cold emailing

3 tips and templates to get featured on podcasts

lemlist team
Last Update
Jan 18, 2024
Reading Time
7 min.

Building podcast email templates and working on a solid podcast pitch will help you get featured on popular shows.

Depending on time and resources, you're not always in a position to start your own podcast. However, you can still raise brand awareness and tap into the audiences that existing podcasts have by appearing as their guest.

This is exactly what we did when we started back in 2019. The impact on our brand was massive.

podcast email template results

Why getting featured on podcasts makes sense

Podcasts represent a content channel that has the wind in its sails. Investing time in getting featured is a smart strategy for your business, but also for your personal brand.

Being a guest on a podcast will allow you to:

  • Raise awareness of your brand
  • Put your business under the spotlight
  • Connect with people and grow your network
  • Attract talented people to consider joining your team
  • Position as an expert in your industry

Podcasts can bring traffic to your website and a nice backlink as well.

Being connected with reputable websites within your industry is always a good idea.

Btw, if you want to know more, we wrote an in-depth article on how to get backlinks.

As an example, here's one from Mixergy, a great podcast, that has a domain authority of 76.

how to join a podcast

Another example of people reaching out to Nadja, our Head of Sales, which enables her to position herself as an expert and build high-quality relationships.

Podcast outreach results

Ultimately, the main idea here is to grab attention and take advantage of the audience that other podcasts have captured.

Of course, you need to be able to bring value in return too.

It's known that podcast hosts are always looking for great guests, but you have to be interesting for their audience. And if you have strong distribution channels to help them promote their podcast... that sounds like a solid win-win deal to me.

Let's now see the process of how to create podcast email templates that bring results.

How to pitch a podcast

Now that we've seen the importance of joining a podcast, let's see how to proceed and how to pitch a podcast.

1. Build your list to be a guest on a podcast

First things first, keep in mind that relevance is key.

You should aim to contact relevant podcast hosts that have exposure to your target audience. It's always quality, never quantity.

Build relationship for your podcast email templates

Get featured on both big and small shows, because they both represent brand awareness, as long as the targeting is done accordingly.

Your number one task is to build a list of podcasts that correspond to both your business and target audience.

Assess what podcasts are trendy by simply typing "your industry + podcast" on Google research.

Find podcasts for your outreach podcast list

You can also go directly on platforms such as iTunes or Spotify.

Enter your keywords in the search bar and check out the results.

Find opportunities for your podcast outreach

Or, you can also use Listen Notes. This is a podcast search engine that will suggest podcasts according to specific keywords you enter.

Personally, I believe this is the best place to discover podcasts.

Listen note for your podcast email outreach

When you have a solid list, start to gather information.

My advice is to consolidate everything in a CSV file.

Begin with classic info such as first names of hosts, names of podcasts, email addresses, etc.

Btw, here's an article if you want to discover the easiest ways to find someone's email address.

And then the true research and qualification begin. Understand their listeners, listen to some episodes, and spot important insights you can leverage in your cold email templates.

With this information, it's going to be much easier to come up with icebreakers and identify common ground with the host.

Here are a few intro line examples from one of our campaigns that got a 92% open rate.

Icebreakers for the pitch podcast

In any case, remember that it takes time to build REAL relationships.

Best outreach practitioners don't become the best when they send a campaign, but in the steps they spend preparing it.

2. Create the perfect podcast pitch

If you want to know how to pitch a podcast, go back to the Joey and Phoebe meme…It's all about nurturing win-win relationships.

Starting here...

Create a catchy subject line for your podcast email

The goal is to make people open and read your email. So you want to stand out and set the right expectations.

For example, I wouldn't write "Guillaume Moubeche on {{podcastName}}". Because, if your hosts don't know this name, they'll put your email in the bin.

Typically, hosts want you to pitch them quality guests, so you can be a tiny bit sales-y.

Here's one that brought Vuk success - "I have a story for you {{firstName}}".

We've listed 59 cold email subject lines if you need more inspiration.

Personalize the intro line of your podcast pitch

Human intro lines show you've done your homework and you know what you're doing.

Don't focus on yourself and write things such as...

  • "We've just raised $20M..."
  • "We're preparing a new recruiting campaign..."
  • "Your audience would be a perfect fit!"

Instead, focus on them first.

For example:
"Your idea of making the sales leader the person who crafts heros is the exact style we've implemented at lemlist.
The advice that you give is really shaping sales teams and helping them stay ahead of the curve!
"

Your podcast pitch

In your pitch, make sure to highlight what kind of value you bring to this collaboration.

Make the prospect of hosting you exciting and not just like "simply another guest".

Figure out how you can help them first and build leverage prior to presenting your pitch.

If we break the pitch down, there are a few things you can play with:

  • Outline the credibility and popularity of the guest you're pitching, demonstrating you are a follower.
  • Suggest some topics you could bring to the table, do the work instead of the host so they can just say, "Yes, let's book a slot"... but don't be too pushy
  • Showcase the strength of your distribution channels where you can promote the episode once done
  • Do something for them (e.g. leave a review on their iTunes page)

Once again, if you propose win-win situations, there are no losers in the negotiation.

