Cold Pitching Doesn’t Have to Be So Chilly
Most creatives will tell you their biggest struggle is selling themselves. They don’t feel comfortable cold pitching, and that’s because their previous efforts didn’t really work. And plus…cold pitches are exactly that: cold. And worse, they’re stuffy.
We all know the emails from strangers like this:
Dear Sir,
I came across your website and noticed that you were not ranking well for certain keyword phrases.
I would like to send you a comprehensive SEO strategy & Proposal to help improve your Google rankings dramatically.
Would that be okay? If so, I can send it to you sometime this week.
The answer to that is always no.
But despite the harsh reviews, cold pitching has helped me connect with cool companies for the past 5 months, and since I’m currently on a mission to pitch to 100 people this month, I wanted to share some things that have worked for me.
Spell Their Name Correctly
“A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” — Dale Carnegie.
Don’t start off by upsetting the person you’re talking to. If you have to spend an extra 2 minutes tracking down the proper spelling of their name, do it. It could be the difference between someone responding and trashing your email outright.
Once you have their name down, choose an address that matches either the way they’ve talked to you in the past or their position.
Dear Ashley,
Hey Charlie,
Dear Dr. Falandays,
They’ll be glad you focused on the details.
Start By Connecting
What do you do when you get an email that starts with a request? If you’re like me, you probably delete that right away. But if you can actually connect with a specific project, launch, goal, or item that this person has shared/created/done, you’ll be a whole lot better off.
Spend 20 minutes or so researching what they’ve done, and wait until you actually connect with something that you can comment on. You want to show that you spent the time and energy exploring what they do, and — better yet — you want to comment on it in a smart way.
Is there something you noticed about this person’s latest project that interests you? Do you think this person can push their idea further? Do you recognize similarities between their project and someone else’s? Was there anything particularly striking, different, or powerful about their recent work?
Once you identify the project you want to talk about, develop a question for them. One way to connect with people is to pose a question that they can answer easily. So don’t touch upon existential dread or anything, but do ask them something as it relates to their recent work, success, or project.
Take notes. You’ll need to turn them into a few sentences like the ones below:
<Example a> I was skimming through the latest issue of Magazzine, when I noticed your project, “Summer Is Stupid.” I love that you paired it with the project “Autumn” by Krista Childer and I wanted to congratulate you on that choice. It’s not often that I see journals working more like books. Great work!
<Example b> I’ve been a longtime fan of AdWeek, and I wanted to congratulate you on your recent mention! What was it like to be featured there this week? Did confetti fall from the ceiling? If not, send me your address and I’ll get you some!
Present Your Offer
Why are you emailing this person? Do you think you can help them with copy for their new site? Do you want to give them some free ideas for their next launch? Are you offering to share their posts on social media? Share an offer that will actually matter to the person you’re reaching out to.
<Example> I want to support your launch by writing clear copy for your landing page.
Get to the Specifics Fast
The number of emails sent per day is said to reach more than 320 billion by 2021 according to Statistica, but what does that mean for your cold pitch email?
It means that it has heavy competition and your reader has limited time to read it. So cut to the chase as quickly as you can. What do you want from this email? What’s your goal? Do you want to set up a 5-minute chat? Do you want them to read your blog post? Make sure you have a clear ask and make that ask something they can reasonably do in a short period of time.
<Example a> I’m an award-winning conversion copywriter, and I’d love to see if I can support your next project. Do you have 5 minutes next week for a quick phone chat?
Include Next Steps
How should they proceed? What do you actually want this person to do? Be clear about specifics so that, if they want to take action, they’ll know how.
<Example a> If you’re interested, please schedule some time here. <link to scheduler>; otherwise, please consider this a fangirl letter from, ya know, a fangirl.
<Example b> Please call me at <list number> if you can make it work; otherwise, thanks for letting me gush a bit about your recent projects!
Throw Out Assumptions
Remember, you’re speaking to complete strangers, so don’t assume they’re going to respond, help you, or even read your email. Most people are so deeply busy that they might not even have time to say anything at all. So remember these tips:
- Make it worth it for them: why would they want to spend their time responding to you? What are you offering them?
- Don’t expect anything in return: like all things, you should never expect a thing back.
- Be kind. This is also just good regular-day advice.
My Winning Cold-Pitch Email Template
Subject line: Copy Collaboration + Fangirl Letter
Dear Kira,
Congrats on your recent OrangePickle campaign! I love the way you combined art + science to connect with a new audience.
Are you open to collaborating with a poet-turned-copywriter whose #1 goal is to create simple and effective copy? I’d love to see if I can support your next campaign with a clean video script. Do you have some time on Tuesday to chat about your Q1 goals? If so, please let me know some times that work for you.
If nothing else, consider this a fangirl letter — your Gemhouse project is striking.
Kallie Falandays
www.telltellcopywriting.com
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Remember, it doesn’t matter how badly you want it; it matters how hard you try. So go on, try your own cold pitch out. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no.
