[BIZ TIPS] What’s in a Pitch? How to Gain Publicity, Part 2
If you haven’t listened to Part 1 of this mini series yet, I encourage you to head over to [BIZ TIPS] Episode #198: What’s in a Pitch? How to Gain Publicity, Part 1 give it a listen and then come on back over here for Part 2!
So last week we covered the do’s and don’ts of a good pitch, and why that is so, so important. This week we dive into delivering a solid, proper pitch that builds a relationship and establishes trust at the same time.
I’m covering everything you need to know about creating & delivering your perfect pitch today.
And please don’t forget to download your free gift HERE . This is a free guide I’ve put together for you all and it is full of tips & ideas on booking podcast guests, pitching yourself to be a guest on another podcast, figuring out your topics, and a whole bunch more juicy stuff including actual templates you can use. So if you haven’t grabbed it yet, go download it, HERE
PITCH YO'SELF: Get in front of new eyes, promote yourself & your message, and build genuine relationships in your industry.
Don’t Forget I’ll be going live on Instagram & Facebook every single day at 8am ET until the global pandemic / quarantine / isolation is over, whenever that may be. Come join me over there!!
Are you ready? Get listening right away by clicking the link above, or if you’re more in the mood to read today keep scrolling for the full transcription of today’s episode! Let’s do this!
Hey, Hey, welcome back to the Room to Grow podcast Emily here, and today is part two of our mini series all about publicity and pitching and why this is so, so important to your business, you can go back, I strongly advise you to go back and listen to part one first. It’s absolutely a prerequisite for this one. And it’s going to be really important for you to uplevel your game when it comes to pitching. And it really goes into why pitching is so important. So important, because if you don’t put yourself out there, no one is ever going to magically hand you these opportunities that you are just waiting to drop out of the sky. And in the meantime, you are withholding the impact that you could be having and the really positive effects that you could be having on people’s lives by not putting yourself out there more. Pitching is so important. And it continues to just give back to you over time through evergreen content, SEO, and just really establishing yourself as an expert in building credibility as you continue to grow this body of published work essentially underneath you. Where you’ve been featured in different places or you’ve published a book or you’ve booked a speaking engagement, whatever that is, that just continues to grow and add to your credibility to the point where that’s when some opportunities are going to potentially be more likely to land in your lap. But you still need to be up leveling yourself and challenging yourself to grow on a bigger and bigger level in order to continue to have a greater impact. This is so important and I have been so passionate about this, because this is first of all a huge factor when it comes to trust with your audience. And it’s also really, I just received way too many bad pitches. And not only do I get irritated just because it feels like a waste of my time as well as theirs. But more importantly, I get really frustrated because it’s a missed opportunity. It’s such a missed opportunity. And I know that a lot of these people have incredible stories. But if the pitch is bad, no one will ever find out what their story is. Because they’ll never get it out in front of the people who need to hear what they have to say. And I don’t want that for you. So I want to teach you how to really put yourself out there, how to level up, how to get more publicity, have more impact, and to do all of the things that you know, and that you can feel that you were meant to do. And this is your absolute best way to get there to have more impact.
So first off, don’t forget to grab your free guide. I have a free guide listed in the show notes here all about booking podcast guests, and being a guest yourself on other people’s podcasts, both very, very important. And a lot of what I’m teaching there can actually be applied to a pitch for anything. So it’s not just about podcasts, that’s just sort of one example that I use. But these types of the types of tools that I’m teaching you both in the guide and what I’ll be teaching you today on today’s episode, they apply to any possible pitch, any pitch, especially in today’s episode, we’re going to go through kind of some basics that you need to know before you pitch to anything. So that’s going to be super, super important. And in the guide that I have listed in the show notes, it’s going to help you figure out your expert topics, how to reach out and maximize the interview to help build your brand and your business. Super, super important key points to remember when you’re reaching out to people and even a template that you can use that I have used over and over and over again that I created myself to successfully book a ton of both guests and a ton of appearances myself. It’s gonna be really important guys. So this is huge. I don’t give this stuff away usually, this is something that I typically only reserve for my students, and with my students, I go into all this a lot more with them. We go more in depth and I will actually help them walk through their pitches, and tweak their pitches on an individual basis as well. But I wanted to give you something to work with to get started, because I think that this is so important. And I feel that strongly about it.
