Most PR conversations start the same way: newspapers, online outlets, maybe television if the story's big enough. And those are all good places to land. But there's a channel we're increasingly recommending to clients at Payper that doesn't get nearly enough attention from founders... podcasts.
It makes sense that podcasts fly under the radar in PR conversations. They don't produce the kind of coverage you can screenshot and send to your board. There's no headline, no byline, no "as seen in" logo for your website. But when you look at what podcasts actually do for a founder's profile and for a brand's credibility, they're one of the most effective earned media channels going.
Why are podcasts different from traditional media coverage?
A newspaper article gives you maybe 800 words, filtered through a journalist's angle. A podcast gives you 30 to 60 minutes of unfiltered conversation, in your own voice, with an audience that's chosen to listen. That's a fundamentally different kind of attention.
The numbers back this up. Research shows 86% of podcast listeners can recall what they heard within a week, the highest recall rate of any tested medium, including social media. In New Zealand, roughly 30% of the population are weekly podcast listeners, and the total commercial audio audience hit 3.5 million weekly listeners in early 2026, growing 5% in a single survey period. The audience is there, and it's engaged.
What makes podcast appearances particularly valuable from a PR perspective is the trust factor. When someone listens to a 45-minute conversation with a founder talking about their industry, their mistakes, their thinking, it builds a kind of familiarity that a 600-word news story simply can't replicate. You stop being a name in a headline and start being someone the listener feels they know. That's the same principle behind becoming a go-to source for journalists, but amplified by the intimacy of audio.
How do you find the right podcasts to pitch?
This is where most founders go wrong. They Google "top business podcasts," aim for the biggest shows they can find, and either get ignored or end up on a show where the audience has nothing to do with their market.
The better approach is to think about it the way we think about building a media list at Payper: start with the audience, not the outlet. Who are you trying to reach? What do they listen to? If you're selling to other founders, a sector-specific business podcast is probably more valuable than trying to get on a global show with millions of listeners but zero relevance to your market.
A few things to look for when you're evaluating podcasts:
- Does the show have guests? If it's a solo format, there's nothing to pitch.
- Is the show still active? Check when the last episode dropped. A podcast that hasn't published in three months is probably dead.
- Does the audience match yours? A show with 2,000 engaged listeners in your niche is worth more than one with 50,000 listeners who have no reason to care about what you do.
- Does the host do their homework? Listen to a recent episode. If the host asks thoughtful questions and gives guests room to talk, it's a show worth being on.
Crafting a pitch that gets you booked
If you've read our guide on how to pitch a journalist, a lot of the same principles apply, but there are some important differences. Podcast hosts aren't journalists, and they're usually not looking for breaking news, they're looking for interesting conversations.
Your pitch should lead with what makes you a good guest, not what makes your company newsworthy. That means focusing on the stories you can tell, the opinions you hold, and the specific expertise you bring to their audience's problems.
Personalisation matters enormously. Reference a specific episode you listened to, mention what you liked about it, and explain why your perspective would complement what they've already covered. Generic pitches get deleted just as fast in podcast inboxes as they do in newsrooms. When we work with clients like Kea Aerospace, whose partnership with NASA is an inherently fascinating story, the pitch still has to explain why that story suits this particular show and this particular audience.
Keep it short, three or four paragraphs at most, and include a link to any previous podcast appearances, interviews, or talks so the host can hear what you sound like. Podcast hosts are making a judgement about chemistry and conversational ability, not just expertise.
How should you prepare for a podcast interview?
Podcast interviews feel more casual than traditional media, which is both their strength and their trap. The conversational format means you can go deeper and be more authentic, but it also means you can ramble, go off-topic, or forget your key messages entirely.
We recommend the same preparation framework we use for media interviews at Payper: know your three key messages, have two or three stories ready to illustrate each one, and practise saying them out loud in conversational language rather than corporate speak.
A few practical tips:
- Listen first. Go through at least two recent episodes before you record. You'll pick up on the host's style, the typical length, and the kind of answers that work.
- Sort your audio. You don't need a professional studio, but a headset with a built-in microphone in a room without echo will sound dramatically better than your laptop mic in a café.
- Prepare your founder story. Hosts almost always ask some version of "tell me about yourself," and a tight 30-second version is far better than a five-minute ramble.
- Embrace pauses. In conversation, a beat of silence before answering sounds thoughtful. In a frantic rush to fill every gap, you end up saying things you don't mean.
What should you do after the episode goes live?
This is where a lot of founders leave value on the table. A podcast episode has a much longer shelf life than a news article, people discover podcasts months or even years after they're published, so the work you do after recording really does matter.
Share the episode across your own channels, obviously, but do it properly. Pull a specific quote or moment from the conversation that would make someone want to listen. Don't just post a link with "check out my interview," because nobody clicks on that. The same thinking applies to making press coverage work harder, it's about extracting maximum value from every piece of earned media.
Thank the host publicly. Tag them, share their show, and be genuine about it. Podcast communities are tight-knit, and hosts talk to each other. One good appearance and a gracious follow-up can lead to invitations from other shows without you having to pitch at all.
Add the episode to your press kit. If you're working with a PR agency, make sure they know about it, because a strong podcast appearance is a powerful asset for future media pitches. When we pitch a client like Scapegrace Distilling to drinks industry media, being able to say "they did a great interview on this show recently, here's the link" gives the journalist confidence that the founder can hold a conversation and has something interesting to say.
Podcasts and traditional media work best together
Should podcasts replace your traditional PR efforts? No. A feature in the NZ Herald or a spot on Newshub still carries weight that a podcast appearance can't replicate, especially when you need to reach a general audience or build credibility with investors and partners who read the business pages.
Podcasts fill a gap that traditional media can't. They let you go deep, build trust over time, and reach niche audiences who are actively looking for the kind of expertise you have. Global podcast ad spend is projected to exceed $5 billion in 2026, growing at 12.4% year-on-year, which is faster than digital advertising overall. That growth reflects something real: people are choosing podcasts because they want substance, not soundbites.
Payper is a results-based PR agency in New Zealand, and our advice is always to start with the channels that will move the needle most for your specific business. Sometimes that's a front-page feature, sometimes it's a well-placed podcast appearance, and often it's both.
If you're not sure where podcasts fit into your PR strategy, or you want help identifying the right shows and crafting a pitch that actually gets you booked, get in touch here and we'll give you a straight answer.