Molly Claire: Okay, coaches today I have Kristine from the Pod Grow to talk to you about how to actually get yourself on podcasts to be interviewed. It's funny because I met Kristine because she was actually getting one of her clients featured on my podcast, which was Elizabeth, who ended up doing a lot of design work for me. So we did the design and she was on my podcast. So I think this just speaks to the benefit of these connections and relationships and putting yourself out there, and I'm super excited to welcome her. She has so many good tips for you. So here we go. Welcome, Kristine.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah. Thank you so much for having me, Molly. I'm so, so excited to be here. So thanks again for inviting me.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah, it's, it's great to have you, and ironic, right, that you help people get on podcasts and by doing that, here you are.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yes, absolutely.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. So, okay, so tell us a little bit about what you do and why you love it.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah. So, my name is Kristine and I am podcast guesting expert and strategist and founder of Podcast Growth Agency, and I help purpose driven female entrepreneurs, coaches, service providers elevate their authority and generate quality leads through done-for-you services and also VIP days. But our signature service is done-for-you full podcast guessing service, where we take all of the work behind the scenes and our clients are just left with the fun part of actually doing the interview, and working with hosts and, enjoying the fruits of their visibility.

 

I'm also a wife. I'm a mom to two year old boy, and I'm also based in Europe, Latvia. So that's why you can hear my accent sneaking in a little bit. And, by this time, I think you for sure can call me the ultimate podcast junkie at this point.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah, that's great. What I love about what you do is so many of the coaches that listen and that follow me have such a heart for coaching, right? They're very purpose driven, like you said, and yet the marketing and sales piece is a completely new concept to figure out. And so I love working with my coaches to help them find those ways where they can use their greatest gifts, their coaching and their teaching actually as their marketing instead of becoming a professional marketer, and kinda finding that place.

 

So what I love about this is that I think that, well, first of all, you do the hard work, of getting them on podcasts. And by the way, if you're listening, Kristine is going to be giving you clear tips as to how you can do this as well on your own. And I think she has a great freebie as well, an offer for you. So we're going to equip you with that.

 

But regardless of if you have it done for you or if you do those steps, I think that as you, coaches, are out there more and presenting and speaking more, it is a natural way for you to grow and expand your business without spending all of your hours on algorithms.

 

Kristine Barvike: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.

 

Molly Claire: Love it. So tell me, how did you first get interested in this? In really helping coaches with their podcast presence. Yeah. Yeah.

 

Kristine Barvike: So how I get started? So my story is a bit different, I could say. So I think, let me go back to 2018, 2019 when I was working my corporate job for international company that produced and sold cosmetic products and food supplement products. And I was also expecting my son at the time. And at that time in my life I didn't even know what an online business was. I was still very much convinced that the only way you could be say successful is and increase your income is, you know, by climbing the corporate ladder and work even harder and longer hours.

 

But I already, at that time, I was kind of burned out of this whole corporate world and wasn't really fulfilled in my corporate job, and I wanted more flexibility and I already kind of knew that I don't want to go back to my previous job after maternity leave. So I started actually to Google my options and I literally searched how to make money online. And lucky enough I've found a wonderful community of coaches and wonderful people that helped people to start simple online business from home, like service based business.

 

So I had this incredible opportunity to be mentored by nine-figure business owner by now on how to start, you know, whether it's a side hustle, whether it's service based business. So for me I wanted to start a side hustle. Yeah. And he really presented the idea of podcast agent, because at the time he was doing a lot of podcast guesting and he really found the huge benefit of it. And I was like, "Oh my God, I love this idea". Because at that time I was still on my personal journey of how to change my life and create more opportunities for myself.

 

Molly Claire: Right, right.

 

Kristine Barvike: So I was like a huge podcast lister at the time. So I was like completely dive into the idea. We had like a super simple webinar kind of course. Very simply he showed what it is, how you get started. And I really combined my previous experience with project management on all these skills that I already had. And in two weeks or so, I think I had my first client and I started to book her on shows. We worked together for like a few months. She started to refer me to her network, to her friends. Then I ended up working with them as well and they started to refer me. And actually I caught myself, like, this is actually not a side hustle anymore. So this is actually a viable business.

 

So I made a decision that I will kind of go with it and I grew from there and, I didn't go back to my previous job. So I absolutely love that I am able to work with incredible people, incredible clients, and I also love the fact that I am able to see a huge impact of the work that I'm doing by connecting them with amazing hosts and so their message can reach more people with their message. I absolutely love that I'm able to do that.

