How to Be a Guest on a Podcast: The Definitive PR Pro's Guide

As a PR professional, you know the media landscape has fundamentally changed. The most authentic, engaging, and high-impact earned media opportunities are no longer just in print or on TV; they're in the headphones of millions of dedicated podcast listeners.

Securing guest spots for your clients is a core strategy for building thought leadership, but the process is fraught with challenges. Hosts are drowning in generic pitches, and finding the right shows can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack.

This guide is your definitive playbook. It provides a repeatable, five-step professional workflow that covers everything from initial discovery to ensuring your client shines on the mic.

Step 1: Discover High-Value Podcast Opportunities

A successful campaign begins with a high-quality, targeted media list. Efficient discovery is your first competitive advantage.

• The DIY Approach: You can spend hours manually searching directories like Apple Podcasts or Listen Notes. This often leads to a long list of shows, many of which are inactive, don't feature guests, or have no clear contact information. It's a slow process that burns valuable time.
• The Podseeker Way: A professional workflow starts with a powerful podcast search engine built specifically for PR. In Podseeker, you can instantly apply essential filters to zero in on viable opportunities. Filter for shows that are Active, confirm they Have Guests, and see if they have Verified Emails, turning days of manual research into minutes of strategic list-building.

Step 2: Vet and Qualify Your Target List

A long list of potential podcasts is just a starting point. The crucial next step is to vet each show to create a prioritized shortlist for your client.

• The DIY Approach: This typically involves creating a chaotic spreadsheet. You'll jump between each podcast's website, social media profiles, and listening apps, manually copying and pasting data to make educated guesses about their relevance and reach.
• The Podseeker Way: Our podcast database provides the key intelligence you need in one clean interface. You can see estimated listener numbers, social followings, and recent topics at a glance. This allows you to quickly categorize your list into tiers (e.g., Tier 1 "reach" shows vs. Tier 2 "niche authority" shows) and focus your energy where they will have the most impact.

Step 3: Craft a Pitch That Actually Gets Replies

This is the most critical step in the entire workflow. A great media list is useless if your pitch gets deleted. Hosts of quality podcasts are inundated with requests, and most pitches fail because they are generic, self-serving, and irrelevant.

Your pitch, representing your client, must be a breath of fresh air. It needs to be personalized, focused on providing value to the host's audience, and incredibly easy for them to say "yes" to.

Here’s how to do it professionally.

• The DIY Approach: The foundation of a great pitch is deep personalization. This means you must prove you've done your homework. Reference a specific, recent episode you listened to and explain why it resonated. Then, frame your entire pitch around the value your client can bring to the listeners. A common mistake is to lead with your client's bio; instead, lead with a compelling topic that solves a problem for the show's audience. For detailed templates, specific subject line examples, and a full breakdown of the anatomy of a winning email, you can use our comprehensive guide: See 5+ Podcast Pitch Examples That Get Booked.

• The Podseeker Way: Our podcast pitch tool is designed to accelerate this process without sacrificing quality. We know a blank page is intimidating. Our AI helps you generate a highly relevant first draft by analyzing the podcast's recent content and blending it with your client's profile. This gets you 90% of the way there, faster. You can then add your own strategic insights and that crucial human touch before sending it directly from your own email account through our platform.

Step 3: Craft a Pitch That Actually Gets Replies

Most podcast pitches are ignored because they are generic and self-serving. Your pitch, representing your client, must be the opposite: personalized, value-driven, and incredibly easy for the host to say "yes" to.

• The DIY Approach: You can start with a basic template and manually customize it for each show, referencing a recent episode you listened to and explaining why your client is a good fit. This is the minimum standard for professional outreach. For detailed guides and proven templates, you can check out our post on podcast pitch examples.
• The Podseeker Way: Our podcast pitch tool accelerates this process without sacrificing quality. It helps you draft a highly personalized pitch by combining your client's bio with the specific podcast's recent topics, guests, and social presence. This gives you a sophisticated, relevant starting point that you then perfect with your own expertise and human touch.

Step 4: Master the Art of the Follow-Up

Sending a great pitch is only half the battle. Podcast hosts are busy. A polite and strategic follow-up is often what secures the booking.

• The DIY Approach: You can try to track your follow-ups in a spreadsheet, but it's a manual process prone to error. When should you follow up? How many times is too many? Did they even open the first email? It's a memory game that doesn't scale.
• The Podseeker Way: Podseeker's integrated tracking system solves this entire problem. By integrating with your email, it automatically tracks when your pitches are opened and replied to. You can see at a glance who has engaged with your pitch and whose inbox needs a gentle nudge. This turns a guessing game into a data-informed process.

Step 5: Prepare Your Client to Be a Great Guest

Booking the interview is your win; a great performance is your client's win. As their coach, your job is to prepare them to shine.

• The DIY Approach: You'll schedule a prep call to brief your client. You'll share your research on the host, advise them on key talking points, and remind them of best practices for sounding great on mic.
• The Podseeker Way: Your preparation becomes much more powerful when it's fueled by the data you gathered in the initial steps. Use the insights from Podseeker to inform your training. Brief your client on the host's specific interview style, the types of questions they ask, and the topics their audience loves most. A data-driven prep session is what elevates a guest's performance from good to unforgettable.

What About Podcast Matching Services?

When researching this topic, you will inevitably come across matching services like PodMatch or PodcastGuests.com. These platforms act like a directory where hosts and potential guests can create profiles and find each other.

These services can be useful, especially for individuals just starting out or for hosts looking to fill their content calendar quickly. However, for a PR professional aiming to land high-impact placements for a client, this approach has significant limitations.

Top-tier podcast hosts and their producers rarely, if ever, browse these platforms to find guests. They rely on their trusted networks and inbound pitches from credible sources. A professional podcast outreach strategy is proactive, not passive. It involves identifying the perfect shows—whether they are on a matching service or not—and building a direct, one-on-one relationship through personalized outreach. While matching services have their place, they are not the path to securing spots on the industry's most influential podcasts.

Beyond the Booking: Turning Outreach into Long-Term Relationships

The workflow above will get your clients booked. But the ultimate goal of professional PR is to build a network of host relationships that become a valuable asset for your agency or brand.

Every step in this process—from the personalized research in your pitch to the polite persistence in your follow-up—is a deposit in your relationship bank. When you consistently bring high-quality, well-prepared guests to the table, hosts will remember you.

• The DIY Approach: This relies entirely on your personal organization and memory. Tracking the history of your relationship with hundreds of hosts over time becomes nearly impossible.
• The Podseeker Way: By centralizing all your communications and contact history in one platform, Podseeker becomes your team's "institutional memory." You have a clear, searchable record of every interaction with every host, making it easy to nurture relationships over the long term and turn a one-time booking into a lasting partnership.