Podcasting for Good: How to Pitch Yourself to a Podcast - Jonathan McCoy, CFRE, Becky Endicott, CFRE, and Julie Confer

6:38PM Mar 30, 2022

Speakers:

Julie Confer

Becky Endicott

Jonathan McCoy

Keywords:

pitch

podcast

mission

friends

people

nonprofit

listening

find

gave

becky

topic

pro tip

community

goals

episode

workshop

producer

share

gaps

good

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Hey, I'm John. And I'm Becky. And this is the we are for good podcast.

Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.

We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.

So welcome to the good community. We're nonprofit professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.

So let's get started. Happy Friday. Hey, everybody, welcome

back.

Okay, you've made it. It's week four of podcasting for good series. I hope you've been liking this. We've loved the feedback that we've gotten. Thank you so much for reaching out and visiting us at We podcast for good, that list is growing. And we're really excited for this content to get in your hands into invite you that if you want to take your mission further this year, we think podcasting can be a really interesting way to storytel your mission in a unique way. But even if you're not ready for a podcast, this is your week. Today we're talking about how do you pitch yourself to get on a podcast. So we're not even talking about starting one, we're talking about using the platform to you know, perpetuate and storytel what you're working on by guesting on a show that you really enjoy.

And I have to just tell you guys that you can do this. I mean, imagine me with my pom poms in the background, cheering you on. Because this is really a first formidable step of getting outside of your physical community. This is really about stepping into the digital world and finding your people podcast listeners are learners. And they're everywhere. And so this is really about socializing your mission, what you have to offer and the value that you bring to this world and doing it in a digital setting. And of course, we have brought the playbook we have got tips today we've brought the unicorn Julie back in because she has filtered so many pitches, hundreds and hundreds of pitches over the last 19 months with this company and we're going to give you the good, the bad and the ugly with a heavy emphasis on the good.

Okay, you know, we love to do some tone setting. And if this is your first week tuning in, like zoom back, because we've talked about why would you need a podcast how you can build it, how you can launch it. This week, we're focused on pitching. And let me tell you why pitching is so important. And getting on podcasts is so important. Because by nature, people that listen to podcast would be interested in listening to other podcast. And so the best way to grow the reach of your podcast if you're going to start one or be introduced to new audiences is by guessing that's a new verb for you guesting on other people's podcast, it's free, you can syndicate that content, the same way content that you create. And it's super fun. So it's a great opportunity to grow your network and your

thought leadership. Sorry to interrupt, but this is an incredible opportunity for you to put your voice to what you're passionate about as well.

Exactly. So I mean, it's a huge opportunity. So we're just saying, tap into this, everybody can pitch themselves, because you're us, everybody has something to offer, you have something of value that we want to see you put into the world. And this is just a really great way to do that. So we start all of our conversations challenging you about your goal. And that's what we would say here too, before you really set out pitching, where you start sending these spammy emails because we know we've received a lot of these spammy emails, before we slow the roll on that get clear about what are you trying to accomplish here? Why do you want to be on a podcast to guest in the first place? Is it to build awareness? Is it maybe to get new volunteers for your mission, maybe to promote a new program that you're launching or just to find new connections and social media following whatever that is that needs to be in the back of your head? Because we're going to circle back to that next week as we talk about what do you actually say, when you're in an interview. But being clear on your goal is going to help you also identify the opportunities that make sense to go after and really prioritize spending your time on the most important thing based on your goals.

