Guest Post by Efose Ikhalo
Cold-pitching is the best
way to get freelancing client (don't believe me? Ask Jorden
Roper).
Still,
an alarming amount of writers find it difficult to land clients even
after blasting out hundreds of email pitches to prospective clients.
Why's
that?
They
are doing (at least) something wrong and have failed to realize it.
Cold
pitching has been proven countless times to be the most effective and
its results far surpass most other methods of seeking for clients. But
it doesn't work just by the snap of a finger.
Like
every effective way of doing things, getting clients through cold
pitching requires well-planned methods and approaches. It isn't
rocket science but it is no kindergarten study either.
Writers
that fail to land clients through cold pitching fall into different
categories other than those taking the wrong approach with the most
stinging of them being that they can't write. Sometimes the pitch is
great and the prospective client takes one last step to vet the
writer before beginning to discuss terms; they check out writing
samples and are disappointed.
Off
they go.
The
not so good news:
This article will not be of help to such a "writer".
Decent
writers that find it difficult to get high-paying clients (or any
kind of client for that matter) through cold pitching are missing out
on the really good stuff in the business because of one of the
following reasons:
A. Not
knowing who to pitch
This
basically is the foundation of failure in seeking for clients.
One
fact some freelance writers fail to realize is that not every person
or business out there will be a good fit for the services they offer.
This
is where specialization; either by niche or services, come into play.
A lot of writers do not want to be restricted by niches but even
then, their work must be defined by something.
Prospective
clients want to see a piece of your work that has the same bearing as
what they offer. You probably would get the job done but they don't
know that and so they rely more on facts, which means samples of your
work.
So
pitching to just about anyone or business makes no sense. In fact,
this is the exact answer to why a lot of pitches end up in the trash.
Imagine a freelancer who writes about sports and has practically all
his writing samples built around the subject, pitching to a tobacco
company. What happens to such pitch?
Your
guess is as good as mine.
Recognizing
the prospective clients need for your service and how well you fit
into the equation would determine your progress thereon.
Little
wonder it is often advised to research prospective clients before
reaching out because it is only in doing this that you get an insight
into what they are all about and if you stand a chance.
Do
not be the accountant applying for an engineering job.
B. Not
knowing how to pitch
Knowing
who to pitch isn't the Promised Land. If anything, it’s just the beginning of
the road to the Promised Land.
A
lot of writers chase prospective clients away a lot quicker than they
found them by the content of their pitch or the way it was drafted.
For
starters, your pitch is the first writing sample by you that the client
sees. So even if for some reason you write articles a lot better than
you pitch and your pitch is still crappy, it ends up in the trash.
Writing
a pitch is easy enough but for a couple of faults writers are guilty
of.
- Too
Long pitch
It
is hard enough for readers to go through very long blog posts
especially when it does not involve actionable steps or some kind of
guide, let alone a busy client going through a very lengthy email
when all you mean to say is "I need a job".
Well-detailed
pitches yield great results but there's a difference between
well-detailed and bulky.
A
pitch mustn't be a thousand words to be sound. A sound pitch is
concise and straight to the point; serious clients hate it when you
beat around the bush.
Good
examples of what a right pitch should contain are:
-
Short
salutation
-
A
tiny bit about you (it's not really about you)
-
Where
you saw the job
-
Relevant
experience
-
Pointer
to samples
-
Why
you would be the right choice for the job
-
Using
Templates
Personalizing
every pitch can be very tedious but "with great power comes
great responsibility".
Writers
can easily get a good template on the internet which isn't bad, but
sending it out just the way it is, is pure wrong. These clients are
aware that such templates exist and for those who deal with lots of
email messages every now and then, any email with a trait of being
from a template (even if it isn’t one) is quickly jettisoned.
Why
do these clients hate templates so much?
-
It
implies that you never researched about the client’s business
(even if you did).
-
It
implies that you did not go through the job advert.
-
Pitch
is too formal
Remember
how in school you were taught to sound as formal as possible when
writing to those you didn’t previously know (especially application
letters which this is)?
Jettison
all that because informal is the new formal.
Trying
too much to be professional in a pitch message just ends up boring
21st-century
clients; such pitch is read halfway and tossed away. Being
professional is necessary but a little friendliness creates a connection
with the client.
Not
Knowing When to Pitch
Time
really is money!
A
lot of writers are guilty of sending out email messages without
considering the time zone of the recipients. Most of these writers
are advocates of the rule of thumb of not sending out pitch messages
on weekends but fail to realize that sending these messages at odd
hours is just as damning.
These
clients are more or less as employers to writers and one common thing
about employers is that they hate to be bugged and getting
unsolicited messages at unofficial hours.
Do
yourself a favor and research the time zone of your prospective
client before shooting a message.
Writers
make a lot of other mistakes when pitching
