Podcast lead generation works when the show is built as a funnel, not a broadcast: position it so ideal clients want to be guests, find those guests where they already gather, and turn every interview into a relationship with a clear next step. Downloads matter less than who is in the guest chair.
Andy Milligan has run that experiment for years. He hosts Marketing by Design, powered by AMA Columbus, with more than 180 interviews over about two and a half years, and the show is a core business development channel for his studio, MMG Studio, and for the Columbus Marketing Organization. In this episode he breaks down a full B2B podcast funnel he learned from a fellow Columbus agency owner and explains how he is rebuilding his own pipeline around it.
If you are still working toward your first few clients, start with how to get your first client and come back to this once you are ready to add a podcast to the mix.
Why podcast lead generation works for service providers
Most marketers think about podcasts as an audience play. The audience is real: according to Edison Research's Infinite Dial 2025, 55% of Americans age 12 and older now listen to podcasts monthly. But for a solo marketer or small agency, the bigger value sits on the other side of the microphone.
An interview gives you an hour of focused attention from someone you would struggle to get on a sales call. They show up prepared, they talk about their business, and they leave feeling good about the conversation. That trust carries weight. In a 2026 SurveyMonkey and Reddit study of 1,202 U.S. business decision-makers, 73% said peer recommendations were their most trusted source when evaluating vendors. Guests who enjoyed your show become those peers.
Andy credits the funnel in this episode to Chase Clymer, co-founder of the Columbus Shopify agency Electric Eye and host of the Honest Ecommerce podcast. According to Andy, Chase's only business development motions are conferences and podcasting, and the two feed each other. "He's just dropped so much value on me this morning," Andy says (3:52).
Step 1: Position the show so the right guests say yes
"It all starts with positioning," Andy says. Chase's show is built for online store owners, which means the guests are often the same people who could hire his agency. Every booking is a conversation with a potential client.
Marketing by Design has worked one step removed: many guests are partners and peers rather than direct buyers. Andy's takeaway is to make the show something your ideal customer, or a partner one degree removed from them, would love to appear on. "That way it's just an easier yes, an easy conversion," he says.
For his own show, that means sharpening the messaging toward healthcare marketing, the niche his studio serves, so it is obvious to the right guests that this is a top show in their space.
Ask yourself:
- Would my ideal client be flattered to be invited?
- Does the show's name and description make the niche obvious in five seconds?
- If a guest never hires me, are they likely to know someone who would?
Step 2: Find guests at the conferences your clients attend
Chase attends about one conference a month, and he chooses them carefully. The method Andy describes (6:30) starts with existing clients: Chase asks them which conferences they are attending this year and adds those events to his calendar. That way the room is already full of people like his best customers.
Then comes what Andy calls the media pass play. Before the event, Chase contacts the conference's marketing team or organizers and explains that he hosts a podcast in the space and wants to meet potential guests at the event. Because a podcast host functions as a media partner, organizers often give him a media pass, so he frequently does not pay for the ticket.
At the event, he qualifies guests in person. He talks to the marketers he meets and asks who their founder is, then offers to interview that founder on the show.
Andy saw his own history in this. "Some of the best podcast guests that we've had are people that I've met in person at conferences," he says. Meeting someone face to face warms them up in a way a cold invite cannot. If you have a list of dream clients, a guest list built this way works a lot like a Dream 100.
Step 3: Book a short prep call, not a sales call
Instead of asking for a meeting about services, Chase books a 15-minute prep call ahead of the interview. Many guests have never been on a podcast and have questions, so the call is genuinely useful to them. It also lets the host show that he is human, demonstrate some expertise, and lock in the recording date before the call ends.
There is no pitch here. The goal is to make the guest comfortable and excited about the interview.
Step 4: Ask for referrals before the interview, not after
This was the moment that changed Andy's thinking (8:04). After the prep call, Chase sends an onboarding form that asks guests for the softball questions they would like to answer. The same form asks for referrals: who are one or two leaders in the space who would be a great fit for the show?
Asking while the guest is still energized from the prep call is the point. "This is kind of backwards because I had always waited until after the podcast recording to personalize the intro, ask for referrals," Andy says. Moving the ask earlier means every booked guest can lead to the next one before you have recorded a minute. Over time, that is how a guest list turns into a steady source of introductions, which is the idea behind referral marketing.
Step 5: Make the guest look great during the interview
During the recording, the job is to make the guest shine. Andy's summary of Chase's approach:
- Flatter them. Use the softball questions they sent, and reinforce the value they bring to your audience.