And that'll just make you feel better. If you get confused, overwhelmed during this process. Go back to your goal and that will center you. And if once you've got your goal set, we got to go into the second step which is you got to do your homework and there's going to be a formidable research phase of this entire process. And it's you know, thinking about things like defining your target audience who is your audience who you look For is it mothers? Is it cancer patients? Is it millennials? Is it Catholic school parents, there are so many different special specific audiences that are waiting out there for you. And one thing that I want to say that I want to caution everybody in is, we are so good at nonprofit and playing in our own sandbox. This is not a time to play in your own sandbox. Do not focus yourself so tightly, that you're missing such a broader audience. You don't have to go just to the nonprofit category. You don't have to go just to the cancer category or marketing category, cast your net wide, do some research and find out who would be a good fit for your mission. Another question to ask yourself, Where am I people hanging out? Maybe you start looking at local podcasts, then you expanded national or international podcasts like find out, you know, pull your people on social media, what are your favorite podcasts? What are you listening to, and for those that might be a fit, if you're finding somebody and you think that could be a really great podcast, where we might want to talk to their listener base, listen to at least one episode and get a feel for the interview, which we're going to that's a teaser, because we're going to reference this later in the episode why you need to be getting a feel for the interviewer. And then you know, as you're doing your homework, do some action. This is our action point here and employ the five minute favor. For those who seem like a good fit. Leave a podcast rating and review for them. Invite a friend to listen to the podcast or maybe check out their websites or subscribe to their email list. Kobi, their social media friend, if your values align, do something that shows that you're an active part of that community, I guarantee you that will bubble up to the host, or at least to that company, that you are not just somebody who's here to get on the podcast, and you cash in your chips, and you head

out. So once you have those goals, and once you've done your homework, where the heck do you go to find podcasts to pitch to because just like what we said in the first episode of this series, there are millions of podcasts out there. So there's no shortage of people to find, but we want to make sure that you're finding value aligned, shows to get on. So just like Becky said, don't play in your own sandbox think outside the box, we just talked to just extra Men episode 243. So this is top of mind for me. But she talked to us a lot about finding the universal meaning behind the messages that you're sharing. Because she is a motivational entrepreneur, speaker, those are the topics she talks about. And she was presenting to dental hygienists at one of their conferences. So just finding those universal meanings, your mission is serving a unique purpose. And so what is that universal meaning that you could share with different audiences. And then once you have narrowed those down, once you find people's websites, don't just start sending emails or sending spammy things that we keep joking about. Usually, there's a designated form to fill out for potential guests. And that will get to the right person into the right place so that they can review your pitch. So just do your homework, look around on a website, make sure you're finding the right place, because you're more likely to be seen in that way if you're going through the right channel. So take a step back and look at what are some local podcasts we have one here in Oklahoma called this is Oklahoma that highlights a lot of local nonprofits, businesses. So you may have local podcasts in your community that you could tap into. There's a lot that are topic centric, how can you lean in on some of these, you're a thought leader and you are, you're specifically educated to speak to some of these things that you're working on in your mission. So what are those topics centric podcasts that you could dive into, there's so many different doors, you can go in and connect to your mission without just going in and sharing the history, mission and values. So you can have a unique bent and connect to a lot of shows in this way.

