If you’ve been guesting on podcasts or video shows, but haven’t quite mastered turning them into revenue, try watching comedian Martin Short.
Known for his meticulous preparation before his “ad lib” interviews on the late-night shows, Short says: “What I do for a typical talk-show appearance, and I’m not exaggerating, is I’ll send in something like 18 pages ahead of time.”
Then he’ll spend 90 minutes—or more—chatting with the producer to cull the material into a maybe 10-minute conversation he’ll have with the host.
(It’s probably no coincidence that The New Yorker named him the greatest talk show guest of all time.)
Why it works: while you can never control the finished product of an interview, you can darned well master your end.
Think about it. Can you control the questions show hosts and media will ask and in what order? Nope.
But you can prep for them like a master.
Start by dissecting the host and their platform—their point of view, their interview style, their hot buttons.
If you haven’t been a regular consumer of their stuff, read, watch or listen to a few of their pieces so you’re not walking in cold (plus it gives you a few bread crumbs to throw down).
And then apply all of that to what you’re preaching so you can meld the two into something memorable:
What is the overall theme you want to hit here?
Which of your material is most on-point for their audience at this particular time?
Which things will feel like catnip to the host?
What stories will best suit this interview and this situation? (You already have a small cadre of go-to stories, but this is more finely curated.)
What sound bites do you want to sprinkle throughout this interview?
And what do you want to “sell” in the brief (usually a minute or less) shot the host will offer you?
You will curate your best points so that you’re on-point with their audience and your point of view.
Do this well and you’ll start to see not only new connections (like say adds to your email list), but revenue bumps from each new appearance.
Plus there’s this: expertise podcasts tend to live forever, so they’ll keep sending people your way long after you’ve forgotten the interview.