 

Molly Claire: Yes. Oh, I love it. And I love that it all began really with you knowing what you wanted and what you didn't want. Googling it and just starting. And I mean, I think that's really it. It's like we think we have to know all the answers before, but you didn't know anything about this. And here you are now, you know everything about it and you're gonna tell us all about it. I love it.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah. Yeah.

 

Molly Claire: So tell us, what would you say are just like the key benefits of being a podcast guest to begin with?

 

Kristine Barvike: I'm sure that by this time we all have heard, you know, podcast guesting is an incredible way of how you can, get in front of more people, create authentic connections with the listeners, and grow your audience. And I absolutely agree with all of that, but I would also love to tweak that and say, if you are getting in front of, aligned audiences and speaking to the right people and getting in front of people that actually care about what you have to say, and they also care about solution you offer to their problems. But even more, I love podcast guesting I think because of the outside validation it could provide for you, for your brand, for your business. So because they're already this loyal audience that trusts this host that invited you to be on their platform, it instantly creates huge outside validation for you as an expert, for your business, for your brand. And naturally it creates a huge trust and credibility in the eyes of potential buyers.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah.

 

Kristine Barvike: One additional reason why I love podcast guesting so much is that you get to actually spend one on one time with hosts as well. And majority of the time podcast host is also a business owner looking for solutions, looking to partner up, to collaborate. looking to build strategic partnerships. And you get this amazing opportunity to network with other like-minded people, and you never know what kind of possibilities can come out of that. Like you mentioned like you did with, Elizabeth. It's amazing how just one podcast interview or one pitch can change so much.

 

Molly Claire: Yes, it's so true because I don't think most people think about that. Right now I'm working with an intense six week program I'm doing with my clients where we're doing really a lot of discovering aligned partners. And you talked about that word aligned and I wanna actually talk about that.

 

But as we're doing this and diving in, and I'm teaching them a about different types of partnerships and collaborations and how they help you, it's true that when you can meet more people that you cross paths with in different ways, there's just, there's never an end to the ways you can benefit. So I'll just break this down a little bit.

 

Kristine reached out to me to have Elizabeth on my podcast. Well, since that time, Elizabeth has done three projects for me. Actually, as we speak, when this comes out, my new branding may be out. I'm not exactly sure. But right now, just this morning, I was messaging her, she's doing her third design project for me. I've referred her to multiple clients of mine, and it's just like, sometimes it takes that one right connection to just make everything explode.

 

So, yeah, I love that you brought that up, because it's not even just about the interview, but it's about the connections and the possibilities that are there.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah, absolutely. And I think one other client, just two or three weeks ago, she messaged me. I set up for her to be an interview on this amazing podcast. And after the pod the interview host actually invited her to do a paid speaking opportunity for her inside her membership. So, again that's an amazing opportunity that just one connection can provide for you.

 

And I think a lot of the times also people overlook these opportunities. They try to get on the biggest podcast out there. Yeah, trying to reach all of the listeners. But really if you are a service provider especially, you can also actually see the host as a potential client, as a potential business partner. So you never know where these amazing opportunities can take you.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. And, okay, I wanna highlight this. This is a little bit of a tangent, but I have to make a plug for this to my listeners, because I know that as all of you are building your coaching business, there are a lot of decisions to make as far as how you spend your money.

 

And I hear a lot of coaches talking about fear of spending more money. "I don't wanna spend more money until I make it back." And obviously I do not suggest that anyone get in excessive debt or spend frivolously. I think you need to make the most of it, but I just want to highlight the value that you will get when you invest in your business, because as I'm listening to Kristine talking here and thinking about how much Elizabeth paid you. And then how much I've paid Elizabeth and how much my clients have paid Elizabeth, and on and on it goes.

 

And so I just, I wanna give a shout out to that and you, because here's what I think you should do, Kristine, and this is my business advice for you. You didn't know you were coming for business advice.

 

How amazing would it be to get in touch with some of your clients and get the numbers from them, like how much did you make based on this connection? And it would be so fascinating to see just the ripple effect of value that they get. So I had to just make a plug for them.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah, that's an amazing idea. I think when the whole NFT world will be more advanced, cause we can definitely kinda tap into that. But, yeah, I love that. Love this advice.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. Okay, so let's talk a little about the word aligned, like aligned podcasts. And I would love to have you speak to that. And I love that you're also saying it's not like you have to have, oh, the biggest, the most ultimate, right? This is my thing. I'm like, find the aligned podcasts. And also anytime you can get in front of people, take the opportunity, but talk a little bit more about how to find those podcasts that are best aligned for my client's businesses.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah, so I think the first, before finding the shows, I think I want to touch on what would be actually the first steps on how you can understand what's aligned for you or not.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. Love it.

