Podcast Pitching & Positioning: How to Get Booked as an Expert Guest

We’re breaking down how to pitch yourself as an expert podcast guest—even if you’re not sure what makes you “the expert.” From crafting a pitch that gets a yes to building a credible digital presence, we’re sharing everything you need to land and leverage podcast features for your brand.

Time Stamps:
 01:07 The Power of Podcasting for Creators
 03:09 Building Trust and Credibility Through Podcasts
 04:46 Maximizing Podcast Appearances for Your Brand
 06:21 Crafting the Perfect Podcast Pitch
 13:18 Finding the Right Podcasts for Your Niche
 22:32 Engaging with Podcast Hosts and Communities
 24:57 Leveraging Relationships for Podcast Success

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Transcript

Episode 090: How to Pitch Podcasts

Michelle Pualani: [00:00:00] It creates a lot of noise and we have to give time and attention to even just looking at those. Sometimes. I quite honestly just delete them if the subject line is not relevant enough for me to open it. Because you have to consider where the host is coming from and that their time and their attention is just as valuable, just as busy, just as distracted.

So thinking about how you can position in a way that's gonna capture their attention. Position you as an expert, but then provide that benefit to them. So that's what I want you to start with. And then think about how your message, how your expertise, how your authority will then benefit their audience.

Michelle Pualani: Hello and welcome back to the Her First podcast. Today we're actually talking about. Podcasting. So we have been running the Her First podcast for about a year and a half now. We publish weekly episodes. We've had the fortune of hosting a lot of guests, and we've been [00:01:00] on other people's podcasts, Joanna and myself, talking about our businesses, our personal stories.

Or our expertise. So today we're talking about how to get yourself on more podcasts, how to position yourself well as an expert, and then also utilize that content in order to get more people into your things as a business owner, as a product course program creator, and someone who offers that in the digital space.

Buckle up because we've got a lot of great tactics for you today. Take some notes. Not everything will necessarily be for you. You might already be doing some of these things well, but just pull out maybe one to three top priorities that you can start to. Change, fix, do, uh, whatever feels good from this conversation.

Now, I will say we get pitched sometimes five to 10 times a week. So not only are we getting ourselves out there and pitching to other podcasts to get on their platform as an expert or [00:02:00] as an authority, but we also receive a lot of pitches. And so being able to sort through that and determine who's gonna be a great guest on our podcast is a part of this conversation as well.

So welcome. I'm Michelle, founder of To Be Honest Beverage Company, a non-alcoholic functional spirit brand in the e-commerce space, as well as coach and mentor to where personal development meets personal branding. 

Joanna Newton: I am Joanna Newton. I'm the co-founder of Millennial Marketer and Agency that helps creators build their own online digital businesses. I think podcasts are such a fantastic thing for creators to be part of, but it's definitely an area where you're going deep instead of. Broad, right? When you're on a podcast, you're gonna talk about a topic, so you have to think about what sort of expertise you can bring to the table on a show. Now that expertise, again, it has to go in depth If you are a social media strategist, but you haven't done a lot of work on social media strategy, and then you go on a [00:03:00] podcast to talk about your social media strategy, you're gonna want a lot to talk about, So when you have a lot of depth to what you can do, a lot of what you can talk about. Being a guest on a podcast is so, so valuable. first it can really help you build trust and credibility really fast. So if someone hosts you on, on their show, they have listeners, they have an audience, you're basically. That person is basically endorsing you, saying like, Hey, here's someone you can go to for this particular topic.

And so you're able to grow that trust really quickly with a new audience 'cause you're basically borrowing from that podcast, hosts credibility, their relationship with the audience and the work that they've done to do that. It is also really great because like I said, podcasts are a place you can go deep, so you can really have those long conversations. I'm someone who I think I struggle getting my expertise across in short form content, but I know when someone gets on a discovery call with me, even if it's a [00:04:00] 15 minute discovery call where they talk to me, they're bought in right away, I'm able to give insight. I'm able to share in depth of. What I can offer someone in a really true, true way, and a podcast is a great way to do that because you have, somewhere between 20 minutes to an hour, maybe even more depending on the length of the show, to really showcase what you do, what you have, and the value you bring to the table. Podcasting is also awesome because it can help you really reach targeted audiences. Most podcasts are about a topic. They're about a, a specific niche or a specific industry. So you can go find podcasts that already have all of your people in one place to be able to funnel towards whatever you're offering for your offers, your programs, and your services. Another really cool thing you can do for your, podcast, and this is something that I do, is use that as evergreen content. If you're a podcast guest, more likely than not, that host will be more than happy to give you the embed code for that [00:05:00] episode. You can put that embed code on your website, on your blog, you know, wherever you want, and be able to use that piece over and over and over again to show your credibility. And this can be. A great thing for you to be able to use, um, when building your brand.

