Are you a podcaster who’s looking to find the perfect guest for your show? Do you want to make sure that each guest you choose is a good fit for your podcast and the type of content you produce? Then PodMatch might be for you! In this episode, Tracy Hazzard  explains what PodMatch is, how it works, and whether it’s worth using. PodMatch connects speakers with producers based on what they’re looking for, how much they’re willing to pay, and how long it will take them to find someone. PodMatch is just a really sophisticated and easy-to-use platform that streamlines the process of finding people who are right for your show. Sounds too good to be true? Tune in and let’s find out!

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Watch the episode here

 

Listen to the podcast here

 

PodMatch As Automatic Interview Matching For Podcast Guests: Is It Worth It?

We are entering the guesting month. We’re going to do four episodes in a row on guesting. The reason we’re doing that is because it’s such a critical factor, whether you are a podcaster or not yet. It’s a way to use other people’s audiences to grow your own. Remember, it’s like for like. If you’re guesting on a podcast, there are already podcast listeners there. It’s easy to get them to come to your show if you’re doing a podcasting swap. That’s what we call it when we guest on other people’s shows and we already have a show. If we invite someone to our show and we go on their show, we’re doing a podcast swap.

Pat Flynn and I did that way back. It was good for both of us. We were able to get listeners to come to each other’s shows. It’s a great way to do that because there are already listeners out there. Finding the right show can be challenging. I’ve tested out a ton of different podcast-matching programs. There were some that were not anywhere close to having a good selection of guests. There were others that were completely overrun by PR agents and other things, so it wasn’t really even the person who was guesting on there. There are others that work in a completely different way.

I have come to my favorite one. We have struck a partnership, and we’re going to be featuring them with PodMatch. Alex Sanfilippo is one of my favorite people. I love to listen to him. I love his perspective on podcasting. He’s got a really big heart, but he’s got some amazing tools. There’s a Binge Factor episode that I did where I interviewed him. Make sure to read it, know what he’s all about, and learn why he created PodMatch, PodcastSOP, and some other tools that he’s created in his toolbox. He’s got a mastermind and all kinds of things. He’s an amazing guy.

Maximizing PodMatch

I want to share PodMatch now. My goal is to show you how I am using it because it’s the process by which you use these tools that make it more useful. This is a better tool than others, and what I want to point out is the tool is working for you and doing a lot of the heavy lifting so you don’t have to do as much searching, sorting, and all kinds of things like that. I’m going to demo it in the way that I use it so that you can fully understand how to maximize the value you’re going to get from this tool. Keep in mind, this is a really inexpensive tool. It’s $12 a month or something like that. It’s so incredibly cheap.

 

 

I’m not giving you a tool that is going to cost you hundreds of dollars. I’m giving you a tool that’s inexpensive to use. I want to make sure that you’re using it to its full advantage because it’s inexpensive. I’m going to share my screen. For those of you who are reading, you may want to go to the website and check out some of the screenshots for this. Go to FeedYourBrand.co or Podetize.com/FeedYourBrand and check this out. This is the PodMatch website. This is where you would start if you didn’t already have an account. I have an account, and I’m going to demo that for you. You would say I’m a podcast host, I’m a podcast guest, or I’m both. That’s a wonderful thing.

If you’re going to click I’m both, you’re going to start to set up an account and enter your information. You can say, “Were you referred by someone?” Please, say us. It doesn’t matter. We’re not getting any kickbacks here. We don’t believe in that. We just want you to be able to have the tools that you need to be able to get where you’re going. This is very important, the enter the email. When you’re doing this as a podcast host, the email address must match your podcast RSS feed.

For me, that’s not my normal email address. It is an email address that my company is associated with, but somebody else receives that email. In order to do this properly, you have to make sure you have access to that email. If you’re using a producer and you’re not in control of your RSS feed, you must get control of it temporarily or have them forward you the email. Otherwise, you cannot make this registration work for you. This is a critical factor, something that you might need to get ahead of time or work on it ahead of time. I’m going to go back to the menu because I’m going to log in and show you what it looks like.

I am now logged into my backend of this. I am looking at what I’m going to call the Dashboard Section. I just clicked on that to show you again. It’s going to give me messages about the things that I might need to do in the system. I have a to-do list over here. These guest interviews require dates and time. This is giving me a to-do list of everything that I might do. I have interviews, 2 unscheduled, 1 upcoming, and 6 completed. This is what I’ve done in the last couple of months. I’m not in a heavy interview process because I only do four episodes a month. I was just testing this out. I only wanted to do two a week from PodMatch because I already had a list of people that I was working with, and I already have guests lined up for the next couple of months.

