How to pitch yourself as a podcast guest
If you have a podcast or any marketing outlet, you have probably received your share of truly awful pitches. This week, I received one that was a doozy in terms of both inappropriate targeting and lazy marketing. The following screenshot shows that pitch.
Where to begin? The misogynistic use of “chicks” to refer to women, the blatant arrogance of not listening to my show before asking to be on it, the outright lie (I have never, ever used the word “spirituality” on my podcast), the ridiculously unprovable marketing claims of being “an infinite well of modern dating advice” and “Planet Earth’s #1 Dating Coach,” the ignorance about my audience, or the childish use of all caps to reinforce his points.
So I thought this might be a good time to not only roundly mock this awful pitch but use it as a teachable moment as to how to construct a concise, respectful, data-based, and targeted podcast pitch.
In terms of my own background, besides having common sense, I have been working as a content marketer specializing in B2B cloud technology for the last 15 years. At my day job for a major tech company, I manage the blog and social media program, and I receive a half-dozen pitches each week as well as making a few of my own. Additionally, my podcast has been running for 17 years, and I receive at least two pitches per week, most of which I ignore due to their lack of targeting and information.
As in sales, many lazy PR folks take the spray and pray approach, taking a template pitch and sending it to multiple podcasts without personalization. Those template pitches work about as well as writing “hi beautiful” to a dozen people on a dating site. If you want to succeed, tailor your pitch to your target. Yes, it takes more time. You’ll only be able to pitch five people a day, not 100. But you will get better results, and it’s less likely that that podcaster will then post your pitch to the Bad Pitch Blog or their own Facebook page (or on a Medium post) for their followers’ amusement.
Before you pitch
Before you pitch anyone, take a few minutes to do a little research. It’s better to pitch five well-targeted podcasts than to spray and pray 100.
- Search on Apple Podcasts.
I entered polyamory in the keyword search box and then selected Podcasts in the right sidebar. Scroll past Podcast episodes to Podcasts, and then choose See all. It returned 100 results; the following screenshot shows the first 18 results.
However, some of the more relevant podcasts, such as Multiamory, Practicing Polyamory, and Sex Out Loud, don’t appear in the first 50 results. So it’s a good idea to try related keywords as well. In my case, I tried monogamish, and it returned additional results, including Monogamish, Monigam-ish Podcast, and Normalizing Non-Monogamy.
2. Evaluate each podcast.
For each podcast, check to see how many episodes they have posted, how frequently they publish, what their topics are, and how they are rated. The Multiamory podcast, for example, publishes religiously every week. At a glance, I see that they cover jealousy, compersion, metamours, diversity, and have recently interviewed one of our favorite guests, Dr. Eli Sheff. They have a five-star rating to boot. Refer to the following screenshot, which shows the Multiamory podcast’s podcast page in Apple Podcasts, including the logo, show description, five-star rating, and their 13 most recent episodes.
The Monogamish Podcast, by contrast, has 24 episodes, with the most recent being published in October 2020. While they may be a good target for collaboration later, likely best not to approach them now. My polyamory search also turned up Align Podcast, but it’s in the Nutrition category, and its description doesn’t touch on polyamory, so I would not target that podcast.
3. Listen.
On the podcast page in Apple Podcasts, when you hover over a podcast episode, the number becomes a play button. To listen quickly to a snippet, choose that play arrow. You can repeat this to quickly listen to snippets (or longer) of several episodes. When you click the play button, the podcast appears in the middle of the top navigation, and you can use the slider to move around the episode as you wish. Refer to the following screenshot showing the five most recent Multiamory podcast episodes with the fifth one, Metamour March, showing the play button.
You are listening to get a feel for the personality of the hosts and how they address their topics. Is their tone and topic a good match for you? Jot down your notes and impressions.
4. List your targets.
Come up with a list of the top podcasts you’d like to pitch. Start with two to five; you can also create a B-list for later.
When you pitch
The first rule of the pitch is to keep it short, sweet, and personalized. Say who you are, what you have to offer, why it would be a good fit for the audience, and what you want. In the following example, I have chosen to pitch the Multiamory podcast.
- Tell me who you are.
Introduce yourself concisely and without hyperbole. If you have credentials or data to back up claims, provide them. For example:
I’m Minx, and I host the Polyamory Weekly podcast. The podcast has been running for 17 years, has over 8M lifetime downloads, and is archived in the Kinsey Institute.
2. Tell me what you have to offer.
List your favorite topics, why you enjoy talking about them, and what your approach to them is. If you have appeared on other shows that they might be familiar with, cite them and provide links. This helps to establish your credibility and makes it easier for folks to say yes without doing additional research. You don’t need a long list; just provide your top two or three examples. For example:
I love teaching poly newbies how to navigate their first poly relationship and offer classes on optimizing your dating profile, avoiding relationship drama, and writing your own user manual. I have been a guest of Dan Savage’s on his SavageLoveCast to provide advice to his poly listeners and was one of the first people interviewed by Kevin Patterson on Poly Role Models.
3. Tell me why you are a good fit for my audience.
Use the notes you jotted down about episode titles, reviews, topics, and the host to link your expertise to my audience. Podcasters tend to be possessive about their audience, so you must make a good case for your being a good fit. If you’ve ever taken one of our dating classes, you know that the approach email must include specifics from that person’s profile. You should do the same when making a pitch. Give specific reasons for your being a good resource for their audience, providing links if you have them. For example:
It looks like your show has a strong listener base and covers topics similar to mine, including jealousy, metamour relations, and family of choice. In fact, I’ve done over a dozen episodes on metamour relations.
4. Ask for what you want.
If you want to be a guest on the show, ask for that. If you want an endorsement, for them to guest on your show, or something else, state the ask clearly and concisely. I like to include an example of something they’ve already covered as well as something that is unique to me. For example:
I would love to be a guest on your podcast to talk about metamour relations, poly podcasting, or one of my passions, writing your own user manual.
5. If you have anything to offer in exchange, make the offer.
Most podcast guests don’t bother to publicize their appearances on other podcasts or to reciprocate the guest spot. If you do, state that intent. For example:
I’d also be happy to have you as guests on my podcast, as I believe wholeheartedly in supporting poly and other sex-positive podcasters. If you choose to bring me on your show, when I appear as a podcast guest, I usually let my fans know via Facebook and Twitter a week in advance, and then I post the link when the episode is live.
6. Summarize and thank them.
Thank you for considering having me as a guest on your podcast. I am always happy to support like-minded podcasters and would love meeting you and your audience.
Conclusion
Just as with dating, when pitching podcasters, tailor your pitch by researching and getting to know the podcast and its hosts. Provide data points rather than marketing claims about your own qualifications and interests, and mention specific areas of alignment. If possible, mention something unique about yourself that they haven’t already covered that could pique their interest. And also as in dating, be prepared to accept no or not now as an answer.