Podcast guesting is the job of getting booked on shows your customers listen to, and arriving ready to be useful once you are there. It takes the Workflow shape and fits in an afternoon: about three hours to build a checked list of shows, write a pitch for each, and draft the talking points you will use once a host says yes. You give the AI what you know, who your customers are, and the short version of your story. It searches for shows that interview guests like you, writes one pitch per show, and turns your expertise into talking points for the interview. You check that every show is real and still publishing, listen to an episode of each, and press send.
- Shape
- Workflow
- Sitting
- an afternoon
The shape: Workflow
This job is a Workflow because it is three steps that hand off to each other, and each one needs a different kind of work. Step one is finding: a list of live shows whose listeners are your customers and whose hosts interview guests. Step two is pitching: one short email per show, each built around something that show has already aired. Step three is preparing: talking points, stories and a guest bio for the interview itself.
The AI does most of the labor inside each step. You sit between the steps and make the calls it cannot make: which shows are real, which are worth an hour of your time, and which topics you can speak to from experience.
That is also why it fits in an afternoon. Steps one and two finish today. Step three is drafted today too, because the talking points barely change from show to show, and having them ready makes your pitch more specific. The interviews themselves come later, on the hosts' calendars.
What you give the AI
Gather these in a plain document before you open the chat.
- What you do and for whom: two lines on the business and the customer you most want more of.
- Three questions customers ask you every week: written as the customer would say them, because those are your best interview topics.
- One story behind each question: a job that went wrong, a customer who surprised you, a mistake you stopped making.
- Your short bio: about a hundred words, written in the third person so a host can read it aloud. If you do not have one, write your founder story first.
- Shows you already know: any podcast you listen to, one a customer has mentioned, and any host you have met at an event.
- One place a host can hear or read you: a talk, a video, an article or a past episode, so they know how you sound.
- Your limits: topics you will not discuss, claims you cannot make in your field, and anything about customers you cannot share.
That is the whole input. If the questions and stories are hard to fill, start there, because a host books a guest for what they can teach the listeners, not for the business.
What comes back
Paste this brief into a chat with web search turned on. It works in ChatGPT or Claude.
You are helping a small business owner get booked as a guest on podcasts.
Read everything below before you start.
Step 1. Find shows.
Start with the shows the owner already knows, listed below.
Then search the web for up to 15 more podcasts whose listeners match the
customers described below and that interview guests.
For each show, return:
- the show name and its page on Apple Podcasts or another podcast directory
- the date of its most recent episode
- the titles of its two most recent guest episodes, copied exactly
- who listens, in one line
- the address of its guest or contact page, or [NOT FOUND]
- any sign it charges guests, or "none seen"
Drop any show with no episode in the last 90 days.
Never invent a host name or an email address.
Then stop and wait. The owner will check each show and reply with the ones to keep.
Step 2. Pitch.
Step 2 starts after the owner replies. Rank the shows they kept by fit with the customers below, and drop any that charge
guests. For the top 5, write a pitch email:
- under 150 words, with a subject line under 10 words
- a first line that names one of the two recent episodes you listed
- two topic ideas built for that show's listeners, each one line
- one or two lines on why this owner can speak to them, using only the
facts below
- [NEED: ...] for any missing fact, instead of guessing
Step 3. Prepare.
Write the owner's interview kit:
- three talking points, each a plain claim in one sentence, with the
owner's story for it in three short lines
- five questions a host is likely to ask, with a two-line answer outline
for each
- one line telling listeners where to go next
- the bio below, cut to 60 words for a host to read aloud
Business and customer: [paste]
Questions customers ask: [paste]
Stories: [paste]
Bio: [paste]
Shows the owner knows: [paste]
Where a host can hear the owner: [paste]
Limits: [paste]What comes back first is a table of up to fifteen shows. Check them as described under How to judge it, then reply with the ones you kept. The AI then returns five pitch emails of a screen or less each, and a one-page interview kit. If the checked list is thin, ask for fifteen more from a different direction: trade association podcasts, shows hosted by suppliers or partners, or local business shows in your area. Two rounds is usually enough.
When a host says yes, come back to the same chat, paste the host's reply and the titles of three of their episodes, and ask the AI to adjust the talking points for that show. The kit should come back as a list you can read in two minutes, not an essay.
