Morgan Franklin: Have you ever heard that saying that all
politics are local? Well, I have a new saying for you, and that
saying is, all podcasting is local. If you know anything
about my backstory in podcasting, in spring of 2021 I
launched my first podcast. It was a local, community based
podcast in my hometown in Tennessee, I had no idea what I
was doing, other than we had to make this thing work. And since
2021 I've had politicians, reality TV stars, CEOs,
journalists, influencers, inventors and a long list of
incredible guests that I had no business coming on my podcast.
And in this episode, I'm gonna tell you how I did it. Hello and
welcome to podcast for profit. My name is Morgan Franklin. I'm
a Podcast Producer, strategist and educator. This podcast will
help you create and grow a podcast that cuts through the
noise of social media and speaks directly to your target
audience. If you're ready to create a podcast that will align
you with the experts in your industry, position yourself as a
trusted leader and create another source of revenue for
your business, you're in the right place. I'll talk about
this a little bit more throughout the episode, but in
conjunction with this episode, I have launched my podcast pitch
template. I swore that I would never, ever, ever sell this
template because it is simply too good and I wanted to keep it
for myself. But this is the template that I have been using
and perfecting and turning cold outreach into guests for years,
and I know it is going to change your podcast. You can shop the
template in the link, in the episode description. For a
little bit of context of this story, I'm not really a huge
bachelor or bachelorette fan in general. I just don't really
like reality TV that much. I don't know why, because I'm
exactly the kind of yappy girls night loving 30 year old that
would normally love this kind of TV, but yeah, I could just never
really get into it. However, as I said, the girls night loving
gal I am, my roommate at the time, was a full fledged card
carrying member of bachelor nation. Every Monday night there
was a gaggle of girls with pizza and wine and fuzzy socks ready
to watch the drama unfold. And because I'm no party pooper, and
if there's fun to be had, especially if it's at my house,
I'm gonna be having it. So here I come every Monday night to
join the unholy trinity of group dates, Chris Harrison and those
rose Boone ears that mysteriously stick onto fabric.
As I was told every single season before this season
promised to be the most dramatic and insane and unbelievable, yet
you are just not going to believe what happens. This has
never happened in the history of bachelor nation. I promise that
I'm not going to make you listen to the entire breakdown of the
one season that I watched all the way through, but just know
that I was as invested as any other red blooded American
suburban mom, and I still reminisce with my former
roommate about how this might have actually been the craziest
thing to ever happen in bachelor nation. This was in 2019 and
spoiler alert, and if you might not remember, but a lot happened
between 2019 and 2021 and during this time of me becoming a
Podcast Producer and completely turning my life upside down,
someone else was also turning their entire life upside down.
The villain of that season of The Bachelor that I watched with
my roommate. Yes, Not only had he moved on from the show, he
had moved to my home town. Crazy. I know I had no idea.
It's those crazy glitch in the Matrix, things that happen like
this that make me question if we do live in a simulation or not,
because, like, tell me why this reality TV star that even I knew
about was moving to hokey poke Tennessee. And of course, the
answer is because my hometown is also the hometown of CrossFit
champion Rich Froning, but it's still pretty crazy. Right on The
Bachelorette, this guy was chewed up and spit out. He was
maybe the most hated person to ever come out of the show. And
you know what? Maybe he was that thing that had never happened in
the history of bachelor nation. So my wheels are turning. It's
spring of 2022, by this point, and I've been producing this
podcast for about a year. We're doing well. We're getting some
important people from around town. People are starting to
listen to episodes without me personally begging them to
listen. And yeah, overall, things are going pretty well,
right? But. Once the information comes out that this guy has
moved to town, I am all over it. I know we have to have him on
the podcast, but how are we going to get him on the podcast?
More importantly, how are we going to get him to talk about
the bachelorette on the podcast? Because it's pretty clear that
he's moving on. And you know, that's understandably so. So
let's get into how we make this happen. The first thing that
you're going to have to do when you want to invite somebody that
is out of your league onto your podcast, which, by the way, I
hope that this is what you are always doing. There is no reason
that you are staying in your comfort zone and inviting boring
guests. And if you are Stop it, if you are schedule a
consultation with me, and I'm going to help you move past it,
because step one is research. Do your research. What are they
doing? What is the person doing that you want to have on your
podcast? What are they promoting? What direction does
it seem like their brand is going in, and how can you help
them to go in that direction even more effectively? And let
me just remind you, this is where brand clarity and
direction on your own podcast really comes into play, because
it's very hard to make a promise to a guest on how you're going
to help them with their image, or help their branding, or help
them rebrand by being on your show when you don't even know
what your own show is trying to accomplish. Know why you want
them to be on your show and what you're going to tell them
specifically about why you want them to come on the show and why
you like them, why you think that they are the person to come
on and talk about this. Because let me tell you, flattery works.
Compliments work, and I think that they are so often
overlooked. Give someone a compliment, tell them genuinely
why you want them to come on your podcast. The second thing
is, you have to look the part. This is where the podcast pitch
template I was talking about earlier comes in. But I send
every guest a beautifully designed, curated PDF that looks
like a million bucks. It looks like you're working with the
most high end professional podcast out there, and that is
what I want them to think. That's what I want them to know.