 

 

The Podcast Page: Editing Your Profile

I don’t want to get too far ahead on my feet, so I’m being cautious and careful here. It will say the average reviews and average response time, and you get commissions sometimes from referring people in or doing things. I can also prioritize the matches. I can match for podcast guest or podcast host. You can do it either way. I’m looking for a guest on my particular show, so I would leave it at podcast guest. If I was looking to guest on other people’s shows, I would prioritize it to podcast host because I want to be able to host on their show. That’s it. What I want to do is show you what my profile looks like. You edit the podcast page because I’m going to start there.

This is what my podcast page looks like. This is the podcast that I chose to put into the system, so I have The Binge Factor here. Here on the show, we don’t take interviews, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to register a show here that I’m not taking interviews on. My ideal guest criteria are they must be a podcast host or I will not take them on my show. This is a critical factor. What you identify as criteria must be a podcaster or podcast host, 25 episodes, and podcasters. These are things that I selected in their onboarding process so that it refines and get me the right people. It means no one really should be suggested to me that doesn’t already meet these four pieces of criteria or these four categorizations.

I also put a note here which says, “I only interview podcast hosts who would like more publicity for their show. They must post consistently and constantly at least 1 time per week, and have at least 25 episodes already published.” That’s my minimum criteria. I interview people with 100 episodes or more, commonly. Here’s a description. This autofill straight from the description of my RSS feed. If you don’t have a good podcast description and you only have a little paragraph, yours will be a lot smaller than mine. I want to learn more about this podcast. I’ve linked my podcast website. I’ve linked the Apple feed. That’s what hooks there. They automatically do that. I’ve got all my social media in one place.

This is so wonderful for you if you’re going to vet a show because if I go to that guest and I want to check out their podcast website, I can. This is a critical factor for me when I’m looking at somebody else. I’ll show you that when I go to vet someone for my show. Everything that they need to check me out is all here. It also says down here by my name, “This host is also a podcast guest.” If I click that, I go to my guest profile. For this one, you have to do a little bit more heavy lifting in terms of inserting information because it’s not auto-filling from your RSS feed. I had to put guest tags for the things I talk about.

 

I put a pitch video in here. There’s my image. I have some other approved images that they can use. Here’s my guest website. That’s my TracyHazzard.com, where they can go and get even more information. Here are all my personal social posts. The other ones on the other side of what I just showed you on The Binge Factor, all of Binge Factor’s social media handles, are my personal LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. All of those are all here. It links back, and you can click on Go Back to My Podcast. I’ve got a bio here, which is a short bio.

I’ve got a call to action, which tells them how to go to my podcast so that they can subscribe to my podcast. I kept my call to action really simple. You can have downloads here. You can have all kinds of things so that they’re aware, when they invite you on their show, what downloads you might have and calls to action you might take. I have ideas for episode titles. I put those in. I have questions I’m always ready to answer. It’s prompting you to ask this and fill this out. Do a good job of filling it out. It makes everybody’s job easier on choosing you because they see things that resonate for them.

I put noteworthy podcast episodes I’ve been on. The idea here is I put these episodes that I picked because they’re really interesting. I think that if someone clicked on this and listened to this, they would get a good sense of how I’m different on every show and what kinds of topics I could talk about. They can vet me quickly. I didn’t put my own show here. I put the other shows. I also have here my Getting Interviewed feed, which we’ll talk about towards the end of the month when we talk about repurposing guest interviews. That’s going to be a part of what we’re talking about in our guest spots.

PodMatch Reviews And Messages

Getting Interviewed is an entire feed of about 50 episodes I’ve been on other people’s shows. It has all of the information in one place. If they didn’t love this one or they didn’t want to hear about the key to building a team of pure genius, they could go here, and they could get just about any episode that resonates with them. In PodMatch reviews, some people put a review of me already. I didn’t even notice. I haven’t seen this. The host of CMO Stories put, “Tracy is such an amazing guest, so knowledgeable and easygoing. I feel honored to have her on my CMO Stories podcast.” That’s so wonderful that they did a review.

 

I try to do a review. It’s one of the things on the to-do list. I try to remember to do a review every time I’ve been on somebody’s show. That’s something that you can do for them as well. I’m going to go back to my main page. I’m going to go back to the dashboard again, and I’m going to start showing you how you find matches. This keeps alerting me to the education videos I didn’t watch because I got a personal tour from Alex Sanfilippo, so I didn’t need it. Each day, I get six new matches. I’m getting constant matches that are already being made, and I also have messages. I didn’t clear them for you guys specifically. Normally, I clear them on the first day of the week, but I waited till now so that they would be here.