Add follow-ups

Let's be clear. Just because you don’t get an answer to your first email, doesn’t mean you’ll never get featured on a podcast.

Sometimes, it's just a question of timing.

The podcast season is already fully booked, the host is in the middle of big business projects, or they simply forgot to reply.

Trust me, all situations happen.

For starters, if you want to add a simple follow-up email to your campaign leave the subject empty, so that all your messages land under the same thread.

follow-ups for your podcast email

If you need some sequence practicing, we recommend checking this article on how to send follow-up after no response.

3. Continue to nurture relationships with podcast hosts

Don’t ghost them. 👻

Don't be that person who just gets featured and disappears.

Connect with hosts on LinkedIn and other networks, and nurture the relationship.

Recommend good guests, share and engage in their content, and reach out from time to time to see how they're doing.

nurture relationships with podcast hosts

Why?

Because your network is your net worth. 😎

Podcast guest pitch templates that got us featured on 50+ podcasts

Now that you know how to get on a podcast, let's dive into some of our podcast pitch templates that worked really well.

1. Podcast pitch template with a 38% reply rate

Here is an email campaign that Vuk sent back in the day to position Guillaume on the first podcasts in 2019.

podcast pitch template with a 38% reply rate

You can see how the subject line teases the host. Every host wants a good guest who can tell a good story to their audience.

Then he shot his icebreaker with the custom variable {{sentence}}.

He explains his journey with lemlist for 1.5 years and what the tool is for.

In the next paragraph, he suggests a story he would tell the audience, with a promise of transparency and actionable content. Furthermore, he lists a few ideas that could be interesting to put on the table.

Lastly, he finished with concrete social proof with an example of an episode he recorded with a well-known business podcast.

Why did it work?

Because he also told them that having a community of 2.5K salespeople is an additional exposure for the podcast to find new listeners and fans.

If you don't have a community, don't worry.

You can mention your newsletter, the number of subscribers you have on your YouTube channel, or the reach you have on LinkedIn, etc.

In other words, you can mention any distribution channel that shows that you have an audience.

Plus, Vuk makes the host's work easier by suggesting different topics, gives credibility to his pitch with figures and achievements, and his CTA opens a conversation.

This campaign got an 84% open rate and a 38% reply rate.

2. Podcasts that got us in front of 100,000 listeners

This one was from one of our PR campaigns that aimed to blow our top-of-the-funnel.

Since personal branding is an important growth factor at lempire, we try to get different members featured on podcasts.

how to get on podcast

{{teamMember}} and {{position}} will allow you to position any of your colleagues aligned with the topic and target audience.

Afterward, Daria adds figures for credibility. She reassures the host on the guest's legitimacy, as well as outlining what's in it for them in the bullet points.

This email was part of a multichannel campaign because Daria sent emails and did some actions on LinkedIn.

Multichannel campaign for your podcast outreach

Here are her 6 steps:

  • One visit to the host’s LinkedIn profile
  • Email #1
  • Message sent on LinkedIn
  • Another visit to the LinkedIn profile
  • Email #2 (follow-up with no subject to appear on the same thread)
  • Last visit to the LinkedIn profile
The pitch podcast on a multichannel campaign

Overall, she got a 92% open rate and a 30% reply rate on the email steps.

podcast email outreach campaign - results

If you need help reading this dashboard, check out this video! ⬇️

Podcasts that helped us build momentum around our brand

Here is the template Vuk & I sent to get Guillaume invited on podcasts after a huge campaign at lempire.

When we said no to raising money and declined a $30 million investment offer.

lempire's best podcast email outreach example

And here is the podcast email outreach campaign we sent to tell this story on relevant podcasts.

Template to be a guest on a podcast

We A/B tested his subject line in this sequence.

An A/B test aims to send half of your emails with version A, and the other half with version B.

A/B test your podcast outreach template

You can test anything you like, check our cold email A/B testing advice ;)

Again, there are icebreakers, we tell the story in the outline, and the pitch is positioned in a way to show how this content could help the audience.

To keep the email sharp, we added a video for more details, along with a question at the end to know if the host is interested.

This campaign got an 83% open rate and a 30% reply rate.

Guillaume was featured on 7 podcasts, out of 86 emails sent.

How to pitch a podcast with a 30% reply rate

Bottom line

Well, I think you're good to go now, you know how to write your podcast email templates and how to get on a podcast!

Here is your ultimate podcast outreach checklist:

✅ Build a list of podcasts that correspond to both your business and target audience

✅ Find relevant info about them to reach out with high-personalization

✅ Launch your podcast campaign to start building relationships

✅ Shine behind the mics

✅ Nurture your relationships with podcast hosts

BTW, for point number 4, don't forget to do these 👇

Podcast email outreach image

Now go and launch your fire podcast email outreach campaign 🔥

And send us the links of the podcasts booked after reading this article, I'm looking forward to hearing your episodes!

P.S. If you're looking for a tool that will give you the ability to leverage personalization and multichannel communication, then look no further.

Hell, I sound like a person from a TV Shop channel. Nevertheless, we'd be honored if you decide to get featured on podcasts using lemlist 🎙.

lemlist team
Your source of actionable outreach tips and strategies that will help you get replies and grow your business.

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