And just one little pro tip here, you could go to Google and obviously, you know, do some of those searches. But also I really like listen notes.com And that's got two ends, listen notes. And it's kind of like a search engine for podcasts, you definitely can get in there and find podcasts by categories. And it kind of brings you to related shows and all that. And you also get a sense for their reach. I mean, if you're looking to spend your time, focus on certain podcasts that maybe have a greater reach that helps you filter through that, as well. So okay, Julie's done a great job kind of laying out this framework of who you want to target. It's time to actually make the pitch and as fundraisers don't we love this aspect of it, right we're trying to make for this moment. Exactly. So truly, a lot of the things that would be recommendations when you're making a pitch is the same way for how you would show up with this. Be personal, you know, you want to show your love your knowledge, your understanding of the actual podcast, and not just the show itself, because you can do a quick Google search and figure out what are the topics they've talked about recently. But this is where you know, when we encourage you to listen to a couple episodes, as you get a feel for the show. You get a feel for the values or maybe the things that they find interesting or funny that you can connect to and as we would in building relationships in real life, as you find those connection points. It's from that onset, people realize that they're seeing they realize that you understand their platform And you may even understand deeper like what their goals are for their show, every show and every content creator we've come into contact with, has goals and has a vision for why they created the show in the first place. And so, at a big level of thinking, if you can tap into that with your pitch, you're going to have so much more possibility to get past the front door. So you want to take that relationship that you've built, that you understand what their goals are, sight that and talk about what value you can bring to the podcast. I mean, as you understand the types of topics and the type of guests that they bring in, if you can illuminate a gap of area that you uniquely could speak to, this is like gold for a producer, because you're trying to, you know, perpetuate certain discussions and try to lift the veil on certain areas that if you're uniquely talented and have the story to bring that, like that's the kind of shows that you want to pitch. And so if you remember, Becky challenged you as you're investigating podcast, to leave a review, follow them on social media, all those things, it seems like kind of a small thing. But we have found this to be true that it really is a favor. And there's a heart, it's hard to, you know, show gratitude for podcasters. But one way is with this review, and we've seen several times it really has, it's translated really strongly when someone's pitching themselves. And they said, Hey, by the way, I love your show. And I just left your review the other day and either screenshot, or just tell us that. And it's just kind of this full circle moment that you're showing that not only are you just trying to use the platform to you, this is how I'm going to serve. But also like I've already taken time out of my day to lift what you're doing, whether it helps me or not personally. And so that's just the kind of ethos and vibe and the type of people that we love to connect with that just show that they're kind of here for the greater community good. And all those things can be kind of put together for a pitch that's really going to stand out from the rest. Hey, friends, we've got to pause the podcast for a minute and we have some really exciting news to share.

Yeah, we're partnering up with our friends at virtuous to co host this year's free responsive nonprofit summit on April 20, and 21st. And we want to see you there.

So come and join 1000s of like minded forward thinking nonprofit leaders for two days at fresh insights, helpful workshops, and genuine conversations as we gather virtually from wherever you find yourself.

We're curating some amazing panels to help you build better systems and strategies to help you grow your impact. You may even recognize some of our past podcast guests and favorite thought leaders to

Okay, so can we count you in to join us at the responsive nonprofit Summit? Is it virtuous.org/good and register for free? Hey, friends, after meeting some of the most visionary leaders and world changers in the nonprofit sector today, we realized they all have one thing in common. They invest in themselves and their teams so they can stay relevant to what's working now to succeed and scale their missions. You know us we believe education is for all and that's what we created. We're for good pro Pro is reimagining nonprofit professional development, giving you access to incredible live coaching events with some of the best thought leaders like kushana Palmer and Lynn Wester and more. Imagine being able to work through your challenges in real time. That's the power of pro. Every week, we host a new workshop giving you the playbook and tools to take immediate action, build your confidence and grow your impact. Be the Pro and get started today with a 14 day free trial head over to we're for good pro.com/free. Okay, let's get back to this amazing conversation.

And my pro tip just as far as pitches goes, are that cold pitches rarely land, I have so many cold pitches in my inbox right now that I'll just already throw the caveat out there, the inboxes are a very scary place. So just know on the other side of that cold pitch is a producer trying to keep everything rolling. And if it's just a cold pitch, sometimes it's hard to stand out from the crowd. And so really warm up your intro or outro in some way. And I've had people come into my LinkedIn DMS get to know me or through just conversations of getting to know people and then evolves to bringing them on to the podcast. So just know it's kind of like making new friends sometimes you got to take a little bit of time get to know someone leave a review or have a meeting just before you cold pitch yourself. But we'll share a couple All Star examples. Next I have people that have cut through the noise and caught our attention and have become some of our closest friends through a cold pitch. So not saying it doesn't work, but just remember to be human. And there's probably one person managing that inbox on the other end trying to get to the cold pitches. So just throwing that out there. Just a couple other things. There's a lot now I didn't know this before we launched. There's a lot of podcast agencies out there that have a lot of clients that they're trying to pitch to get onto your show. So just if you're listening to this and you are a middleman in the situations, just be especially human because you're pitching on behalf of someone so it's harder for us on the other end to connect. If we don't know that person and we're just meeting you through them. And one last thing this is kind of funny, a lot of times my emails just get addressed to John and Becky So if you're reaching out to the producer, maybe just call them

by their name, address dress to John and Becky.

