The Podcast Authority Play
Marketing Leadership & Consulting
856 personalized pitches sent. 26 interviews booked. 64% email open rate. 22 confirmed appearances in a single two-month window. 214 hours of manual outreach time eliminated.
THE CLIENT
Flote (Ovanti Limited, ASX: OVT) is a buy-now-pay-later fintech challenger entering the U.S. market with a genuinely differentiated model: instead of relying on credit scores, Flote uses open banking to assess what consumers can actually afford in real time. Publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange, the company was executing a deliberate U.S. market entry strategy built around establishing credibility with investors, merchants, and fintech operators before going broad.
THE CHALLENGE
Flote’s product was differentiated. The problem was awareness — and specifically, the depth of awareness that moves investors and merchants. A two-sentence mention in a trade roundup doesn’t do that. Flote needed its U.S. CEO, Peter Maher, to become a recognized voice in the fintech conversation. The window was narrow: a focused pre-launch period where consistent, high-quality visibility would build the credibility the market needed to take the company seriously.
THE STRATEGY
Thelemata designed the campaign around a single insight: podcast listeners who choose a 45-minute conversation with a founder are categorically more engaged than readers scrolling a press mention. For a product still building its U.S. reputation, that depth of attention is the asset. Rather than chasing press placements that would be forgotten by Tuesday, the strategy concentrated Peter Maher’s visibility in long-form formats where his expertise could land — and where the recorded content would keep working after the episode aired.
EXECUTION
Thelemata mapped, pitched, prepared, and delivered a full podcast authority campaign from research through repurposing:
Mapped 200+ podcasts across fintech, B2B, leadership, and payments, scoring each for audience fit, host credibility, and editorial alignment
Crafted individually personalized pitches for every host, referencing specific past episodes and framing Peter Maher’s angle for that particular audience
Used AI-assisted automation to run outreach and follow-up at scale — preserving pitch quality while eliminating 214 hours of manual work
Prepared Peter with tailored briefing notes, talking points, and host context before every appearance
Secured placement on Escaping the Drift — a top-20 U.S. business podcast with 1M+ monthly downloads and 250K Spotify subscribers
Locked in 22 confirmed appearances for January and February 2026 alone, delivering consistent weekly visibility during the critical pre-launch window
Established a content repurposing system — every appearance processed into assets for LinkedIn, investor decks, and partner conversations
RESULTS
Custom pitches sent: 856. Email open rate: 64%. Cold outreach reply rate: 12% (3–4x above industry benchmark). Interviews booked: 26.
Manual outreach time saved: 214 hours. Confirmed appearances (Jan–Feb 2026): 22. Engaged listeners reached: 45K–80K. Anchor placement: Escaping the Drift — top-20 U.S. business podcast, 1M+ monthly downloads.
THE TAKEAWAY
Traditional press outreach delivers mentions. Thelemata’s podcast campaign delivered authority — 26 long-form conversations in which Peter Maher could make the full case for Flote’s model to audiences actively seeking expertise in the space. The campaign ran efficiently enough to generate 22 confirmed appearances in two months without sacrificing the personalization that made each pitch land. The result was a content library and a reputation that continued working for Flote well past the final episode.
SERVICES DELIVERED
Podcast PR Strategy and Campaign Management, Show Research and Audience Mapping (200+ shows), Guest Preparation and Briefing, Content Repurposing Strategy, AI-Assisted Outreach Automation.