Seven keys to becoming the podcast guest every host wants back — and every audience remembers. For solopreneurs and SMB owners ready to turn guest spots into real business growth.
GROWTH PILLAR: Marketing & Branding
WHO THIS IS FOR: SMB owners / Solopreneurs / Corporate escapees / Leaders building systems
WHAT THEY'LL GAIN: A clear, repeatable framework for showing up to any podcast as the guest worth remembering — one that builds relationships, referrals, and real visibility.
Most people treat podcast guesting like a one-time appearance. Carl Richards treats it like a strategy.
Carl is the founder of Podcast Solutions Made Simple and a seasoned speech coach who has helped business owners turn guest appearances into genuine growth. At East Trade Winds S3 E035, he laid out seven keys that separate the guests who get booked once from the ones who get invited back, referred, and remembered.
What Carl covered:
— Know the show before you walk in. Listen to episodes. Understand the tone, the audience, and what the host values. You can't read the
room if you haven't studied it.
— Clarify your message down to one sentence. Not a chapter. Not a page. One sentence. Great guests know exactly what they want listeners
to walk away with.
— Bring stories. Data informs. Stories stick. The guests who land the biggest moments are the ones who back every idea with a real
experience.
— Serve the audience first. The moment you sound like you're there to pitch, you've lost the room. Think of the listener as one person — and
talk directly to them.
— Be a great conversationalist. The best podcast moments are never scripted. Show up ready to respond, not just ready to deliver.
— Respect the host's flow. Let them drive. Speak in sound bites. Your job is to make them look good — and they'll return the favour.
— Promote it like it's your show. Ninety percent of guests go quiet the moment the episode drops. Tag the host. Share the clips. Start
conversations. That's where the real return lives.
This session is for any business owner who wants to use podcast guesting as a legitimate growth tool — not just a checkbox.
Connect with Carl Richards: Podcast Solutions Made Simple · LinkedIn · Instagram · Facebook · TikTok
This episode is brought to you by:
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East Trade Winds — Free weekly networking every Tuesday 8–9 AM EST. Community first. Sales second. Bring one challenge. Bring one introduction.
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Carl (00:06)
there are people who are afraid to be on podcasts or promote themselves or do those things. But once you get past them, it certainly is a is a really, ⁓ it's very refreshing, I find and certainly ⁓
when it comes to something like podcasting or podcast guesting, which is still, even though podcasting has been around for 22, 23 years, to some it's still very much an unknown being. So over the next two hours, I'm going to be sharing with you some of the, sorry, over the next 10 minutes, sorry, different audience, over the next 10 minutes, some strategies for being a guest that not only gets booked on shows, but gets invited back.
referred and remembered. So bear with me for a few minutes here while I share this information with you and you can hold your questions to the end if you'd like. Most podcast guests, they show up thinking, hey, I hope I sound good. Hope I look good. Is my hair okay? The best ones though show up thinking, how do I make this episode unforgettable? How do I really make it something that people will want to remember? So that's the shift right there. So what I wanna share with you today are seven things, seven keys
that will make you the best podcast guest ever. Everybody ready for that? Number one, know the show. Take time to actually listen to the show, not just knowing the host It's great if you know the host. I know Bernie, I've been on his show, but I just have to listen to the show to know what I'm getting into, right? So before you even get on the show, do your homework.
Listen to a couple of episodes. Understand the tone, the pacing, understand the audience, the needs of the audience or what you think the audience might need. Because if you don't know the room, you can't read the room. And unlike being on a physical stage, a podcast, you have to understand the room based on what some of the other guests have shared and what the host has shared as well. So you have to be able to read that room. A second thing to make you the best podcast guest ever.
is clarify your message. If I were to ask you right now, what's the one thing you want listeners to remember? Can you answer that in one sentence? Not one book, not one page, but one sentence. know, great guests are very clear with their messaging. They know what it is that they want to bring across to the audience.
⁓ But a lot of guests, tend to do what? Talkie talkie talkie talkie, a lot of rambling, a lot of unclarity with what it is that they're trying to say. In some cases they contradict themselves. They don't really get to the point, and at the end of the day they don't even have anything really to offer to the audience. So if you are clear on your messaging and what you want to get across, it'll take you further all the time. Number three, to be the best sought after guest in history.
bring stories. Stories are great. People love stories. actually shared a story when I was doing my introduction. Now, Bernie sort of set it up so you could share a story, but every time you share a story, it's going to land a little bit better than just an idea. Stories tend to stick with people, not just facts, not just data. So don't just teach them, show them.
