Don't Guest and Ghost: Marlen Ulrika Elisabet Kakkori on Podcast Interviews
In this episode of Retained Trust, host Karl Hughes speaks with Marlen Ulrika Elisabet Kakkori, founder of Marlen Marketing, about turning podcast appearances into paying clients. Marlen explains why a nonfiction author with a high-ticket offer sees the best return from guesting, and why the value of a booking sits in three places: the host relationship, the audience, and the content itself. She argues that most guests leave money on the table by never following up, a habit she calls guesting and ghosting, and suggests reaching out to a show's other guests for warm introductions. Karl and Marlen also cover the equipment that actually matters, the speech map she learned from Eric Edmeades, and her move from Estonia to Mexico as an accidental entrepreneur. Tune in to learn how to turn an interview into a client acquisition system.
Key Points From This Episode:
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:00:49) From Estonia to Mexico, and the agency COVID forced Marlen to start
(00:03:28) Why AI raises the value of a real human conversation
(00:04:42) The ideal client: a nonfiction author with a high-ticket offer
(00:06:43) Why inviting listeners to an offer beats chasing book sales
(00:07:50) The Podcast Interview Leverage Method, and why not to guest and ghost
(00:08:37) Mining a show's other guests for warm introductions
(00:09:54) Three kinds of value in a booking: host, audience, and content
(00:11:28) Getting onto bigger shows: the relationship game and the numbers game
(00:13:21) Positioning yourself as a category of one
(00:15:50) Building a story bank for any public speaking
(00:16:28) The nine languages Marlen speaks and how she learned them
(00:17:42) Why a track record takes 18 shows over six months
(00:18:39) Karl on Starter Story, and saying yes without a call to action
(00:20:09) Why it takes around 40 episodes to become a strong interviewee
(00:21:51) Preparing with the speech map from Eric Edmeades's training
(00:24:08) What equipment a guest actually needs
(00:26:11) Losing an office job to COVID and starting a company in Estonia
(00:30:10) The bigger mission behind the agency: speak to liberate, speak to lead
(00:31:48) Courage, Paulo Coelho, and refusing to hold yourself back
(00:33:59) Barcelona to Mexico, and refusing to be happy half the year
(00:35:13) Selling outcomes instead of hours after becoming a mother
(00:37:45) Who gets the yes in a sale, and who does the work
(00:39:42) Hiring only female support to get more women earning online
(00:41:00) Today's Inspired Leader, the Podcast Conversion Lab, and where to find Marlen
Links:
- Marlen Ulrika Elisabet Kakkori on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlenkakkori/
- Marlen Marketing: https://marlenmarketing.agency
- The Podcast Conversion Lab: https://www.skool.com/the-podcast-conversion-lab-1632
- Today's Inspired Leader Vol. VI: https://www.amazon.com/Todays-Inspired-Leader-VI-Community/dp/1961600994
- Karl Hughes: https://www.karllhughes.com/
- Karl Hughes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karllhughes
- Retained Trust: https://retainedtrust.com
- Production and editing by The Podcast Consultant: https://thepodcastconsultant.com