So the last episode, we kind of went through not only why publicity and pitching are so important, but also some examples of bad pitches, because I really wanted you to see the contrast between the good and the bad. And I get way too many bad ones. Way, way too many bad ones. 95% of the pitches that I receive, if not more, are terrible, like absolutely awful pitches, barely even worth my time. And again, it’s unfortunate because I’m certain that these people have really great information, but they’re sort of selling themselves and their message in such a poor way that it’s making people not even want to work with them. And that’s really unfortunate and I don’t want that for you. So, we’re going to get into all the things today about what good pitches look like and really start to help you hone your messaging so that you can start to land these opportunities that you deserve. You deserve to have them but you have to put in the work upfront in order to get them. One other quick thing. So, first of all, again, don’t forget to grab your guide in the show notes your free guide with the template that I’m giving you all of these different things that are going to help you to gain publicity and to pitch yourself and to land really awesome guest appearances on your own podcast if you haven’t podcast as well, or your own platform, whatever that looks like. But I also want to remind you that I’m going live every single day at 8am Eastern on my Instagram over @emilygoughcoach and simultaneously on Facebook over at Emily Gough Coaching. So every single day until this pandemic situation is over, whenever that is, looking like it’s gonna be months. I’ve already been doing it for a month straight but I’m really enjoying it. There’s a whole little community developing that’s showing up every morning, and we’re just having a blast. These lives are all ultimately about connection. So I draw a card every morning from the We’re Not Really Strangers deck, I highly recommend that you check that out. It’s awesome. It’s so much fun. I answer the question and we talk about the question a little bit. You guys can then take that question and use it with your loved ones to build connection. This is why I started all this, connection is more important than it’s ever been because we can’t physically be near each other right now, the way we normally could be. So that was the ultimate reason why I started this. Then we go into whatever the topic of the day is. So we talk about things related to online business, entrepreneurship, podcasting, mental health, all the things, there’s a different topic every single day. These are not the same things that I talk about here. So they’re all different all the time. And I’m just really, really enjoying them and it’s going a long way to build connections in my own life, so selfishly, it’s kind of amazing for me that I’m having the opportunity to do this and to connect with you guys in a whole different way. So I love it. I’m really enjoying it. I would love to see you over there. 8am Eastern, every single day. Again, you can grab the Instagram handle, or Facebook over in the show notes as well.
Okay, so let’s talk about some good pitches because last time on part one, we went into some bad pitches and what made them really poor. I want to give you a couple examples of good pitches. So one good pitch that I received, and bear in mind, I typically don’t accept guests onto my podcast that I haven’t hand picked myself. So I don’t really accept pitches for the most part. I hand pick every single guest and I invite them on personally because I feel so strongly about the trust that I have established with with all of you, I still can’t believe sometimes that people tune in to listen every week and I take it so seriously, I’m so protective of that trust that I’m very, very particular about who I will allow onto this platform, very particular. So when I receive pitches, most of the time, I virtually always turn them down anyway. But I want to give you some examples of two really great pitches that I received. One I did bring on the podcast, she’s one of only, I think, two people I’ve ever accepted a pitch from for this podcast. And another one I didn’t accept her pitch just because her story, and message weren’t quite right but it was a fantastic pitch. If she reached out to me again, I would absolutely work with her just because her pitch was awesome and I just think that she’s a really great human because of her pitch and how she presented herself. So the first pitch, again, one of only a couple pitches I’ve ever accepted from podcast guests. She made it very clear that she had listened to my podcast, it was extremely obvious that she had listened to my podcast and the way that she presented herself. She laid out three different potential topics very thoroughly and clearly explained all three that she was capable of discussing on the podcast but she also kept them concise, so she explained them but only like one sentence per topic, which I also really appreciated because we don’t have time to go through entire books, none of us do. We don’t have time to go through entire books for a pitch. People are going to lose interest so fast, you have to make it clear, concise, and easy to read. Very easy to access, easy to digest, and very simple. Otherwise, you’re making it too high level and you lose people along the way. Then she made an argument for each of the topics as to why my podcast and my people needed to hear about each one, she was extremely warm, she was polite, open friendly without being over the top. So it was a really great pitch, but it was also kind of chill. I don’t really know how else to put it, but it wasn’t like it was being forced down my throat, if that makes sense. I could also tell that partly maybe why she was a little bit chill was that she was confident in her abilities, she knew her worth. I kind of mentioned that a little bit in the last episode, and we’re going to get into that more today. A really great episode to reference is Episode 190 about having the presence to fill a room and knowing your worth, that’s going to be really important when you’re crafting a really excellent pitch. I accepted her onto the podcast, one of only two guests I’ve ever accepted and her podcast episode has done pretty well. Actually. