We want the best guests for our podcasts. But what does this even mean?
For many podcasters, it means people with some level of “fame” and an established audience that will follow these people to your podcast.
Here’s the trick to “better” guests …
Edit your interviews.
Potential guests care about reaching their target audiences, but they also want to be presented in the best light possible. By editing the guests on your podcast, you demonstrate your commitment to making them sound their best.
This starts now, with the guests you currently have – don’t wait for the “better” guests to show up.
Imagine being a musician. Yeah, it’s nice to play big venues, but you’ve never going to get to Madison Square Garden if you can’t handle your local coffee shop.
Need help editing? Consider hiring a pro, if that’s what it takes to get the job done. However, it's beneficial to develop your own editing skills as well, especially for the first episodes of your podcast.
Editing is how podcasts (and podcast hosts) are developed.
Editing yourself provides a different perspective on your performance, ultimately helping you improve your hosting skills. You’ll start to “edit” yourself as you’re recording, thinking through the organization and performance of your episode before it ever goes to tape.
This is why many of the “better” guests you want are so good live – they’ve reviewed their past performances, they’ve tightened-up their messages, and they’re able to think like listeners when delivering them.
You’ll see similar benefits to your podcast hosting when you edit yourself.
Even if you do hire somebody to edit your podcast, your familiarity with the process will allow you to provide better direction about what you want in an edit.
And what you want is the same thing “better” guests do – a clear message, delivered with authority.
Do this and “better” guests will emerge.