Finding Your Podcast Match

I don’t go in on a daily basis, but that’s your choice. It depends on how many guests you want to do. I look at the matches that are here and make a decision about Maybe Later, Pass, and Previously Interviewed. I’m looking at that and making a decision. Sometimes, I pin them and tag Cody or a member of my social media team and say, “Can you check them out a little further? I think they’re right, but I would love your view on that. Do you think this is going to be a good episode?” I can get a second opinion by pinning them and having a member of my team check them out for me. That’s also something that I do.

Right here, it says a 58% match. That might not be as strong as I would like. I usually like to see it well over 65%, something like that. I like to see that 65% to 80% match. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong. It just means maybe they’re just not quite there yet. It gives me some details. It gives me that they’ve got a five-star. It gives me the age that matches your criteria. I didn’t have criteria for age, so it’s broad. Availability times, that’s going to work because they do have some times in Pacific Time Zone. They’ve given some basic information. Follower count is what they’re giving you here. This is a follower account on PodMatch. When somebody starts out, it’s not really accurate.

Even though it’s giving him maybe some negative points there, it’s not something that I would critically look at because maybe he’s new to PodMatch, and that has nothing to do with anything. He’s got some tags here. He’s got podcaster in there. I’m going to look at the topics because we’re going to talk about his podcast. We’re not going to talk about him as much on the show. He’s got a lot of information here that I can click and listen to, which I would do. I’m not going to do that right this minute because I’m not going to take the time. I might look at the stories of what shows. He’s been on a finance show and a masterclass. You can view more. You can view all seven of his reviews.

Guesting is such a critical factor, whether you are a podcaster or not yet. It's a way to use other people's audiences to grow your own. Click To Tweet

I’m going to check this out. I’m going to check his podcast page because that matters the most to mind. I’m going to check his podcast website, and I’m going to click that, and it’s going to pop me out to his website page. I’m going to look at this, and I’m going to say, “He has a podcast website page. I can listen to his episodes here. Super easy. He’s made it easy for me to do that.” He’s got blogs, which is something that I love. He published as recently as September 6th, so I know he got a recent one. I’m going to click this one. I’m going to go check out his blog, and I’m going to see how he’s doing with his blogs because this matters.

If someone’s blogging something, even if it’s a short blog, and this is a short blog, that’s perfectly okay, but he’s got connections to his guests. He’s got an About. He’s got his 100th episode. I’ve hit on the fact that he’s done 100 episodes, and I’m here about what they’re talking about. This gives me a good sense of he’s taking podcasting pretty seriously. That makes him a good match for me. I’m looking at all of this. I would listen to the podcast. I would take the time to do that. I’m also going to check his social media because I want to make sure that he has decent social media. He has 1,357 followers and 500 plus connections. We have some mutual connections in place together.

I’m checking this. I will check his activity. He posted 23 hours ago and 4 days ago. He’s sharing his podcast on social media. This is what I know. I know that he’s active here. If he’s active here, he’s going to be actively sharing my show. This makes him a good match for me. Now, I’m going to go back. I would go up here and say, “Let’s message.” I’m going to say, “Dwight, I love to have you on The Binge Factor.” Let’s set that up. I would then send him the link. That’s what I would do here. I’m not going to do this now because I want to send him the link and make a little more personal message. I’m going to do that.

I would go on to the next match. Once you message, it will move you onto the next match. That’s how I would go about doing that. I’m completely vetting them. It did take me about five minutes to look through all of this, and you can listen on double speed, whatever you want to do. All I have to do is listen to the first five minutes of an episode with him, and I’m going to know if he’s right or not. Does he have the right energy? Does he talk clearly? Is he getting to his points? Is he striking up a conversation easily? Is he going to make an attractive message at the end of the day? Is he going to be a good guest that’s going to attract the other listeners? That’s what I’m listening for. I’m going to go for that.

 

If I save him, it’s going to go on to the next one, I believe. Now, I go on to the next one. She’s running in 58%. Same idea and the same ways to go about it. Check out her guest website. She’s also a podcaster. I’m going to go check out her podcast and do the same thing. I’m going to say it’s a no right now because it’s all about her, Amanda’s World. That’s not what we’re about on the Binge Factor. It’s not even a paragraph long.