Michelle Pualani: It is also a great way for you to. Reflect on what you said in the podcast episode. I think a lot of us just think about the act of doing right? You get on the podcast, you do it, you're the guest, you get it out into the world. Maybe you share some shorts that they gave you or some content, but if you actually go back and listen to the podcast and listen to your story.

Self. It'll help you refine your craft, your messaging, and figure out the gaps in what you're sharing to better connect and relate to your audience as well as position what you do successfully. So I think a lot of people struggle with, okay, well I got on that podcast but nothing came out of it. I went into that membership but nothing came out of it.

I've also had that experience in the past. But I think that's because we lack clarity in what we're saying and being able to position ourselves as the next step would be either to work with us, get [00:06:00] into our products, get into our programs. So if you can go back and use that as a tool to refine your messaging, refine your content, and improve your positioning.

It's invaluable because you're allowing yourself to speak openly without having to script, plan, strategize. You're getting things out of your head, that time to reflect can be very helpful. So I'd encourage you to do that as well. So let's chat a little bit about how you make yourself a desirable guest.

Again, her first guests, maybe five to 10 pitches on a weekly basis. And more at different times where I'm getting emails either from a public relations team or the individual themselves about being on our podcast. there are some typical ways that people approach this process, and I know that there's some great.

How to pitch podcast content out there. I think ours is a little bit different today. So pay attention to some of those things that we are calling out that are distinct from your typical. Listen to some of their episodes. Highlight an episode, say what you liked about it. Compliment [00:07:00] them, relate to them in some way.

We know that that's like a traditional. Pitch format in a lot of different contexts. It's not that it's bad, but it's shallow and I can tell when it's shallow. I can tell that they didn't really listen to the episode. They just called out a title or they used ai so. Let's talk about how you can position yourself as a really great guest, even before you get to the pitch or in cohesion with that pitch.

So one thing that I do when someone pitches us is I immediately look them up. I'm gonna look at social media, I'm gonna look at their website, I'm gonna look at any links that they have in the email that they sent us. And I'm gonna see what their digital presence is like as a whole. Is it clean? Is it organized?

Are they expressing a clear message? Do I know what they do, who they help and what they offer? If not, it's. Unlikely that I'm gonna even move onto the next step of consideration for them as a guest, because there's a lack of clarity in how they're showing up. It's likely that [00:08:00] there might be a lack of clarity when they come on to speak on the show.

So ensuring that your digital presence is clean, cohesive, it's the same across platforms. You know who you're helping. You know what your offer is, And you're demonstrating your skillset by having everything kind of nicely organized. Very, very important website socials, all the places that someone might find you.

The type of content that you're putting out on those platforms has to be aligned with what it is that you're either pitching the topic of the show. Or an expertise that that host is gonna be interested in. So for example, if you are pitching someone a concept for their show about cooking for arthritis.

The show is actually about marketing, cooking, blogs, then the content that you're sharing is around like recipes for stay at home moms. Do you see how that's really confusing? And it's unlikely that someone's gonna say, oh, this person knows what they're talking about. They're in authority in their [00:09:00] space, and they have a very clear way in which they're gonna help and support my audience.

' cause remember, as a guest, your goal is to bring value. Expertise, authority to the presence of that podcast, to the host, to their audience that they've built a relationship with, they've been able to like Joanna mentioned, establish that credibility and authority and trust. So you can't break that.

So really create content that is clear, that speaks to the transformation or takeaway of your ideal perspective. Client, customer, audience member. And that way the person who is hosting that episode can clearly see what you speak to and therefore say, yes, this would be a great, valuable expert or authority figure to bring onto my podcasts.

And then the other thing that I typically always ask for is some example of you speaking. Anywhere else, whether that's on YouTube, another podcast interview, a workshop, a conference that you did. [00:10:00] I wanna hear your voice. I wanna hear the way that you speak. One thing I don't think that we think about as guests is how.

I am going to present on that show and how that's then going to be received by the listener. So if I listen to someone who sent over an example, or if I'm reading or listening to their content, they use a lot of filler words, they get distracted or off course the through line of their sentiment isn't very cohesive.