 

Kristine Barvike: So, yeah. So the first steps that I think we have heard time, time, and time before that we actually have to figure out like, who is your ideal client and what expertise and what problems you solve for them. And also figuring out how can you package that all of that goodness into an interview topic that you can actually offer to the host. So without knowing your target audience, it's actually very hard to determine effectiveness of podcast guesting, like a marketing method, versus when you know exactly who you want to reach. It becomes much more easier to establish really clear guidelines for the research phase.

 

So I can give you a few examples that clearly shows what a clear target audience looks like versus a very kind of a blurry one. So let's take, again, the same example. Let's say, a web designer. You're trying to reach web designers, or, web designers and Kajabi experts for health and wellness coaches. So again, we have established much more clear guidelines. Who are we looking for? Health and wellness coaches. So versus like, just the simple web designer and also we added like Kajabi expert. Again, we know the platform so that if you study enough what the Kajabi is for, you'll understand it's for coaches, course creators, and membership owners.

 

So there you have it. So it's much more easier to kind of establish what audience are you looking for. As I always say, it is not about the size, but it's more about finding the right people who will care about what you have to say.

 

Molly Claire: Oh, that's so true. Right. Because you can talk to a million people, but if you're talking to five people who are looking for exactly what you have

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah, and I can just share, I think my go-to hack of how to find really, really aligned shows in minutes. But for this method, you will actually have to know pretty clear again, who your audience is and who trying to reach, and maybe even your competitors or maybe even someone who you are really aligning with in terms of your mentor or who you aspire to.

 

So for this method I like to use simple, very simple iTunes. You would just type in and search, let's say, your competitor's name, or let's say someone who you really aspire to and has the same target audience. The main criteria here is: has the same target audience as you. So you type in this competitor's name or the person's name, who are you searching for, and guess what will happen. You will have the list of shows where this person has been featured on, and you can actually just go through these shows and see what's, maybe it's a fit for you too. And I'm pretty sure that the host of these shows will love to hear from you, too if you have a different angle, maybe if you have something additional that you would like to share because they have the same target audience and you would be a perfect fit for those kind of shows and it really takes a few minutes if you know exactly who are you looking for, and maybe if you've done your research and you kind of notice maybe on social media that, "Hey, this is my competitor actually", or "This is someone I aspire to", or, "Hey, we have the same target audience".

 

Maybe it's a designer again for nutrition coaches. And yeah. And you also maybe serve nutrition coaches. So just an idea. So there you have it. You can actually take that person's name, search it and see the shows that this person has been on.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. So smart. I love it. Easy hack.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah. Super, super easy.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. And so, okay, so we're talking about finding podcasts and then I wanna pause for just a minute before we talk more about like a great pitch, which I know that you're an expert at. But we were talking before, you know, we came on air here about the idea of, can you make it more likely that people are actually seeking you out for interviews, to have more visibility to get invited. And you had some good thoughts to share about that too.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think the main thing to remember here is if you are showing up on your own, meaning maybe on your social media page, maybe you are collaborating with others, and if you strategically collaborate, for example, let's say for IG Live or Facebook Live, or maybe for online summit, and if you choose people who also are podcasters, the chances are that you will get invited to their platform if you show yourself really good. the chances are pretty high.

 

So if you do the work by yourself already showing up on your social media, creating content, going live, collaborating with other experts. And again, you don't have to collaborate with the biggest names out there, you just have to start with the people like you who are also building their businesses, who are looking for partners, who are looking for relationships to build those future relationships.

 

So that's an absolutely amazing place where you can start. And I'm sure that, if you do the work, if you show up, people will start reaching out to you directly.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. I mean, it's just another benefit of being on the podcast makes you more visible. People are going to come. And I wanna say one thing also, you know, to, to my listeners, as you know, as I've been talking so much about this in my groups and we had in the Masterful Coach Collective, we had Carrie Marshall come in a few weeks ago. She's a master coach, was helping with their coaching and one thing she was talking about, was like, stake your claim as a coach on what you do. And this is something we've really been focusing on as I've been helping some of my coaches to really lean into the problem they solve. Getting more specific.

