Hi Guys!! Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Shanley, aka the Marketing Director for Foodtography School! You can find me
Hi Guys!!
Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Shanley, aka the Marketing Director for Foodtography School! You can find me helping Sarah design Foodtography School courses, producing shoots, and writing blogs on topics I’m passionate about. So when Sarah came up with the idea for this blog, I JUMPED at the chance to write it!
Before I worked for Foodtography School, I had my own digital marketing firm in Detroit. And the way I built my firm was by cold pitching businesses via email.
All that emailing taught me one thing: when you’re asking to enter into business with someone, a first impression is everything. So when your first impression is an email, a good pitch email can make or break you.
That’s why today I’m here to share our top 6 tips to writing the perfect pitch email!
This one is our number one tip for a reason! The last thing people want is to feel like they are reading a mass email from a robot. In order to humanize yourself, take time at the beginning of your email to introduce yourself, say who you are, what you do, and why you are contacting them. It helps to put a face to the name, so linking your blog and/or largest social channel is an absolute must!
It’s important to tell whoever you are emailing your personal connection to them. “I’ve been using your X for years” or “You are my go-to X” are great compliments. Once again, this shows that you aren’t simply copy/pasting a mass email, and expresses a sincere connection.
People are busy. They don’t want to read a novel. Keep any pitch email 200 words or less!
Always, ALWAYS proofread before you send. You only have one chance to make a first impression, so having a typo in your initial email shows a lack of professionalism. Be sure to double check the correct spelling of your contact’s name too. Writing the wrong name is a major faux pas.
Before sending your email, think about why you are qualified to do the job you are pitching. A good exercise is asking yourself “Why would I be good at this?” then explain exactly that it in your pitch email. Tell them why you’re the best candidate for the job!
It’s not too forward to ask for what you want upfront. Don’t be afraid to ask for their business, suggest to hop on a call to talk further, or suggest a specific idea you have about working together at the end of your pitch email. Ending an email with a “let me know if you’re interested!” is too open-ended to warrant a response. Including a direct ask shows you are serious about working together, and that you are ready to work!
Hope these tips help you in crafting your next pitch email. And if you want the exact email we use to get our foot in the door with restaurants, download our free Restaurant Pitch Guide HERE!
Thanks for reading!
XO,
Shanley
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Very useful information, thank you.
Thank you! Happy to hear it helped 🙂
I’ve been experimenting with making an autoresponder follow up emails to pitches, and I’ve been able to land clients from it. Sounds weird, but if it saves me some brain space, I can focus on creating great content, instead of sitting in my inbox all day.
That’s an awesome idea Aaron! We always say work smart, not hard, and anything you can do to automate and streamline things is a win in our book 🙂
Good pointers! Thank you!