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. And that was a great pitch. A second really good pitch that I got, and this one was much more recent, she made it super obvious that she had listened to my podcast with the way that she spoke about it. She made genuine mention of what she really liked and appreciated about it. Things that she would have had to have listened to my episodes, like at least one episode, to be able to call that up. I could tell that it wasn’t like she just listened to my 30 second intro or she hadn’t just browsed the description or something like that, she had obviously listened to at least one episode. She very clearly laid out her personal story and what she wanted to discuss, why she was in an excellent position to speak from any sort of authority on it because of her personal experience and she tied it all back to my podcast and how it would benefit my listeners. Then she finished the pitch, and this is very important guys, she finished the pitch by letting me off the hook. This is what I teach ALL of my students to do and I always have! Let people off the hook. What I mean by that is, at the end of every single pitch I do, I always let the person know that there’s no pressure. So this will change a little bit, the wording will change a little bit, but overall it’s basically ‘Hey, you know, this is why I appreciate you or whatever, this is why I think that you would be a great fit or why I would be a great fit for you’, whatever the pitch looks like, and then I finish it off with ‘and just want to let you know that even if you know this isn’t the right time, we aren’t the right fit, whatever that looks like. That’s totally okay. I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate you and what you do no matter what. So even if this doesn’t work out, that’s cool. I just want you to know that I appreciate you either way.’ And that’s genuine, by the way, and that needs to come from a genuine place. Don’t blow smoke up people’s ass and don’t say that shit if you don’t actually mean it. So when you are letting someone off the hook in that way and how I usually do it is I let them know that I really appreciate what they do. In my case, it’s because I only ever pitch to invite guests that I feel so strongly about, this is why I handpick my guests. I already feel so strongly that that person will be such a fantastic fit for my platform and for my listeners that I absolutely mean it when I tell them how much I appreciate the work that they do. Because I wouldn’t be reaching out to them in the first place if I didn’t appreciate the work that they do. So even if they turn me down, I still appreciate the work that they do. Do you see what I’m saying? And when it comes to me pitching myself to other platforms, I will only pitch myself to other platforms that I feel really strongly about that are very well aligned with me and that I have a lot of respect for. So even if they, again, don’t think that I’m the right fit for them or this isn’t the right time for them or whatever, I still really like their platform. You can’t take this so personally guys and this is something that I have regularly struggled with and we all will have moments where we struggle with this. Where getting a NO feels really personal, anytime we get rejected, it feels personal. But when it comes to something like business and stuff like that, that’s why it’s really important to not tie so much of our self worth into our work and in our business. And I have another episode about self worth with my friend Jess Rodriguez that is awesome and I will reference it in the show notes as well. I can’t remember the number off the top of my head but that’s going to be another really great one for you to check out and listen to because it’s way too easy to fall into that trap. So here’s what I want you to take away from this kind of portion of it. Let people off the hook and you are far more likely to get a response that way, by the way. Anytime you let people off the hook, people are more likely to respond because you’ve taken the pressure off. They don’t feel like they have a chokehold and that they’re being forced to respond. When you let people off the hook that way, it’s actually been shown that statistically, you are more likely to get a response. Even if that response is no, you’re more likely to get a response. How cool is that? Right? So letting people off the hook, how important that is, letting people off the hook in a genuine way. Do not blow smoke up their ass, and always say shit that you actually mean, that’s just kind of life rules, but especially for something like this. I also don’t want you to tie your entire self worth up in whether or not you get accepted and that is going to be the toughest part of all of this. And that’s going to be a little bit of an ongoing thing because it can be so difficult as personal brands to separate our work from our worth because we are our brands. So if our work gets rejected, it feels like a personal rejection. And I don’t want that for you, because that’s going to discourage you from ever applying to anything again or pitching to anything again. So we have to be able to separate that. Being really confident in our worth and what we bring to the table, even though we’re going to get rejected sometimes. That’s what I want you to know most out of this is that no matter how many times you pitch, you will always get rejected from somebody or something. Always. And if you accept that right up front before you ever even make the pitch, it’s going to make it a little bit easier to accept. When that inevitable rejection does come. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get no’s across the board. There will be somebody who says yes, you might just have to put in a ton of effort in order to get that first yes. And then when you get that yes, it’s going to give you that little bit of confidence, that little win. It’s going to take you to the next yes, and the next and the next and the next. And you’re still going to get all kinds of no’s along the way. But I want you to see those no’s as a good thing. In fact, if you start getting too many yes’, you’re not reaching high enough. I actually want you to get more no’s because that means that you’re starting to reach higher than is your comfort zone. And it’s also going to teach you to refine your pitch a little bit to change things up to to make it even better. So that then it’s going to be that much easier to get a yes next time and it’s all a learning opportunity. It’s all part of growth. But don’t let those no’s throw you. I want those no’s to fuel you instead.