And I've had a number of guests that ⁓ have been on my show and I've been guests on shows where I've given those stories or I've shared those things that have happened that have been really, really, really made the difference between just being an average guest and being a guest that really has some magical moments. One that actually sticks out in my mind. I had the opportunity to interview
a guest about a year and a half ago. he used to do all of Tony Robbins' Firewalks. An amazing, an amazing guest. Not just sharing the story about the Firewalks and Tony and what it was like working with him, but he shared his own personal story and his journey through how he wrestled with addictions and how he came out of that and ended up working with one of the greatest thought leaders of our time. So bring those stories.
Just to, as I said, to make it interesting, it's okay to share ideas, but I always like to back up ideas with a story. Number four, number four, who's the most important person? Is it you or is it the audience or is it the host? I think you already know the answer to that. The most important person of course is the audience. This is where a lot of guests lose the room because we're working so hard as guests to
Get our messaging across. Carl, you already said I gotta have tight messaging. It really needs to land. I'm making my messaging land, but sometimes we forget that the most important person in the room, and I say person by the way, because you be personalizing your message to the audience. Don't think of the audience as a mass of people. Think of that audience of one. Little trick I learned in radio broadcasting. If you think that you're speaking to one person as opposed to speaking to masses,
you will make that one-on-one connection, which is what you want to do. But it's serving the audience. If you sound like you are there to pitch the audience, you're done. You're done. And I've had guests that have done that, and it's frustrating in a way. I give them the opportunity at the end to share something. The best ones are the ones that provide a solution to the problem that they serve. So if you sound like you're there to help, you're going to win.
You know, the less push you put, know, the less you push your offer, the more, believe it or not, the more people will want it. Psychologically, it works out. Number five, be a great conversationalist. If we can carry on a conversation and not just be the Q and A person, it's going to take you much, much further. This isn't a keynote. It's not an interrogation. It is a conversation. And by the way, this goes to the hosts too. I actually had an opportunity recently to be on Bernie's show.
And Bernie gives you just a little bit behind the scenes. Bernie gives you a list of questions, things that could be asked in the 45 minutes that you're with him. Bernie, think we hit on two questions, maybe three. The rest of it was a natural flowing conversation. You don't want to turn it into a talk. You don't want to listen to the cues from the host. OK, this is when I say this. You need to be able to react.
to what the host is sharing and also be able to pitch, I call it pitch to the host or lob the ball, I guess you could say back to the host so they can then react. It's kind of like if you're having a conversation with a friend over coffee, you don't go in scripted, you go in knowing you're going to have a conversation and there will be some aha moments there and a podcast is no different. The best moments on podcasts are never scripted. Some of the most magical moments I've had as a guest and as a host have been because
There was no script. They just happened naturally. Number six, respect the hosts flow. The host is driving the show. Now, there are some hosts out there who are brand new, who might need a little nudge. So if you're an experienced podcaster, it's okay to give them a little bit of a push or bring them or corral them back so they can feel a little bit more confident. But a lot of hosts also
bring a lot of experience. So let them drive the show. Don't hijack it. Don't force your agenda. Don't speak in long, drawn out blocks of content. It better if you can actually speak in sound bites, one to two minutes of content and then allow the host to respond. Your job is to make them look good and their job is to also help you look good as well. When you make them look good, they'll make you sound great. Keep that in mind too.
And number seven, promote it like it's your show. After the show has ⁓ been released, and This is where 90 % of guests drop the ball is when you spend time with them, if you're a host, you spend some time with them, you create a great...
great show, you publish it, you put it out there, you even give them all of the assets to promote it. You give them the artwork, you give them the links, you give them the, even give swipe copy to make it easy to promote the show. And then it's crickets. So 90 % of guests will drop the ball on this. Here's what I'm going to share with you is sharing it once is okay, but the more that you can share it and make it feel like it's as important to you as it is to the host.
That's where the magic is. Share the clips, tag the host, start conversations, bring traffic back to the episode, whatever it is. So Bernie has already given me some content from our conversation that we had last week. And I know when he drops the episode, there's going to be even more. There will be the artwork, there will be the links, there'll be all kinds of things he's going to promote. He's going to tag. This is my opportunity also when that episode goes live.
to do other things with it as well. Okay, so what I really want you to take from this is being a great guest isn't just about being impressive. It's not just about showing up. That's part of it. You do need to show up and trust me, there are guests who don't. Calendars get muffled or crossed or whatever. It happens. But it's about adding impact. Make the host's job easier. Make the audience feel something. Make that individual who...
needs to hear what you have to say, move them to action. Move them to action. Make that episode worth sharing for sure. Do that, and you won't just be the guest. You will be a guest that everyone remembers and will want to hear time and time again.