Bad Podcast Pitches

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"Other podcasts aren’t beating you on quality.. they’re stealing your audience because they rank on YouTube. With over 70% of podcast listeners now discovering shows on YouTube, it’s the #1 growth channel, whether you publish audio, video, or both."

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Episode Page:

https://serve.podhome.fm/episodepage/bad-podcast-pitches/advice-for-1000-podcasters

[AI Generated Content Below]

In this live-recorded episode of Bad Podcast Pitches, I unpack a cold outreach email aimed at my dormant show, 1,000 Podcasters, and use it as a teaching moment. I walk through why addressing a host by their show name misses the mark, why context about a show’s current status matters, and where bold claims about YouTube discovery and growth metrics deserve scrutiny. We examine the nuances behind stats like “70% discover on YouTube,” the ambiguity of percentage lifts without baselines, and the real work involved in picking meaningful keywords—especially when optimization is pitched as a quick fix.

I also invite you to weigh in: should I follow up with the sender, and what questions would you want asked on a discovery call? If you’ve received a questionable podcast pitch, send it my way for a future breakdown. Thanks for being part of the value-for-value journey—if this episode helped, share it with a friend who’s navigating the murky waters of podcast promotion and YouTube strategy.

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[00:00:04] Bryan Entzminger:

Advice for 1,000 podcasters.   That's what we're gonna talk about today in one thou that's what we're gonna talk about today in bad podcast pitches, or as I'm going to call it today, bad podcast recordings.   This is Bad Podcast Pitches. I'm Bryan Engzminger   and I'm recording this live, so I'm going to be checking a couple of things as we get started, so please bear with me.   First off, I'm checking my live page, which is at badpods   badpodcastpitches.com/live.   I should have named this something different, and it's working. So I'm super happy about that. I did create an article over the weekend in case you're interested in how I'm doing this, and you can find that at badpodcastpitches.com/gear.   That's just if you're interested in something like this. So today's bad bad podcast pitch starts off with the subject line, advice for 1,000 podcasters.  

As I've mentioned before, this is not a name and shame show, so I'm just gonna kind of read through this. I'm gonna leave out some of the personal information from the person or the company that sent this so that I'm not naming and shaming them, but there are some things that we might be able to pick up from this. So today's episode,   high 1,000 podcasters.   Other podcasts aren't beating you on quality. They're stealing your audience because they rank on YouTube.   With over 70% of podcast listeners now discovering shows on YouTube,   it's the number one growth channel whether you publish audio, video, or both.  

That's why we built insert name of company here.   Creators who optimize with us see an average 40% boost in impressions and 25%   jump in subscribers   within forty five days just by ranking for the right keywords.   All you do is upload, pick a couple of keywords, and we handle the optimization for your podcast so that your podcast gets found when you and you focus on creating.   Want me to show you what this could look like for 1,000   show?   So that's the email.   And there are a few things that kinda stand out to me.   Some of them, of course, the person creating this email wouldn't know because they're scraping the Internet for shows and   emailing people that create shows. That's how this is working. So the first thing, my name is not one thousand podcasters.  

My name is Bryan.   That, however, is the name of the show. In some cases, I I get why they might do something like that. But   the other thing about this particular show   is it hasn't been in production for years.   This is a show that I started, shoot,   probably back in 2019   or 2018, sometime in that time frame, because I was going through a course on marketing   and part of the thing was to get into the rhythm of   regular   production,   ideally daily production. So I was producing a very   low quality show. I'd like to think that I put a lot into it, but I was doing some things specifically to make it possible to produce this show   as easily as possible   and to to to get that out there. So I know it's not a great show.  

However, that leads me to into question the assertion that the reason other podcasts are beating me isn't quality, it's because they're ranking on YouTube.   Well,   I will admit, they're absolutely   ranking better for this show than this show on YouTube because this show is not ranking on YouTube. I think I made it available on YouTube, but I'm definitely never putting anything into it.   But   other shows are absolutely beating that one on quality.   That show was utilitarian. It did have a goal, but it was not focusing on storytelling   and   significant listener interaction or things like that. So there's something like that something going on right there that   has to do with the show, not with the YouTube specific   algorithm and keywords and that kind of stuff.  

I also disagree with the assertion   that over 70% of podcast listeners are now discovering shows on YouTube.   I will admit   that a significant number of people, depending on which survey and dataset that you use,   do find shows on YouTube.   Typically, it's through clips or shorts or things like that, but sometimes through entire episodes.   I will happily admit that, and I will also grant that there are some areas in the world where people prefer   YouTube over any other podcast delivery platform.   I don't know why that is, but I will admit that that's the case.   But that's kind of where I start to question, okay,   where are they getting their information, and do they know that they're picking and choosing their stats? They very well may. They may not, but that's one of the things that kind of jumps out at me. Now I don't wanna comment at all about whether or not they can provide a boost in impressions   or a jump in subscribers,   because   first off, they've,   they've framed it in such a way that I believe they're being honest.  

I don't believe that they're saying, I can give you   this result   in the same way that some of the podcast promoters that we see in our sliding into our DMs and our instant messages   would come across as.   So I don't think that they're being disingenuous,   but   I also am a little bit concerned about specific numbers. An average boost of 40% in impressions.   There's no mention here of start and finish, so it could be, you know, one impression per week to   what, 1.5?   That's a 50% increase right there. What about a 25% jump in subscribers? Again,   not arguing that these could be very good. And for an established show, this could be amazing.  

But for the show that they're reaching out to me, I kinda disagree.   Now I do wanna give them some credit because   they're looking for an opportunity to have a chat, and I believe I'm not I don't think I'm gonna follow this up because I have no interest in this particular,   organization or what they're offering simply because I don't want their services. Nothing to do with them. But I do believe that they would have a reasonably good discovery call and a sales process.   I do question   simply upload, pick a couple of keywords, and they handle optimization.   Because I think that picking the keywords is actually a little bit more difficult,   a little bit more difficult   than it sounds. Because they have to be relevant keywords. They have to be good keywords. They have to be keywords that, ideally, in my mind, are easy to rank for but actually matter.  

I'll leave all of that aside.   And I guess I will put it to you as the listener.   Do you want me to follow-up on this? And if so,   what would you like me to say? Just respond in the chat at,   badbadpodcastpitches.com/live   or shoot me a a message pitches at bad pods I can't say the words. [email protected].   And let me know if you think I should respond, and if so, in what way should I respond? I may not give it word for word. I will absolutely not be a jerk to them,   because I believe that they're trying to be have some integrity here. But I do wanna, you know, give the opportunity for us to maybe explore this a little bit further if that's something that you're interested in. As far as this show, I have mentioned this before. This is a value for value show. So if you found this valuable, the only thing I would ask is that you return a little bit of value to me. That can be in terms of financial.   If you visit the website, you'll find some ways to give, but it doesn't have to be. And honestly,   right now, I think the things I would be most interested in is if you've received a bad podcast pitch that you'd like me to share, send that to me. The email is [email protected].  

And if you found this to be valuable, if you think somebody else would find value in it,   send them the show. Send them to bad podcast pitches dot com, and they'll have some options to subscribe or follow the show right there in their favorite podcast app. I do recommend   new podcast apps like Fountain or True Fans or Podcast Guru because those are the kinds of apps that will let you know   when I go live so you can listen in your app or so that your friend or colleague or family member can listen live while I'm recording   and, and have that experience of being right there while it's all happening. With that, I'm gonna close it up for today. I hope this has been valuable. If you have any feedback for me, send me an email. I'd love to hear from you. This is Bryan from Bad Podcast Pitches. See you next time.