Episode 275: 3 Ways to be a Great Podcast Guest with Jessica Rhodes

By Sarah Walton | April 8, 2025

Click here to watch the video version of this podcast episode

You want to be on podcasts! What a great way to be introduced to someone else's audience, share your story and for people to learn about your business and what problems you solve. However, there are some ways to really blow that opportunity as a podcast guest.

Jessica Rhodes founded Interview Connections, back when no other agencies like it existed. She loves helping entrepreneurs who feel like the best-kept secret grow their business online through genuine, human-to-human connection. The podcast interviews Jessica and her team have booked have helped their clients generate millions of dollars in sales, sell thousands of books, and transform countless lives.

Podcasting is a beautiful addition to any marketing plan to help you connect with others.

Starting a podcasting agency

Jessica’s journey to podcasting started when she had her first child. She knew she wanted to work from home. Her father, an entrepreneur and coach, suggested that she become a virtual assistant. He would be her first client.

He wanted to travel less, and was looking to use podcasting as a way to boost his visibility. Jessica shifted from door-to-door canvassing at a non-profit to booking podcast interviews. It was 2013, at the time, the podcast hosts weren’t used to being pitched.

Jessica doubled down and followed the market demand. Since its founding, her company Interview Connections has booked over 30,000 podcast interviews for over 800 clients.

“It's been 11 years since I started the company. And I feel like really in the past year, there's been these moments of clients reflecting back on me, how podcast guesting has changed their lives,” says Jessica.

She says one of the hardest parts of being a leader and innovator is that you are blazing the trail. Her company went through multiple iterations with packages, pricing, how they talked about what they do, what to call their workshops – everything.

“It takes a lot of patience … because there is no instant validation, there's no instant gratification, you get these little wins along the way,” says Jessica. “Sometimes, it takes over a decade sometimes to look back and be like, ‘Oh, I didn't think – wow, I did a lot!’”

How to get the PERFECT guest to say yes to your podcast

Getting started as a podcast guest

Jessica has three important pillars for becoming a podcast guest.

Relationship with the podcast host

A lot of people leverage podcast guesting as a ticket to someone else’s audience, but they have no focus on who the host of the show is.

Podcast interviewing is all about the relationship. It's about networking, collaboration, and having a connection with another human being who's in your line of work and has your target market.

Recognize the value in the interview, even if nobody listens or downloads the show. There’s value in the opportunity to answer questions, share a story and reflect back to you how powerful what you’re saying is.

Jessica recommends connecting with the host on social media and learning about their business.

“I don't think entrepreneurs really understand or know the amount of resources, time and money that goes into having a podcast,” says Jessica. “Whether there's 50 people listening or there's a thousand people listening.”

Repurpose the podcast content

The second pillar of podcast guesting is to repurpose the content: What stories are you talking about? What are you sharing? What anecdotes are you giving? What are you saying about your story? Prepping the host by explaining what you will share will help you have a compelling interview.

Jessica says it’s important to have good quality equipment, from learning how to use your microphone correctly and having good lighting – some audience members might listen to audio only, others might watch clips. When you give a good interview, there are going to be many clips that can be edited and leveraged on social media.

Give a call to action

“Then giving a call to action so that you're able to invite people to connect with you directly if they want to stay in touch with you. That's huge,” says Jessica.

The call to action should be free – it’s not a webinar or a pitch. If you gave a good interview and people liked hearing from you for the first time, where can they get more? It might mean a discovery call, offers to join the guest’s online community – whatever gets a conversation going.

“When somebody hears you on a podcast, they are warm. They are qualified. They feel like they know you. There's so much trust there,” says Jessica. “There is so much less legwork on the back end once they opt in versus an ad lead who's very cold and just kind of you caught their attention.”

Podcasting to generate warm leads

Podcasting can be a great way to generate warm leads. Jessica says this is all about being intentional with show selection. This expands and opens you up to audiences that aren’t in your immediate circle of influence.

Look at your goals for podcast guesting. If it's to generate warm, qualified leads, who is your ideal client? Think about everything you know about that target market.

“What is the information your target audience, your ideal client needs to understand to say, ‘yes, you're the person for me?’ Because that is going to close the gap between somebody who's an ideal client wanting to work with you,” says Jessica.

Podcasting is a long-term strategy. It’s going to take time to refine your message and it’s a skill to give a great podcast interview whether you’re a host or a guest. Stay visible and stay consistent.

It also takes time for people to hear you.

Future of podcasting

The podcast industry is continuing to grow – the medium is not going anywhere. There are more than 3-million podcasts and they are becoming more targeted and niche. This can mean a better return on investment because they’re small podcasts with more concentrated listeners.

“You're going to see really targeted small audiences that drive big results because you're in front of the right people,” says Jessica. At its core, podcasting is a networking strategy.

“Not every show you're going to walk away with a new best friend,” says Jessica. “But if one out of every 10 podcasters that interviews you, you guys end up doing something amazing together, that's incredible. So see the value in every interaction, every opportunity.”