When Hosts Become Ghosts

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Welcome to Pod Fluence, the podcast that helps coaches, consultants, and speakers

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grow, influence and income with podcasts.

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My name is John Ball and my mission is to give you, as a professional

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business coach or speaker, all you need to build professional influence

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and grow your following with podcasts so that you can have a thriving

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business and create raving fans.

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You may sometimes find yourself wondering why that interview you recorded didn't

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get published or why that host is no longer responding to your messages.

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In this episode, we're going to attempt to understand why certain

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interviews don't get published and why some hosts may ghost you and

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what, if anything you can do about it.

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Maybe you've had the experience of being a guest on someone else's podcast and

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later on discovering that that episode not only hasn't been published, but that the

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host isn't responding to your messages.

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Well, let's take a look at some of the reasons this happens and what

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you may be able to do about it.

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Is it just the host that's to blame when an episode doesn't get published?

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What can you do as a guest to make it more likely that your

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episode will get published and that the host won't ghost you?

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So all that's coming up in this episode of Pro Fluence.

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If you are not already subscribed to the show, please do me a favor.

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upcoming episodes and amazing interviews to help you create your Podfluence.

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Right now, pick up here he ears, and let's get on with the show.

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I do love it when people shout out my podcast episodes and articles.

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I mean, who wouldn't?

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It doesn't happen all that often, but when it does, I really appreciate it.

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Thank you then to John Schembardi for sharing out one of my earliest LinkedIn

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articles in the PodFluence weekly newsletters about bad podcast guests.

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It's a topic that I probably need to update my thoughts on.

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John pointed out that podcast hosts can also be bad, and although I have touched

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on that topic many times, I don't think I've ever written a full article on it.

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So that's a topic you've been waiting for,

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this is your lucky day.

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So you show up for a podcast interview and you have a good chat with the host.

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You record for maybe 20 to 60 minutes.

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Then you thank them for a great interview and part ways until

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the episode gets released.

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You wait and wait and wait some more and maybe even a

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bit longer than is reasonable.

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You check their podcast.

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Perhaps you missed something.

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Maybe your episode has been published and you didn't notice.

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You check your emails, nothing.

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But what can you do?

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Most likely you are gonna send an email or a direct message and you

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might get a reply, but then again, you might not, maybe the can will

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get kicked down the road and you'll just have to wait a bit longer.

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Or perhaps you'll get told that your episode is not going to be used.

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That happens.

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The most likely reasons are that your episode wasn't good

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or usable, that the show or the host has pivoted on their topic.

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The podcast has faded or stopped the host.

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Maybe just got too busy with other things.

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Now of course there could be any number of reasons, but these are

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probably some of the most common ones.

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And I've had all of these things as a host and as a guest.

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Here's what's important.

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Don't take it personally.

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It doesn't mean the host thought you were a terrible guest,

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although that's possible.

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You're unlikely to ever get that kind of feedback from a show host, so

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you might as well presume the best.

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Most of us are indeed nice people.

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What I can tell you from personal experiences, giving negative feedback to

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people who haven't shown up very well as podcast guests is rarely well received

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if it hasn't been asked for.

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So I recommend to podcast hosts not to do that unless you are asked.

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Even though I say you shouldn't take it personally if your episode isn't used, you

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should still assume some responsibility because it could be an indicator that

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you didn't do enough research for the show before applying to be a guest.

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It could also be that you haven't been strategic about

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selecting shows to guest on.

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Maybe you didn't build a relationship with the host before or after, and

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perhaps you didn't add sufficient value to their show or their audience,

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and maybe you made it all about you.

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If any of these things are possibly true for you, then it could be time

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to change your guesting strategy.

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What I can tell you from most of the podcast guest pitches that I see is that

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the vast majority of them have not taken an opportunity to check out my show.

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They have no idea who I am.

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They have no idea what the show is about.

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They just want to be on podcasts.

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They see a show that is perhaps doing reasonably well and maybe has

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a decent scoring on listen notes.

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And they want to be on that show.

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So they're gonna tell you all about how good they are and why

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they should be on their show.

