Carl Richards breaks down exactly how to land podcast appearances, build real business relationships, and turn guesting into a repeatable visibility strategy.
GROWTH PILLAR: Networking & Community
WHO THIS IS FOR: SMB owners / Solopreneurs / Coaches and consultants / Anyone building authority through content
WHAT THEY'LL GAIN: A clear action plan for podcast guesting — from setting your intention to using PodMatch, following up like a pro, and turning every appearance into a business relationship.
Most business owners think about being a podcast guest. Carl Richards helps them actually become one.
Carl is the founder of Podcast Solutions Made Simple and a seasoned speech coach who has spent years helping entrepreneurs land podcast appearances and speaking gigs. In this Canada Growth Network Power Hour session, Carl walks through his step-by-step framework for getting on podcasts — and making each appearance count long after the recording ends.
Set your intention. Thinking about guesting and actually doing it are two different things. Carl's first step is making podcast guesting a real plan — how many shows, what topics, what schedule.
Know your topics. Keep it to three or four clear themes. No jargon. Make sure your topics match what hosts are already searching for, or you won't get matched on platforms like PodMatch.
Use the right tools. Carl walked through PodMatch live — showing how to search for shows, read host profiles, and pitch effectively. He also shared MyPublicist.AI as an AI-driven alternative for finding podcast opportunities outside of a matching platform.
Track everything. A simple tracking sheet keeps your outreach organized, your follow-ups on time, and your progress visible.
Follow up — every time. After the recording, send a thank you. Ask for a virtual coffee. Carl has landed clients, referral partners, and joint ventures simply by taking that extra step after the mic goes off.
The opportunity is real. There are 100 million people who want to be podcast guests. There are fewer than 800,000 active shows. The math is in your favour — if you actually show up.
Connect with Carl:
Tools mentioned:
Also in this session:
— PARTNERS ON THIS EPISODE —
Canada Growth Network — A business community with a full CRM and automation suite built for SMBs and solopreneurs. $47 CAD/month. Real tools. Real people.
Profit10™ — Take the free Profit Snapshot. Ten questions that show you where your business is strong and where it's leaking profit.
Gentry Learning — Fred Crouch's real estate education platform. Courses, active listings, an Investor Club, and a free newsletter.
Next Steps
Carl (00:05)
it's an honor to be doing this I'm so thrilled to be here at at CGN. we're gonna be talking a lot about podcasting today. More on the guesting side of things. but there are a couple of things as we get started that that I did want to share with you.
Just to sort of set the stage, number one is there are as of the as of this meeting today, something like four million to five million podcasts out there. Now that sounds like a big number, but when you compare that to, for example, the number of websites, it's not that many at all. All right. But it's one of those things that keeps people stuck in wanting to be in the podcasting space. They say, Whoa, whoa, there's too many out there.
To which I say, well, let's compare it. And they go, yeah, good point. Maybe there aren't so many out there. But more interesting is the number of active podcasts. And I don't want to get into this big long discussion about Podfade and why people stop doing their show. But just for the sake of the discussion, there are about 750,000, depending on which way the wind is blowing any particular given day. active podcasts in the podcast universe, so to speak.
Let me ask you this question though. How many people are wanting to be guests on podcasts? There are about four to five million podcasts out there. How many people are looking to be guests on podcasts? 10,000? That's that's a good number. Yeah, 10,000. a little bit higher than that. all of them.
Yes, yes. Everyone should be a guest on a podcast. If they were, I would have no issue finding work. Let's put it that way. the actual answer is about a hundred million people that want to be guests on podcasts. Now that covers many different genres of shows.
topics, themes, things like that. But think about that. That means there are more people wanting to be guests than there are folks wanting to be hosts. So that means there's a huge opportunity for you, firstly, if you want to be a host. But that also means that, there are opportunities out there for you to get on those podcasts so you can elevate your brand, your business, and your credibility. And what I want to walk through with you today is something that I've
Done a it's a it's a presentation I've given actually a few times, but I want to share my screen and walk you through it because there's a lot of nuggets in here that I think will be very beneficial. so and by and again, it's called getting podcasts and speaking gigs because when I first carved out this presentation.
Couple of years ago, it was more aimed at speaking gigs, but now the space I work in pretty much all the time is related directly to podcasting. So let's dive into this a little bit more from a podcasting perspective. So first off, if being a guest on podcasts is something that you're looking at doing, don't just think about it. make it your plan or intend it.
