WEBVTT 00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:07.009 AI is making podcast pitches worse. A movie scene 00:00:07.009 --> 00:00:11.390 that has stuck with me for 30 years is from Men 00:00:11.390 --> 00:00:14.970 in Black. Vincent D 'Onofrio playing an upstate 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:19.010 New York farmer named Edgar gets killed by an 00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:22.809 alien who immediately puts his skin on and wears 00:00:22.809 --> 00:00:25.989 it like a suit. I guess I should have said spoiler 00:00:25.989 --> 00:00:29.910 and content alert here. Then, walking into his 00:00:29.910 --> 00:00:33.670 kitchen, Alien Edgar immediately demands of his 00:00:33.670 --> 00:00:37.750 wife, and here's my best Alien Edgar impression. 00:00:38.850 --> 00:00:45.170 Sugar in water. Sugar in water for those who 00:00:45.170 --> 00:00:49.210 didn't catch that. Dinafrio perfectly plays this. 00:00:49.729 --> 00:00:53.109 Moving and talking uncomfortably as if he's actually 00:00:53.109 --> 00:00:57.619 unfamiliar with how humans move. But it's the 00:00:57.619 --> 00:01:01.719 request, sugar in water, that always gets me. 00:01:02.520 --> 00:01:06.459 It's odd because even though most beverages we 00:01:06.459 --> 00:01:10.459 consume have sugar or some sort of sugar substitute 00:01:10.459 --> 00:01:15.200 in them, no one explicitly asks for sugar in 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:19.760 water. And while it's an odd request, Edgar's 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:24.459 wife obliges and watches in disbelief as he downs 00:01:24.459 --> 00:01:31.189 the entire glass. It was so close to being believable, 00:01:31.209 --> 00:01:34.530 but it was missing something innately human. 00:01:35.930 --> 00:01:39.010 That's how I have felt about podcast pitches 00:01:39.010 --> 00:01:45.230 as of late. Now, bad podcast pitches aren't new. 00:01:45.629 --> 00:01:49.790 I've written about them a lot on my blog and 00:01:49.790 --> 00:01:53.829 on social media. But in the age of AI, bad pitches 00:01:53.829 --> 00:01:59.030 have become rampant. worse. More pitches are 00:01:59.030 --> 00:02:01.810 coming in where the sender says hope this email 00:02:01.810 --> 00:02:05.810 finds you well or they recently discovered my 00:02:05.810 --> 00:02:09.129 podcast and it has quickly become one of my favorites. 00:02:11.030 --> 00:02:15.449 The last one has very strong sugar and water 00:02:15.449 --> 00:02:20.930 vibes. In fact, for the question on my form, 00:02:21.569 --> 00:02:24.620 what episode made you want to reach out? which 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:28.340 I've since gotten rid of, but for a long time 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:31.259 and I got rid of it in part because it has become 00:02:31.259 --> 00:02:36.060 useless. Someone straight up sent a chat GPT 00:02:36.060 --> 00:02:40.520 summary of my episode. How did I know it was 00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:45.300 a chat GPT summary? Here is the entire answer. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:50.340 And again, remember the question was, what episode 00:02:50.340 --> 00:02:54.419 made you want to reach out? In the episode Great 00:02:54.419 --> 00:02:57.099 Things Require Time, Joe begins with an anecdote 00:02:57.099 --> 00:02:59.419 about impatient customers waiting in line at 00:02:59.419 --> 00:03:02.159 the best bagel shop in New York, stating that 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:04.219 if all they wanted was a bagel, they could have 00:03:04.219 --> 00:03:07.099 gone to any grocery store, but the best bagels 00:03:07.099 --> 00:03:10.039 would be worth the wait. This sense of dedication 00:03:10.039 --> 00:03:13.479 was admirable that something great will not be 00:03:13.479 --> 00:03:16.460 reached without patience and hard work. The three 00:03:16.460 --> 00:03:19.120 most important values to building a successful 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:22.259 digital presence online our professional authenticity, 00:03:22.500 --> 00:03:24.900 professionalism, authenticity, and consistency. 00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:28.120 This framework encourages creators to ask themselves 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:32.900 and then three questions. So that's not an answer 00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:36.819 to what episode made you want to reach out. That 00:03:36.819 --> 00:03:40.919 is the answer to the prompt. Can you summarize 00:03:40.919 --> 00:03:46.080 the latest episode of this podcast for me? And 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.620 it ticks all the boxes for a terrible AI answer. 00:03:50.290 --> 00:03:53.710 It's a clumsy intro. It's written in third person 00:03:53.710 --> 00:03:56.370 about the person that they're writing to, me. 00:03:57.050 --> 00:04:00.909 Unnecessary 10 -point vocabulary word. Factually 00:04:00.909 --> 00:04:03.349 incorrect. I was actually talking about bagels 00:04:03.349 --> 00:04:06.509 in Pennsylvania, which as a New Yorker, it was 00:04:06.509 --> 00:04:08.229 shocking that I was able to find good bagels 00:04:08.229 --> 00:04:11.349 in Pennsylvania. Sorry, Pennsylvania. And it 00:04:11.349 --> 00:04:13.930 doesn't even remotely answer the question. Bad, 00:04:14.069 --> 00:04:19.420 bad, bad. But they don't... They don't have to 00:04:19.420 --> 00:04:26.019 be bad. Pitches don't have to be bad. Last year 00:04:26.019 --> 00:04:29.100 I had my friend Jenny Wright on my other podcast, 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:31.199 Streamlines Holopreneur, and her pitch was a 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.160 breath of fresh air. She focused on the audience, 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:37.459 