I got sidetracked off on a tangent there, but I think that that’s really important anyway. So that was a really great pitch. So I didn’t accept that last pitch where she let me off the hook and all that, I didn’t accept that last pitch for the podcast. However, I let her know how excellent her pitch was and if she ever reached out to me again, for any type of other collaboration or something like that, I would be far more likely to say yes, because she’s already planted the seed of that relationship with me. She did such a good job at the pitch. I’m like, ‘Damn, what else you got? What else have you got for me? Because I like YOU, you just weren’t quite the right fit for my podcast’. So the next time she maybe has something else to offer or something like that, if she reaches out to me, I’m gonna sit up and pay attention because her pitch impressed me so much. A big part of this is thinking about the long game here. Because yeah, you might not get all of the pitches that you’re putting out right now in the next six months but if you’re in this for the long haul, then you’re planting, you have to look at this as seeds that you’re planting along the way. And those seeds are going to eventually bloom, they just aren’t necessarily going to bloom on your schedule. So you have to be ready and willing to allow them the time, the space, the energy, you can’t force that shit to bloom, you have to water it and nurture it and allow the sun and the seasons and all of these things to nurture those seeds and eventually they will bloom. You have to be willing to play the long game here. The long game is where you’re going to win. And I also never want you to make the mistake of believing that just because you’re so called “small” or have like a small audience, that you can’t be picky and particular either. Because I would argue that one of the biggest reasons my podcast has been so successful is specifically, because I’ve been picky in particular from day one, when no one knew who I was. There are still very few people who know who I am, but those that do know that they can trust me to show up with value, and to bring guests and ideas that won’t waste their time. And that’s that trust factor, guys, I’m going to keep bringing this back to trust. You have to build the trust with your audience, and you have to build the trust in yourself, and to know that you are worth it. I knew that my podcast was great, long before anyone else did. Because I know how much I put into it. And I know that I come out with lots of value, that’s my entire goal is value. So because I know that, I’m confident in who I’m bringing on to my podcast, because I’m so particular about who I will invite in to offer even more value. So again, this is really a forward feed cycle this whole this whole situation of publicity and pitching, it’s so closely tied to trust and so many other factors. But you have to be confident in knowing what you bring to the table and being in it for the long haul. So here’s how to pitch yourself in three steps and then I’m going to go into more details of some other things too. But in three basic steps, here’s how to pitch yourself.
Number 1, get clear on your story and you have a story, you absolutely have a story. We’re going to be doing more podcast episodes on this in the next couple of weeks as well so sit tight if you want more information on this! I want you to,say out loud your life story, in as much detail as you can, in five minutes, as much detail as you can, or set a timer for like, you know what, you don’t even have to set a timer because you might need more time than this if you’re writing it. Just write, and write, and write, and write your life story out. Then go back over it, it might be 20 pages might be 40 pages, it might be 5 pages, whatever, whatever you want to put it, and then go back over it, and start really noticing the pivotal moments and some of the lessons that you learned from some of those key points in your life. And that’s going to start to really lay out your story. If you’re unsure of what your story is, that’s going to really help you to start to take that to the next level. Okay, so getting clear on your story. Because yes, you have one, you absolutely have a story. Every single human being has a story. And every single human being has something to teach. Sometimes you just don’t always know what it is. The other thing that you can do here is if you talk to the people closest to you like friends, family, loved ones, ask them what they think that they can learn the most from you. Or maybe they’ll remind you of something that you’ve been through that just seems kind of normal to you, and you’ve kind of thrown it to one side. And they’re like no like that thing you went through was a big deal. Sometimes we need people to reflect that back to us to be like, Oh, yeah, that is an important part of my story. So ask other people, get other people involved in this process if you need to, but you have a story and you have something to teach that someone out there needs to learn. So that’s number one is getting super clear in your story.
