Pitching Basics for Freelancers
By Carrie M. King →Freelancing requires courage, creativity, and persistence, especially when it comes to pitching for new projects. So here’s the Goose primer on how to pitch for freelance work.
Every freelancer has to pitch for new projects at some point. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a writer, a designer, a developer, or a gardener, anyone who works with clients will sometimes have to cold-approach new ones. Putting yourself forward for work is a standard part of the freelance game but where do you start and how do you do it well?
As we’ve mentioned in Freelancing 101, not all freelance projects will come through pitches. In fact, most are likely to come through your existing network—even if you feel like you don’t yet have much of one (Psst: you do!). But learning how to write a great pitch is an important part of the freelancer toolkit.
Why is pitching important?
Learning how to pitch well is essential to proactively driving your career forward. When you go after projects that really mean something to you, it can give you a sense of ownership, pride, motivation, and direction. Rather than just accepting any old job that comes in, pitching helps you lead the charge and shape your career.
Even if you have enough work at the moment, it’s important to think ahead and consider your pipeline and your overall career and financial goals. What kind of work are you doing today and what kind of projects would you like to work on in the future?
If you’re just beginning, you may feel anxious or just want to land any work at all, but even in that situation, it’s good to be a little strategic. Remind yourself of why you wanted to go freelance in the first place, why you deserve to do work you enjoy, and why you should get paid well for it.
Do your homework
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail, as they say. If you’re going to put time into pitching a potential client, you need to know who they are, what they need, and how your idea and work are going to benefit their business. Research the market, understand what they’re looking for, and be ready to demonstrate that you understand their business and goals. If you already have a portfolio, provide a link to show your previous work and how you successfully met the needs of previous clients. If you don’t yet have one, explain how passionate you are about delivering this project or idea.
Write a short, smart email
Writing an excellent pitch email is a craft, so the more often you do it, the better you’ll get. It doesn’t need to be poetry but it does need to be clear, specific, brief, and compelling. Your pitch email should include:
- A short intro to you and your work
- Your idea / response to a call for submissions
- Links to samples of your work, portfolio, or website
- A polite sign-off that includes your contact info
That’s it. A good idea or pitch will speak for itself and remember that the person hiring freelancers for this project is likely fielding lots of these emails every day. Use clarity of purpose to make yours stand out.
Here are a few best practices to keep in mind:
- Write a highly-tailored subject line.
- Keep your email short. Show that you respect the recipient’s time.
- Be specific, clear, and to the point.
- Show that you know what your potential client is looking for.
- Pay sharp attention to detail, e.g. make sure you spell the recipient’s name and company correctly.
- Read, reread, and double-check everything. If you can, write the email, leave it in drafts overnight, and then proofread one last time before you send it out.
- Add links, not attachments. Attachments are a bit old-fashioned and often get caught in spam filters.
Demonstrate relevant knowledge and specific value
Every pitch you send should be crafted specifically with the recipient in mind. Sure, there will be bits that you can copy-paste from previous emails, but each pitch should have its own original flair.
Think about how you can show:
a) you know what you’re talking about,
b) you are worth investing more time (and money) in,
c) your idea has specific value,
d) you are excited about the project, and
e) you will be good to work with.
Sending someone a vague email is simply not going to work. You have skills and you’ve done your homework, so write a pitch that reflects this.
Prepare to accept rejection
Sometimes, no matter how good your pitch email is, it simply won’t get picked up. Don’t get disheartened. Rejection is simply baked into the nature of freelancing—and let’s be real: life—but if you weren’t tough you wouldn’t have become a freelancer in the first place.
You may get directly rejected or you just may never hear back at all. Don’t take it personally. Inboxes get inundated and people are time-poor. Just see what you can learn from the experience, take any (credible) feedback on board, and use each rejection as an opportunity to tweak your approach. Pay attention to your intuition about each project, too, as that has a lot to tell you about why you pitched this client in the first place.
Start again
Freelancing is a game of repeatedly beginning again. While it can feel a bit crap to have your idea rejected, if you can step back from it, each of these experiences has something to teach you about how you want your career to evolve. If you’re bitterly disappointed that a dream client rejected your pitch, let that strengthen your resolve to try and try again. If you’re quietly relieved that your pitch got passed over, maybe you never wanted to work for that client in the first place. Take the lessons on offer, pay attention to how you feel, and keep going. Disappointment can be tough but persistence truly does pay off.
