Have you ever tuned in to your favorite podcast and had the moment of heart-fluttering excitement when you realize that an entrepreneur you love dearly is a guest on the show?

But wait, these women have totally different niches, you didn’t even know they followed each other let alone talked! Are they friends in real life? How did they even get in touch? If the podcast host put out a call for guests you totally would have thrown your hat in the ring!

After listening to the episode on 1.5X speed (it was great, btw) you sprint to Instagram to dig deeper into this surprise collab. Allow me to pull back the curtain and show you exactly how these relationships come to be, and how you can get yourself a seat a the table.

1. Define What You Can Offer

Are you in a growth phase and ready to get more eyeballs on your brand, or do you feel like you’ve already reached your preliminary goals and are itching to get on “the big stage?” Be honest with yourself and figure out what kind of exposure opportunities are right for you, right now.

From there you can decide what kind of collaborations you should be going after. This can be anything from a guest feature on a podcast to a spot as an expert panelist at a live session. Set your goals from the start so you know what kind of opportunities meet your standards and prove to be the best use of your resources.

2. Do Your Research (the who, what, where)

Create a Pitch List of your favorite podcasts and live events, then branch out from there and find additional outlets in that space (you can even use the Instagram “related” button for this). Remember to curate a well-rounded list to pitch to. If you’re doing this sans publicist it may not be feasible to only reach out to podcasts with 1 Million subscribers, or that major event where Kim Kardashian was also a guest speaker. There can be a huge benefit to speak/share with small but mighty entities, especially if their audience is more like a cult-following. Quality > Quantity when it comes to follower numbers.

Remember to make sure that their audience would also benefit from your expertise; if you’re ready to boost sales or increase followers you’ve got to sing your song to the right peeps! Since you’ve already decided what can give to them and their audience, get creative with ways to tailor your offerings and expertise to the people on your Pitch List. Maybe you’re a nutrition expert who can educate busy entrepreneurs about lifestyle balance- target those business outlets! Once you have a high priority list of people or groups that you would absolutely love to be featured in, it’s time to say hello!

3. Make. Those. Connections.

There are many ways to start a conversation with podcast or event hosts. A friendly DM is always easy, something short and sweet does the trick:

“Hey EVENT/PODCASTER, I am obsessed with what you’ve done with EVENT/PROJECT and think my knowledge on AREA OF EXPERTISE would be a big hit with your listeners/attendees. I’d love to chat with your PR team about it! What’s the best email to get in touch?”

This is a great method if you’re shooting for a larger speaking engagement or are opening talks with a big-following influencer. Once you’ve got an email address, send over a built-out description of what you can offer and exactly what you want (a guest feature, a speaking engagement, etc).

Use the same principle if you’re reaching out to smaller podcaster hosts or newer events, just start a conversation with your to-the-point DM. Don’t worry about overwhelming them with every detail in the first message. You’ll get some who want to feature you ASAP, some who need more details, and some who don’t have room in the schedule at the moment. No matter what, be ready to sell yourself and get them excited over the incredible expertise that you bring to the table!

Okay, you’ve done the prep work, you know what you can offer, and you know the audience you want to get in front of… let’s do this, pitch.