 

And I just think there's so much value in, and I know it's like easier said than done, right? Because we all feel these insecurities. Am I really an expert? But I think doing the work, all of you listening, doing that work to really see and understand where you are an expert and claiming that is so important because people want experts to come on their podcast, right?

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And I also think the more you do this visibility work, I have heard from my clients time and time again, the more podcasts they do, the more clear it becomes for them who they help. Because with time they see that all of hosts that we reach out to ask for the same topic. So with time they understand, "Hey, I'm actually, this is my like niche. Like this is like, This is what people want." So yeah, with a few months or so, they just message me and say, "Hey Kristine, this not only helped me generate leads, but oh my God, I am so clear now on what my niche is even clearer than before."

 

Yeah. Oh my. It's the

 

Molly Claire: feedback, right? Yeah. This, this group that I'm working with for this six weeks, it's like, that's what I've told them. We're just gonna keep going and going and put yourself out there because the more you do, you get feedback, you get data, and the more you speak about it, it's like that message just becomes crystal clear.

 

So, so much value in that. Okay. Tell us about your steps to what you call a killer pitch. Everyone wants this. Everyone wants to know that.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yes. Take a pen and paper, whatever it is. Yeah. Because I'm gonna give you exactly a step by step guide. Like I have, well, literally, I have my notes here so I don't forget anything. But yeah. Let's start.

 

So first of all, super important subject line. Should be super clear, catchy, if you can create that, and also try to keep it, under seven to 10 words. 10 is like absolute maximum, like six would be perfect, but seven, like just to kind of be in that space, being that email space and the recipient understands what it is.

 

Second. Super important. Use the host's name. I know it's super simple, but it instantly shows that this is not a copy paste email to all of hosts out there. And I highly suggest also double check the grammar. If we have some, you know, interesting words just like me. I'm Kristine. So actually when somebody is doing their homework and actually, writing my name correctly, like I will instantly see that. And I know that this is not some, you know, copy paste email. So super important, super simple but important.

 

And also, in the first kind of paragraph, start with a genuine like compliment, just by appreciating their work and letting hosts know you appreciate the work that they're doing because podcasting is a serious labor of love. And I also suggest be really specific and highlight specific episode you loved and why it resonated with you. Try to keep it short and sweet, but be really, really specific. Show what specific episode you loved and why it made such a big difference for you.

 

Then I would say lead into more about you and try to create like a, like a killer mini bio. I will share the link for my master class where you can kind of understand how to create your mini bio.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah, that would be perfect.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah, so that would include like who you are, who you serve, you brag a little bit about you. Not like too much, like it's like 10 sentences or so. No, I suggest to keep it under like three max sentences. It's complete maximum, more like one to two strong sentences so they would understand why it's a good fit. And also if possible, I would say, adapt your bio to each show that you are also sending it to. It'll definitely make a difference.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. Yeah. I agree.

 

Kristine Barvike: Then lead with the ideas you have, how you can contribute to their audience, what ideas you have, like for potential episodes. I suggest you can share like one to two topic ideas with short descriptions so the host can better understand, okay, what's the topic will be really about.

 

If you can, you can create like a super catchy topic name because 95% percent of the time, if your topic is great, they will use the same title as the episode title actually, and you will understand that, "Hey, it's good," like, it can stay on my podcast. You have the validation right there.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. This works. This is good. Yeah.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yes. And then, I suggest add your social media handles. You don't expect the host to look for you online. They're busy people. They need to have everything in front of them. I usually hyperlink them. If I want to be super fancy and I have the resources, I will create a landing page like press page with one click it will take to a beautiful press page with my branding. Who am I? My speaking topics. What can I offer to you.

 

But I still suggest don't just leave a a press page and expect them to choose a speaking topic. Your speaking topic should be adapted to the audience you're sending them to. But landing page is just to be like, more fancier and it just shows that you are more established. And, you know, you open it. It's beautiful branding, your headshots, and everything about you. Your links work and people connect, maybe some of your stats. How many followers you have. It definitely helps.

 

And I always also love to add like previous media features so they can kind of get a good understanding of what you are like as a speaker, what is your energy? So kind of like one to two previous media appearances if you have. If you have them, if you don't have them, don't stress out. Just if you have IG live or Facebook Life or any collaboration, or maybe you were a speaker on online summit, anything you have. It's good enough to start. Don't stress, if you don't have any podcast feature yet, you will get there. And as you also do this work consistently, make sure you also change them up and add newer and newer, podcast episodes.