They're not gonna be a great guest because we are bringing on guests that. Have a sense of authority, who are straight to the point, who are demonstrating and giving clear takeaways and valuable insights to our audience. so someone who rambles is not gonna be a great guest. So we have to think about for ourselves, if we are pitching other podcasts, how are we gonna do on that podcast?

And what value are we gonna bring and what way are we gonna show up? And how are we demonstrating that to the prospective host who's going to be having you on or inviting you? 

Joanna Newton: the funniest pitches that I've gotten that you're just like. Why are you [00:11:00] even reaching out to me is like a male entrepreneur who has a very like. a construction business. I literally got a podcast pitch that was like a PR firm pitching me a male entrepreneur with like a construction business, which just feels like the opposite of our podcast.

Right. not saying I wouldn't possibly be interested in having a male entrepreneur who a construction business on this show, but the pitch would have to explain to me why they aligned, they made sense. Because our audience is so clearly for female entrepreneurs, right? Trying to grow our brands, trying to get that visibility.

think we do a really good job making that clear. So if you come on and say, I have this. Great guest for you. He's a rich entrepreneur, but you're not connecting the dots for me. I'm, just gonna ignore it. someone could make a really good case. We haven't had a male on this podcast yet. I'm not saying I wouldn't, but someone would have to make a really good case to me of [00:12:00] why they fit on this show.

And that's the thing is podcast hosts aren't gonna host you as a favor to you. they're not doing you a favor. want one of a couple of things, right? They're looking for content. if it was a solo podcast host, they maybe they struggle coming with content ideas. Maybe they're looking for good content ideas. Maybe they're looking for audience borrowing, right? They want you to share it with your audience to expand the reach of the episode. Another option could be, topic is super trendy, so maybe you don't have a big audience, but your topic is hot right now, so it's gonna show up in the search algorithms.

It's gonna be what people are looking for. Podcast hosts want you on their show because it helps them, so you have to make it easy for them to see how you're gonna help them either by. I have 10,000 Instagram followers, and I will share. an expert in this topic and your audience needs this. I'm an expert in this topic and everyone's talking about it right now, so it's highly searchable.

So you should talk about it, [00:13:00] and I can help you do that, right? You have to connect the dots, make it make sense for their brand, and show how you're gonna be of value. I think that. Podcast hosts want more views. They want more followers. They want more subscribers. They want more people in their content, and you have to make it clear how you're gonna help them achieve that by being a guest. So that means you have to find the podcasts that are right for you. And I think sometimes we think, oh, I just wanna be on all of the big name podcasts. And while that would be cool, you need to be on podcasts for you where your target audience is. But then you also have to find podcasts that you're gonna align with from a perspective, that you have something to add. So one thing I'd recommend doing, and, and this is what I do if I look for, for podcasts to connect with, is actually look on social media. You can go look on podcast platforms, but there are so many podcasts and unless someone's in like the top 10 for their category, it's gonna be hard to actually really understand what their [00:14:00] viewership is like or who they have following them. So searching on Instagram. On threads on social media to look through content from podcasters that you align with is a great way to do this. I've had a lot of success on this, on threads in particular, there's an amazing podcast community on Threads and people will literally. Hey, I'm looking for podcast guests that talk about X, right?

You can find those threads, look at their social content, go look at their podcast episodes to get a good feel for who their audience is, who they're talking to, and what they speak to. So using social can be a really great way to find those hosts. also like some things to look for, think about their niche, think about who their audience is and also like think about the vibe.

I know I'm not super. Professional in a lot of ways. So a very, very businessy like strict podcast might not be the most fun for [00:15:00] me to be on and might be kind of awkward for me to be on. But I want someone I can chitchat with. I want someone who I can have back and forth banter that I can have a discussion and it's like dynamic.

That would be the kind of podcast that I know would be a good fit for me and I would be able to shine in and add a lot. I also know like I. Would work well on podcasts that you know are by female entrepreneurs or are for, people creating digital businesses. I'm not necessarily gonna go on a podcast that's teachers learning how to be teachers. Like, that's not the right, the right podcast for me, but a podcast that's for teachers who want to create digital products, that would be a good podcast for me to be on. So just start brainstorming like who your target audience is, what your niche is, what's important to you from like, the types of conversations you wanna have.

then search, you know, look at podcast platforms, social media, and find those places that are gonna be good for you. As you're doing that, start making yourself a list. You can think of [00:16:00] 10 to 20 podcasts that you want to be on. list them out, get their contact information, and go through that process.