She’s seventeen, which I’m curious about, but it’s not enough. Her podcast website, because I can see it in the bottom corner, is going to send me to Anchor. It means she’s not really serious. She’s probably got a free account. She’s not serious about her show. This is not going to make it worth my time and my while to interview her, so I’m not going to do it. She didn’t take her own profile seriously. I’m going to hit pass on this one. A pass is easy. You just move on, and you’re on to the next one. This is how the process works.

I can also go into my messages, and I’ll see in my messages there are people with who we’ve connected before. I’m continuing the conversation, The Growth Architect. She just set up the call. I just saw that she came through, and she’s going to be on my show. I’ve got ongoing conversations with all these people, and we’re in various stages of setting them up or approving them. I’ve already had Lucy Liu. I’ve had Scott Daloisio. Their episodes are going to be airing soon. All of this is working for me, and I can look at it from the host view and the guest view. This is where people are inviting me on their podcasts.

Sometimes, it’s really not a good fit, and I’m a little behind on this because I’m not that serious about guesting on other people’s shows. It doesn’t matter as much to me if she says, “Good morning. It would be an honor to have you on my show.” I’d need to check out her details. It’s interesting, 170 nations. Let me look through this. I’d check out her website. I’d listen to the podcast, and I will make a decision if this is going to be worth my time. Is it really going to be ready for me to do that? Is this the right show for me? I don’t have a ton of time to be a guest, so it’s always something that I’m looking for.

PodMatch can work from the very beginning all the way to a seasoned show Click To Tweet

PodMatch: From Beginning To Seasoned Show

I’ve pinned people. I’ve pinned Dwight from before. He shows up here. I’ve got upcoming interviews. This is happening on November 2nd. It’s a while away, but that’s okay because I only do four interviews a month. I’ve got episode release dates coming out. Those aren’t actually the dates. Those are the dates we recorded, but it works still. This is the date that hers is airing. We’re good on that. I can always update and change all of that. This is simply how PodMatch works. I want to make sure you recap this quickly. Make sure you create a thorough profile. Double-check everything for your podcast. Make sure it’s right.

Remember, a lot of the information is coming from your RSS feed. If that’s not right, then that’s where you need to correct it. It will then flow through, and a profile for your podcast will be correct there. Spend extra time in making sure your profile is completely filled out on the guesting side if that’s what you’re interested in because not filling it out shows that you’re not taking the tool seriously. Also, because there’s an AI running underneath all of this, and if it doesn’t have enough data to go on, it’s not going to make as good a match for you. That’s important. Whether it is guesting on somebody’s show or inviting someone to guest on your show, you want to do the vetting. Use the tool here. You don’t have to leave it until you want to check out their website or listen to their show.

Use the tool, and you’re going to have a good indicator, “Is this worth my time or not?” I’m going to do a quick check of their website. I’m going to do a quick listen to their show and make a decision. That’s all you got to do. It’s already helping you through most of that process. Make sure you listen. That’s a critical factor. Let the AI do its work. It’s going to get better. When you selected some people, it’s going to get better over time. It’s going to understand what you’re responding yes to. Make sure you’re always saying pass, already interviewed, or letting the AI know because that’s a factor that it will take into consideration as it’s serving you up the next thing. Make sure you’re doing that.

Most importantly, do it regularly. I only do it on a weekly basis. That’s my choice to do that. You might do it on a monthly basis or a daily basis depending on how many episodes you need to bank up. If you are starting your show and want to launch with 25 episodes, a tool like this can be ideal. If your show is brand new, make sure you tell them that. Make sure you’re clear about that and say, “I have a brand new show, but I think we’d be perfect for each other. I think you’d make a great guest on my show. Here’s why.”

If they’re a podcaster, they know that some of those early episodes are some of the most trafficked episodes of all time. They may say, “I know what it was like to be a brand new podcaster. Because you reached out personally to me and sent me that personal message, I’m going to give you my time and show up on your show.” PodMatch can work from the very beginning all the way to a seasoned show who’s like, “I don’t know who to interview. I think I’ve interviewed everybody in my network. How do I get a new network?” It’s perfect for that as well.

I wanted to share with you a tool that I’m excited about and have been using successfully for a couple of months now, and I’m going to continue using it. There’s no question in my mind. I got tremendous value at it. Every person that I’ve interviewed from this tool and every person that’s been on my show has said the same thing. They said, “We are a perfect match. That AI over at PodMatch is really good.” I wanted you all to know about that, and know a process by which you can use this tool to be successful in both choosing guests for your show and guesting on other people’s shows. Thanks, everyone, for reading. Thanks, everyone.

 

Important Links

• Alex Sanfilippo – Previous Episode
• PodMatch
• Podetize.com/FeedYourBrand
• TracyHazzard.com