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 and we started all the way back in 2019. The impact on our brand was massive.
In this article, we'll tell you all about it and give you the exact tactics on how we did it, including:
- Why you should get featured on podcasts
- How to pitch a podcast and get featured
- 3 podcast pitch templates that helped us book more appearances
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 too.
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.
Another example of people reaching out to Nadja, our Head of Sales, which enable her to position herself as an expert and build high-quality relationships.
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.
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.
You can also go directly on platforms such as iTunes or Spotify. Enter your keywords in the search bar and check out the results.
Or, you can also use Listen Notes. This is a podcast search engine that will suggest podcasts according to specific keywords you enter. To me, this is the best place to discover podcasts.
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, name 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.
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, I'm not going to remind you of the Joey meme again. But keep this in mind... it's all about nurturing win-win relationships.
Starting here...
Make 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 expectation.
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. Have them feel excited to host you and not be like "just one more guest". Figure out how you can help them first and build leverage prior to your ask.
If we break the pitch down, there are a few things you can play with:
- Outline credibility and popularity of the guest you're pitching, demonstrating you are practitioners
- 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 solutions, there are no losers in the negotiation.
Add follow-ups
Let's be clear. It's not because you don't have an answer to your first email that you'll never get featured on any 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.
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 podcasts hosts
Don't be a person who just gets featured and goes away.
Connect with hosts on LinkedIn and other networks, and nurture the relationship.
Recommend good guests, share and engage on their content, and reach out from time to time to see how they're doing.
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.
Our first podcast pitch template that got 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.
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 ice breaker 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 to 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 famous 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, he gives credibility to his pitch with figures and achievements, and his CTA opens a conversation.
This campaign got an 84% open rate and 38% reply rate.
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.
{{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.
Here are her 6 steps:
- One visit of the LinkedIn profile of the host
- Email #1
- Message sent on LinkedIn
- Another visit of the LinkedIn profile
- Email #2 (follow-up with no subject to appear on the same thread)
- Last visit of the LinkedIn profile
Overall, she got a 92% open rate and a 30% reply rate on the email steps.
In case you'd need help to read this dashboard, Bri has your back ;)
Podcasts that helped us build momentum around our brand
Here is the template sent by Vuk & me 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.
And here is the podcast email outreach campaign we sent to tell this story on relevant podcasts.
We A/B tested his subject line in his sequence.
The aim of an A/B test is to send half of your email with version A, and the other half with version B.
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 his email sharp, we've put 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.
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 podcasts hosts
Btw, for point number 4, don't forget to do is this 👇
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 leverrage personalization and multichannel communication, then look no further.
Hell, I sound like a person from TV Shop channel. But nevertheless, we'd be honored if you decide to get featured on podcasts using lemlist 🎙.
