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Transcript

Why Your Podcast Pitch Gets Ignored (and How to Fix It!) · Your Mic

• 0:00
  What makes a terrible podcast guest?
• 0:02
  I got pitched for something that was after the end of season two.
• 0:06
  So that's red flag number one, third red flag.
• 0:09
  So I did some research on the name of the individual
• 0:11
  and the nonprofit that he represents.
• 0:14
  No Houston connection whatsoever.
• 0:16
  And the first thing that you're going to notice is no pitch, no glory.
• 0:19
  Make your pitch timely, make it relevant, make it very specific to what the show is about.
• 0:25
  Nobody is going to love your business more than you.
• 0:28
  Our egos sometimes get the best of us.
• 0:30
  We are the best thing in the entire world and that's great.
• 0:33
  We are the energy we put out into the universe.
• 0:35
  But don't be afraid to go small when you are wanting to get on podcasts as a guest.
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  Start small.
• 0:41
  So you want to be on a podcast.
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  Today we've got a real-world breakdown of what makes a podcast guest pitch
• 0:48
  fail with flaming orange red and yellow colors
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  into the dust bins of all things podcast pitch hell.
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  This is your mic.
• 1:00
  My name is Freddie Cruz, founder of Speak podcasting.
• 1:02
  We help clients produce top rated shows and help guests get on podcasts.
• 1:08
  And today we are talking about what makes a terrible podcast guest pitch.
• 1:14
  And to break it down, I've got an actual failed podcast pitch.
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  As you may know, I've got another podcast.
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  This one is called Cruise Through HTX and it's all about the city of Houston.
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  We focus on individuals, businesses, nonprofits, events,
• 1:28
  everything that makes the greater Houston area great.
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  And so I got pitched for something that was after the end of season two.
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  So that's red flag number one is that they didn't realize
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  I'm not taping for the current season because the current season is actually over.
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  And so the pitch, it goes like this.
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  Hmm.
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  Hey, Freddie.
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  Listening to your recent episode Alzheimer's risks and prevention, I was truly struck
• 2:00
  by Dr. Schultz's insights on lifestyle changes reducing Alzheimer's risk by 50%.
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  This proactive approach immensely resonates with name of the potential guest.
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  His work in the nonprofit sector where he applies innovative strategies.
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  John goes on for about two more paragraphs about what what an episode with this person would sound
• 2:25
  like. It is with would you consider featuring Blankety Blank on Cruise Through HTX, his insights
• 2:34
  on engaging community driven initiatives in Houston could offer your audience a fresh perspective
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  on nonprofit leadership and innovation.
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  And that's another red flag because if anybody knew anything about season two of Cruise Through HTX,
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  they would know that season two of the show was focused on health and wellness,
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  not nonprofit innovations. So red flag number two.
• 3:01
  So we're going to give a little bit of a more detailed breakdown as to why if the first two
• 3:07
  red flags weren't enough, why else this podcast pitch fell short.
• 3:14
  So the show again is focused on the city of Houston.
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  Okay. Not really a Houston connection in the pitch.
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  I actually did some homework because I noticed how horrible the pitch was despite despite
• 3:29
  it being well written and in some ways thoughtfully executed.
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  So I did some research on the name of the individual and the nonprofit that he represents.
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  No Houston connection whatsoever. Third red flag.
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  Fourth red flag. It came from a PR firm that obviously didn't do their homework about the show
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  they were pitching. And then another red flag was how patronizing some of this was again,
• 4:03
  a well written seemingly well thought out pitch yet it was a little bit on the patronizing side.
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  I was truly struck by your most recent episode speaking of which that's another red flag.
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  Because a little a little known secret is that people who want to get on shows and maybe I
• 4:27
  should back that up a little bit. Agencies who represent people who want to be on podcasts will
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  kind of see this as a shortcut to trying to endure the host. What they'll do is reference the most
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  recent episode meaning they didn't go back to any of the other previous episodes, meaning even
• 4:49
  if cruise the HTX wasn't in a season of health and wellness and was actually open to the idea of
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  talking to someone who represents a nonprofit did the PR firm? Did they go back and see if there was
• 5:03
  an episode in which the show spotlighted a nonprofit similar to the guests they were pitching for.
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  A lot of times the answer is no. Okay. So we're going to keep all those red flags in a little bucket.
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  And we're going to keep all of that in consideration for when you decide that you want to get on
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  somebody else's show. And we're going to talk about what works in terms of pitching yourself whether
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  or not you're a podcaster pitching yourself to somebody's show. And so one of the best ways to spot
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  whether or not you are targeting the right niche is your social media network who your Facebook
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  friends who are your LinkedIn followers? How many online communities are you a part of?
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  I've mentioned this before. I'm a part of several Facebook Facebook podcast communities.
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  Did you connect with somebody at a trade at a trade show who might happen to have a podcast? Let's
• 6:08
  say you're an IT person and you want to start getting on some IT adjacent shows. Did you hit up
• 6:15
  anybody at a booth that might happen to have a podcast? That would be that would be ideal podcast
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  guest spot numero uno. Okay. So you think about your network and then the secret the secret to
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  getting on their show is to not really ask right away. I mean, if you want go for it to me,
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  it's almost like asking for the first date when you just met somebody. So
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  comments on their posts, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, send them a nice email,
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  kind of follow up in a couple of weeks. Hey, we're just thinking about you. Have a great weekend.