You kind of have a baseline of who you wanna reach out to.

Michelle Pualani: In the beginning, a lot of times their audience size is going to match or be maybe slightly larger than your audience. Audience size, but that doesn't mean that you can't dream of larger podcasts and platforms in order to work towards. I also think it's positive if you are not used to podcasting, there are some things that you can improve over time.

So maybe thinking about getting on say five. Podcasts at X level before you move on to the next level, and then aim to get five more podcasts at the next level and go step by step by step until you kind of get that higher level I wanna be on the Jay Shetty podcast. Mel Robbins, like my goals are big, big, big.

But for right now, I'm focused more on niche audiences and very targeted demographics around, you know, the topics that I [00:17:00] specifically speak to as well as our brand as a whole. You can think big and plan big, but start at a more accessible place. So once you kind of have that list together, once you're thinking about who I'm going to be a good fit with or be aligned for.

Now you're gonna get into the pitching process. Now we mentioned that kind of generic approach of saying like. Hey, I listened to this episode. This was a really great point. I think that's a good place to start to frame, maybe not the beginning of your actual pitch again, because as people who get pitched constantly, I'm seeing that constantly and it's just like a one-liner from one of our shows.

It doesn't necessarily relate a hundred percent to. Whether I wanna bring that person on or not. I think one, the more personality that you can imbue into your outreach, the better. I always pay more attention to funny or interesting, quirky or curiosity peaking pitches. Over the other more generic AI style written ones.

[00:18:00] But in starting with thinking about the host, everything that Joanna talked about is how can I benefit them? I want you to think about your pitch from that perspective. So if you have a group of people that you can market the podcast too, if you have a platform that you can bring them onto, maybe first before you ask for.

On their platform if you have a larger audience. All of the creative unique ways that you can think about in order to support that host. That's what I want you to start with, I want you to start with the benefit that they're gonna get by even just starting to communicate with you in the first place.

We have to be very diligent and on this podcast, the Her First podcast. If you're not subscribed, hit that subscribe button right now. But what we talk about a lot is valuing your time, your energy, and your attention. so when you have all of these pitches coming at you pitches, that's hilarious. 

so many pitches getting pitch slap daily.

Okay.

It creates a lot of noise and we have [00:19:00] to give time and attention to even just looking at those. Sometimes. I quite honestly just delete them if the subject line is not relevant enough for me to open it. Because you have to consider where the host is coming from and that their time and their attention is just as valuable, just as busy, just as distracted.

So thinking about how you can position in a way that's gonna capture their attention. Position you as an expert, but then provide that benefit to them. So that's what I want you to start with. then think about how your message, how your expertise, how your authority will then benefit their audience.

So benefit them first. Then benefit their audience because after they care about themselves, the next thing they're gonna care about is their audience. The people who are listening to them, the people who are already tuned into what they're saying. They've built that credibility, they've built that trust.

Now how is what you're gonna talk about going to benefit? Be great takeaways, be incredibly valuable for their audience. Have that be next. You can provide a bio in your pitch, but have it be very short. Two. To three [00:20:00] sentences maximum. it should all be in the positioning of, again, how it's relevant to and gonna benefit that podcast.

So it should not be a job interview random. I just sent my resume out to 20 different locations. It should be curated to why. Those key points of your bio are gonna be standout. Things that the host is going to be interested in, in featuring. Remember, we wanna bring on experts in their field and authority figures that we can trust to provide great content to our audiences.

Something with a unique point of view or perspective, something that is creative, something that is out of the box, or like Joanna mentioned, trendy and people are talking about it right now. Being able to write up front, share either your socials in which you have a platform or you've been featured in this magazine, or you've been on these podcasts and it was a great success.

Anything that's been able to demonstrate your work. Again, I always ask for examples of that person speaking. Now that's an additional engagement that you're [00:21:00] asking the host to do. So if in your pitch you can provide those things, that will save time, save energy, and gets closer to you being accepted instead of doing that back and forth.

Being able to actually prove that you're an excellent perspective guest is an important part of the pitch process. You can create some sort of templatized version of this pitch, of course, with gratitude and being short, concise, to the point, but then you're gonna want to change and transform it for every single podcast that you pitch.

I know that might take a little bit more time and energy. But like Joanna mentioned, the pitch that she got and a pitch that we see a lot is copy and pasted to maybe a hundred different podcasts. I don't know what sort of traction that's getting people, but I would rather pitch 10 really great podcasts, have a higher close rate at maybe getting on 50 to 75% of those podcasts, then pitching a hundred podcasts really poorly and having, you know.

