If pitching podcasts isn’t yet part of your strategy, it’s time to get educated on this growing segment and discover its power in growing awareness and moving the needle for your clients.

More than 500 million people around the world listen to podcasts. As the media industry continues to evolve drastically, diversifying your PR outreach is critical.

We recently held a live workshop on Pitchcraft about pitching women founders to podcasts with Lindsay Pinchuk, host of Dear FoundHer podcast, and Josie Santi, host of The Everygirl Podcast.

Our conversation revealed the most important information to include in a podcast pitch, including one that might surprise you and a research hack to save you hours.

Here are seven essential elements to include in your initial podcast pitch:

1.  A line of customization

Even if you’ve only listened to part of an episode, give the impression you’ve done your homework by getting the host’s name correct and including a line about a recent episode you heard, and a specific point you liked about it.

2. Proof of your client’s audio presence, a unique element of pitching podcasts

Josie likes to see links to these (think past podcast guest appearances or social media clips of them talking) that demonstrate a strong speaking voice and a personality that shines through.

3. List of topics they can touch on

Bios are fine at the bottom of a pitch, but don’t waste them up top. Instead, focus on the angles and topics they can talk about.  Think less ‘I built this thing’ and more ‘who this person is, and what is their story,’ says Josie.

4. Tap into a recurring theme

Without listening to episodes, you can tap into common themes discussed on a podcast (i.e., rejection, confidence, manifestation) by looking through episode titles. (Tech hack: Pull a list of 20 past episode titles and ask ChatGPT to highlight recurring words or topics.) Then, pick one or two of them and work them into your client’s list of potential angles.

5. The F word

Failure, that is. Podcast hosts are looking for guests who will have something to say that benefits their audience, and a big part of that is revealing challenges and failures they worked through.

6. Value to the audience

“The worst thing someone can do is come on and say, ‘I represent so-and-so and she’d love to come on and talk about her book/brand,’” says Lindsay. She looks for pitches that thoughtfully consider her and her community and that are not self-serving.

7. How you’d be a good partner

Guests that will help a podcast host to grow their own audience are especially appealing. Ask your client ahead of time if and how they’d be willing to help promote their episode (i.e., sharing on their social channels, newsletter, etc.) and mention it, suggests Lindsay. This is an often-overlooked addition that will draw attention to your pitch.