How do I create a list of podcast owners I should reach out to about appearing?

A friend and subscriber wrote in with this excellent question:

How do I create a list of podcast owners I should reach out to about appearing?

They had just read “How can I use podcasts to get more traffic?” and asked the logical next question: who should I be reaching out to? and how do I build a list of those people?

I tackle this question in Podcast Outreach, my in-depth guide on how to get on podcasts as a guest expert. But here, for you, dear reader, is an article on how to create a list of podcast owners!


Once you have a clear idea of the audience you’re trying to reach, the unique story of your business, and the pitches you’ll be using when you reach out to podcasts, the next step is to prospect (identify) and then qualify podcasts that reach your audience. Below, we’ll review steps for prospecting podcasts and building a list of podcast owners that you should reach out to about appearing

Prospecting Podcasts

When we’re prospecting podcasts, we’re following a systematic process to identify podcasts that our audience listens to and then initially qualify them, weeding out podcasts that aren’t a good fit at first glance.

When you’re prospecting podcasts, there are five strategies that you can follow to help you find potential podcasts to reach out to.

  • Searching in iTunes — Searching in the iTunes store for specific keywords related to your podcast often returns an initial list of podcasts that are a good match for reaching your audience.
  • Browsing iTunes Preview — iTunes has a podcast specific website (iTunes Preview) that lets you browse the different podcasts by category. Slightly easier to navigate than the iTunes interface, this is a great way to dive deep into a category and see both the most popular podcasts in that category and browse through the podcasts in that category alphabetically.
  • Googling — You can often find leads on podcasts with custom Google search queries to help you narrow in on relevant podcasts. Starting with an initial search like “{Podcast Topic} Podcasts”, you’ll build an initial list of podcasts that reach your audience.
  • Looking at Marketplaces — Marketplaces like cast.market or ListenNotes that index podcasts can be a great place to prospect podcasts. What I love about cast.market specifically is that when you search it does a full-text search of the description they have for the podcast. That means a search like “Marketing Guest” on cast.market returns a list of all then podcasts they have listed that have ‘guests’ listed in the description.
  • Expert ‘Shadowing’ — Once you start to research podcasts that reach your audience, you might discover there are a few experts that are commonly on the same podcasts you want to be on. By ‘shadowing’ these frequent guests, you can discover podcasts that both reach your audience and accept guests.

First, make a list of podcasts that you’ve identified. Then, qualify them. Make sure they’re still active and accept guests. After that, write your podcast outreach email (https://kaidavis.com/podcast-outreach-email/) to pitch them on you as a guest.

And remember, always follow-up.