How to Write Great Cold Pitches for Writing Services
Sound professional and succinct, without having to beg for work.
You’re a writer, so you should know how to write a great pitch, right? News flash: Most writers have no clue how to write an effective pitch. Not to mention, pitching makes them nervous!
In this post, we’ll discuss how to cold pitch freelance writing services. You’ll get the basics of a great pitch and learn what to include in a cold pitch email, LinkedIn message or wherever else you’re looking for work.
Things You Need to Write Your Cold Pitch
Before you start writing a cold pitch, there are a few things that you’ll need ahead of time.
You’ll want to choose a company or potential client, find the proper contact person and investigate how you can help them.
As you can see, you’ll need to do a little prepwork before sending each and every pitch. Sending a generic email blast to hundreds of prospects rarely works, so I suggest not even wasting your time with that.
Every single pitch you send must be tailored to an individual prospect. That is paramount to getting the most work possible from your pitching efforts.
Read this: 8 Cold Pitching Fears Holding You Back
What to Write in a Cold Pitch for Freelance Writing
Now, let’s look at how to write a cold pitch email, direct message – however you find yourself pitching!
Your Noteworthy Hook (or Subject Line)
If you’re writing an email cold pitch, you’ll have to first catch their eye with a noteworthy subject line. Great subject lines for cold pitches can be eye-catching, intriguing or helpful.
However, if you’re pitching through LinkedIn messages or via Instagram DMs, your hook will be the first line of your pitch. Think about how your prospect will see that message. If they get a phone notification or email from LinkedIn, they may be able to see that first line, so make it good.
Your Point
Get to your point as fast as possible. Why are you reaching out to them? They obviously must have a problem that you are capable of fixing.
You can think of your point as your “benefit” to the prospect. How will your writing services improve their life or business? Something like, “My SEO writing services can help you do XYZ.”
Your point needs to totally make sense for them. That way, the work your pitching becomes a no-brainer and an immediate hire.
Determining your benefit (and figuring out how to word it) can be really tough. The concept was hard for me to pin down for a long time. However, this information is the most important part of your cold pitch, so take time to think it through.
It all depends on what type of writing services you provide and how you specifically are the best person for the job.
Your CTA
CTA is short for “call-to-action.” A CTA is the next step you want the prospect to take. This could be to get on a discovery call, check out your website or answer back.
Don’t confuse them about how to move forward with you. If there is any confusion – or the process seems too complicated – a prospect will send your pitch to the trash.
Make your CTA clear and easy to take.
Quick Tips for Cold Pitching Success
Here are a few more tips to make your cold pitches even better. They’ll give you a fighting chance of landing the work you want.
#1 Keep It Short
Don’t bore your prospect with some little story. It’s not clever. It’s not entertaining. It’s totally distracting them from what you want, which is freelance writing work.
Above all, if you can say the same thing in fewer words, do it.
#2 Personalize Every Pitch
Do not send out a blanket pitch. Generalizing your service benefits and the prospect’s needs is lazy and ineffective. Instead, personalize everything from how you can help them to what they need.
Now, I know that sounds really intimidating. However, work smarter by setting up pitch templates that can be customized to every prospect. It’s the best of both worlds since you can save time writing your pitches while still hitting the nail on the head.
#3 Follow Up Every Time
If you think you can send an initial pitch and be done, think again! I can’t tell you how much work I’ve landed from following up weeks or months after the initial pitch.
You’ll want to establish a systematic follow-up schedule and stay organized. The last thing you want is to mix up who you talked to and what was discussed. I’ve made that mistake before, and it cost me work!
That’s why I decided to create an easy system to keep everything organized.
When it comes to following up, you want to keep yourself relevant without sounding too pushy or persistent.
#4 Avoid Common Cold Pitching Mistakes
While you definitely want to avoid spelling errors, writers still make many other mistakes when it comes to cold pitching. Things like using the wrong name, not remembering what you sent each person last and more are “stupid” mistakes that will cost you the gig!
