Winning Formula for Business Podcasts: Interviewing Industry Leaders

Learn the proven strategies to attract, interview, and leverage industry leaders for your business podcast.

The Winning Formula: How to Interview Industry Leaders on Your Business Podcast

For any business podcast, one of the fastest and most effective ways to grow your brand, build authority, and provide immense value to your audience is by interviewing industry leaders. These are the people who are shaping the conversations, creating the trends, and pioneering the future of your field. Their insights are golden, and by bringing their expertise to your microphone, you position your own brand as a hub of knowledge and influence. 🎙️

But how do you get these busy, high-profile individuals to say yes? And once they do, how do you ensure the conversation is insightful, engaging, and provides maximum value for both your guest and your listeners? This article is a comprehensive guide to mastering the art of the expert interview. We will walk you through the entire process, from finding the right guests to conducting a flawless interview and leveraging the content for long-term business growth.

10 Tips to Improve Your Industry Leader Interviews

1. Do Your Homework: Thoroughly research your guest’s background, recent projects, and previous interviews. This helps you ask fresh, insightful questions they haven’t answered a hundred times before.
2. Craft a Compelling Pitch: In your outreach, focus on the value you offer them. Highlight your audience, your show’s unique perspective, and how this interview will benefit their personal brand or a project they are promoting.
3. Prepare a Flexible Framework: Have a list of key topics or questions, but don’t stick to a rigid script. A great interview feels like a natural, flowing conversation, not a Q&A session.
4. Listen Actively: The most important skill of an interviewer is listening. Pay close attention to their answers and be ready to ask spontaneous, follow-up questions that dig deeper into an interesting point.
5. Focus on Stories, Not Facts: Instead of asking “What are your key strategies?” ask, “Can you tell us a story about a time when a strategy failed and what you learned?” Stories are more engaging and memorable.
6. Set Clear Expectations: Before the interview, communicate the episode’s format, its purpose, and the key themes you want to cover. This helps your guest prepare and ensures a smooth conversation.
7. Create a Comfortable Environment: Make your guest feel at ease from the moment they join the call. Start with some small talk and show genuine enthusiasm for their work.
8. Ask the “Signature Question”: Develop one unique, thought-provoking question that you ask every high-profile guest. This can become a signature part of your show that listeners look forward to.
9. Leverage Your Guest’s Time: Be respectful of their schedule. Start and end on time, and make sure your technical setup is flawless to avoid wasting their valuable minutes.
10. Follow Up with Gratitude: After the interview, send a personalized thank you note. Share the finished episode link and offer to help promote it. This builds a strong relationship for future collaborations.

10 Benefits of Interviewing Industry Leaders

1. Builds Instant Credibility: By associating your brand with recognized experts, you immediately gain authority and respect in your niche.
2. Expands Your Network: You form a direct connection with influential people who can open doors to new opportunities, partnerships, and introductions.
3. Provides Immense Value to Listeners: Your audience gets to hear directly from the people they look up to, gaining actionable advice and unique insights they can’t find elsewhere.
4. Drives New Traffic: When a high-profile guest shares the episode with their audience, you gain access to a new, highly relevant pool of potential listeners and customers.
5. Enhances SEO and Discoverability: Featuring a well-known name in your episode title and show notes can significantly boost your rankings on search engines and podcast platforms.
6. Creates Evergreen Content: The lessons and stories from an interview with an industry leader are often timeless, providing valuable content for years to come.
7. Saves Time on Content Creation: Instead of writing long scripts or creating solo episodes, a great interview provides the core content for an entire show.
8. Generates Repurposing Opportunities: A single interview can be repurposed into blog posts, social media clips, newsletters, and more.
9. Fosters a Community: Your show becomes a gathering place for people who want to learn from the best in the business, strengthening your community.
10. Humanizes Your Brand: You become the curious host who facilitates a great conversation, rather than just a brand trying to sell something.

Pros and Cons of Interviewing Industry Leaders

Pros:

1. Instant Credibility Boost: Elevates your show’s reputation from day one.
2. Valuable Content: Provides expert-level insights and actionable advice for your audience.
3. Expanded Reach: Guests’ promotion of the episode can introduce your show to thousands of new listeners.
4. Networking Opportunities: Builds a relationship with influential people in your industry.
5. Easy Content Generation: A single interview provides enough material for a full episode.
6. Thought Leadership: Positions you as a central figure in your niche’s conversation.
7. Increased Trust: Listeners trust you more when they see who is willing to talk to you.
8. Repurposing Potential: Content from interviews can be used across multiple platforms.
9. Social Proof: A list of notable guests acts as a strong social signal.
10. Personal Growth: You get to learn from the best in your industry.

Cons:

1. Difficult to Book: High-profile leaders are incredibly busy and receive many requests.
2. Scheduling Challenges: Coordinating schedules with a busy guest can be a logistical nightmare.
3. Potential for Disappointment: Some big names may not be great interviewees.
4. Higher Expectations: The quality of the interview must match the prestige of the guest.
5. Can Feel Intimidating: Interviewing someone you admire can be a source of stress and anxiety.
6. Time-Consuming Research: Preparing for an interview with a leader requires significant time.
7. Technical Glitches: A bad connection can ruin an otherwise great interview.
8. Pitching Fatigue: You may get tired of sending out and being rejected on your outreach emails.
9. Dependence on Others: Your content schedule depends on your guests’ availability.
10. Promotional Asymmetry: Your promotion of the episode may be much more significant than your guest’s.