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  I met you at the trade show and I thought what you were doing was really cool. Yada, yada, yada, blah,
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  blah, blah. So I want to pull some actual tips in addition to this. And this is from my PDF
• 7:09
  so you want to be on a podcast. And it's available for free for you. Speak podcasting.com slash
• 7:15
  free resources. And you can hit me up with an email and we'll balance it to you.
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  And the first thing that you're going to notice is no pitch, no glory. So the thing is,
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  you can make a pitch. And that was kind of where the first that first example, the failed pitch,
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  it's kind of where they at least were somewhat right is that they, they happen to actually have
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  a value proposition going back to this organization. Even though they had no relevance to my show,
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  I did some digging on the guy. And if my show was actually relevant to what he was going to talk
• 7:53
  about, I wouldn't mind hosting him. He brought a wealth of information on his CV. And so what value
• 8:02
  do you bring to your potential hosts audience? Do you have a book or a business? Well, guess what?
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  It's not enough. Make your pitch timely. Make it relevant. Make it very specific to what,
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  to what the show is about. And another one, this is a very, very important one because sometimes
• 8:21
  I think that we get really high on our horse and we're very precious about what we do.
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  Nobody is going to love your business more than you. And I speak, I speak from personal experience.
• 8:38
  Okay. Our egos sometimes get the best of us. We are the best thing in the entire world. And
• 8:44
  that's great. We are the energy we put out into the universe. But don't be afraid to go small
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  when you are wanting to get on podcasts as a guest. Start small. Start on a show like
• 8:57
  cruise through HTX if you've got a relevant pitch. My audience is kind of small. So
• 9:05
  start with a smaller audience is start to get in those reps. Then you can start working into
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  the shows. They get the thousands of downloads every month. And then you can start working
• 9:15
  into the tens of thousands of downloads. And then maybe just maybe after you, after you start
• 9:20
  getting those reps in and you start to become an all star and all star guest on podcasts.
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  Maybe you'll start getting on some of the really top tier podcasts with the huge digital footprint.
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  Next up, and this is another big one. I've been guilty of violating this rule and I've learned
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  the hard way is that you got to do the homework. You got to listen to the show that you want to
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  be on. And it goes beyond listening to the most recent episode. You go back and listen to
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  maybe two or three. If you have time four or five. If you're going to be pitching a show that's
• 9:59
  is on the longer end. Okay. So maybe you don't have time to commit to three or four or five hour
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  long episodes. At least scan through them. Read through the through the hosts website. Maybe
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  if they have some online articles that they've been featured on. Do some homework on the host.
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  That way you kind of know who it is that you're going to be dealing with and who you're going to be
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  sharing 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes of your time with. And this is the most crucial one.
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  I cannot tell you how important this one is is that it's one thing to be a guest on somebody show
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  but then what happens after the fact after the fact you got to share the episode.
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  So in an earlier episode of your mic, I talked about one of my most downloaded episodes ever. It
• 10:53
  was somebody who had over a million Instagram followers who shared a screenshot of the show notes
• 11:00
  from the episode that she was feed of the episode she was featured on. So think in terms and
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  this could have been the only the only thing she ever referenced about the episode that she recorded
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  with me. And I think it might have been so 1.3 some odd million followers on Instagram.
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  And I got just over 200 lifetime downloads from that episode.
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  Kind of a lot of downloads for a small show also when you think in terms of 200 plus lifetime
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  downloads versus 1.3 million Instagram followers. And then the lifetime of an Instagram post being
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  what negative 30 seconds. I'm being a little facetious here. But the lifetime of an Instagram post
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  is really not that long. So here's your action plan. You personalize every pitch and that's
• 12:03
  going to be really hard. But if you want to make a podcast tour, you got to get down and dirty.
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  And really, really get specific about who you're pitching. And if you want to have a template,
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  you know, we've done this work for clients. You can create three, four, maybe five podcast
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  pitch templates. And then you personalize each one. But having the exact same carbon copy
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  really isn't going to fly. And if you don't think it's not going to fly, think about the email,
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  think about the email newsletters or the email business pitches that you get that are often caught
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  up in your spam folder. That right there should be enough. You know the show's audience,
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  you know their theme, you know their schedule, you don't just promote your book or your business,
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  you offer the value, you go big. I love going big. You build real relationships in your niche.
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  Again, going back to the example of being the IT person who's at a trade show who meets
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  somebody at a booth that has an IT podcast, build that relationship first. Start with your
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  network. Don't be afraid to go small. Do your homework, listen, your research and then research
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  specific episodes or specific digital assets involving your potential host. Share your appearance
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  and help their show grow because when they win, you win, you might get more business leads or
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  book sales or whatever it is that you are promoting as a podcast guest. And that right there
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  is how you become a podcast guesting all star dominating the podcast universe. And if you
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  like that free PDF file of so you want to be on a podcast, again, hit me up, speak podcasting.com
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  slash free resource. You could also email me Freddie with a Y at speak podcasting.com. Thanks for
• 14:03
  listening.