Number two, is why do you do what you do? And I want you to go at least five layers deep on this. So what that means is, you know, why do you do what you do? Because I want to have an impact. Well, why? Why? Why do you want to have an impact? Because I spent a really good portion of my life feeling alone and isolated, especially when I was going through my relationship breakup, the infidelity, you can reference Episode 117 if you want to know more about that. I felt really isolated and alone during that time period. Okay, well why? And you just keep going deeper and deeper. You know why? Why do you want to have an impact? And why do you want to build a business? Why do you want to share your story? Why do you want to get your message out there in front of people? And everyone’s gonna have a little bit of a different answer here. But getting very clear on your why is what is going to serve you and help you to push forward on the days where it feels hard, and on the days where maybe none of your pitches got accepted, and on the days where it feels like nobody’s listening and you’re screaming into the void, that is what is going to serve you on those days, because money is not enough. Waving dollar bills under your nose is not going to be enough for long term commitment to what you do and motivation because motivation is fleeting. Anyone who has ever had to go to the gym, or who has ever tried to go to the gym, when you feel like you’ve got no motivation on more days than you do have motivation understands what I’m saying here. So you have to get super clear on why you do what you do.
And number three is what sets you apart. What makes you different. And this very much ties into the previous two questions because your story is unique. And what you learned from it is unique and what you did with what you learned from that story is unique. And that ties into your why and that is unique, all of these different things, they set you apart and they make you different from everyone else who has an even maybe a similar story. There are lots of people who have been cheated on. There are all kinds of people who’ve been cheated on. My story is not unique in that regard whatsoever. The only thing that’s unique about it is maybe how I teach it or how I felt during that particular time and the way I talk about it makes somebody out there relate to me more than someone else who has a similar story. So that is what is going to set you apart.
And really my fourth kind of bonus tip here about how to pitch yourself is knowing your worth. I know I’ve mentioned this a couple times. Again, I want you to go back and listen to Episode 190 about having presence to fill a room that’s going to be really important when you’re pitching and knowing your worth. And then the episode with my friend Jess Rodriguez as well again, I can’t remember the episode number off the top of my head but it will be referenced in the show notes. Go listen to that about self worth as well. It’s gonna be super, super important when you’re pitching and when you’re putting yourself out there. So knowing your worth, knowing that you are worthy of being put on stages and having your work published and being a podcast guest. If you don’t think that you’re worth it, it’s going to make pitching a whole lot harder. People can hear and feel the passion and the energy in a pitch. and that won’t be there if you don’t even think that you’re worth receiving a yes on that pitch in the first place. So that addresses a deeper issue that we have to talk about first before you can ever get to the point of pitching successfully. And then how to pitch well, let’s talk about this a little bit more. So the first thing you can do is direct people towards past work. So this isn’t as necessary for things like podcasts interviews, but it can still be helpful. So for example, when I’m considering somebody for a podcast and again, it’s not what I’m not even really accepting pitches for, but I am seeking people out to pitch them to be on my podcast because I handpick them all. So when I’m doing that, I want to see how they speak. So I will do whatever I can to find some videos of them or Instagram stories, something like that, to hear just the manner in which they talk, because since it’s a podcast, it’s gonna be an auditory experience, I want to make sure that they can speak well. It doesn’t mean that you know, they have to have anything fancy or anything like that, literally, if they just have an Instagram story and I can see their face and hear how they talk. That’s more than enough for me. So you can definitely direct people towards past work. This is also important, kind of the higher you move up the pitching ladder, because this is when, as you start to build up a body of published work, it gives you that credibility that you can reference to other places. So that’s when you go to those websites that have all kinds of logos and stuff they’ve been featured on, Good Morning America or CTV News, Forbes, New York Times all these different things they have those logos on their website. That is automatic credibility markers, right there. Somebody lands on your homepage and they’re like, Damn, The New York Times?! Book this girl! So that’s the kind of stuff that you can start to establish as you move up the ladder, again, nobody starts with that, everyone starts somewhere and nobody starts with the New York Times on their homepage. Okay? So use that as a carrot don’t use that as a deterrent when you’re thinking about that. Tell somebody why you would be a good fit. Don’t just toss it out there