So there's been a couple examples of cold pitches that we've really loved their approach that we wanted to lift and highlight. So we're going to each share some that we've loved.

Yeah, I got to start with Rob freakin so if anybody was listening, a couple weeks ago, we dropped this incredible storytelling episode with Rob Deakins, who literally worked in New York City with target and Sharman and some of the biggest brands in the world. And his pitch came in and I remember after I read it, it was probably like 130 in the morning, I, I forwarded it to both of you and said, I want to meet this human in all caps. It was just so fantastic. And he made a connection to one of our mutual friends Cheryl Miller Hauser, who was also a documentary filmmaker like him. But the thing that I liked about his pitches, it was so human, he gave a very succinct, here's my background where I, you know, worked in advertising and had, you know, these connection points to nonprofits and missions that inspired me. I founded this company, we create short films for social good. Here's why I think it's important. Here's why I think the human is important, why the mental health is important. Here's some cool things I got awards for. And oh, by the way, I think it's important for you to know that I'm a cancer survivor, a hospice volunteer, and a food pantry volunteer, I was like, This man hits on every single one of our values. And I think it'd be really interesting to talk to him, book them within one month that drops. So Thanks, Rob. Amazing pitch well done.

I gotta highlight Gabe Cooper, I mean, he did a great job. And his team was working to get him just some additional exposure as a thought leader. And they put together a really helpful one sheet. And these one sheets can really help us to because not only do they give you some background and bullet form, we love bullets around here. But also it gave us topic ideas and understanding the topics that he could really speak to allow us to look at our overall content calendar and be like, Oh, you're really excited about the different lens that he could bring to something that we were already wanting to talk about. So gave Cooper virtuous Bravo.

So one of my favorites, our friend JPL jump here, Louis, I love saying his name, gender of Capri care. Hi, JPL. Our friendship with him actually started over LinkedIn. So this is a really good example of he had just been listening. And he reached out to us and shared some of the episodes that he had been loving and a little ways into the conversation, he shared a couple of his topic areas that he loved diving into and felt like an expert in and they were actual gaps in our content. So he shared with us, I see that y'all haven't had xx topic, if you're interested, I can speak to that. So as a producer that I love getting pitched in that way, because we're constantly, just like John said, trying to figure out our content calendar. And if you as a listener, see a gap that you can speak into absolutely pitch that to the producer, because we're always trying to fill those gaps, especially from someone who is listening and knows our ethos and thinks they'd be a good fit.

And the last one I want to lift up is Dana Snyder. And you all know, Dana is our digital marketing BFF. We absolutely love her. But she pitched to us maybe about a little over a year ago. So we've only been friends for about the last year. But she again went into our content, found gaps came in was just so effervescent, and warm, and gave so many great tips. And then right after she was on our podcast, she invited us to come do a class with her. And we did we co built kind of a little workshop with her on how to reimagine your websites. And so doing that just enriches and deepens the relationship. And I have to note something here that I noticed when we were pulling data on cold pitches. We are pitched so often by men. So my my message to you ladies out there is that men have got the pitch down, they know who they are, they're boldly putting it out there. Well guess what? Our sector is 75% women, women, we need your voices. We need your pitching. We need you to be out there and pitching yourself. We just had Jess extra mon you talked about that. And she talks about only 32% of speakers out there are women which is actually down from what it was in 2017. So ladies, giving you a little shout out of encouragement to pitch yourself pitch off and your missions deserve it.

Okay, so my one last pro tip for this section as far as the pitch is sometimes it's nice to share your reach and how you'll share it with your network that gives the producer kind of an insight into what that episodes reach could look like. It's not all a numbers game, but it just helps to paint a full picture of what we could do with that episode and maybe co create a really amazing topic together. So that's a final pro tip.

