Here we look at what it takes to craft a good pitch. If you want to learn more about how to choose sponsors to pitch, read How to Start Advertising on your Content.
Every successful audio creator reaches a stage in their journey where they need more than just themselves to get behind their creative idea. This is when they start pitching their idea or audio to brands, organizations, and people who can support its growth. You might also find yourself at a place you want to work with collaborators or pitch people to guest on your show. The following guide covers the basics of all kinds of pitches.
If you think about it, all of us are constantly pitching one thing or another to someone. From when we were younger and we pitched our parents for that one extra sweet to when we’re older and we pitch our bosses for a pay raise, it’s a thing that most of us do.
Pitching is mostly a skill with art peppered throughout. The skill can be learned and honed through research. Art comes with time and practice.
So let’s get you started on the skill part, in hopes that we set you up for success for the artfulness of it. This guide covers the following topics:
- What you need to know about your content and audience before you begin pitching.
- What you need to know about who you’re pitching to and how to find it.
- The components of a pitch template and how to write one.
- A sample pitch.
Let’s get into crafting a pitch that is hard to say no to.
Know your content
Start by having a clear idea of what your content is about.
To create a compelling pitch, you’ll need to keep the following ready:
- Know your audience:
- Who are your listeners?
- What are their online behavioral habits?
- Where do they spend their time online?
- What other content do they consume?
- What do they think of your content? (Reviews, testimonials, and comments.)
- Know your metrics:
- Streams, downloads, and/or listens
- Growth rate and percentage, potentially over a period of 3 months or so, if relevant
- Know how to describe your content concisely:
- This should preferably be about 250 words or less.
- Recordical Recommends: Rachel Corbett’s tips on How to Write Great Podcast Descriptions are useful for all kinds of audio content.
With these on hand, let’s get into the next phase.
Research
Once you have everything you need to effectively know yourself, the next step is to get to learn more about who you’re pitching to, be it an individual or a brand.
Here are the things to consider when researching:
- Content:
- What is their content about?
- How long have they been creating content?
- What platforms do they create on? (Is it solely audio or do they also do video and/or written content?)
- Purpose:
- Try to find out more about their why; why do they make what they do.
- Research their mission and vision, if available. Usually this can be found on the website.
- Recent Press Mentions:
- This could include awards they’ve won or apps they’ve been featured in.
- It’s always good to know if and when they’ve been in the press. This serves a two-fold purpose: you know how they’ve been doing and you can mention this in your pitch so they know you’ve done your research.
- Contact:
- Who do you need to reach out to?
- You can do this by looking on their website, LinkedIn, or Twitter.
- Sound advice: if the person you want to pitch to has a written component to their content, look for who the writers are and find their contact information.
- Who are the decision-makers?
- You might not find this initially but keep an eye out for it in your communications with the folks you’re pitching to.
- Who do you need to reach out to?
With all the facts ready, it’s time to finally get to writing that pitch.
Writing
We recommend writing a pitch template that you can then customize to send to different people.
Each pitch template includes the following elements:
We’ll get into how to write each of these elements and then share a sample pitch to give you a headstart.
*The order of these can be interchanged.
1. Subject
The most important thing to remember when pitching is that you are one of likely dozens of people emailing this contact to pitch your offering. The person receiving your email is going to be quickly skimming their unread emails to see which ones are worth their time. That’s what makes your subject line so important.
Here are some tips for writing a subject that can increase the chances of your pitch being opened:
✅ Keep it brief – keep the subject line brief and straightforward. Most readers will be reading on their mobile phones and a lengthy subject is likely to put them off.
✅ Use the reply technique – if the person you’re writing to has a publication of their own, like a newsletter, consider replying to one of their past issues. People love when readers write back.
✅ Personalize it – if you know the receiver’s name, use it. However, personalization is more than just using their name; it’s also using yours. Ensure that your email address is not spammy and reads like it belongs to a real person.
✅ Use numbers if relevant – numbers are a great way to both catch someone’s attention and quickly make a point. If you’ve got numbers (eg: downloads or subscribers) be sure to include them.
✅ Keep it current – if the content of your email is related to anything happening currently, either on a global scale or relevant to your industry, find a way to work that into your subject. Journalists especially respond well to this technique.
✅ Test and optimize – come up with at least two subject lines to do an A/B test. Send half of your contact list one subject line and the other half the other. See which received the most open rates to learn what works better.
Recordical Recommends: Mailerlite offers additional tips and examples of subject lines that increase open rates.
2. Introduction
Much like any book you’ll read or TV show you’ll watch, the introduction of any pitch needs to instantly grab attention.
A typical introduction consists of the following:
- Who you are
- Introduce yourself and link to the best place where someone can go to get to know you (social platform, website, etc).
