When you set out to pitch a podcast, and you come across a show perfect for you and your message, you might get excited and start writing your pitch immediately.
However, the key to getting solid results isn’t to pitch every podcast you come across, but instead to appear on podcasts that reach your ideal audience. Otherwise, you’re just filling your calendar with endless hour-long appointments that don’t move you closer to your goals.
With this in mind, before you start your podcast outreach, there are certain factors to consider if you want to avoid wasting your time and the host’s time in the process.
1: Is the host speaking the language of the audience you want to attract?
Imagine you’re a values-driven SEO specialist that makes a point of working with companies doing good in the world. While conducting your podcast research, you come across a SEO podcast with a huge number of ratings and a large social media following that would be a great fit for one of your talking points.
Jackpot! Right?
While this could theoretically be a good fit, it’s important to consider if the audience is right for you.
In our hypothetical scenario, if the title and description scream “bro-marketing” (and if you are unsure what that is, check out this insightful podcast episode from our client Michelle Mazur) encouraging listeners to employ dubious tactics to get rich fast, then you might want to stay away from this podcast.
A business owners with values in opposition to this podcast doesn’t really want or need a flood of bro-marketing wannabes reaching out to you for your help promoting their businesses. 😐
2: Is the podcast aligned with the look and feel of your brand?
The team at Podcast Ally are wordsmiths, not designers, but even we know that brand imagery sends a strong signal to your audience.
Our founder, Brigitte, even has a friend who won’t eat at a restaurant with fonts she doesn’t like!
Your audience might make similar snap judgments based on a podcast’s cover art, website and sound quality.
When you’re evaluating a podcast, check in with yourself. Does the podcast image look good or does it look like it was produced on Microsoft Paint? Are there spelling mistakes or poor grammar in the description or podcast titles? Does the audio of the show sound like it was recorded on a tape recorder from 1986?
If you feel that the podcast’s branding wouldn’t appeal to your audience, then it’s pretty likely they’re not attracting the people you want to get in front of.
3: Is the podcast currently releasing episodes?
This might seem obvious, but podcasts live on long after their hosts stop producing new episodes!
Always check the date the last episode was published, because none of the aforementioned factors means diddly-squat if they are no longer recording.
If the podcast has not been updated in more than two months, it would be best to assume it is probably not worth pitching.
Additionally, you should take into consideration the frequency of episodes being published. Even if you see they’ve published an episode recently if the episodes proceeding are few and far between with not much consistency, skip it because it is unlikely that they will be taking on many guests.
4: Do 60% (or more) of their episodes feature guests?
If you want to secure interviews, you need to target podcasts with guests. I know what you are probably thinking, “Duhh! Obviously!”
However, even for shows that do feature guests, you need to look deeper because the reality is that if they rarely have guests on, your chances of securing a guest spot are slimmer.
Here at Podcast Ally, we only go for podcasts that feature guests on 60% of their episodes, and this is a good rule of thumb to follow if you want to get booked.
While there is no specific mathematical formula for doing this, you can make a rough judgment by scrolling through the past few months of published content and assessing by eye the frequency of episodes that feature guests. If it looks like 60% or more, go for it!
If it is less, then we’d advise you to give the show a pass. Only if it is an absolute, 100% perfect match will you want to still pitch a show that has less than 60% guest episodes.
5: Do you fit in with the podcast guests they typically have on?
When identifying if a podcast is right for you, take a look at the episodes and ask yourself this: Do I resemble the type of guests this show has on?
Let’s say that you’re a startup founder and you want to target a podcast. However, if the show has a track record of featuring authors, this should be your clue to find a better match that features more startup founders.
If you see that previous guests generally hold a larger following or platform size, don’t let this put you off. It’s more important that you fit the type of guest they have on and your message is one that will resonate with their audience.
A good way of assessing if the podcast is a right fit for you and your message is to see if your comrades, colleagues, and competitors have been featured, a tactic we covered in Where to Find Podcasts: The 4 C’s of Building Your Perfect Podcast Pitch List.
With each of these questions ticked off, you will be ready to pitch a podcast that will lay the foundation of a great interview, and attract prospects perfect for you and your business.