Right. there are so many people that I chat with who say, yeah, I'm thinking about being a guest on podcast. Guess what? Thinking about being a guest on podcast and actually being a guest on podcasts are two completely different things. So don't just think about it. Actually do it. Make it your plan. And then from there, as you're making this your plan, say for example, maybe it's the, you know, for the rest of this calendar year, or maybe it's even into next year, decide how many do you want to be on? Do you want to be on shows every week?
Do you want to be on shows once a month, twice a month? Are you ambitious and want to be on shows daily? If you do, good for you. you have more energy than I do. But certainly, if that's what you want, then by all means go and do that. But make that decision, make it your intention, decide how many you want to be on, and then the next phase or the next step is to decide where it is you want to speak. Now, this is more in the speaking realm of things, but it also applies for podcasting, because even though
Podcasts are global and most of them are recorded remotely. There are still a number of people who host podcast guests on location in a studio, whether it's a a recording studio that they've rented or it's a space that they've converted into a studio in their office. And I actually have a client who does that. Every time he's traveling, he wants to be on podcasts in the city that he's visiting, if it can align. So
So if that's something you want to do, make that decision. So, where geographically, if you're traveling a lot for business, where do you want to speak in the world? or what types of shows are most attractive to you and your business and the types of clients that you want to go after too? Think of the types of podcasts that you want to be on. Now, for example, Bernie, as a podcaster, if he said, you know what, I'm going to be a podcast guest, I'm going to make that something that that's my mission this year, likely.
And I'm not just assuming, but likely Bernie is going to be talking about business or networking or human connection, you know, connecting people together because he is a get this right, Bernie, a synergy architect, I believe is a correct term. So he's going to be looking for shows that bring people together or where he can talk about that, or he can talk about business. and he's also ideally going to get on shows where he can talk about his own.
Podcast, which of course is knack for business and doing very successfully with the show. Congratulations, Bernie. So, what are the types of podcasts that you want to be on, or what are the types of stages? And I consider, by the way, and and I'm drawing this out now, I consider a podcast to be a stage. So if you're looking for speaking gigs, don't dismiss podcasts as a potential stage or a springboard to a physical stage. Think of it as a stage as well. All right. next, when do you want to speak?
You know, do you want to speak what time of day are you available? Is it is it is it a a Monday to Friday, nine to five? Do you only want to record on Thursdays between two and four? Figure that out because that'll help you find the shows that most align with your schedule. And if you're flexible, even better. Most hosts can be flexible, but they probably have a little bit more rigid schedule for batch recording or recording their episodes. So
Think about that if you can be flexible, even better if you're doing that. then I want you to think about the topics. Think about the topics you can cover. You know, I can talk about podcasting all the live-long day on a podcast. I can talk about Star Trek because I'm a trekkie. However, I I wouldn't necessarily talk about it on a podcast, but if it did come up, I could carry on a conversation about it. I couldn't probably talk about how to build a house.
It's just not something I do. I have very limited knowledge and very limited experience in that. unless it was how to start a podcast about how to build a house, then I could definitely do that. But I but I couldn't talk about that. So think about the topics or think about the themes that you are prepared to talk about. And I want you to be specific when you do this, but I also want you to think think outside of the box and try and eliminate jargon when you do this. Because when you go and set up
your profile on podmatch. We're gonna talk about that in just a minute. When you set up your profile on podmatch, it's to your benefit to make sure that your tagging or your topics are in alignment with what's already out there. Otherwise you won't get matched on shows. All right. so what are the topics that you can speak on? No more than three to four. Okay. And these can be you you you you you can also work in titles into this by the way. Okay. as you're doing this, make sure you're also setting up a tracking sheet to
Well, to track your progress. When I started doing this, it was for a client in Germany, and this was 2021, I want to say, maybe 2022. So before the huge uptick in the use of AI. So we were doing it manually. Google searches, researching the podcasts, trying to find the person to connect with to book on those shows. It was a lot of work. AI has made it so much easier to do that.
but certainly having a tracking sheet so I could actually have everything sequential or be able to track, okay, how many emails did I send again to this person? follow-up emails, did this one get recorded? I can actually keep track of everything. So it's going to help you stay on target for sure. If you're wanting to be guests on podcasts, if you're wanting to be a guest, not guests, you could probably only be one. You can't be several people. if you're wanting to be a guest on podcasts,
Don't hesitate to ask for help. You know, Bernie's a seasoned podcaster. Ask him, Bernie, do you have an opening for a guesting opportunity to be on your show? I'd if if you do, I'd love to be on. Start the conversation. Or, you know, we're all connected to networks like this one. I am I am in a couple of different networking groups, and I will mention this every now and again. Yeah, I'm looking to guest on podcasts, and there are people that get most of their podcast booking gigs through.