How to judge it
You can reject a bad result in about a minute, step by step.
A bad show list has shows you cannot find. Search every name in your own podcast app. If the show does not appear, cross it off; do not ask the AI to try again on that one.
A bad show list is full of dead shows. Check the date of the latest episode in your podcast app, not in the AI's table. Many podcasts stop publishing quietly, and a pitch to a show that ended is a wasted email.
A bad show list ignores guests. If the last ten episodes are all the host talking alone, the show does not book guests, whatever its listeners look like.
A bad pitch could go anywhere. If you could send the same email to all five shows by changing the name at the top, the AI skipped the work. The episode it names should be real, and the topics should only make sense for that show's listeners.
A bad pitch invents. Watch for awards you did not win, years you have not been open, and clients you never had. Any [NEED: ...] markers are good news: the AI admitted a gap instead of filling it.
Bad talking points sound like a brochure. If a point could come from any business in your field, it is missing the thing only you know. A good talking point is a claim a listener could disagree with, plus a story only you can tell.
A bad kit sells. A guest who pitches their business through every answer does not get invited back. The one line telling listeners where to go next is the only place for that.
What stays with you
Checking the shows is yours. The AI can produce a plausible podcast, a plausible host and a plausible booking address that do not exist. Find each show in a podcast app or a directory such as Listen Notes, and take the contact address from the show's own website.
Listening is yours. Play at least part of one recent episode before you pitch. It tells you what the host likes to ask, how long the answers run, and whether you would want your customers to hear you there. It also makes the first line of your pitch true.
The stories are yours. The AI can arrange a talking point, but it cannot supply the job that went wrong or the question a customer asked last week. Those are what listeners remember, and they are what a host books you for.
The claims are yours to check, and so are the rules of your field. If you work in health, finance, law or real estate, read your talking points against your own professional rules, because a recorded answer is hard to take back. Customer details stay out unless the customer has said yes.
The send button is yours, and so is the follow-up. Send each pitch to one named person. Follow up once, about a week later, with one line. Then move to the next show on the list.
The interview is yours. No AI sits in the chair with you. Your voice, your timing and your answers to the questions you did not expect are the whole point of being a guest.
Which shows to pitch first
There is a real choice in step two, and the best first pitch is usually a show where someone already knows you.
| Show type | Why it may say yes | What it usually wants |
|---|---|---|
| A partner's, supplier's or peer's podcast | They know you, and your expertise helps their listeners too | A practical conversation about the customers you share |
| A trade association or industry show | It needs member voices to fill a regular schedule | Specific, field-tested advice from someone doing the work |
| A local business or community show | It covers people and businesses in its area | A local story and a lesson from running your business |
| A larger show in your field with a guest form | It books outside guests on a schedule | A fresh topic, a clear story, proof you speak well |
Start with the first two rows. Pitch the larger shows after you have one episode to point to, because hosts like to hear a guest before booking them.
An editorial example
This is an invented business, used only to show the method.
Say you run a two-person bookkeeping practice that works mostly with restaurants. Your customer list says independent restaurant owners; the shows you know include one hosted by a local restaurant supplier.
The AI might return the supplier's show, a regional hospitality podcast, a show about running a small restaurant, and a general small business podcast. It would likely rank the restaurant show first, because its listeners are exactly the owners you work with. The pitch might open with that show's recent episode on food costs and offer "The three numbers a restaurant owner should read every Monday."
Your edit: you find each show in your podcast app, cross off the general podcast because its last episode was months ago, listen to twenty minutes of the restaurant show, and swap one of the AI's talking points for the story of the month a client nearly missed payroll. Then you send the first pitch to the supplier, whom you already know.
After the episode airs
Share the episode from your own channels, and add it to your site so customers can find it. A media kit makes the next booking easier, because it answers a host's questions before they ask. If you would rather run a show than appear on one, see podcast hosting, and a talk on a stage is the same job in a different room, covered in speaking. For more jobs you can finish today with the AI you already pay for, see the full DIY marketing list.
Of every job on this list, social media is the one that comes back every week, and Boomp is software that does that one for you. See ten posts made from your website, free