like, Hey, I do this thing. Okay, great so do 50 other people why are you specifically a good fit? This is where you want to tie it back in with those other things like, why do you do what you do? What sets you apart, what makes you different, being super clear on your story. All of those things are going to help you to let other people know why you would be a really great fit for them or their platform. The majority of my pitches that I’ve put out there have been accepted, the large majority. But what I’m also going to circle back to you here is that what that also tells me is that I need to apply to more places to Level up. So if you’re getting all yeses, you’re playing it safe and you need to start playing hardball. I talked about this on one of my Instagram lives the other day, I recently reached out to a potential podcast guest who is massive. Their audience is probably about five to six times the size of my largest podcast guest, which is saying a lot. And they asked for download numbers for my podcast, which didn’t surprise me because when you’re playing at that level that’s pretty common for them to expect that because they’re usually fielding so many pitches and requests that they need to make sure that it’s worth their time in terms of reach. So that’s when they’re going to ask for download numbers because they just want to make sure that if they’re going to spend an hour of their time talking to me that it’s going to be able to reach the maximum number of people. But I was like, whoa, I’m playing at a whole different ball game now but I’m okay with it. Even if I end up with a no, it’s fine. Because eventually I’ll get the Yes. And I’m confident in that. That eventually I will get the Yes. Either from them or from somebody similar or whatever. I will get to the point where they will really want to come on my podcast, because I’m just going to continue to up level and grow myself and the podcast and whatever else I can do in my business, so that then I will eventually get it. So when people say no, you can also kind of further motivate yourself by thinking of it as a not right now. And no, they might never be the right fit, they just might end up not being the right fit for you anyway, which is fine. And that, again, has nothing to do with your worth, that has nothing to do with your numbers, that has nothing to do with anything. Sometimes things just aren’t the right fit and that’s fine because then that leaves you open to better opportunities. You want to tailor your pitch to the individual as well, and what they need and what they require, what do their people need, show that you’ve actually done your homework. That was why I mentioned that with the two pitches that I received that were actually really good. They showed me very clearly that they’ve done their homework, and that they hadn’t just taken some cursory glance at a few episode titles. I can smell bullshit a mile away when people try to make that play. And when you do a deep dive, you can perhaps see where someone’s platform is maybe lacking and could use something that you can offer or help with, you will be the one then to fill that gap. So point that gap out to them and say, Hey, you know, you’ve done such an amazing job at covering X, Y and Z, but I was thinking your people could really benefit from this topic, topic A, let’s call it, this is why, and this is why I’m the best person to teach it. That’s going to be amazing. I would love to get a pitch like that. Read the room to. I’ve had people reach out to me that I’ve maybe met once before, and had virtually no contact with online otherwise, and pitch me in excessively endearing terms as though that would make me more likely to agree and say yes. Like, listen, you can use cutesy words with me all you want, but I’m still going to put value first. And if I don’t feel like you’re bringing value to the table, I am not going to put you in front of my audience and risk the trust that I’ve worked so hard to build and maintain. So that also just feels again like that’s one of those sort of slimy, icky things. If I barely know someone, I’ve hardly ever talked to them or worse yet, I’ve literally never talked to them, and they’re reaching out to me in these super cutesy, as though we’re best friends forever, terms. I’m gonna be like what? that’s super weird, guys. Don’t do that. Please don’t do that. Use common sense too, this is something that’s missing way too often! Common sense is missing, far too often. Basic, basic stuff like a lot of people are using actual PR companies now, especially for things like booking podcasts, and basic things like when a PR company. I’ve gotten a lot of really poor pitches from PR companies, by the way, which does not speak well for these companies but that’s besides the point. One particular PR company reached out to me a while back to pitch the head of some random grocery store chain I’d never heard of. The pitch from start to finish made absolutely zero sense to my podcast or my audience, zero sense and it was so obvious that they had not done any research whatsoever. They were basically just copying and pasting the same message to every possible podcast email address that they could find on apple. It made no sense whatsoever. And again, that leaves a really bad taste in people’s mouths. People remember that stuff. So use common sense and I know that you guys are absolutely going to come at this from a common sense place. So I don’t think that that’s going to apply as much to you. But I just felt that it was still worth mentioning. Pitching in advance and timing. This