Most podcast pitches get ignored. The emails are too vague, too desperate, or too self-promotional. Hosts can smell it from a mile away.
That’s why when Strategic Pete set out to book podcasts, they created a structured, repeatable outreach system. Over 6 months, Peter Murphy Lewis and his team landed 42 podcast appearances—a strategy so effective it landed in a MarketingSherpa case study.
Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how it all worked.
Why Most Podcast Pitches Fail (And How to Fix It)
Peter’s team wanted to figure out exactly what separates a pitch that gets ignored from one that lands an interview.
They started by looking at what didn’t work. Generic, overhyped pitches full of buzzwords and zero substance. Take this one:
“Peter is an entrepreneurial master of market optimization – having coached the business lives of over 200 CEOs with his Fractional CMO services at Strategic Pete! With 15+ years under his belt, he’s without doubt a powerhouse in increasing revenue and streamlining systems.”
Sounds impressive, right? Too bad it didn’t land a single interview. Why?
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- No personal connection –The email didn’t mention anything about the podcast, its host, or its audience.
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- No substance – “Entrepreneurial master”? “Powerhouse”? Great for an ego boost, useless for a host deciding who’s worth their time.
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- Weak value proposition – What was Peter actually going to talk about? What insights was he bringing? Nowhere to be found.
The team scrapped this approach and developed a repeatable, high-converting pitch strategy that was actually useful to the podcast host.
The Winning Formula: How Strategic Pete Booked 42 Podcasts
The successful pitch formula looked radically different:
“I just listened to your episode, Building a Marketing Team from Scratch with Nathan Yeung, and it reminded me of Peter’s expertise in creating and optimizing marketing teams to deliver results. […]
And did I mention that Peter actually lives in a zoo? […] “
This pitch worked because it didn’t feel like a pitch.
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- It showed real engagement—Referencing a specific episode proved Peter’s team actually knew the podcast, instead of blasting out another copy-paste email.
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- It had personality—”Lives in a zoo” isn’t just a throwaway line; it made the email memorable (and yes, Peter really does live in a zoo).
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- It delivered clear takeaways—It outlined exactly what Peter could talk about: structuring marketing teams, balancing strategy and execution, and integrating KPIs to drive real results.
The result? A 33% success rate, with 10 podcasts booked for every 30 emails sent.
Beyond the Pitch: The Full Outreach Process
Pitching was just one piece of the puzzle. To turn media outreach into a scalable system, the team built a structured process:
Step #1: Target the Right Podcasts
Not all podcasts are worth pitching. The team used Echo Jockey, Chartable, and Listen Notes to filter shows based on audience relevance, rankings, and engagement—because a smaller, targeted audience beats a big, random one every time.
Step #2: Personalize Every Pitch
No one-size-fits-all emails. Hosts don’t care about canned pitches. Each email referenced past episodes, connected Peter’s expertise to the show’s theme, and used Otter.ai to analyze the podcast’s key topics.
Step #3: Track Every Pitch
A custom Podcast Tracker in Excel managed every step: who was pitched, who responded, and when to follow up. the podcast pitching tool.
Step #4: Prep for Every Interview
Before each recording, Peter’s team mapped out key insights, audience expectations, and host preferences to ensure the interview delivered maximum value.
Step #5: Repurpose Content for Ongoing Visibility
One interview = weeks of content. The team clipped videos, wrote posts, and turned interviews into LinkedIn content or YouTube shorts, maximizing every appearance.
The Results: 42 Podcasts, 500,000+ Listeners, and a Scalable System
In just six months, how Koehn Painting grew call volume 400% secured 42 podcast interviews, reaching an estimated 500,000 listeners across different platforms.
And the best part? The process can be replicated again and again.
As Peter put it in the MarketingSherpa feature:
“Preparation is exhaustive but saves time. By the time I jump on a call, I know 90% of what to expect: the host’s tone, the audience’s mindset, the possible questions. It’s all mapped out ahead of time. That means I walk into the conversation ready to deliver, and it saves me, as a CEO, countless hours.”
What This Means for You
Want more media exposure? Earned media goes to the people with a process. If you would rather watch that process work before hiring anyone, the First Placement Program gets you one editorial placement in four weeks, with the deposit refunded in full if we miss the window. If you want to go further, start with our guide to earning press coverage, then read about our media and podcast work.
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- If you’re trying to get more visibility, don’t just send random pitches. Target the right people, make it personal, and show them why you’re worth their time.
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- If you want to position yourself as an expert, treat every media opportunity as an asset. Plan your messaging, prepare for every interview, and turn each appearance into lasting content.
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- And if you don’t have a system yet, start now. Whether it’s for podcast outreach, PR, or content marketing, repeatable processes win every time.
A big thank you to MarketingSherpa and Daniel Burstein for featuring this case study.
Ready to build your own strategy? Take notes from the Strategic Pete playbook and start making media work for you.