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If that's not relevant to you or your topic, why should you care?

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So it is up to the host as well to be discerning about the guests that

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they have on, but it definitely is more up to the guest to be selective

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about the shows that you choose.

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My goal for you is to become someone that no podcast host could ever

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dream of ghosting, but I need you to do one little thing for me.

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Can you do that?

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I need you to care about their show, not just about your episode.

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My pal, Chris Ducker told me that he would never have a guest on his show who wasn't

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a fan of him, his content, or his podcast.

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So if you are ever looking to get on Chris's YouPreneur podcast, at some

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point I suggest you start tuning in.

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I'm a little less stringent myself, although I do still prefer

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guests who have taken the time to prepare for their appearance

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and know what the show is about.

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Don't get me wrong, guests who really know their stuff and know

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how to deliver it can be great and really valuable for your show.

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But any guest who doesn't really know who you are, what your show is about, or

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what your audience really needs is only ever going to deliver what they want to.

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Hey, Abraham Maslow said to the man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

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If you're using the spray and pray approach to podcast guesting, you should

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expect many more ghosting experiences.

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I'm not saying it's right or even, okay, just that it's going to keep on happening.

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Look at it this way, if you post to social media six times a day, but all

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those posts are crappy, it's really not gonna do a lot for you professionally.

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Most people are gonna ignore them, and you're probably wasting your time.

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Why should it be any different for podcasting then?

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No one owes you an audience.

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No one owes you a listen.

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It is entirely on you to be interesting, valuable, relationship focused,

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reciprocal, generous, and prepared.

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This may not be a popular opinion for those who just want to go on

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as many podcasts as possible and talk about themselves and then

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expect a following to come from it.

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Sorry pal.

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It takes work to do this well.

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I haven't talked much about this yet, but I recently joined the team at The

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Speaker Lab with Grant Baldwin initially in their sales team, are now on their

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coaching team, and my role there is to help students looking to become paid

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professional speakers to be able to do that well, no matter how much or how

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well any of the coaching team do our job, no matter how good the learning

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materials are, and they are really good.

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None of that matters if the students don't do the work.

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So if you're going to get up on a stage or be on a podcast or start a podcast

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or a YouTube channel and it's gonna be about anything and everything, or maybe

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you're just rehashing other people's ideas or worse yet you are directly

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copying and plagiarizing someone else's work is not gonna go, well.

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Add to that, maybe you don't have any charisma, perhaps you dunno how to

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present and you can't engage audiences.

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The only way you're going to get anywhere is by cheating or paying to play.

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Are you okay with that?

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Well, I hope not.

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I know I'm getting on my high holes about this, but I have made

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many of these mistakes myself and they are not failures necessarily.

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You're doing stuff, you're taking action, but there's a better way.

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You'd be surprised how little effort it takes in practice to stand head and

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shoulders above what most people are doing in terms of developing relationships

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and standing out as a podcast guest.

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Someone who gets this, oh, so right is Christine Amerman, the Queen

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of podcast guesting, and you can hear what she has to say about it.

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On episode 171 of Podfluence.

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Now with all the recent changes with my working life and messing around with

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all sorts of different working hours and things like that, my production

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schedule, both of my newsletter and my podcast, has been somewhat unreliable.

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As always, I hope to get that back onto a more regular schedule to

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have the episodes coming out on time weekly and with the newsletters.

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So if you are not already subscribed to the show, please do that.

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And be assured, there are still many great guests lined up and some wonderful

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recordings that I've been waiting for quite a while now to bring to you.

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And if you prefer your content more in a written style, then

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definitely check out my newsletter.

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You can access that through the links in the show notes.

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So next time on the show I'll be bringing you an interview with Joe Pardavila.

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And Joe and I recorded this episode a while back.

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Joe worked in broadcast radio and in podcasting.

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So he brings some great experience from all of that.

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As well as information from a terrific book that he's written, and

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, despite some recording challenges, it was a great conversation.

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So don't miss it.

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I will hope to see you next time, so for now, wherever you're

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going, whatever you're doing, have an amazing rest of your week.