The Proven Pitching Process For New Freelance Writers

Are you pulling your hair out because you just dont get it? Youre a new freelance writer so you know you have to hustle to land that first client. You know you need samples, so you got to it early on. You even know where to find freelance writing jobs and avoided places like Upwork. So, why arent you seeing success? Why are you struggling to land any paid writing gigs? My First Pitch When I first started freelance writing over a year ago, I had no clue how to pitch my services. Here is my first pitch I ever sent out (you can click on it to see it a bit better): Can you spot the mistakes? Two obvious mistakes are that I dont appear confident in my pitch and I mention that Im new (psstdont EVER mention in a pitch that youre a new freelance writer!). But, you know what? I kept on pitching. I found some good job boards (ProBlogger and Freelance Writing Jobs) and sent pitch after pitch. I think I sent around 20-50 pitches before I landed my first writing gig for an automotive enthusiast site. I was ecstatic that I actually landed this gig, because I just knew I failed the interview. The prospect emailed me back and requested we talk. This was my first ever phone interview and when it was over I was convinced I bombed it. I didnt sound confident at all and I didnt ask the right questions either. But, I ended up getting the gig! That gave me a boost in confidence and I guess it showed because I landed my next client soon after (and upped my rate too). Perfecting My Pitching Game I had my fair share of bad pitches   for the longest time. But, that didnt stop me from landing clients.   Prospects started contacting me and for a while I wasnt pitchinguntil some clients slowed down their content schedule. Suddenly, I went from writing four blog posts a month for one client, down to writing only one post a month for them. This cut my income so I had to go back to pitching. Im glad that happened because I really focused on optimizing my pitch and making it better than what I had. And I finally found a pitching process that works. If youre a new freelance writer and youre having problems landing a client, maybe its time to look at your pitching process. Here are 4 elements to a winning pitching process: 1. Review Your Current Pitch My current pitch looks nothing like my first pitch. Its come a long way. As a new freelance writer, you may be tempted to use the same template for all your pitches. While this isnt a bad or wrong thing to do (its actually a great way to streamline your process and it allows you to pitch to more job ads), you might not realize that changing a few things in your pitch can dramatically change your conversion rate. Things like: Work to appear more confident in your pitch. Swapping phrases like might be good at this to I know Ill be good at this dramatically changes the view of the person reading your pitch. Be explicit. Mention exactly what you will do for them. If the ad calls for someone to write blog posts, explain to them what you will provide (an eye-catching headline, a call-to-action, promotion on social media). Show proof you are a writer. Providing links to your published content is 100x better than providing attachments of your work. 2. Keep Track of Your Pitches Whenever I do a round of pitching, I make sure to keep an Excel sheet or Google sheet tracking all of the pitches I sent out. This helps me with keeping all the information in one place. Each job ad will have information you need to have easily accessible for when the prospect responds to you. Such things as their proposed rate (or if you proposed a rate), the topic and how often they need content. So, when it comes time to pitch, I keep track of: Where I saw the job ad (specific job board and link to the ad). The email I sent the pitch to. When I sent the pitch. This is important to remember as I tend to circle back a few days later when I dont hear anything from my pitch. Important information. I keep this sheet and just update it whenever I need to pitch. So, sometimes I can look back on all the pitches I sent and if theres a spot open in my schedule, Ill contact some of these companies and see how things are going with their content needs. 3. Pitch Daily Its a good idea to build a metric around your pitches. Set a goal of how many pitches you want to send out and for how long. For example, for two weeks I will pitch one time every day. Check out my step-by-step guide on how I find freelance writing jobs quickly. This gives you a firm goal to stick to and helps you feel accomplished when you complete it. I dont know about you, but I like competing against myself. It just gives me a bit of motivation to outdo myself (and it usually works). You might think this isnt important. You say to yourself, Ill just pitch whenever I have time. Well, I want you to think of this: You hit whatever you aim at. So, this means youll hit your target when you have a plan in place. You just have to start! 4. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone You go to a job board and all you see is a bunch of, I cant do that! type of job ads. Instead of thinking what you cant do, start thinking how you can match the criteria in a job ad. Cast a wide net when you pitch. Look at all the job ads at each board and see if you are remotely qualified for or interested in the ad. My first gig wasnt my first choice, but I was pitching to anything and everything at that time (and Im glad I did. I still write for my first client and I still enjoy it!). Keep at It Hustling is the name of the game when youre new to freelance writing. No one knows who you are or if you can even write. But, trust me when I tell you, the more you pitch, the higher chance youll have at landing that first client. You may not land a gig if youre only pitching 5 times a week. But, if you pitch 10 times a week you might see a better turnout. Imagine if you pitch 30 times a week? Remember, no excuses! Over to you – whats holding you back from pitching?