Freelance Writing and Cold Emails
As you probably know, the majority of communicating within your freelance writing career is done via email. This is the case for 99 percent of freelance writers, and will be for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, cold emailing is one of the best ways to find new clients. Personally, this is not a method that I employ on a regular basis. That being said, the few times that I have tried it has worked out quite well.
The three tips below should help you to increase your chance of landing a job through the use of cold emailing:
1. It is essential that you do not become known as a spammer. If this happens, you are going to get a very bad reputation which could lead to a downturn in business as well as people within the industry talking poorly about you. The best way to avoid this is to personalize every email. In other words, do not send out mass emails addressed to “whom it may concern.†Instead, start each email by greeting the recipient. To go along with this, you will also want to add a personalized message. For instance, you could use, “I recently came across your blog, sportsxyz.com, and noticed that you employ freelance writers. With my experience in the sports industry, both on a local and national level, I feel that I may be able to assist you in this area.†With a personalized message like this, you have a much better chance of success while not being pegged a spammer.
2. With a cold email, you need to be short and to the point. Remember, the recipient is not expecting your email so they may not spend a lot of time reading a long “sales pitch.†Instead, you should include the basic information such as who you are and what benefits you can offer them. When it comes down to it, a long email is going to get skimmed and deleted more times than not.
3. Keep track of the emails that you send out. One of the biggest mistakes that freelance writers make in this area is sending repeat emails. When you do this, you are not only annoying the recipient but you are also wasting your time. You can easily keep track of your emails by setting up a spreadsheet with fields detailing the contact, the date of the email, and any response.
Sending cold emails is a great way to find freelance writing work. Remember to keep these three tips in mind; they will increase your chances of success.