- Keep it about the audience. The episode should be useful to listeners, not a pitch for your services.
- Show your expertise naturally. Bounce ideas off each other. Good questions and thoughtful responses show how you think.
- Set expectations for what happens next. Before you hang up, tell the guest what you will send them later that day and what it will include.
That last step sets up the offer without making the interview feel like a sales call.
Step 6: Follow up with a diagnostic offer and the finished episode
The same day, Chase emails the guest with a diagnostic offer (9:04). According to Andy, Electric Eye lists that diagnostic as a service on its website, which lets the email frame it as $697 of work offered for free. Paired with the social gratitude a guest feels after being featured, it is a compelling next step. The email also mentions that clips are coming and invites the guest to reshare them.
When the episode goes live, a second email arrives with the finished assets. If the guest has not responded to the diagnostic yet, it is offered again. The email also positions the guest as the expert they are and encourages them to share. If you want a system for turning each episode into those shareable assets, Andy's podcast clips playbook covers his workflow, and this kind of content repurposing keeps each interview working long after the recording.
How Andy is applying the funnel to Marketing by Design
Andy's adaptation is specific to his business. For a web and SEO studio, the diagnostic will likely be a website review that shows guests where conversion opportunities are leaking, such as a service page that is not optimized. He may record it as a short video, the same format he already uses in his outreach.
He also believes the funnel will make that outreach stronger. "I think our video outreach would convert a lot better if we started doing this," he says, because an offer that follows a great interview is pre-qualified. A cold video to a stranger has none of that context.
In a separate monthly retro, Andy estimated that most of his best podcast conversations either refer clients or become clients. That is his own estimate rather than a measured rate, but it explains why he treats the show as a sales channel and not a hobby.
The Columbus community behind the show
The same relationship-first thinking shows up in Andy's community work. Earlier in this episode, he spent 45 minutes working the invite list for an upcoming Columbus Marketing Organization event, aiming for 40 to 50 total responses so he can reasonably expect 25 to 30 people in the room after the usual no-shows.
Columbus Marketing Organization is a peer community for marketers, freelancers, and service providers in Columbus, Ohio, founded by Andy Milligan. Members share leads, introductions, and job opportunities, including the weekly Columbus Marketing Jobs newsletter. The podcast, the events, and the community all feed each other: a guest becomes an event attendee, an attendee becomes a referral partner, and a referral partner suggests the next guest. Andy also serves as VP of Membership at AMA Columbus, which powers the show.
If you want to see how he structures each episode itself, read podcast for business for the episode format. This article covers the funnel around it.
Start your podcast lead generation funnel
Podcast lead generation is less about audience size and more about the guest list. Position the show so your ideal clients want in, meet them where they already gather, warm them up with a short prep call, ask for referrals early, make them look great on air, and follow up with a free, specific offer.
If you are a Columbus marketer building a show like this, come compare notes in person at an upcoming Columbus marketing event, or join the Columbus Marketing Organization community on Skool to swap guest ideas with peers.
It all starts with positioning.
Frequently asked questions
How does a podcast generate leads for a marketing business?
Each interview gives you focused time with someone who could hire you or refer you. Andy Milligan's funnel positions the show for ideal clients, books guests through prep calls instead of sales calls, asks for referrals early, and follows up after the episode with a free diagnostic offer and shareable clips.
Where do you find the right podcast guests?
Go where your clients already gather. The approach Andy describes starts by asking existing clients which conferences they attend, then contacting organizers for a media pass and meeting potential guests in person. Andy says some of his best guests are people he met face to face at conferences.
When should you ask a podcast guest for referrals?
Before the interview, not after. In this funnel, guests receive an onboarding form after a short prep call that asks for one or two leaders who would fit the show. Asking while they are excited about being featured turns each booking into the next guest before you record.
Should you pitch your services on the podcast?
No. The interview should make the guest look great and stay useful to listeners. At the end, set expectations for what you will send next. The follow-up email that day carries the offer, such as a free diagnostic, along with clips the guest can share with their own network.
Is podcasting worth it for a solo marketer in Columbus?
It can be if you treat it as relationship building. Andy Milligan has recorded more than 180 interviews over about two and a half years, and he estimates that most of his best podcast conversations either refer clients or become clients. The funnel matters more than audience size.