sent the right sort of topics, and showed that 00:04:37.459 --> 00:04:40.600 she at least looked at the episodes of my podcast 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:45.459 before pitching. I am under no delusion that 00:04:45.459 --> 00:04:48.959 everyone who pitches my show is an avid listener, 00:04:49.500 --> 00:04:52.480 but part of pitching is understanding the show, 00:04:52.839 --> 00:04:57.459 who the audience is, and how you as a guest can 00:04:57.459 --> 00:05:01.660 help that audience. Jenny and a few folks since 00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:05.199 then have done that, and they had a great guest 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:08.819 page to boot. I knew having her on the show would 00:05:08.819 --> 00:05:13.759 add a ton of value for my audience. So my advice 00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:17.779 for pitching podcasts. What can you do if you 00:05:17.779 --> 00:05:21.500 are pitching? First of all, make it relevant 00:05:21.500 --> 00:05:24.480 to the show's audience. Don't just make it an 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:27.259 email about how amazing you as a person are. 00:05:27.480 --> 00:05:30.220 Or if you are a podcast agent, don't just talk 00:05:30.220 --> 00:05:34.220 about how great your guest is. That is spam filter 00:05:34.220 --> 00:05:39.160 city. Second, check out the show before pitching. 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:41.699 Listen to an episode if you can, but at least 00:05:41.699 --> 00:05:43.379 scroll through the back catalog and see what 00:05:43.379 --> 00:05:46.750 kind of topics the show covers. Number three 00:05:46.750 --> 00:05:50.689 is confirm they actually have guests. You know, 00:05:50.689 --> 00:05:52.709 I've gotten pitched for my audio notes show, 00:05:52.790 --> 00:05:56.230 which is super clear. Just me talking into my 00:05:56.230 --> 00:05:59.589 iPhone about random stuff. Spray and pray is 00:05:59.589 --> 00:06:03.389 a bad look. And if I get, if I get a guest pitch 00:06:03.389 --> 00:06:05.850 for a show that famously doesn't have guests, 00:06:06.490 --> 00:06:08.589 then even if they pitch my main show, I'm not, 00:06:08.790 --> 00:06:11.389 I'm going to assume that they're not actually 00:06:11.389 --> 00:06:14.959 researching my show at all. And finally, you 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:16.959 should have a great guest page. Make it easy 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:19.839 for the host to understand who you are and why 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:21.959 you're qualified to talk about what you're pitching. 00:06:23.019 --> 00:06:25.420 So creating a good pitch does take more time. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:27.579 This takes way more time than just blindly pitching 00:06:27.579 --> 00:06:30.019 shows, but this is the sort of thing that will 00:06:30.019 --> 00:06:35.240 actually get you good results. Now I will link 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:39.120 to an article version of this episode where I 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:46.139 have a podcast pitch template. It's usually something 00:06:46.139 --> 00:06:48.560 like, I came across your show and love its mission 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:52.199 to help target audience. Here's how I think I 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:55.439 can help add value for your listeners. This is 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:57.339 after doing a bunch of research. And then you 00:06:57.339 --> 00:07:00.600 actually write something that is not just like, 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:03.360 I'm so great. It's like, oh, you help busy, solopreneur 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:09.519 parents. I'm a single mom of three and I'm running 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.639 my own business and I'm managing, right? Like 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:15.610 that's a good answer. That's like the exact avatar 00:07:15.610 --> 00:07:17.529 of somebody I just interviewed on my podcast. 00:07:19.350 --> 00:07:21.389 And then, you know, I'm happy to answer any questions 00:07:21.389 --> 00:07:23.709 you have. You can learn more about me here at 00:07:23.709 --> 00:07:27.569 a page specifically for podcast guesting, right? 00:07:28.209 --> 00:07:31.069 Notice that this template makes it clear who 00:07:31.069 --> 00:07:33.310 the show is for and that you know who the show 00:07:33.310 --> 00:07:37.870 is for. You're pitching three or a few irrelevant 00:07:37.870 --> 00:07:41.629 topics and you're sending them to a page that 00:07:41.629 --> 00:07:45.160 shows your credentials. This will achieve your 00:07:45.160 --> 00:07:48.279 goal. Show the host that you actually care about 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:53.779 their audience. And for the love of all things 00:07:53.779 --> 00:07:58.300 righteous and good, don't outsource this job 00:07:58.300 --> 00:08:03.980 to ChatGPT or any generative AI. It's too important 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:06.959 if you're trying to forge genuine relationships 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:12.240 that will actually grow your audience and your 00:08:14.790 --> 00:08:17.970 All right, that's it for this episode of Streamlined 00:08:17.970 --> 00:08:21.009 Podcaster. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to 00:08:21.009 --> 00:08:23.610 know what you think. Send your feedback over 00:08:23.610 --> 00:08:26.709 to StreamlinedFeedback .com. That's Streamlined 00:08:26.709 --> 00:08:31.129 with a D, Feedback .com. And until next time, 00:08:31.509 --> 00:08:34.090 I hope you find some space in your week.