Interviews make for pretty enticing “bribes” to get people to sign up for your email list. And when it comes to lead magnet creation, this is really one of the simplest forms of content you can create. So, it’s definitely worth considering for a free product offer.
Many people steer clear of conducting interview because they think it’s hard to find a good guest, and to then get them to agree to being interviewed. But the truth is, even the highest profile experts and personalities are usually far more eager than you’d think to be interviewed by you, even if they have no idea in the world who you are.
Just take things a step at a time.
Finding a Guest
The best way to find a guest is to think about what problem you can solve for people in your niche. People will value your interview first and foremost, if it offers a solution to a major problem they face.
For example: If your niche is financial planning, you might determine that “locating high-yield, affordable long-term investments” is a common problem your clients, readers and followers face.
Now, you know who you want for a guest: someone who can offer advice on finding these types of investments.
If financial planning is your niche, you probably already know who the top bloggers, authors and other personalities are to offer this advice. If you don’t know, a quick Google or YouTube search should give you more than enough prospects to consider for your interview.
Booking a Guest
Almost everybody, no matter how important they are, like to give interviews. It feeds into their ego, plus, it gives them additional exposure when they know you’ll be promoting to people in their field. So, it shouldn’t be difficult to get a heavy-hitter guest to interview.
If you need to entice them further, you could offer him/her a promotional plan. Promise, for instance, to make a podcast of the interview and promote it through iTunes and a wide variety of social media.
A little bit of promotion is usually more than enough to convince an author, expert or personality to give you 30 minutes of their time for all the exposure they can get.
When you approach your prospective guest about doing the interview, give them a Q&A sheet already written out. Most people like to know what they’ll be asked, and often they will appreciate the opportunity to tweak the Q&A’s to their liking.
Producing the Interview
Now, all you have to do is conduct the actual interview.
There are many ways you can do this.
Raw interview: You can simply record the interview and offer it in it’s raw form as a video, audio (podcast or mp3) or verbatim transcript. This format will brand the guest as expert of course, but interesting and provocative interviewers can gain considerable authority for themselves by the way they conduct the interview.
Just think of Oprah Winfrey. You can get a lot of mileage out of interviewing others.
Processed interview: Alternatively, you could write an eBook or special report based on the interview. This may not be as interesting a product in the sense that the reader does not get to hear the actual interview. On the other hand, it has the benefit of allowing you to introduce your interpretation of the interview. This allows you to seize an opportunity for branding yourself more actively.
For additional assistance in producing an interview using these various formats, see the other segments of this series dealing with audio production, video production and eBook creation.
Delivering the Interview
Once the interview is completed, offer it as an ethical bribe to get people to sign onto your email list.
Something like this: “Learn the secrets to ‘locating high-yield, affordable long-term investments’ from my enlightening interview with ‘Mr. Expert’. Just enter your email address below and I’ll send you the video/audio link immediately.”
Interviews are a fun and interesting product to offer, and an important tool to add to your lead magnet creation kit.
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