Asking people who know who they know through their networks, through their colleagues, through even through social media. that can be a little bit of a daunting task as well. But it doesn't hurt to at least test the waters by doing that. So ask for help. internet searches. I talked about that a little bit when I was talking about my client in Germany and how it was a bit of a a huge task to do research, but now AI makes it even easier to do that because you can literally type in to your AI
Chatbot, say, hey, here's shows I'm looking to be on as a podcast guest. Here's some topics, here's some themes. What shows can you set me up with? So you want to make sure obviously that you're using the right prompts to do that. But AI can be very helpful in finding those podcasts. And as a matter of fact, there's a tool I'm going to share at the end that will as a great resource if you're looking at doing it outside of a resource like PodMatch, which I'll talk about in just a moment. But if you're looking at doing it outside of PodMatch, then
it will be beneficial for sure because it it is an AI-driven tool that allows you to search podcasts within the tool, right? Just it's so much easier that way. A podcast guesting host site, host site. There are several of them out there. The one that I really like is PodMatch. I don't get any royalties by saying that. I just say that I really like PodMatch, and you should check it out for sure. It's they are big on issue, ethics.
And standards and k and and community standards. So ethics and community standards. So if there's any funny business, so for example, if the host doesn't show up or the guest doesn't show up, or as has happened with one of my clients, where my client was pitched by a host for business, in other words, come and be my client before the recording even happened, and then wasn't permitted to do the recording because they weren't a client.
That's kind of a little bit sneaky, not so ethical. So PodMatch is really trying to protect the integrity of its community, the shows, the members within its community. So when stuff like that happens, there is a reporting system right in place. I can show PodMatch actually. so you have a little bit of a a taste for for what it's like, a quick taste. It's like an amoose boosh. I'm gonna do a whole deep dive into it, but you'll get a little taste, a little sampling.
But they're so big on their issues and ethics over there at PodMatch that three strikes and you're rev, just like baseball, right? So it's definitely beneficial, though, to organize or get organized in a podcast guesting and hosting site. Podmatch is just one of them. There are several others out there. And then finally, make sure you submit. This is more in the speaking space. CFP. CFP stands for Call for Speaker. But there are folks who are podcast hosts who, for example, have waivers that they're asking you to sign or
A guest intake form, which organizes your bio, your social media handles, topics you're going to be covering, maybe some questions that you're prepared to answer, and any other applications that you feel are necessary that the host needs to know. So make sure you submit all of that so the host doesn't have to chase after you. Hosts, I am one, I can say this. They hate, maybe hate is a strong word, but they really don't like chasing after guests. So any information you can provide the host free and easy.
makes it much easier for them to properly introduce you and also give you a fantastic experience when you are a guest on their show. And the big thing, what's the saying? the detail is in the follow-up. follow up. Whether that's as you're going through this process of looking for shows, if you haven't heard from a host to get a yes or a no, f send a follow-up email or what whatever process you implement, follow up with them.
after the show has been recorded. If the host hasn't followed up with you, which most of them usually will, if nothing else, to say thank you, follow up with them and say, hey, I really appreciated our conversation. If there's an opportunity, grab a virtual coffee with them. See if there are any other synergies for business or joint venture. You never know where those next connections, even you know, for somebody who's a, you know, for a super connector. Example, here's a really good example.
Bernie is a synergy architect. I consider him to be like a super connector. If you if you're looking for someone, you say, Bernie, I am looking for this type of individual. Here's who who do you know? And if Bernie doesn't know someone, Bernie likely knows someone who knows who you're looking for. All right. So making creating that connection with Bernie is a really good one. So don't hesitate to continue the conversation and
Start to build that relationship outside of the show once the recording has finished. It really can lend quite nicely to you. I've actually gotten clients and prospects and connection partners by doing that, by having a follow-up coffee afterwards, learning more about their business and what it is that they're looking for. I don't push, I don't you know, pitch them if they're interested in my services. Obviously, I will book another call and and dive into that.