It answers the questions before they have the time to ask them,
and if you do it right, it's gonna seal the deal for you.
Okay, so getting back to the story. So I know about this guy,
I want him on my podcast. I'm doing my research. I find out
why he came to my hometown, what the rebrand from reality TV is
really looking like for him, and I craft a pitch that is so
beautiful that is for him, where we say, hey, we can help you
accomplish all of the things, and we would love to have you on
the podcast. And I'm not lying to you when I tell you, this was
one of the fastest responses that I have ever got from a
guest pitch before I was I was on top of the world. I was so
impressed. He told me that he would love to come on the show.
Now I wish that I could tell you this is where the story ends,
but really, this is just where I get started, because this is not
where the story ends. And something that I'm going to
personally warn you about is that the higher up on the totem
pole you go with booking people, the more gatekeepers and
appointments people you are going to have to work with. The
first exchange for this podcast interview happened in April. It
took until July to get him on the podcast. It also took about
half a dozen unanswered emails, a voicemail, and finally, asking
a friend of a friend of a friend if he could remind him about the
podcast. And I do want to say for the record, if anyone has
pieced together who this is, he was an incredibly kind person.
He actually found out that the host of this podcast had some
family that lived in Ukraine, and he was wearing a support
Ukraine t shirt to the interview, he seemed like a very
personable and thoughtful man, and he recently, actually just
got married and had his first child, and he still lives in my
hometown, and I just could not be happier for his family. So if
you do know who it is, I think that things turned out okay.
Another thing that I want to mention is And speaking of
reality TV stars, around the same time, we got to interview
the winner of the voice for season 17, and he told me after
the recording that the questions were the most thoughtful and
well researched questions that he had ever had. And I mean,
this man had just came from being on Kelly Clarkson's show
the day before, you better be writing the best questions that
these people have ever seen. Because another thing that is
going to happen is their people are going to press you. They're
going to say, okay, okay, well, maybe send over a list of
questions. And basically, we'll think about it. We'll think if
we want to give you an appointment, and that's when you
better have the questions that they have never. Answered on air
before, and is that going to take work? Yes, is it going to
take time? Yes, you have no idea how many interviews, podcasts,
articles that I've read from people so that I can have unique
questions that they have never been asked before, but I will
say almost every single guest that I have on any of my shows
always says, Oh my gosh, I've never got questions like this
before. So put in the effort. Because you know, if that fan
who has no idea who you are is coming to listen to this episode
and you're asking them the same crap that everyone else is that
is an instant skip versus them falling in love with you. The
old saying is, they come for the guest, but they stay for the
host, so leave them something to stay with. Another thing is, and
I know that you're gonna be so excited, especially if you
booked a guest that could be a really big deal for your
podcast, you have to limit the amount that you are talking
about yourself again. People came for the guest. They did not
come for you. The best thing that you can do is focus on
giving the best experience to that guest and their fans, with
the hope that you pick up a few listeners from their audience.
Going back to the gatekeepers for just a minute, though, the
more important somebody is, oftentimes, the more gatekeepers
that you're going to have to go through to get to them, the more
that they're going to give you the runaround on booking the
dates and when the person is available and XYZ. Keep going,
keep emailing. We just had a senator on this same podcast,
and it took me from July to November to get this recording.
Keep going, keep messaging. And eventually, most of the time, if
they think it's a value, it is going to happen. But how do you
make sure it's of value? How can you guarantee that this guest
being on your podcast will provide value for them? Well,
you can't really, but what you can do is know your audience,
know who is listening to your podcast and why, and also, like
I said earlier, all podcasting is local. Know your local
community or know your community in your industry, weak
connections are everything in life and in podcasting. Make
sure that when you're talking to people, especially when you're
networking with people in your industry, you're asking, Hey, do
you know anyone that would be great for my podcast? I know
that my host gets sick of me because I am just reminding them
over and over and over, when you're finished with this
episode, don't let them walk out the door or sign off before you
ask them, Do you know anyone else that would be good for this
podcast, because great guests know great guests. So utilize
your network. Make sure that the people around you know what kind
of guests you're interested in, and let them know who you are
looking for. Do your research, look the part. Then when the
time comes, be the part. If you want to shop my podcast pitch
template, it will be in the episode description. This is the
exact template that I have sent to secure over 400 guests. And
also I just want to say I have received a lot of podcast
pitches as a producer, and I have never seen anything like
this. One more thing before we go, I just want to give you the
permission to pursue the guests that you want to have on your
show. I know that this can be really intimidating and make you
question a lot of things about yourself and your podcast and
whether you are worth having this kind of guest on. And I
have been very, very fortunate to have people around me, both
professionally and personally, that always encourage me and
cheer me on and tell me that no matter how crazy it is, that
just to go for it. And I want you to know that you are worthy,
and you are capable of doing anything and everything that you
put your mind to, keep going, keep pursuing what you want,
keep sending that follow up email, and as always, I can't
wait to listen to your podcast. Hey, thank you so much for
joining me on this episode. If you enjoyed the podcast and
you'd like to hear more episodes like this one, go ahead and
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