Welcome to the streamlined podcaster, a podcast
that shows you how to put the right systems in
place so you can stop spinning your wheels, focus
on making great content and see your show grow.
Because there's nothing worse than putting a
ton of effort into your show to see very few
benefits and even fewer downloads. My name is
Joe Casabona and I know you're strapped for time.
So let's get into it. Hello, hello, today I want
to talk about three things that you should not
do as part of your podcast guest process. Now,
I'm a guy who recommends, hey, automate as much
as possible, do things that will make your life
easier, but everything should be in the service
of you being able to show up more personably
build relationships and do right by your guests
and your audience. And I've noticed just like
a terrible trend lately in things that podcast
hosts are doing that they should not be doing.
So here are three things to remove from your
podcast guest process immediately. The first.
auto -subscribing guests to your mailing list.
If you're in the United States, you are not allowed
to do this. As part of the Can Spam Act of 2003,
you need to make it so that people explicitly
opt into your mailing list and there is an easy
way for them to unsubscribe. But just beyond
that, don't assume that your guests want to get
your emails just because they're coming on your
show. Maybe your emails don't help your guest.
What you're essentially saying is, hey, thanks
for giving me your free time. I'm also going
to invade your inbox. So if you want your guests
to join your mailing list, add it as a tick box
to your Calendly form and say, hey, I think my
mailing list would be really helpful to you.
Would you like to join it? If you're not doing
that and you're just auto -subscribing them,
what you're doing is, at worst, illegal. And
at best, just kind of crappy. It makes it seem
like you only have your podcast to build your
mailing list and who cares what the guest thinks.
And don't be surprised if they unsubscribe either.
This happened to me recently. Somebody added
me to their mailing list I didn't give them permission
to. And then they didn't have an unsubscribe
button. And so I had to email them and say, hey,
remove me from this list. And they were like,
I'm a little surprised. I'm like, well, you shouldn't
be. I didn't give you permission to email to
put me on a mailing list. You know, and so I
feel real strongly about this. Your guests are
taking time out of their day to give you free
content. Don't reward them by invading their
inbox. Similarly, number two. Don't tell them
to provide questions for you to ask. I'm sure
I've talked about this before because this is
a pet peeve of mine. My guest form is easy as
possible. If I am inviting somebody onto my podcast,
they should not have to fill out a million forms
or a million fields. When I've been invited on
shows, I've had to fill out 10 or more questions.
What's your social media handles? How many followers
do you have? What topic should we talk about?
And, oh, give me five to seven questions that
I should ask you. That's your job as the host.
You know your audience better than me. You're
presumably having me on your show to bring my
expertise. So when you're inviting somebody onto
your podcast, you should already know what you're
going to talk about. Otherwise, it just seems
like you'll interview anybody in an attempt to
just churn out to be a content factory. So when
you invite somebody on your show, you should
know what you're going to talk about and generally
what questions you're going to ask. When I invite
somebody on the show, I always propose a topic.
Hey, I'd love to have you on to talk about this.
Does that make sense for you? they'll either
say yes they should say yes because I've done
research or they'll say oh I'm not really talking
about that I'd rather talk about this does that
make sense and if it does great and if it doesn't
like I know not really but I I always propose
the topic and then I come up with the questions
because I as as the host I know my audience I
know the story I'm trying to tell I'm not trying
to get you to do the interview for me Because
that also makes crappy content, right? Because
what am I gonna do? I'm gonna think about the
questions that I get asked the most often or
questions I never get asked that maybe have nothing
to do with your audience. Ask me what my favorite
pizza topping is. Spoiler alert, it's cheese.
Cheese pizza is the only good pizza. So like,
that's your job as the host. Stop asking your
guests to do your job for you. Related. Number
three. Stop telling guests that they have to
share it with their audience. That is also not
your job. They are not your PR department. If
you are just having them on so that they share
with your audience, you are not doing right by
your audience. You are not doing right by the
guest. Your job is to do a good enough job interviewing
that the guest wants to share. And I will do
that. If I am on a particularly good interview,
like here's because here's the thing, right?
I go on a lot of podcasts. Good like people who
enjoy podcasting or podcast guesting tend to
go on a lot. I'm not going to email my my list
every week with, hey, these are the three podcasts
I was on this week. I have a content schedule.
Also, hey, here are the three podcasts I was
on this week. I talked about the same exact thing
on all of them. Now I'm not serving my audience.
I'm not that active on social media. I saw one
recently that was like, you promised to share
this within 48 hours of publishing. This ain't
a legal contract. This isn't an agreement that
we're entering into. So I can either lie to you
and say, yeah, sure, I'll do it. And then you
can't do anything if I don't. You can unpublish
it, I guess. But who cares, right? I mean, it's
kind of obvious that you don't have a good audience
anyway if you're forcing me to share it with
mine. Or I always choose to be upfront with these
things and say, hey, I'm not going to promise
to share it. Like, if you want to have me on
your show, great. If you're only using me for
my audience, then we shouldn't do this. Same
thing with the what questions should I ask you?
I always say, you know your audience better.
So you come up with the questions. And like,
if that's not good enough, that's fine. I don't
want to waste my time going on like crappy podcasts.
And like as a host myself, I put a lot of effort
into making sure my guests have a good experience
and that we cover things that they don't normally
cover. Because that is how I serve my audience.
And now let me rewind and tell you what I'm not
saying. Number one, don't auto subscribe them
to your mailing list. You can still get permission
to add them to your mailing list. Number two,
telling them to provide questions to ask you.
Don't make them give you five to seven questions,
but say like, hey, is there anything you want
me, is there anything that you definitely want
me to cover on this show? That's fine, right?
Because now you're like, hey, if you have a book
coming out or something and I don't know, it's
not public knowledge, definitely tell me. And
number three, telling them they have to share
with their audience, don't do. Ask them, provide
some assets for them to share. Definitely do
that. Tag them on social media? Absolutely. But
like, don't invite them onto your show and then
force them to do a bunch of things that are good
for you and have no benefit for them. Because
that's not your job. That's not their job. Your
job is to create great content for your audience.
The guest's job is to help you do that. And as
long as they hold up their end of the bargain,
you shouldn't force them to do anything else.
I feel very strong about this. Right? And again,
if the guest comes to you and says, like, hey,
I usually like covering these topics, or these
are some questions nobody ever asks me, or I
have a book coming out in a couple of months,
I'd love if you asked me about that. That's fine.
Or if they opt into your mailing list, also fine.
Right? If they choose to share it, great. Our
job as podcasters is to serve our audience, not
use our guests as a growth engine. So definitely
remove those things. If you're doing that, I
came at you really strong today. I feel really
strongly about that. People's time is valuable.
Don't waste your guests time by forcing them
to do a bunch of things that you're supposed
to do. You deeply disagree with me. Let me know
over at streamlinedfeedback .com. Thanks so much
for listening to the Streamlined Podcaster. I
really appreciate it. And until next time, I
hope you find some space in your week. Thanks
so much for listening. If you are wondering how
you can save more time in your processes, if
you're feeling overwhelmed, Head on over to streamlined
.fm slash overwhelm and take the overwhelm quiz.
It's six questions and you will get personalized
results, a personalized blueprint for what to
do based on your answers. That's over at streamlined
.fm slash overwhelm. And again, thanks so much
for listening to the streamlined podcaster.