one is something that a lot of people don’t think about as much. So if you’re pitching a TV spot, and I haven’t really pitched much at all for TV, but I have done research into it. So if you’re pitching a TV spot, TV is a much faster turnaround then print media and podcasts are sort of somewhere in between. So when I talk about print media, I’m talking about magazines and stuff like that. They usually are six months out or more. TV is usually about two weeks or less. And then podcasts can kind of vary in between, some people will book a podcast guest and then they air it the very next week. Other times, you know, depending on how far ahead the podcast host works, they might be working several months ahead. It can vary wildly, but play up what you know is coming too, so let’s say that you are pitching to bring a guest on to your podcast okay, and I’ve done this before, and it works beautifully. It works so well. If you’re hoping to book a guest that has a big launch coming, let’s say for a new course, or maybe they have a new book being published, pitch them well in advance, and then let them know that you’d like to help them use your podcast to promote them, their story, and list their specific offering. You know, I would love to help you pitch your new book blank, list the title. I would love to help you pitch your new course blank, whatever that is. Again, assuming that this guest and what they bring to the table are going to offer value to your people first always! If that criteria is met, then you can use those types of advanced dates to your advantage. And that works so well because, especially for things like book launches and stuff like that, authors want to get on all of the podcasts, all the podcast, guys, there’s never been a better time to pitch to be a podcast guest never, ever, nor will there ever again likely be as good of a time to pitch to be a podcast guest as there is right now. So if you’re looking to get into podcasts, this is the time to get onto podcasts. I teach this in my course Podcasting for Impact too, even more specific ways that my students can use to get on to more podcasts, and then to cross reference and cross advertise their own podcast at the same time and their own offerings and their businesses, everything that they do. There’s never been a better time. The other thing that you can do here is to think about how certain topics will coincide with certain holidays, or times of year, or seasons, something like that. So for example, if you’re pitching something related to mental health, something like suicide prevention is every September, or maybe Blue Monday around the third week of January, so pitch in advance of those in relation to each of those topics. If mental health is your jam, and those are the sides of mental health that you deal with, if you are, I don’t know what, a relationship coach Valentine’s Day is an obvious one or maybe how to handle the holidays with your partner, something like that. Those are the types of things that you can do and you can still tie it into your story and why you do what you do and what it is that you teach people for a living. In terms of the actual how to pitch like in terms of where physically, I tend to prefer Instagram right now, it really depends on what you’re pitching though and who you’re pitching, but overall when I’m looking to book potential guests for my show or something like that, Instagram seems to be working really, really well right now. However, you still always need to make sure that, first of all, make sure that they don’t list in their bio or anywhere else, that they don’t want DM’s. If they have DM’s turned off, or if they expressly list they don’t want DM’s, do not DM them. That’s like an automatic NO that you’re asking for right there. So double check that first, of course. And then as long as that’s all good, then you can definitely send them a DM and reach out that way. The template that I walk you through in the free guide that I’m giving you today, lists all of that so you can jump in there and take a look at that. And that’s going to walk you through again, kind of like the exact DM’s that I send guys. And they work really, really well. Really well. Again, as long as they’re being done from a genuine place. So don’t just copy and paste that shit and then send it to everyone you know, these templates still need to be tailored to the specific person that you’re reaching out to and the reason why you’re reaching out to them all that, but I give you the template where then you can just fill in the the appropriate blanks that will apply depending on the person that you’re looking to book. I will also pitch email, too. So it depends on the person and depends on the company that’s going to be kind of the better and safer bet sometimes. And if you’re pitching something like TV or print media, that’s obviously going to be an email. But if you’re just pitching a guest on a podcast appearance to bring them on or something like that DM’s can work really, really well. It’s almost a little bit like text messaging, it feels so much more personal than email. And a lot of times our email inboxes are so overflowing that we’re more likely to check our dm’s sometimes than our emails. I don’t know about you guys, but I am far more likely to check my DM’s, than my emails. I’m terrible by email sometimes, Oh my goodness, I could take days to get back to people, but with DM’s I’m always pretty on top of it. So that’s that’s one more tip, if you ever want to reach out to me DM’s, you’re safe as I’m, I’m there to chat guys, I’m there to chat.
