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The Ultimate Guide to Pitch Freelance Writing
Do this instead of sending hundreds of LOIs!
Are you tired of ignored LOIs and cold emailing? Clients are people just like you and I, they’re often just as busy if not more than we are.
If you want your freelance writing pitch to be accepted, make it easy for a potential client to see the piece will be a good fit for their audience so they can hit reply and say “yes”.
This article will show you how to craft the perfect pitch so editors say yes!
Send a Freelance Pitch not an LOI
Sending general LOIs (letter of introduction) to hundreds of companies or publications puts the work on the client to review your portfolio and think of an article idea you could write for them. This adds an extra step to the process. And editors don’t know you well enough so they’re basically guessing without knowing it will pan out.
They’re too busy for that.
Instead of an LOI, send a specific pitch for an article you know their audience will love. This means you have to take time to know their content needs.
Research Your Pitch
You should be able to answer the following questions about any potential clients before you write your pitch:
- Do they already have a blog and/or a newsletter? Are they posting content consistently?
- What is the average length of blog posts or articles? What formats/styles are popular? (i.e How-to, Listicle, Guides, Interviews, etc.)
- What special elements are typically used? (infographics, pull quotes, resources, other)
- What topics or trends are current or popular right now for this subject?
- What’s happening in the world right now that could impact this topic/subject?
- Who is their target audience?
- What issue or angle is not being written about that might be interesting to readers?
- Where’s the gap if any, in what’s being covered already.
- What questions or information will target readers be interested in about this topic? (Ubersuggest.com or a People Also Ask…
