How I got thousands of new listeners by being a guest on ONE podcast.
Hey Pod Pals!
This newsletter was lovingly curated (without the use of any AI) in real time on Thursday morning at 8:25am CST.
I'v got a nice little Thursday morning writing prep routine going right now:
-Get moving (go for a walk, jump rope, stretch)
-Read (I dive into 1-2 newsletters that I subscribe to)
-Write a little bit (I usually post something on Threads)
-Sip some cold brew coffee and write my newsletter......so let's do this!
Real quick before we dive into this week's topic.... ⤵️
I'm focused on helping podcasters SOLVE these four specific problems:
1. How to optimize your podcast launch.
2. How to grow your podcast past 1,000 downloads per episode.
3. How to convert more podcast listeners into paying clients.
4. How to simplify your online business so it feels easy, lucrative, and fun.
If you want to explore how we can work together to solve these problems hop on my free Podcast Profit Potential Discovery Call calendar.
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This week we are going to answer this question:
🚨 How do I grow my audience by optimizing each opportunity to be a guest on someone else's podcast?
Guesting on someone else's podcast is a GREAT way to grow your own podcast audience...but the results will vary greatly based off of how strategic you are with each guesting opportunity.
I have a GREAT story to tell you about podcast guesting so we will start there Pod Pals....
Back in 2017 the really big thing that every podcaster was trying to do was to make the New & Noteworthy list for our category on Apple Podcasts.
Back then ANYONE could make it....even if you weren't famous! (Sadly....it's not like that anymore).
At the time I had a health/weight loss podcast called The Million Pound Mission, so I was always keeping an eye on the health charts and that New & Noteworthy section.
I was checking the charts religiously day after day for MONTHS and I noticed something weird (some of you OG podcasters will remember this!)......
The New & Noteworthy section was frozen with the same podcasts stuck there for about 18 months in a row!
Back then Apple didn't have any competitors like Spotify, etc so they didn't rush to fix this glitch (if they were even aware of it at all!).
All I knew was that the podcasters on this list had seriously lucked out and they were scooping up thousands of new subscribers each month by being featured......and this gave me an idea.
I had never been a guest on another podcast before, but I knew if I could get on one of these shows it would be huge for my audience growth. So I did some research and found out that the #1 ranked show had a guest application process.
There was ONE tiny issue....they only allowed doctors onto their show. So here's the deal....I decided to tell I little bitty lie when I filled out my application....LOL
I had listened to the show and it was solid content but all of these doctors were BORING and I knew I had the goods to spice things up.
My pitch was as follows: "I've personally lost over 100 lbs, then I started a local fitness bootcamp that helped my clients in my hometown lose over 35,000 lbs, then I launched my Million Pound Mission podcast to help my audience members lose over one MILLION pounds. -Sincerely, Adam Schaeuble PhD"
That little addition of PhD got me on the show......and I KILLED IT!
The host loved it so much that they wanted me to come back on the show for their first show of the new year!
At this point I was feeling a bit guilty about my lie on my application and I admitted that the PhD stood for "previously heavy dude"......and they thought it was hilarious...thank goodness!
By being a guest multiple times on this podcast I was able to scoop up thousands of new listeners and it eventually got my own show ranked on the health charts (once everything un-froze!).
This all led me to being a guest on 50 of the top 200 shows in the health niche over a two year period.....which lead to some pretty explosive audience growth!
I gained a ton of experience as a guest and now I have a pretty dialed in process to make sure I am fully prepared to optimize each guesting opportunity.
📌 Here are my FIVE strategies I use to prepare to be a guest on a podcast:
1. Prepare for your audience.
You have to understand who you are going to be talking to and what you will most likely be talking about. I always try to be the "sub-niche expert" within a larger niche.
Example: If I'm going on a business podcast I want to be the podcasting niche expert guy. If I'm going on a podcast/content creator podcast I want to be the business niche expert guy.
