To help you best decide between starting your own podcast or becoming a guest on those in your niche, we asked experienced podcasters, marketing professionals and business leaders this question for their best insights, should I start my own podcast or become a guest on ones in my niche?

There are several insights that would encourage you to take advantage of guest podcasting in your niche to market and prepare yourself to start your own podcast in the future.

Here are eight insights these leaders shared in favor of becoming a guest on podcasts in your niche:

• Learn Hosting From Being a Guest First

• Start as a Guest in Your Niche

• Aim for Omnipresence

• Do Both Hosting and Guest Podcasting

• Be a Guest on a Lot of Podcasts to Hone Your Craft

• Guest Podcasting Offer Easy Way to Earn Exposure and Links

• Get to Build Genuine Connections Through Guest Podcasting

• Leverage Access to a Receptive Audience as a Guest

Learn Hosting From Being a Guest First

Hosting a podcast takes a lot of planning, commitment, and time. It’s a very worthwhile venture for those looking to create an additional content outlet. However, the best thing is to be a guest first. Getting used to being interviewed will make you a better host. And, it takes less time and energy to be a guest for starters. So, search for podcasts in your niche that take guests. Reach out and get some bookings. That content will elevate you in your niche.

Diane Helbig, Helbig Enterprises

Start as a Guest in Your Niche

Being a podcast guest in your niche is best because it is a fast track to creating your own podcast. By being a guest, you can expose your business to other people’s audiences and build relationships with the host and their listeners. When you become a popular guest, people will want to hear more from you, and you can leverage those relationships and audiences to launch your own podcast.

Matthew Ramirez, Paraphrase Tool

Aim for Omnipresence

Omnipresence is the state of being everywhere all the time. That is exactly how you want your personal brand to be and the best way of achieving this is not limiting yourself to just host or guest positions. There are a ton of benefits that come from hosting your own podcast such as being viewed as more of an authority/personality, offering a platform to high-caliber guests, and demonstrating your knowledge. 

Being a guest on the other hand allows you to leverage the audience of other people to grow your own, and serves as a form of unbiased third-party validation which always helps. If you are serious and can devote some extra time and resources, consider launching your own show! It gives you something new to promote too.

Isaac Mashman, Mashman Ventures

Do Both Hosting and Guest Podcasting

If possible, being a podcast host and guest is both worth doing. Having your podcast helps boost your credential in a niche so that you will gain more opportunities to be a guest. You also have a higher chance of being a podcast guest if you can swap for hosting the other podcast host to be a guest on your podcast. Being a podcast guest in your niche is best because you’re able to dive deep into your niche, which helps make the episode unique and worth sharing.

Bernice Chao Co-founder of Asians in Advertising  Asians in Advertising

Be a Guest on a Lot of Podcasts to Hone Your Craft

I believe thought leaders who are interested in podcasting should first be a guest on a lot of podcasts before starting their own. This is because it takes practice to become good on the microphone, explaining your thoughts clearly on the first take, and so being a guest on other podcasts lets you do this in a low stakes way. Producing your own podcast is a ton of work as well, and most don’t make it past 3 episodes. This is because people start a podcast without knowing what all it takes or being good at being on a podcast. So, being a guest is the best way to start!

John Doherty, Credo

Guest Podcasting Offer Easy Way to Earn Exposure and Links

While being a podcast host is fun and a great way to connect with others in your industry, it requires constant promotion. It is hard work to source guests, edit your episode audio and transcripts and promote your podcast to grow your audience. 

Being a guest, however, just requires a well-crafted pitch to the host (to be selected as a guest). You then clear your calendar for that time period and provide high-quality audio content and online resources during your interview time. Your expertise then gets distributed to the host’s audience and social media followers, you get to share quality content with your social media followers, and you get a natural link to your business website with very little work.

Katherine Ong, WO Strategies LLC

Get to Build Genuine Connections Through Guest Podcasting

When people try podcasting for the first time, one of the most surprising things that happens is that they form genuine friendships with other people. Both the host and the visitor will be able to focus solely on one another for an extended period of time, which is great if they want to get to know one another and perhaps work together again in the future. It’s a tremendous plus if one podcast host thinks so highly of you that he or she introduces you to another podcast presenter who also works in the field.

Frederic Linfjärd, Planday

Leverage Access to a Receptive Audience as a Guest

In my opinion, you should become a guest on ones in your field. Becoming a podcast guest in your niche is the best approach because you will gain access to a highly engaged audience. You may reach thousands of targeted listeners simply by participating in a show, which is 

a compelling enough incentive to take the plunge for yourself now.

Tiffany Payne, iFlooded Restoration

Frequently Asked Questions

How can being a podcast guest help you become a better host?

Being a guest gets you used to being interviewed, which will make you a better podcast host. It takes less time to start as a guest.

Why start as a podcast guest before hosting?

Being a guest exposes you to new audiences, builds relationships, and lets you gain popularity before launching your own podcast.

What are the benefits of doing both podcast hosting and guesting?

Doing both boosts your credentials and gives you a podcast to promote. You can also swap guest appearances with other hosts.

Why be a guest on many podcasts before hosting?

Being a guest on multiple podcasts lets you practice and hone your on-air skills before taking on the demands of podcast hosting.

What exposure can you get as a podcast guest?

Guesting provides easy exposure to new audiences and links back to your site, with less work than hosting your own podcast.

How do podcast appearances help you network?

Being a guest allows you to focus one-on-one with hosts, building genuine connections that can lead to collaborations.

Why leverage existing podcast audiences first?

Guesting gives you instant access to engaged niche audiences, rather than building your own from scratch.