 

And I always like to go that extra mile and leave a five star review, like in a PS like, "Hey, it was no brainer to show my support and leave a five star review and also to share. I would love to share the, the possible episode with my audience". Like, just let them know that you will be that amazing guest who will actually share.

 

Super important tip is always follow up because again, hosts are busy and they're receiving tons of pitches. So, I recommend following up, starting from seven days. That will be like polite way to kind of follow up. And I would say follow up three times, maybe four and fifth, maybe they will answer, but if not, just let it go. Because yeah, don't be that, guest who will follow up like 10 times on all the platforms. Don't do that.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think that I wanna highlight a couple of things that you're sharing here for my listeners, because one of the things you said about like really using their name, And making sure you're using their name correctly.

 

Kristine Barvike: Absolutely.

 

Molly Claire: Yeah. And you know, you talked about a genuine compliment, and I wanna pause on both of those because I remember, I actually, you know, I get dms all the time from people trying to sell me this or that, and I got this video that looked personalized. And I clicked on it to watch it, and actually all it was is they had done a screenshot of my webpage, but the video was so obviously a standard video that they just like popped on there and it just missed the mark.

 

It's like, if you're going to, if this is really personal, give a genuine compliment. Take a genuine interest in it. And so I think it, it really does make a difference to do those little things. And I know that as you're talking, I'm sure some of my listeners are thinking, "Oh gosh, this sounds like a lot of work," here's what I would say.

 

It is work, right? And you can either spend time or you can spend money and they can hire you, right? So we either have to invest time or money in our business or some combination. But what I'll say is I think it's so important to do the work because when Kristine was talking about following up, I was just laughing inside because Kristine had to follow up with me a lot of times.

 

She reached out and I had many different things going on. I'm managing my team, I'm getting messages all the time, and so absolutely as Christina's saying, you don't wanna be a pest or an annoyance. But don't be afraid to follow up and when your follow up is genuine. And I think especially when you ask for closure, like I've had some people say sometimes, "Hey, you know, I haven't heard from you. I'll assume you're not interested". I think it's good to to really let them know that you do care and you're not just, they're not just on a hit list. Yeah.

 

But the follow up is a big deal because every time Kristine would respond to me or sometimes when other people say, "Hey, I'm just checking in on this". I'm so grateful. Because to me, I'm thinking, "Okay, good. Yes, I still wanna do that, that it just hasn't made it on my list yet." So do the work. It's worth it.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah, absolutely. I, I think you're so right because you have to invest, whether it's time, whether money. But if it's time, at least I'm 95% sure that if you invest the time and it will actually do the homework and it will actually create a genuine pitch, you will get, you will get some kind of a response than a complete radio silence.

 

Molly Claire: So it's like, if you're gonna do it, you don't wanna overcomplicate it, right? You wanna be smart with your time, but don't take too many shortcuts. Don't try to speed through this too quickly because the quality for sure matters.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

 

Molly Claire: Absolutely. Yeah. Okay, so this is awesome.

 

Tell me before, as we wrap up, tell my listeners what you have for them. I know I'm gonna have links in the show notes to everything. I know you have an awesome gift for them, and tell them about that and where they can find.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yeah. Awesome. So, yes, like I mentioned, I have a free masterclass, Pitch and Get Booked, that will go into even more depth on, on how to find the right shows, how to do the research, how to pitch them, how to also track your results.

 

So all of these goodies will be in this free master class, and you can find it at going to thepodgrow.com/masterclass. Once again, it's thepodgrow.com/masterclass. Pretty obvious that my website is thepodgrow.com. And also, you can find me on my Instagram. I'm an Instagram girl, so @thepodgrow as well.

 

Yes, yes. And LinkedIn, Kristine. But it's super hard. So just, let's just keep it Instagram and website and free master class. I will hope to see you out there.

 

Molly Claire: Perfect. Yes. And all of this is in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here. This is just a huge benefit to my audience and I look forward to having you in my community in the near future as well.

 

Kristine Barvike: Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much again for reminding me. This's been so fun. Thank you.

 

Yeah, thank you Kristine.

 

Outro: Thanks for listening to The Masterful Coach Podcast. If you’re ready for complete support as you build your coaching business, check out Molly’s collaborative community, The Masterful Coach Collective, it’s a place where you’ll have access to the best experts in the biz, community support and guidance as you build your perfect business 90 days at a time. Visit www.mollyclaire.com for details.