Sunday, 26 January 2014

Camellia, W14, Pitching

Well, since pitching our podcast ideas is just around the corner, I’ve been diligently trying to gather advice on how to go about it.

Some advice for pitching a podcast:

1. CBC radio – A few weeks ago, I was browsing different podcasts and I came across the podcast “The Next Chapter (with Shelagh Rogers)” where Rogers discusses literature.  This podcast is a part of CBC radio, so I did some research on the CBC radio website and I came across their pitch guide.  CBC’s pitch guide definitely offers reliable information because (as many others have also stated) CBC is one of the most esteemed and professional broadcasters in Canada.  CBC is no stranger to the world of podcasting as it broadcasts many different types of podcasts, one of the podcasts being “Spark.”

Some helpful advice from CBC radio’s pitch guide is:
·  Say what it is about your idea that gets others very excited
·  How would you describe your show’s sound?


2. Quick and Dirty Tips – For my own podcast, I plan to emulate the Grammar Girl podcast so I inputted ‘podcast pitch’ in the search bar on the Grammar Girl website.  Grammar Girl is one of the many podcasts associated with the Quick and Dirty Tips website.  Thus, the Quick and Dirty Tips website redirected me to a podcast episode called “How to Make a Good Pitch” by Lisa B. Marshall aka “The Public Speaker.”  The Quick and Dirty Tips website offers reliable information because it also broadcasts many different types of podcasts, in particular Grammar Girl (which is definitely a reliable podcast).  The Public Speaker podcast is also a reliable source because her podcast episodes cover a wide range of communication topics (Marshall is very experienced, especially since she has a degree in Communications) – specifically, quite a few of her podcast episodes have explored the topic of creating/communicating in a podcast.

Some helpful advice from the How to Make a Good Pitch” podcast episode is: 
·  Say why you’re different or the best
·  Modify your pitch based on the feedback you receive


3. San Francisco Book Review – I did a quick Google search with the words ‘pitch a podcast’ and one of the first websites that came up was the San Francisco Book Review’s “How to Pitch a Podcast” by Stephanie Barko, Literary Agent.  Although, this article is about pitching in an e-mail, I can confirm that this article is indeed credible because Barko’s career is focused on pitching authors and novelists therefore, she is able to offer reliable advice on how to go about pitching in any circumstance. 

Some helpful advice from the “How to Pitch a Podcast” article is:
·  The goal is to connect with your “target” aka “who you’re pitching to”
·  5 Things You Will Reveal to Listeners” – what is it about you that will make you good on the air (as the podcast host) and why you will fit well with the show’s theme
·  How your podcast content ties to current events

Overall, in order to create an effective podcast pitch, I will have to discuss the sound/tone my podcast will have, discover peoples’ reactions to my topic before I pitch it, discover if my topic is relevant enough, and keep the specific target (in my case, Ms. Grammar Girl herself) in mind.


Works Cited

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2013, August). Cbc radio program development               
            group pitch guide.  Retrieved from http//www.cbc.ca/pitch/radiopitchguide.html

Marshall, L. B. (Performer) (2011, November 17). How to make a good pitch. The Public Speaker. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/business-career/public-speaking/how-to-make-a-good-pitch

Barko, S. (2013, February 13). How to pitch a podcast. Retrieved from http://sanfranciscobookreview.com/2013/02/how-to-pitch-a-podcast/

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