I live by the philosophy that if you don’t ask, the answer’s always no. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with sending a cold pitch to a brand you’d love to work with. I got my first-ever copywriting client from a cold pitch.

HOWEVER. I’m sick of seeing all these fuck ass pitches.​

You know what I’m talking about: “Hi! I’d love to chat about your website content!”​

K… cool? My website content is fine, tyvm.​

Or responding to a Threads post that’s asking for VA recommendations with, “That’s me!”​

Girl, where’s the link to your website? Why should I have to be the one to do the work and follow up with you? Absolutely not.​

Don’t even get me started.​

I’m giving you exactly what you need to send GOOD cold pitch emails, DMs, or comments to land more clients. (And don’t let me catch you cold pitching through someone’s contact form—that’s scammer behavior!)

What is Cold Pitching?

Cold pitching is exactly what it sounds like: pitching someone on an idea, when this person is not a “hot lead” or they have yet to “warm up” to you — meaning they’re cold. 

It’s reaching out to strangers, basically.

Example: me Googling “law firms in Hartford, Connecticut” (where I went to college), picking the first one I found, navigating to their About Us page, finding the contact info for HR, and emailing them with the subject line “Possible Open Position.” 

Yes, I was hired 3 weeks later, thank you very much. And it was, in fact, one of the worst jobs I’ve ever worked in my life.

When is Appropriate to Cold Pitch?

I also feel like there’s an appropriate time in your business to cold pitch people and an appropriate time not to.

You kind of graduate from it as you become more successful. The cold pitch strategy is perfect when you’re just getting started, and you want to work for free in exchange for a testimonial.​

It’s a lot easier to cold pitch somebody something free that they don’t have to pay for, and then later convince them that it’s worth paying for, than just cold pitching someone and being like, Hey, here’s why you should pay thousands of dollars for my services.​

Right now, as I charge $6,900 for a website copy project, I’m not going to email someone to be like, Hey, do you need a website, and also do you want to pay seven grand?

They’re going to be like, what? No.​

If you reach out to someone and offer something for free in exchange for a testimonial, it’s a smaller ask, and they’re more likely to say yes. They don’t have to give you anything.​

Then, when the project is done, you can say, Hey, by the way, I could do this for you four times a month for X amount of money, and you would get all these benefits if you did that. Do you want to try it for one month?​

Boom. There’s your first client.

If I were to cold pitch right now.

I’m not at the stage of my business to cold pitch a free offer in exchange for a testimonial. So instead, let’s use an example of me potentially wanting a new client or a referral.​

I’m a website copywriter, so if I were going to reach out to somebody now and cold-pitch them, it might be a website designer, and I might hope that they would refer a client to me.​

That’s my intention in doing this. I’m not going to email them and say, Hey, I’m Sarah, and I do this, and I work with businesses that do that, and I’m a website copywriter and your website designer, so I think you should refer your clients to me.

No website designer would ever care about that. They’d be like, Cool, good for you. I know 17,000 other website copywriters. I don’t need you.​

Instead, what I would do is I would reach out to them and say, Hey so and so, I’ve been following you for a while. I loved your work on X, or I loved your post about X, or I’m subscribed to your newsletter, and this week was so good. (Something like that lets them know I’m actually engaged.)​

Then, because it’s a mutually beneficial agreement, I would say, I’m a website copywriter, and I would love to refer my clients to you because I love your style. What’s your availability, and who do you like to work with?​

I’ve started the conversation and it feels natural.

These are things I still cold pitch to this day that I have success with:

• Speaking gigs
• Podcast guest episodes
• Guest blogs
• Collaborations with business friends
• Connections with website designers
• Guest teaching in courses and programs
• Consulting for teams

…and more!

How to Know WHO to Cold Pitch

The first thing I always want to mention when we talk about who to call pitch to is that it’s an extremely privileged position to be in to even know people who need a copywriter, know people who own a business, or know people who have a reason for somebody else to write copy or content for them.​

Not everybody has that. And I always want to recognize that for some people, it’s going to be easier than for others. Some people have more connections than others.​

I feel very thankful for the connections I had. Those people I reached out to when I first started BTL Copy were former colleagues I had worked with loosely, and people I knew through friends of a friend. Two of the people I reached out to, out of the long list I brainstormed, loved the idea, let me write a blog post for them in exchange for a testimonial, and then became paying clients.​

My recommendation is to cold pitch people in your network or on the outskirts of it.