Read the video transcript
Kind: captions Language: en Hey there, my name is Andy. I own a solo marketing business that has generated $394,115 in lifetime revenue. And this is my daily marketing channel where I take you inside behind the scenes and I show you what's working in my time. If this is your guys's first time to the channel, I own three businesses. One is MMG Studio, which is my web and SEO studio for healthcare brands. The second is the CMO, which is the Columbus marketing organization, which is my in-person events, job board, and mastermind for high performing marketers like me in the city in which I live. And the third is my podcast, which is not currently not currently pictured here, but that is my interview podcast for B2B marketers and healthcare [music] and beyond. 180 plus interviews over about two and a half years. One of the top 10 marketing top 10% of marketing podcasts in the space. Today our live our format is going to be pretty traditional. It's going to be a little bit of live lead genen that I'm going to build and strategize in public sharing you guys about some recent lessons that I learned about podcasting and other in my network in terms of how I'm going to use that to actually scale my solo marketing business in terms of delegation hiring conferences lead genen etc. So, we're going to close out with some updates and growth stats across YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, uh, revenue, and all of my products that I'm focused on and growing and track them in a handy little pretty little dashboard [music] just like this. So, without further ado, I don't want to procrastinate anymore. Let's get straight to the [music] content, sending some emails. I I have a decent amount of attendees set for [music] um the event upcoming here in two weeks, but I want to send a few more emails, get the invites sent out, and uh let's [music] go. No more no more procrastinating. Let's get right into it. All righty. Sent spent about 45 minutes uh polishing up the events pipeline there. Um so far we have 17 confirmed attendees and we're waiting to hear back on nine and three said maybe. So, I'm at that point now where pretty much everything I want to get between 40 and 50 total. 30 confirmed and 10 that are iffy because then at that rate then we can expect reasonably about 30 [music] 25 to 30. Expect 10 people to not show up who have previously committed. So, of that I'm good. I still have a lot to work from here. Um, which is good. and I can just keep that pipeline going subtly as well. I did invite Dear already too, so she will be there. Um, so yeah, we have plenty of people to work with and I'm going to continue to chip away at this time of time. So, we got a great start here. What I want to uh do at the end of this video in addition to growth stats is talk a little bit about um the B2B podcast funnel, which I just met with Chase at Electric Eye. You guys don't know what Electric Eye is, go and check out their website. They are a Shopify agency and they do e-commerce. Premier Partners, one of the best in the country, just happened to be based right here in Columbus, Ohio. Chase is an awesome guy and he's just dropped so much value on me this morning that I want to talk through how he his only bisdev motion is conferences and podcasting and those play into each other very well. And it just inspired me so much that I want to while the lessons are fresh recap them with you and share how I'm going to implement them. uh into the marketing by design pipeline. So essentially what he does starting with this he is show positioning. So his um show is called honest e-commerce and it is one of the best [music] um one of the best premier podcasts for e-commerce in the space. Been doing it for a long time and it's very well positioned. So it all starts with positioning. The podcast that tells the real stories behind e-commerce success honest e-commerce the top [music] is in the top 5% of podcast and has been one of Shopify's picks for the business pod for best business podcast for years. Shopify expert Chase Climber and his guest provide the online store owners with actionable honest advice on how to increase their sales and grow their business. So very well positioned and really really good at making the experts and the guests feel awesome. they want to be on this show [music] and tangentially it also attracts the people that could hire him to do work. So these this is a guestfacing podcast where the guest could be uh potential clients. Traditionally with marketing by design what we've done is we've made that more on one degree removed. Um and I illustrated this here in this graphic. Make the it all starts with positioning. So making the podcast something that your ideal customer or one degree removed partners one degree removed would love to come on to. So that way it's just an easier yes an easy conversion. It just makes sense. So when it comes to marketing by design um what I'm thinking of is really making it more niche toward health care and you know making that clear in the messaging. I think all of these people have experience in healthcare but um maybe positioning others like Dale Bertrand is a podcast guest we've had on in the space. These are just viral names. Um so yeah making it more clear that this is a top um podcast in the healthcare marketing space. Um next up in this funnel is his [music] guest playbook. So he does a conference playbook. So what he does is he attends about one conference a month where he it is specifically curated their e-commerce conferences. They're where his customers show up. And what he starts that is he starts by talking to his clients. He asks his existing clients, hey what conferences are you attending this year? And he adds that to his roster. That way he already knows people that are going to hire him for his work. People like