A 10, 20, 30% close rate, right? You might get on [00:22:00] more podcasts, but. The quality might be a lot lower and likely if you're pitching a hundred podcasts, all of those podcasts aren't gonna have really great audiences. Maybe they're not aligned in your niche, and so then you are wasting your time and energy to get on that podcast and not really reaching anyone.

It's a whole spiral, So don't go down that route. Think intimate, think. Particular think, how am I positioning myself to benefit this particular podcast and host? 

Joanna Newton: such great points, like keeping it personal. Keeping it to that, how are you gonna support that host? Something that I'm playing with right now, I haven't actually like, made the pitches yet. but I follow a lot, a lot of other female entrepreneurs in like the online space that do all kinds of different things and. One thing I would love to do with a lot of these women is do podcast swaps. Invite them on my show, and also get on their show. Something I'm doing right now is just engaging with their content. I. All I'm doing is supporting their [00:23:00] content, commenting, just being in their community. and then at some point when, maybe they post something that really resonates with me or they, you know, share something to actually just send them a DM and just say like, I've been loving following you.

That latest post you shared really meant X, Y, Z to me. I'd love to come on your show and talk about it. And then like I also have a, you know what I mean? And make the pitch that way. So that's another way to think about it. If you're already active online, how can you be supporting podcast hosts cause you don't know how much a comment means to us. how much a comment, a share, an interaction, responding to our stories like that means so much to us. So I try to do that for other founders, other entrepreneurs, and then one day the timing will be right and I'll, pitch something and I'm gonna be so much more likely to get a yes.

Because I'm already interacting with them. I'm already, I call it internet friends, like we're internet friends. we connect with each other on that level. and I just think that that's a, another very [00:24:00] creative way to go about pitching. You know, Michelle did a great job like. Going through kind of the more traditional route, which if you're getting started, is probably the best way to go.

But as I'm active online, I'm trying to be friends with people who are active like me, and then find a way to collaborate, in a way that feels really natural and with the timing is right. So I think that's another way you can go about it in like a, a less traditional, in a less traditional way, but I think that way only works.

If you're active online. So if you're posting consistently, if you have a podcast of your own or YouTube channel, or you do Instagram lives all the time, if you're actively doing it, I think that kind of approach can be, um, effective. And what we should do is assuming it is effective and it works. I could talk about that on another episode of this podcast about what that sort of online networking can look like to grow, to grow your audience. 

Michelle Pualani: And that advice goes so much deeper than just being a podcast guest, right? You're ultimately creating a community. You're creating a [00:25:00] network, being able to connect with people in the digital space, build trust and credibility in a one-to-one or small group format, then be able to leverage those relationships, which.

Ultimately, a lot of times we get in, we think about like, okay, I'm gonna pitch a hundred podcasts. I'm gonna be in as many places at once, but we forget about the fact that there are real people behind the screen. I'm a real person behind the mic. Joanna is a real person who has a family and business and personal things A lot of times we miss that when we're thinking about our business. We get so in our heads about our own stuff and we have to launch this product or program and we didn't do this right. And Facebook ads aren't converting the way that we want them to, and our organic content isn't working in the algorithm.

And me, me, me, I, i, I, when you start to kind of flip that script and think about it as we and the collective and how you're supporting others, You'd be surprised at how much opportunity comes out of that, I think that's been a part of my success in our physical e-commerce brand [00:26:00] is the public relations aspect of that being.

A part of the community, going to small networking events saying, Hey, I'm interested to speak on your podcasts. Like getting to know people on that front in slightly more intimate level is so, so incredibly powerful. And then if you are on another person's podcast, a really great hack. Pro tip is to be able to ask that host and say, I really loved our conversation today.

Do you know of any other podcast hosts who would be a good fit? Maybe like two to three, then you can get referrals from those people because having some sort of personal connection Did this recently in order to secure a feature and be a guest was say, oh, this person mentioned you.

This person referred you. This person said that you're an amazing whatever. And so anytime you can have that personal connection, I. It goes far above and beyond just a cold outreach. So think about the creative ways you can do that. We're gonna have another episode that's all about being an amazing guest.

How to position yourself as an expert, even [00:27:00] if you don't feel like one yet. The way that you can talk about things, messaging in your content when you are a guest, that gets people interested, to then drive them back to your content, your platforms. Get them opting into your freebie or interested in your products and programs.

So if you're not yet, hit that subscribe button we'll see you in the next episode.