So this is really what I wanted to teach and to talk to you about in terms of pitching. I think that pitching and publicity are so important. They’re an absolutely crucial ingredient to your business, to your success, to getting your message out there and to having a greater impact and that is absolutely what I’m all about. You have really important things to share that somebody out there is waiting to hear from you and they don’t even know that they’re waiting yet, but they’re waiting. They won’t know it until you come out with your story and until you land in front of them at the exact right time, at the exact time that they need to hear it. But you’ll never get there if you don’t work for these opportunities. And these opportunities are there, there’s all kinds of low hanging fruit that is just waiting for somebody to jump up and grab it. So many opportunities are being missed because nobody’s bothering to pitch, so send the pitch, be prepared to get the no’s, get excited about the yeses, all of these different things. This is why I’m so excited about this. So please, please, please go grab your free guide. Super important. This is going to be so supportive in helping you with everything that we’ve talked about here and on the previous episode, and don’t forget to jump over to Instagram and send me a DM. Share this with somebody who needs to hear it, take a screenshot and share it and tag me. I would absolutely love to thank you for listening. I’m also live every single day at 8am EST until this pandemic situation is over, over on Instagram. So Instagram and Facebook. If Facebook is more your jam I’m on there as well. Emily Gough Coaching, and then @emilygoughcoach over on Instagram. So send me a dm, jump on live. Let’s chat. Let’s connect. We’re all feeling a little bit lonely right now. So I would love to talk and connect with you. I’m just really excited about this. So as well I’ve also got a few more episodes listed in the show notes that will go hand in hand with this episode and with this miniseries really well, Episode 147 all about showing your face without fear and getting on live video. That’s going to be super important depending on what you’re pitching especially. And when you’re more comfortable on live video, you tend to be more comfortable on things like podcasts. It just really expands into that, Instagram stories, all of that. Episode 144 how an awkward introvert makes friends around the globe. So don’t ever mistake me for an extrovert guys. You think I’m super bubbly, that is my personality, but I also get exhausted by people sometimes. So don’t ever make the mistake of believing that you know I’m getting pitches because I’m super extroverted and whatever is not the case. So I’m very much an introvert and that episode will walk you through a lot of how you can kind of navigate life as an introvert and still build all kinds of really awesome relationships, it’s one of my favorite episodes actually. Episode 131, all about how to book, interview, and build relationships with podcast guests. That applies to relationships. Basically, anyone in the online space, not just podcast guests, but I walk you through my entire process of booking, interviewing, and the before, during and after of the guest experience that I create, and why I have such fantastic relationships with my guests that last for years, and years and years. I have amazing relationships with my podcast guests. They are incredible humans, I’m so grateful for every single one of them for taking the time and effort to come onto my platform and to teach and to share their knowledge and I feel so strongly about each of them. I love all of them. They’re amazing humans, and I’m just so grateful to all of them. So that’s a really big part of pitching and publicity is building these really amazing relationships. That again, you’re in this for the long haul, you’re planting seeds, and these seeds will come back to serve you in ways that you couldn’t even imagine. But more than that, you just get to connect with really fucking awesome humans. And how cool is that? Okay, so grab your free guide in the show notes. Jump over to Instagram to let me know what resonated the most with you from this episode and to catch me live every single morning at 8am. EST,
Okay, thank you so much, guys. I’m so grateful for you taking the time and we’ll talk to you soon.
Thank you so much for reading today. I’m so grateful you took the time and it means the absolute world to me. For any references in the episode keep scrolling down. And if this episode touched your heart, it would mean so much if you would take a quick second to hit subscribe, write a review and share on social media or with someone who really needs to hear today’s message. It makes such a difference to keep this blog going so I can continue to bring you amazing content and absolutely incredible guests. Be sure to tag me on Instagram over @emilygoughcoach so that I can thank you in real time for listening and connect with you. We’re back every Tuesday and Thursday with brand new episodes and I’m looking forward to growing with you.
Want to check out the episodes I referenced in today’s episodes? Find them all here
[BIZ TIPS] Episode # 190: Have the Presence to Fill the Room & Know Your Worth
[BIZ TIPS] Episode # 147: Show Your Face Without Fear: Getting on Live Video
[BIZ TIPS] Episode #144: How an Awkward Introvert Makes Friends Around the Globe
[BIZ TIPS] Episode #131: How To Book, Interview & Build a Relationship with Podcast Guests
Episode #114: Attaching Self Worth to Work with Jessica Rodriguez
EPISODE #117 – The 9 Year Affair: Lessons in Infidelity
Questions? Comments? Want to connect and chat about this episode? You can email me at [email protected], or DM me over on Instagram @emilygoughcoach or Facebook at Emily Gough Coaching. I would absolutely love to connect with you and thank you for listening in real life and here any takeaways you had from this or other episodes!. It makes me day to see you listening to the podcast and fills me up with pure joy. Seriously. See you on the ‘gram!
If Instagram and Facebook aren’t your jam, send me a good old fashioned email! [email protected]
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