And everyone does have a network, but other people have bigger networks than maybe you do. But if you think about it, it’s actually not that difficult to come up with a list of potential people to reach out to.​

If you don’t ask, the answer’s always no, so don’t be nervous to reach out to someone.​

Think about who:

• Your friends know
• You know
• Your teachers know
• Your parents know
• Your parents’ friends know
• Your co-workers know
• Your neighbors know
• People in your community
• People you grew up with
• People from your church
• People from your sports teams

There are so many people that you could consider tapping into the resource of knowing. And they could be a really great cold pitch, or they might know someone.​

Even if you reached out to someone and said, Hey, I’m starting this business. I’m really looking for business owners in this specific industry, people in this niche, or anyone with a business locally or online. Do you think that you could connect me to someone? Do you know anyone who owns a business and might want a blog post, website, ad copy, or product descriptions?

It’s actually pretty easy to come up with a list of people that you could at least reach out to and ask if they know someone who might be interested.​

A lot of people make the mistake of thinking a cold pitch has to be a stranger, but I think it shouldn’t be. I think loosely knowing someone (that’s why I keep saying ‘outskirts of your network’) is actually the best way you’re going to get a response.

“Should I only reach out to one type of business?” 

No, there’s no reason you need to limit your opportunities like that. If you only want to work with boutiques, sure, only reach out to them. But if you’re interested in working with other types of business owners, I see no issue with reaching out to a bunch of different types of people.​

I would advise reaching out to whoever:

• Sounds interesting
• You think might need you the most
• You have the best opportunity of actually working with

As you get more experience, you’ll decide who you like working with, and then that can be a potential niche for you, or you can just treat it as a learning experience. 

3 Tips When Writing a Cold Pitch

There are three things every cold pitch needs to have the best success rate.

1. Make it personal.

Write an email very specific to that person. You’ll want to include a personal touch (whatever it may be) in your first paragraph, too.

Even if it’s something like “I hope your mother is doing well, she was a great role model to me,” or “I saw on LinkedIn that you’ve started a new position, congratulations.” It doesn’t have to be serious—just something to show that you did your research.

2. Make the benefit clear to the person reading the email.

People will take 0.2 seconds to skim your email and decide if it’s worth their time. You need to make the benefit to them super clear. Now is not the time to brag about all your accomplishments or share all your packages. Write a powerful statement about what this person will get from working with you.​

And not just “an SEO-optimized blog post.” I want specifics, like “a fully SEO-optimized blog post strategically written to rank for high-intent keywords, attract qualified organic traffic, and support long-term lead generation.”​

Yeah, that’s the blog I want!

3. Write like you’re a person.

Have a conversation like you would in person, as opposed to being icky and salesy. I want you to stay professional, but that doesn’t mean stuffy.

Here’s what I mean:

• Write like you speak (then clean it up)
• Use simple, direct sentences
• Sound helpful, not pitchy
• Be specific about the value
• Read it out loud before sending, and if it sounds awkward, rewrite it

How NOT to Cold Pitch

If you take anything from this blog, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, LET IT BE THIS: 

If someone posts on social media asking for a copywriter, do NOT just respond “hi!” or “that’s me!” 

Give them something to work with. For Christ’s sake. 

I cannot telllllllll you how many times I see a post requesting a specific service provider and people comment on it WITHOUT A WAY FOR THAT PERSON TO REACH OUT or without a reason for that person to care.

Everyone knows I hate a FUCK! ASS! PITCH!

You are a human conversing with another human. Act like it.

This means making an effort to keep things PERSONAL. To show people that you actually give one single shit about them or their business. To at least pretend like you’re already part of their ecosystem.

Don’t message them “Hello BLT” if their business is BTL, you feel me?

I’m not a sandwich and I’m ignoring anyone who doesn’t try hard to make me think that they stalked my online presence enough to earn my attention.

The only cold pitch I’ve ever liked

I’ve seen a lot of cold pitches. Most of them = instant delete, do not pass go, do not collect $200.​

But Eva Couto of Flying Colors Creative is one of the very few people in the world who has ever successfully cold-pitched me. 

A rare honor. A high calling. A feat so impressive, I had to have her on the pod.​

Listen to her guest episode here:

Cold Pitch Email Guide

Cold pitching via email has garnered me some of the best results—and best experiences—of my life, from my first-ever full-time big-girl job to my first-ever paying client as a freelance copywriter. 

In this free guide, I’m giving you ALLLL of my tips for sending engaging, personal cold pitch emails—ones that people will actually read.

Download it for free!

Want Me to Help You With Your Cold Pitching?

Or anything else for that matter? I offer 1:1 strategy calls where we can talk about quite literally anything related to marketing and growing your business.

In the past, I’ve had a lot of girlies book these with me to talk about how to get clients specifically and we always have the best convos!

Here’s the link to book yours.