- After being a US diplomat, Gloria Chou changed careers and started a PR firm for small businesses.
- She's mastered the cold email pitch and landed herself on 30 podcasts.
- She follows the "CPR method," which stands for credibility, point of view, and relevance.
After thousands of cold calls and emails, Gloria Chou has mastered the craft of pitching and helps hundreds of business owners land media coverage, speaking opportunities, and partnerships.
Before she was confident in her pitching skills, Chou worked as a US diplomat. After three years she burned out, quit her job, and looked for a new career in public relations. But she couldn't get a job without prior experience or industry contacts. So in April 2020 she started a PR firm for startups and cold-called every newsroom she could until she landed coverage.
"I started to pick up on patterns of what would get someone to open their email," Chou told Insider. She created a framework she calls the "CPR method" — which stands for credibility, point of view, and relevance — to help business owners pitch themselves to audiences outside their customer base. "There's so much value in pitching yourself to not just the customer," she said.
With this framework she's gotten herself on 30 podcasts within six months and helped clients get in The New York Times, Forbes, Time, and The Wall Street Journal. Being a guest on a podcast can raise awareness of your brand and broaden your own audience. There are 2 million podcasts in the world and, this year, podcast ad spending in the US is set to surpass $2 billion.
Chou declined to share exact numbers, but her company has made six figures in revenue this year, which Insider verified with documentation. Her company's Facebook group has 2,400 members.
Chou shared the exact email she uses to get small-business owners on a podcast and explained her CPR pitching method.
Pitching yourself for a podcast
Before you draft your email, research the podcast to ensure you're a good fit for its audience. Rating and reviewing the podcast gives you a better chance to stand out, Chou said.
"Just to go a step beyond will make you stand out above 95% of the other people," Chou said.
She recommended not putting your name or your company's name in the subject line — don't make the email about yourself. Keep it concise and no longer than three paragraphs. Download software that tells you when people open your emails, and follow up a few days after you hit send.
Following the CPR method
Chou teaches business owners a simple framework for pitching press coverage. "It's a way of positioning yourself not as a seller, not as a founder, but as an expert with industry insights," she said.
Credibility
Your credibility is the value you add to a podcast or publication. As a small-business owner, you must first establish yourself as an expert on a topic you are knowledgeable about. Chou's email has one simple sentence explaining why a topic matters to her.
Credibility doesn't have to be awards, accolades, or funding, she said. A founder can be credible whether they've had their business for years or they've just started it. "Everybody has worth, and everybody has credibility," Chou said.
Alternatively, you can swap credibility for a connection to the person — perhaps you've read their book, share interests, or know some of the same people, Chou added.
Point of view
Next, explain the insights you can offer as an expert, such as struggles that others in your industry are experiencing or broad changes you've observed. Instead of selling your product or service, you're adding value to a conversation or topic.
"That elevates you a step beyond a founder into a position of an expert," Chou said. "Experts have points of view."
Relevance
Lastly, explain in your pitch why your perspective or story is relevant. Perhaps it relates to an event or trend. If you're in a heavily regulated industry, you might be able to speak about the effects of particular policies or government spending.
"Relevance tells the person that this is not a recycled pitch from five years ago," Chou said. "We want to speak to the future."
