so how do you
handle this? Well, you could ignore them. On
the off chance that I would be missing an opportunity
to go on a show, I will usually respond and I
will ask some pointed questions, right? So I'll
say, um, uh, yeah, who is the, uh, who's the
target audience for the show? Um, why me? Right.
And if they give a generic answer to why me,
like that's another red flag. And then I'll straight
up say, are you going to try to sell me something
at the end of this call? And they'll either say
no, but most people are not that blatant of a
liar. They basically know they've been caught
at this point. And they'll say something like...
They'll say something to the effect of... If
we believe that there's alignment and we can
offer you true value throughout the course of
our interview, we'll definitely let you know
the kind of services we offer. And that's when
I say no, thank you. And the last person I did
this to said, you should really listen to our
show. And I said, I did. And what I found was
the host is recording from, it sounds like a
bathroom, right? So it's obvious that the host,
or one of the hosts, I should say, because there
are multiple hosts, is recording from a bathroom.
So it's clear that they don't care about the
quality of the show. Again, multiple hosts. And
I said, you have, you, you publish five episodes
a day. That's, that doesn't tell me that you're
interested in good quality interviews. That tells
me you're interested in getting people on the
phone. And yeah, I mean, you know, they realized
at that point, like I was, I was not going to
fall for this scheme. And I'll end with this,
right? Because this has been a little more rambly
than previous episodes, but I'll end with this.
One of the other reasons that they do the whole
many episodes per day is because in their pitch,
they'll say, our podcast gets downloaded thousands
of times per week. And so that's why you should
be on the show. Downloads are not listens. And
when you're publishing five episodes a day, their
show launched less than a year, this show I'm
thinking of, launched less than a year ago and
they had 1 ,233 episodes. So it doesn't, it's
not hard to get thousands of downloads per week.
In fact, If every host in that company did downloads,
they'd get close to that in a week. Right? If
they get one new subscriber, and I will bet you
that they probably get you to subscribe to the
show when they interview you. That is thousands
of downloads. Or it's a thousand downloads per
week. So that's a thousand downloads in close
to a day depending on the app you're using so
You know this show is all about helping podcasters
save time and and podcast guesting is a great
opportunity to get in front of other people's
audiences and Possibly grow your show and build
your network and build relationships But those
sort of things are a waste of time Because it's
not about you. It's about them and what they
can do for them and they're just using you because
they know that you wouldn't get on a sales call
otherwise and they're hoping that their charm
or the the Reciprocity principle right where
it seems like they've done something nice for
you. So now you're more willing to do something
nice for them We'll kick in So it's best to just
avoid those all together Alright, that's it for
this episode of the Streamlined Podcaster. Let
me know, have you been swindled, bamboozled,
or nearly tricked into joining a sales call under
the guise of going on a podcast? You can write
in at StreamlinedFeedback .com. That's Streamlined
with a D, Feedback .com. Thanks so much for listening
and until next time, I hope you find some space
in your week.