3 Non-Extractive Practices for Pitching Yourself
A human-first approach to landing media placements
This week’s guest contributor is Cher Hale of Gingko Public Relations and author of Italian with Cher on Substack. (Website | LinkedIn)
It was 4am on the West Coast, and sweat pricked at my armpits as I made my first cold call to a TV producer in New York City. This person was undoubtedly important and over-scheduled. Why would what I have to say be worth their time?
At 19, that was a common script running through my head as I sent emails and made cold calls to book a local author on TV, radio, and in editorials. Even after booking several segments—from the West Coast to the East Coast—I still worried that I was burdening people with my requests.
In case it’s unclear, I’m a publicist. If I were to whittle that down to a simple description, I would say that I ask other business people to feature my clients for free.
We could say that I’m “amplifying visibility” or “shifting the narrative” (both are goals I aim to achieve), but they miss the cold reality of my job.
What’s more, the PR industry is famous for something elegantly coined "spray and pray." That's when you send a bunch of boilerplate emails to a list of journalists, podcast hosts, and producers generated from a database and hope that you get placements for your clients. It’s something the rest of the world, including yours truly, would call spam.
Over time, by aligning my values with my skill set, I began to feel more at ease with the cycle of offering expertise or content in exchange for visibility. But something continued to not sit right with me.
Then, I read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer in which she talks about the concept of a “gift economy”.
She says: “From the viewpoint of a private property economy, the ‘gift’ is deemed to be ‘free’ because we obtain it free of charge, at no cost. But in the gift economy, gifts are not free. The essence of the gift is that it creates a set of relationships. The currency of a gift economy is, at its root, reciprocity. In Western thinking, private land is understood to be a ‘bundle of rights,’' whereas in a gift economy property has a ‘bundle of responsibilities’ attached.”
While Kimmerer is primarily concerned with the ecological consequences of a colonial mindset, I can’t help but extend it to the way we relate to each other as creators and business owners.
For the past decade, people who have written books or are building businesses come to me hoping that they can land interviews on their dream podcasts. After years of watching people unconsciously and consciously mistreat their networks, I can tell the difference between someone who views each interview as a gift and someone who views each interview as a commodity.
Through Kimmerer’s analysis of currencies exchange, I’ve started re-examining energy exchange.
When you approach visibility with a colonial mindset, you might get what you want—more followers, subscribers, sales—but it’s likely you’ll have sacrificed the most important element: the relationship.
Instead of moving on to the next interview, here are a few practices that have helped me pitch in a non-extractive way.
1. Asking for Consent
Most podcast hosts and producers receive dozens, if not hundreds, of podcast pitches every week. Pitch senders are popping into inboxes assuming that the person in question is open to receiving their pitch. While that works for some people, it doesn’t work for me.
Before I send a pitch, I like to ask for consent first. In a nutshell, that sounds like me showcasing that I understand the show and have listened to it, and then asking something like, “Are you open to pitches right now?”
Sometimes, I hear crickets and that’s okay. Those people aren’t interested in receiving a pitch. In so many other instances, I receive enthusiastic yeses and insights that help me craft a pitch that speaks to the deep needs and interests of the host themselves and their audience.
By asking for consent and creating space for dialogue, I’m able to co-create a request that allows for a mutually beneficial relationship.
2. Being Prepared
Once you’ve gotten consent and you’re ready to pitch a show, prepare by doing research. Has the host already covered your topic? If so, how will your take be different?
Then, when you’re booked, deliver all of your press assets in one easy-to-find location. Items to include are:
Pronunciation of your name
Your pronouns
Your short and long bio
A link to a folder of approved images (a mix of horizontal and vertical, traditional and lifestyle portraits)
Important links (website, Instagram, LinkedIn, your podcast, etc.)
Easiest ways to contact you (phone number and email address)
Sample questions
Affiliate partnership information
By being prepared, you create ease for yourself and the host. In my book, that’s an energetic win-win.
3. Extending Gratitude Through Support
Beyond the basics of always saying thank you and meaning it, I like to take things a step further by asking how I might support the work they’re doing.
Oftentimes, the people I work with ask me to leave a review, to post about their show on social media or in my newsletter, or by asking if there are any shows that they might be a fit for. Offering support in this way usually takes me less than 5 minutes, which as a single mama to a little one, really matters.
One of the newest practices I’ve been doing is including them in my ‘networking system’. I make a few notes about who they are, their interests, and the kind of work they do. Then, every Friday, I scan that list.
Questions I ask myself are:
Are there any resources (books, articles, podcast episodes, events, etc.) I’ve recently experienced that they might be interested in?
Is there a way that I can engage with them on social media to show my support?
Could I introduce them to someone who I’ve met recently?
When we create relationships via our businesses, we arrive in someone else’s space from a capitalist context. But we don’t have to stay there. Instead, we can call on our values and develop practices that help us stay in our integrity.
I’d love to hear from you. Which practices speak to you? Are there any ways that you respect energetic exchange while promoting your business? Let’s chat about them in the comments below :)
Cher Hale (she/her) is the founder and director of Ginkgo PR, an agency that uses public relations to create a more equitable media landscape. As a Taiwanese-Black American woman, Cher is passionate about leveraging the power of the media to take back narratives that have been traditionally told for under-recognized authors and entrepreneurs.
When she’s not pitching, you can find her revising her first novel, rollerblading, or hiking anywhere near water, and writing Italian with Cher on Substack. She lives in Spokane, WA (unceded Coeur d’Alene tribe territory) with her 3yo daughter. (Website | LinkedIn)