Want to Become an Industry Leader? Be a Guest on Podcasts — But Not the Ones You Think If you are trying to promote your new product or service, there's a simple yet effective way to stand out from the rest.

Everyone knows that podcasts can be a great way to gain attention. When you appear as a guest, you're reaching a new audience — and hopefully interesting those people in your products or services.

But to really drive business, you must appear on the right podcasts. And sometimes, the right podcasts for you might seem counterintuitive.

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Here's the trick: Go on shows where you are not a natural, obvious fit.

If you're a marketing expert, for example, don't exclusively focus on going on marketing shows. Try to get onto podcasts about religion, pop culture, history, product management, and a wide variety of other subjects. Maybe it sounds weird, but that's also why it works — which I'll detail below.

I first heard this advice at a gathering of podcast professionals, who saw great growth by using this strategy. I've since verified it with others in the thought leadership space. "Getting the word out about what you do now means finding white space and new places where you can speak," thought leadership trainer Julie Morris told me, for example.

Why this works

Let's use the example from above: Say you're a marketing expert. Maybe you have a new book about marketing, or a marketing service to sell. You might want to appear on marketing-related podcasts, where you can alert marketing-minded audiences about how awesome you are.

There's nothing wrong with going on marketing shows. You should.

But you shouldn't stop there. Marketing podcasts are full of marketing experts — so if you're also a marketing expert, those podcasts' audiences hear from people like you all the time. It's hard to stand out or be memorable in an environment like that. If you have something to sell, it's even harder to compete against the talented marketers who appeared before or after you.

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But what if you go on totally different kinds of podcasts? Religion podcasts? Pop culture podcasts?

When you do that, you stand out. You bring something fresh and new to the conversation. And you reach an audience that isn't exposed to other people like you.

"But that's not my audience," you might think. "They won't care what I have to say."

Not necessarily! Someone might listen to a religion or pop culture podcast, but in some other area of their life, they might need someone with your unrelated expertise.

Make the pitch

Of course, you can't just barge your way into someone else's show or insist that a podcast change subjects just because you'd like to be a guest there.

Instead, you need to ask yourself: How can I uniquely help this audience? Then pitch your answer to the show's host. Show them that you understand their audience's specific needs and interests, and explain why you can help them deliver something special, valuable and overlooked.

I've done this many times without even thinking about it as a strategy. I once reached out to Lenny Rachitsky, author of Lenny's Newsletter and creator of the popular podcast Lenny's Podcast. Lenny serves an audience of product developers, and his podcast guests are usually experienced product leaders. I am not a product expert — so what did I have to offer them?

My answer: I could talk about how to get media attention for their product. Lenny agreed, and we had a great conversation about that.

I also speak a lot about navigating change in business. I'm usually invited onto business podcasts, but those podcasts' audiences hear from business leaders all the time. That's why I've also spoken on shows about spiritual journeys, mindfulness, church-building, and many more seemingly unrelated subjects.

In each case, I took lessons I learned in business and applied them to the needs and interests of those podcasts' audiences. As a result, those audiences heard something useful and unexpected, and often reached out to me or bought my book.

In short: You stand out by standing out — and by doing just the right amount of fitting in.