60. Why You Should [Probably] Stop Doing Interviews On Your Show…Podcasting Hot Take!

Is your podcast a marketing tool for your business? If so, you probably want to stop doing interviews on your show...or, at least stop doing so many of them. This is a controversial stance, I know, but I break down all of the reasoning inside this episode. Plus, I share my 3-to-1 content ratio approach and suggest how to make the most out of those interviews you do choose to conduct.

This episode was produced by me, The Podcast Teacher! Contact me at Hello@ThePodcastTeacher.com.

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Transcript

Hey. Hey. And welcome back. Today, we're talking about doing interviews on your podcast and why you should probably stop doing them or at least stop doing so many of them. Many people think about starting a podcast, and they look at the shows topping the charts, and they see that many of them involve interviews. And so they think that's the way to do things in order to be successful. But if you're listening to this show, it's probably not the right way to do things for you. This is a bit of a hot take because I know that a lot of people rely on interviews for their content.

So let me start out by breaking down what types of shows interviews are and are not a good fit for. If you have an entertainment based show, interviews are great. One might even argue that they are necessary to keep things fresh and interesting. If your number one goal is to entertain your audience, I'm assuming that you're not trying to generate leads for a business. Along the same lines, podcasts that are purely for fun can do well with interviews. If your podcast is a passion project, a hobby that you're doing for enjoyment, then bring on the interviews. So if your podcast falls into one of these categories and you have absolutely zero intention of selling your own products or services, then the rest of what I'm gonna say here doesn't really apply to you. But this is podcasting for solopreneurs and my messages are directed toward the online business owner who wants to use a podcast to get new clients.

So if that's you, you should probably stop doing interviews on your show or at least stop doing so many of them. Why? Well, simply put, doing an interview is shining the spotlight on someone else. It's letting them use your platform to reach a new audience. You are endorsing them and giving them your stamp of approval by bringing them onto your show. And there are times when this is beneficial and appropriate, which I'll dive into a bit more in just a few minutes. But overall, if you're a solopreneur intending to use your podcast as a tool to grow your online business, don't you want to shine the spotlight on yourself? One of the biggest advantages of hosting a podcast is that it's an intimate companion medium. Your audience is getting to know, like, and trust you as you keep them company on a walk or a drive. As a solopreneur, the goal is for you to be the solution to your audience's needs, And that can become more challenging when your audience is regularly hearing from someone other than you.

And if you've been doing interviews, you know that they are a boatload of work. There's often a lot of prep work involved with scheduling, tracking down the guest's bio and headshot, researching them and their work, and then you have to edit the interview. I'm a weirdo who generally enjoys editing, and even I will admit that editing an interview is a beast of a task. As a fellow solopreneur, I know that you're already stretched thin, and it would be really great if you could have a few tasks taken off your plate. Interviews are generally a lot of extra work for little reward. Some people also think that having guests on their podcast, especially big name guests, will bring in a new audience. This can be true in some instances, but largely that's not happening. The guest often doesn't even share the interview with their audience because there's no real benefit for them to do so.

The benefit to them is exposure to your audience. So by doing the interview, they've already gotten what they were seeking. Now hopefully, your guest is a good human and shares it anyway because that's the appropriate and reciprocal thing to do. But even in that case, their audience rarely comes over to your show. And if we stop and think about that for a second, it makes perfect sense. If I go on someone else's show to talk about the benefits of podcasting and I tell my audience about the interview, why would they go listen to me talk about the benefits of podcasting on that show when they already regularly hear about it through my own content. I can practically hear the light bulb going off in your brain. It makes so much sense, but it's something that doesn't often occur to us when we're asking a guest to share the interview with their audience, and we're hoping that some of their people come over and listen.

Anyway, I digress. But now that I've given all of that info, from an objective view, you could and maybe should eliminate interviews from your podcast altogether. But I know that you might fight me on this, and I do understand. I do interviews myself from time to time, so I get it. If you're not ready to stop doing interviews completely, you probably want to reduce the frequency with which you do them. I recommend the 3 to 1 content ratio where you're the expert 3 times for every one interview. The spotlight is on you 3 times for every time you're shining the spotlight on someone else. Most podcasters release an episode once a week and most months have 4 weeks.

So with the 3 to 1 content approach, I recommend a maximum of 1 interview a month. That means 3 weeks where the spotlight is on you as the expert, and then the 4th week can be an interview shining the spotlight on someone else. When considering bringing someone onto your show for an interview, make sure that this person is going to deliver massive value to your audience. There should be a clear benefit to the listener. As a podcast host, you probably receive a lot of pitches for guests in your inbox. I know I do, And 99% of them will not be a good fit for your show. Be sure that you either know the person that you're bringing on as a guest or have thoroughly thoroughly researched them to understand how they can support your audience. And while there can sometimes be appropriate opportunities for industry collaborations, most of the time you want to make sure that the person you're bringing on does not have a competing offer.

Remember that by bringing this person onto your show, you're endorsing them. You're telling your listeners who know, like, and trust you to consider working with this person. So make sure that they'll be working with this person in addition to you, not instead of you. I suggest recording the interview and then recording a separate introduction and conclusion to add on when you air the episode. In the introduction segment, you can set up the interview by identifying the value to the listener. Explain why you've brought this person on the show and how the interview will benefit them as the listener. This shows your audience that you, as the expert, have their needs top of mind and that you have carefully and intentionally brought on this particular guest. In a conclusion segment, you can summarize the key takeaways and reflect on the conversation to once again position yourself as the expert curator of information to meet the needs of your audience.

Okay. So hopefully, I've convinced you to do fewer interviews on your podcast. And your next question might be, okay, Julia. So what do I do in place of those episodes? I need more content. I preemptively hear you, and I've got you covered. Be sure to hit the follow button so that you automatically get next Tuesday's episode, which will be all about ways to create content to position yourself as the expert. And spoiler alert, they don't all have to be monologue episodes. Until then, happy podcasting.