2. Map out a few key talking points/topics that might be covered in the interview.
I always try to think about 2-3 of the most likely discussion topics that might come up during the interview. If needed I can review some of my best content and talking points on those topics before I do the interview.
3. THIS ONE IS GOLD: Have a quick reference sheet of your podcast episodes that are related to the most likely discussion points.
If you only use one of these strategies, this is the one to use!
My goal is to reference 1-2 of my specific episodes during an interview.
As we wrap up a topic I will say something like "and before we move on if you want to dive a little deeper into what we've been talking about be sure to check out episode XYZ of my show Podcasting Business School!"
Then the host always says "Great! I will add that to the show notes!"
This strategy is SO much better than just doing a general CTA of "check out my podcast wherever you listen to podcast audio!"...
this is because we have just given them the appetizer and they want MORE.....so we give them a specific episode to start with.
I've gotten so many CLIENTS from this strategy!
✔️ They hear me on a show as a guest.
✔️ They hear me shout out a specific episode.
✔️ They listen to the specific episode (and then start binge listening).
✔️ They hear me repeat a simple CTA over and over again.
✔️ They do a discovery call and become a client.
*Note: This strategy ONLY works if you number your episodes within the title.
You cannot tell them to go find the one about XYZ.
If I tell you to go to any podcast player and find episode 560 of Podcasting Business School you can do it in about 3 seconds.
If I tell you to go find the episode about doubling your podcast downloads with SEO and Organic Discovery.....good luck!
4. Be memorable!
I'm not just talking about having a great personality or having the ability to tell a few jokes (but that doesn't hurt!)....
I always set a goal to do these two things:
🎯 Name drop at least one of my processes or frameworks (which I have named) like The 2/3 Content Rule for Expert Positioning or The Podcasting Success Timeline.
🎯 Include a story that involves a client getting great results.
If the host asks you a question that relates to a problem that you solve for your clients, it makes a lot of sense to use a client results story as an example when you reply to their question.
Example: If I'm on your show and you ask me about podcast growth techniques that nobody knows about I'm going to tell the story about how I used my Quick & Dirty Rebrand (note the named process!) to help my client Laurie-Ann 4x her best week of podcast downloads ever.
5. Optimize your "shout out" time at the end.
This is where most of us screw it up by either giving way to many CTA's or one really sucky one like "check out my show!"
When a host gives me the floor at the end of an interview I have two specific goals:
🎯 Name drop a specific episode of my show that makes sense for the audience to start off with.
🎯 Mention a CTA that will get them on my email list. For me this is my amazing newsletter that you are currently reading.
Podcast guesting is a great way to grow your own show and the best part is that it involves ZERO social media effort....YAY!
Next week I'm hosting a free workshop where I'm talking about FIVE of my favorite ways to grow my show without social media. You can sign up HERE.
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🤩 Client Testimonial of the week: My client Brenda Meller has a show called the Enthusiastically Self Employed.
Check out what she has to say about being in my group coaching program:
"My favorite part is having access to an expert like Adam. He has been there and done that and he gives us great ideas on how to improve our podcast, our marketability, and how to GROW. Whenever I do the work he suggests, I see the results. I have to say that this is an investment that will definitely get you the ROI that you're looking for!"
You can use this link to get 50% off your first month of group coaching. (expires 12.31.25)
New Content for this week:
🎙️ Podcasting Business School EP 596: How to prepare now for the 2026 podcast growth window.
I'm excited for you to listen to this episode because SO FEW podcasters understand this concept!
January through May is the BEST time period to scoop up new audience members for your podcast.
In this episode I will break down why that is and what you should be doing right now to optimize this growth window.
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❤️ If you have been enjoying my newsletter I'd really appreciate it if you would share it with one of your Pod Pals that might get value out of this content!
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Talk to you next week!
Your Pod Pal,
Adam
⭐️ P.S. Ready for some help with your podcast launch, growth, or with getting more clients from your podcast?
Hop on my calendar for a Podcast Profit Potential Discovery Call and we can discuss how we can work together.