his best customers already going to be there. Then he does what's called the media path play. So what he does is he then goes to that conference and he reaches out to the marketing person at that conference or the administrators goes to a contact form and says hey I host a top 1% podcast in my space and I want to go and meet potential guests here how can I do so [music] and they often give him a media pass and let him attend for free because they're like oh man great he's going to be creating pressure on this he has this inbuilt media outlet so he's literally a media path uh he's literally a media partner and he doesn't have to pay a lot of times to get conference tickets. Then what he does is he qualifies guests in person. He makes that he talks to marketers or hey who is your founder? Would love to interview him on this top five% podcast that we have. Then he books an interview prep calls like a 15-minute prep call rather than saying hey let's get on a sales call. Hey let's get on the podcast right away. A lot of times they have questions. Some people haven't been on a podcast before. It's a good way to warm them up. Show them that you're human. Then on the podcast or on that interview call shows authority, shows what he's doing well. Then they schedule the interview while they're on that prep call. Then after that interview, that onboarding interview, sends them the form. This is where it comes into play. He asks them for softball questions. He asks them for referrals [music] before the interview. Hey, who are one to two guests that are leaders in this space [music] that you would like to that you think would be a great fit for the podcast? asking them for referrals after they're already off the high from the onboarding call. This is kind of backwards because I had always waited until after the podcast recording to personalize the intro, ask for referrals. But he does a great thing of asking [music] for it beforehand. Next up is during the interview. So flatter them, ask them the softball questions. really focus around your audience and making this look like a making them making this guest um a great, you know, making them very flattered, reinforcing the value that they add to the audience and making them feel good. Display your expertise. So, why you bounce ideas off of each other and then set next step expectations. So, say at the end of the call what you're going to do next. What he does is he says, "Hey, I'm going to send you an email later today and this is what's going to be in it. [music] It's going to be a diagnostic offer. So, while he's on the podcast afterwards, he'll say, "Hey, I'm gonna send this interview within there." Maybe sometimes it makes sense, too. This is where you present a pitch to them. Say, "Hey, I'm going to be sending you this." It has a diagnostic offer in there. What he does is he actually lists this as a service on their website for free. And that way they can see, hey, this is $697 of free game that I would love to give you for free. That is just an overwhelming compelling offer. and also hit on the value that hey we're gonna be sending you clips would love you to reshare things like that there at this point there's a lot of inbuilt social gratitude that they have for being a spotlight on this show and yeah deliver on that free value for I'm thinking for us this would be some kind of a website diagnostic meaning which shows you where all of your conversion opportunities are being um are leaking so like service page is not optimized and I could even send this as a video recording which I've doing on my own cold outreach. [music] This just makes so much more sense because it pre-qualifies. I think I think our video outreach would convert a lot better if we started doing this. Then on production day, you send a great reinforcement email again with that audit. If they haven't answered it from the first time, send them out the asset and encourage them to reshare, position them as the paid expert that they are. So, this really blew my mind, especially the conference piece. And I can already see that the some of the best podcast gifts that we've had are people that I've met in person at conferences, things like that. And it just it warms people up in a way that I haven't currently thought about it before for our business. So, [music] shout out to Chase at Electric Eye. Go follow him on LinkedIn and check out Electric Eye. [music] Um, so yeah, reinforcing those lessons because those really hit home for me. I want to track a few branch tests before we um head on to because I've got a lot of client work today to do. Um I've got a meeting here in a couple hours and I want to really make sure that I get that in. But uh let's head over to brand stats [music] and track growth across all of our channels, main channel, second channel, LinkedIn, and newsletter. I think we should be at 250 subscribers for the newsletter. I'm almost 100% positive that we're there by now. Um, okay. [music] So, main second channel, 57 subscribers, up one from yesterday. Boom. Main channel, 427 subscribers. Just uploaded the podcast with Sophie. Not doing so hot right now, but it will get better as the day goes on. This is how it goes. Say 427. Nice. Few more here. Boom. Wked in. We are at 4951. Almost at 8K. We probably should be there probably by the end of this week. Um I would imagine improvement over yesterday. And Instagram. I think we're still the same number. And then Beehive [music] 249 still unfortunately. But um yeah, so I appreciate guys checking in this week. I hope you got value out of that podcast funnel. If you are a marketer and you want to continue to grow your revenue, connect with high performers, people that are one or two steps ahead of you, check out the community link in the description below. Otherwise, I'll see you guys tomorrow and thank you for watching. Bye.