- If you’re well-known for something, briefly mention that as it adds legitimacy to your pitch and helps create a narrative.
- The content you’re pitching
- Briefly describe and link to the content you’re pitching right away.
- What your relationship with the content is
- Are you the creator of the content or a member of the team? This helps build context.
- Your ask or Call to Action
- Give them a brief glimpse of what you’d like to get if this pitch is successful.
- Is it them being a guest on your show, a social media shoutout, or a monetary investment? It’s always good to set expectations for your pitch reader.
- Don’t go too into the details here; we’ll reiterate the CTA at the end of the pitch.
3. About your content
After the introduction, you can tell them more about what you’re working on. This is your chance to expand on the following:
- Your content itself
- Be clear on what the format of your content is: is it an interview podcast? Do you stream on Twitch and feature guests? What’s the release schedule?
- Include basic details like the date of your first release or how long you’ve been publishing the content.
- Your purpose
- Share with them the reason you started creating this content in the first place.
- Give them a sneak peek of what your blue sky goals are. What are you hoping to achieve with your creation?
- If you started creating to fill a gap in the market or share a message people need to hear, don’t shy away from mentioning that. Bonus points if you’ve got statistics to support your claims!
- Your audience
- Your ‘why’ is a good segue into detailing your content’s audience.
- If you’ve got an intended takeaway for your audience, share this too. It’ll help give an insight into your plan for the content.
4. Alignment
After establishing who you are, what your purpose is, and what you’re hoping to get from them, it’s time to tell them why they should collaborate with you. This crucial part of the pitch requires some research and pays off big if done right.
Alignment comes in many forms, a few being:
- Content:
- What kind of content is your receiver currently creating?
- How does it match with yours?
- Goals and vision:
- What are their goals? What is their vision?
- How do your goals align with theirs?
- Audience:
- Who is the audience they seem to be targeting?
- How does that align with yours?
A lack of clearly stated alignment can be the reason a pitch fails to land or even get a response.
Sound advice: Prioritizing is especially important if your pitch list is long. When building your list of contacts, try prioritizing them by alignment fit. Where alignment is high, the priority should be high. If the alignment is low, you can either pass on pitching them or spend less time personalizing the pitch.
5. Testimonials
Sharing testimonials, ratings, and/or reviews further strengthens your case of why they should consider collaborating with you. These act as social proof of your content’s impact. If you’re able to include numerical ratings and reviews, definitely do that. If not, include two to three written testimonials.
Sound advice: If available, link out to your social proof points, such as a page on your website, Google reviews, or an Apple Podcasts page.
6. CTA (call to action)
It’s essential to close with a strong and clear CTA.
Let them know:
- What do you expect of them?
- Is there a date or time by which they need to respond to you?
- Is there a specific channel via which they should respond to you?
You can re-iterate your alignment and purpose here before you sign off.
With all these sections in mind, let’s take a look at a successful sample pitch our colleagues at FRQNCY Media crafted.
A Sample Pitch
Our sister company FRQNCY Media, an audio production house, created the following pitch for a new podcast launch. Thanks to this pitch, the team earned a promo swap opportunity with a longer-running podcast with higher downloads.
Hello hello,
Veronica from FRQNCY Media here. I’ve been working with a podcast I feel you would be interested in knowing about. Let’s Talk Menopause‘s Hello Menopause!, a podcast sponsored by Always Discreet and produced by FRQNCY Media, is amplifying expert resources and empowering listeners to shift the cultural perspective and narrative around menopause.
The Queer Family Podcast amplifies important stories within the LGBTQIA+ community, including access to adequate health support. Menopause is a natural process that impacts anyone with a uterus, yet it is still commonly stigmatized and only recently brought to forefront of women’s healthcare issues. However, menopause impacts more than just women in direct and indirect ways.
Hello Menopause! hosts Christine Maginnis, a co-founder of Let’s Talk Menopause, and comedian Robin Gelgenbien have honest, gritty, and humorous conversations with folks from all walks of life who have gone through menopause. Guests include Stacy London, Shirley Weir, Tamsen Fadal, and Omisade Burney-Scott, to name a few.
A recent review on Apple Podcasts called the podcast fun and relatable, stating “This is great, and it shines a light on a topic often times overlooked, and poorly understood. And it’s surprisingly funny!”
Would you be interested in collaborating with a promo swap or a feed drop?
The podcast press kit includes all the information you need and hosts the trailer. I included the original press release for more information.
Peace, love, and audio.
Veronica
We leave you with
Pitching yourself can be daunting, even more so if you’re doing it alone. When in doubt, utilize the collective wisdom of your community. Share your pitches, replies, and even rejections to learn and grow from them. We are so excited to see what you make of your learnings here.
Responses