How To Do a Sponsored Series: How To Get More Great Guests on Your Podcast From Referral Partners
Everyone wants to feature incredible guests on their podcast. But keeping a consistent stream of great guests can prove difficult if you don’t know where to look. So, we’re sharing our strategies to get remarkable guests on your podcast — starting with your own network!
One of the best ways to get more prominent guests for your podcast is through a sponsored series. What exactly does this entail? First, gather a list of all potential referral partners you’d like to collaborate with. Next, shape your series around a specific industry, your alma mater, or any other community you can think of. Once you interview potential referral partners and sponsors, you can enlist them to help you brainstorm future guests.
Generating guests from a sponsored series is not only a win for you and the featured guest, it’s also a win for the company that’s providing the sponsorship. As with any podcast interview, don’t forget to follow up and thank each guest, that way you continue the relationship and keep your stream of guests flowing.
Here are a few extra resources to help you build relationships with great guests:
1. Formulate a list of who you want to collaborate with on a sponsored series. Typically, these people will be great referral partners as well.
Your sponsored series should focus on a specific community or industry, like e-commerce experts, people from your alma mater, or leaders at a specific company.
Make sure to tell your sponsors that you’re not collecting any money. Rather, you’re giving time, energy, and money to produce the episode.
2. After you generate that list, ask them to be on your podcast.
It will be far more effective to ask for introductions once they’ve been a guest on your podcast.
3. The brainstorming stage: after the interview, ask your sponsorship guest to help you generate future guests from their network.
Limit your sponsor series to three or four episodes for a specific company. That way, it will be an exclusive opportunity.
4. When reading the sponsorship message for a sponsored series, don’t forget to include your company’s sponsorship message as well!
In the interview, you should also include testimonial-like questions, such as “what made you start working with that company? What made you join the community? What do you like most about the community? What have you learned from that community?”
5. Always thank your guest after the interview.
Upon concluding the interview, send the email immediately. This keeps the dialogue between you and the guest going.
Make sure that both the guest and the sponsor companies know about the episode and have the ability to promote it — because this brings in even more guests!