But I genuinely I genuinely want to know more about what it is that they do and how I can best support them. And maybe there is a path to working together and somehow, but it takes that extra step to say, hey, I was really honored to be a guest on your show, Bernie. Thank you so much. Are you open to a virtual coffee to explore synergies beyond what we did on the show? And Bernie most likely will. There's two answers, right? There's yes or there's no. And if it's somebody like Bernie, it's probably going to be yes.
I'm gonna move over to Podmatch because I want to show you what that is all about. this is set up so that hosts can view and guests can view. So right now it's on the hosting profile, searching for guests. Okay, so I'm gonna click over to hosts.
And as a guest, this is what you will see. Okay, and you'll see here where it says search, pretty standard. It's a search bar. and this is where, if you remember, I mentioned tagging and making sure your topics are not too broad or there's no jargon in them, because if there are, it'll be harder to search. But if we just type in business, actually let's type in business strategy just for fun. Let's see what comes up.
Bernie is a business guy, talks about strategy a lot, has interesting guests on his show. and let's say Bernie is looking to get on podcasts. Let's see what comes up under business strategy. there's quite a few here. and there's no ranking order specifically for how they come up. They just come up. So let's just pick one. Let's see what this one looks like. yep, this looks like it's a good one. So it's going to firstly
Tell you the name of the show. So this is podcasting for financial professionals. We can tell already this might not be the best fit for Bernie, but it might be. You never know. let's dive a little deeper. There's a description of the podcast, there's some administrative details. how many episodes has this person had? The language, very important because podcasts are in multi-languages. is it in-person or remote? It can be, in this case, it's both. So this person is more than happy to do an in-person recording.
When that's possible, or it can be remote, meaning just from the comfort of your own home office or whatever. any age, very important. Then just a note here that Podmatch only provides content for users over the age of 18. However, having said that, good to note age because some content is aimed at seniors or is aimed at young adults. As I said, it's a very broad platform. So if there was a specific audience that you were looking to get in front of, say maybe it's
women entrepreneurs between the ages of 35 and 54, then this might populate here. this person is requiring a guest fill out a form, all sorts of other information here. Availability, how long is the recording? Is it audio or both? Because there are still a lot of audio podcasts out there. Believe it or not, audio is still king. even though YouTube is the main platform for audio listening, audio is still the number one way in which people are consuming podcast content.
Speaking of listening to podcast content, here is where you can go and listen to some episodes before you decide if this is a show that you'd like to pitch. Not only does it give you an idea for what the show sounds like and the flow of it, it gives you some information so that when you do go and pitch the show, you have something you can talk about. You can say, Hey there, Virginia. I was just listening to your podcast episode with Bernie Franzgrote, love the conversation. I think I'd be a great
guest on your show and here's why. And then you can go into the pitch and stuff like that. But you can listen directly here. Who the ideal guest is, This is who Virginia is looking to have on her show. Now this matches with my profile so it's probably not the greatest match because a lot of what I think she's going to be talking about is in the financial space, financial planning, business growth
Podcast marketing and podcasting can talk about that all the live long day. So might be a great fit, but maybe not the best fit for me unless we're talking about podcasting. Okay. Good to note here that Virginia is also a podcast guest. So if Bernie was pitching Virginia after he did his recording with Virginia, he could say, Hey Virginia, I really enjoyed the conversation today. Would you like to be a guest on my show? So they could do a podcast swap. So that's a neat little piece of information there.
What you need to know about the show of the flow, the audience itself, and then the part I like at the bottom is reviews. Guests get to review hosts, and hosts get to review guests. And for the most part, experiences are positive, but you never know. Like I mentioned earlier, when there's funny business going on, sometimes those hit the review platform as well. So
Really good to make sure you're up on your your ethics and standards and stuff like that. So that's a quick look at PodMatch and what I wanted to share with you today. I will post those links in the chat just so you have them at your resource there. One is the link to podmatch, and the other is the link to mypublicist.ai. So you can check out both of those resources as you are taking the steps to be a guest on podcasts.