I think so much of this is just like reciprocity like in the most positive way. You know, because in the same way we're sharing and giving away content for free day after day, I guess people show how they can lean in and help amplify or do what you know, in through a workshop or whatever it may be. It really does like matter, the snowball of that. And so I think finding small ways where you can help lift the audience is really a huge thing. So I want to talk about kind of the elephant in the room here. You know, following this framework, you're going to get Yes, I really believe that if you if you can take the advice that we've given you, but what do you do when you get the big O N O, or maybe worse yet, just no reply at all. Don't take it personally, is probably the first piece of advice. It's a show with set certain set of goals, and they have limited spots. And there's 1000s of people that want to be on podcast. So you don't want to take it personally. But you know, we've heard this from some of the great titans of our industry, I think Nancy Brinker looked a square in the eye and said, you know it, and no does not mean no forever, you know, it's just a no, in this very minute. And so you don't have to take it as a closed door forever. But I think it's very fair to ask for feedback. And if a producer has the moment to reply to you, maybe they can help you refine your pitch, or say, Hey, be helpful to have a better understanding of what topics you could talk about, or we're really looking for people in X, you know, with these kind of factors. Either way, don't just cut the show off, you know, stay connected, show consistent show that you're interested. There's definitely times when we have circled back with guest months later, when we find the right opportunity to bring them in whether we're circling back to a topic, or maybe just it feels like their lens would be the right time to bring it in. And we've certainly done that. So staying helpful, staying connected and continuing to show up in serve will pay off in the long run.

Okay, so if you are sort of feeling paralyzed, like I'm not sure where I want to start, we're gonna throw you a little olive branch today, because we're starting a pitch challenge with you all here in our community, because the reality is, you are our target audience, you are the people we want to hear from. And so we're going to create a pitch challenge because we want you to pitch to the we're for good podcasts. So if you have an incredible mission, if you have something incredible to share, or to spread to the world, we want you to get on our website, we have be a guest on our website, we've got the forum all populated for you. You can go to we're for good, comm backslash podcast, hyphen, guest, or you can just go on to the podcast, drop down and click on that be a guest menu, use this formula. Tell us about your mission, tell us why we need to interview you. And here's what we're going to do the three best pitches that we get throughout the year, we're gonna pull them into community week in November for anyone that's new to our podcast, we have a week that we set aside in November where we just interviewed people from our community who are doing super cool things. And I just think that your mission you out there who is listening right now, your mission deserves to have its story told, so get on our website, give us a pitch, we want to hear from you. And we'd love to bring you on to the podcast and highlight your incredible mission

definitely swing by and do that we can't wait to interview you. And then here's the thing, we got to round up this conversation because friends, everybody should be pitching because to Becky's point, everybody has a story to tell whether it's on this platform here, or it's one that talks about the topic that you're trying to perpetuate. Or maybe you're trying to challenge. Your voice is needed there. So don't hold back. But we got it, we get just with some resources, and we put them together at we podcast for good.com. It's a little landing page where you can sign up and it's going to, you know, put you in the loop for some resources. We're building a boot camp about podcasting. We've heard from many of you that this is really interesting, and you want to go deeper with this. So we're going to connect you with all of that. But today, just by signing up, you're going to get access to our syndication workshop, some podcasting resources, like our buy list of the actual equipment that we use. And of course, you can come hang out in the good community. It's free every day of the week, in, bring your questions there. And we're happy to jump in and support and love on you there. So we're so glad you're here. This conversation is just going and growing next week, we're going to prep you for actually being in the interview chair. I know it's really stressful and we're going to break it down and make it easy and fun and make you feel confident.

Absolutely. We know you can do this, we're going to give you the tools and the resources to help. I will just put a double click on that little podcasting bootcamp because we are going to completely saturate it with worksheets, frameworks, tips that help you walk step by step how to do this. It's almost going to be like a friend holding your hand as you walk through this. We don't want the lessons we've learned to stay in our minds. We want to socialize them and democratize them as much as possible. So you've got this friends, thanks for tuning in and come back and we're going to get you comfortable and ready to go on somebody's podcast show.

We're pulling for you.

You got this.

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