Case Studies of Successful Business Podcast Interviews

1. The Tim Ferriss Show: Tim Ferriss’s entire model is built on long-form, deep-dive interviews with world-class performers, from startup founders to athletes.
2. How I Built This: NPR’s podcast, hosted by Guy Raz, interviews the founders of some of the world’s best-known companies, revealing the origin stories and challenges behind their success.
3. Masters of Scale: Hosted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, this show interviews iconic CEOs and leaders about how they scaled their businesses, providing a “masterclass” for listeners.
4. My First Million: Hosts Sam Parr and Shaan Puri interview successful entrepreneurs and delve into the strategies and business ideas that helped them reach their first million dollars.
5. a16z Podcast: The venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz uses its podcast to interview thought leaders in tech and business, positioning itself as a leader in the industry.
6. The Diary of a CEO: Hosted by Steven Bartlett, this podcast features raw and honest conversations with CEOs and entrepreneurs about their personal journeys, struggles, and triumphs.
7. Entrepreneurs on Fire: John Lee Dumas interviews successful entrepreneurs every day, providing a steady stream of inspiration and practical advice for a dedicated audience.
8. The Jordan Harbinger Show: While not strictly a business podcast, Jordan Harbinger’s show is a masterclass in interviewing, featuring A-list guests who share life lessons and business insights.
9. Smart Passive Income: Pat Flynn interviews thought leaders in the online business space, using the interviews to provide value and drive traffic to his own courses and products.
10. The Joe Rogan Experience: While its topics are broad, Rogan’s long-form interview style has proven the power of deep, unfiltered conversations with influential people across all fields, including business.

Key Takeaways

1. The purpose of an expert interview is to provide value to your audience.
2. Your credibility is enhanced by the credibility of your guests.
3. Thorough research is the foundation of a great interview.
4. A compelling pitch is a pitch focused on the guest’s benefit.
5. Story-based questions are more effective than fact-based questions.
6. An interview should feel like a genuine conversation, not a script.
7. A signature question can make your show memorable.
8. High-quality audio and a seamless process are non-negotiable for high-profile guests.
9. Repurposing an interview multiplies its value.
10. Building a relationship with your guest is a long-term play.

FAQs About Interviewing Industry Leaders

1. How do I find the contact information for an industry leader? Start with their personal website, LinkedIn profile, or the media contact on their company website. You can also use tools like Hunter.io to find email addresses.

2. What should I include in my pitch email? Keep it concise. Introduce yourself and your show, explain why you want to interview them specifically, state the value for their brand, and provide a clear call to action.

3. How far in advance should I reach out to a guest? For high-profile guests, it’s best to reach out at least a month in advance to give their team enough time to schedule.

4. Should I send the questions to my guest beforehand? Yes, it’s considered best practice to send a list of topics or general questions. This helps them prepare and ensures a more valuable conversation.

5. How do I make the interview sound natural and not scripted? Use your questions as a guide, not a script. Listen to their answers and ask follow-up questions. Be curious and let the conversation flow organically.

6. What’s the best length for an interview episode? The ideal length depends on your audience. However, for a high-profile guest, a 30-60 minute interview is a good target. The key is to make it as long as it needs to be and not a minute longer.

7. How can I handle a guest who is not a great talker? Ask more open-ended questions that require a longer answer. Use clarifying questions like “Can you give an example of that?” or “What was going through your mind at that moment?”

8. What if a guest cancels at the last minute? It happens. Always have a backup plan, whether it’s a solo episode you have prepared or a pre-recorded interview you can release. Don’t let a single cancellation derail your schedule.

9. How can I ensure good audio quality? Advise your guest to use a quiet room and, if possible, a good quality microphone. Use a remote recording platform like Riverside that captures a separate audio track for each person.

10. How do I get a guest to promote the episode? Make it easy for them. Provide a media kit with pre-written social media posts, a link to the episode, and an engaging visual like a headshot and a quote.

Conclusion

Interviewing industry leaders is one of the most powerful moves you can make for your business podcast. It’s a strategy that builds trust, generates invaluable content, and opens up doors you never knew existed. By approaching each conversation with respect, curiosity, and a focus on providing value to your audience, you will not only secure incredible guests but also create a winning formula that turns your podcast into a must-listen authority in your industry. So, get out there and start building your network, one insightful conversation at a time! 🚀

Link Resources

• How to Secure The Best Guests for Your Podcast
• The Ultimate Guide to Interviewing Podcast Guests
• How to Structure a Podcast Interview
• 9 Real Benefits of Podcasting for Business
• How to Pitch to Get on a Podcast

Key Phrases

1. Interviewing Industry Leaders
2. Business Podcast Growth
3. Podcast Interviewing Techniques
4. Building Brand Authority
5. High-Profile Podcast Guests
6. Podcast Guest Outreach
7. Content Repurposing
8. Podcast Networking
9. Winning Podcast Formula
10. Expert Interview Series

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