Freelancing is a game of ups and downs with no guarantee of a consistent, steady income. 

Clients come and go, sometimes way too suddenly—leaving you high and dry, scrambling for funds to pay the bills. 

But what if there was a way you could dodge this uncertainty and take control of your client pipeline to stabilize (and scale) your earnings every month?

The good news: there is. 

Cold pitching is a popular tactic for freelancers to win new clients and expand their business. It’s a surefire technique to proactively connect with brands and individuals you’d like to work with instead of passively waiting to get good projects.  

In this start-to-finish, I’ll spill all the secrets for writing kick-ass cold emails that can help you work with your dream clients. Let’s get to it!

What is a cold pitch?

A cold pitch is a collection of emails and follow-ups sent to potential clients who don’t know you. For freelancers, cold pitching is about reaching out to prospects who might benefit from your services and making a case for why and how you can help them. 

While your prospects are total strangers, the actual pitch shouldn’t exactly be cold. To ensure your pitch makes a strong impact, you must spend extra time personalizing it for the target readers. 

5 reasons why freelancers believe in cold pitching 

Prospects going AWOL, almost-done deals falling through, clients pausing new projects—things can go south for even the most experienced freelancers in a snap. 

While there’s no way to fight the uncertainty of the role, there is a foolproof solution to protect yourself against last-minute failures and dry spells: cold pitching. 

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Freelancers swear by cold pitches for several reasons. Here are the five most popular ones:

1. Meet your target clients where they are

As a freelancer, you can find new clients one of two ways: either by getting warm inbound leads (through referrals, personal branding, and such) or by reaching out to prospects you’d like to work with. 

The first option is a long shot for many. It’s also time and effort-intensive. Instead of waiting for clients to find you, you can meet them where they are through stellar cold pitches that catch their attention and make them notice you. 

2. Cut through the competition and stand out

The gig economy is growing bigger than ever—with freelancers making up nearly 47% of the global workforce. As the market grows bigger, so does the competition. So, any freelancing gig puts you up against hundreds of freelancers, significantly reducing your chances of getting the project. 

Instead, you can find unique prospects and create a tailored cold pitch to play to your strengths and stand out from the crowd. It’s a surefire way to make a lasting impression and work with your ideal clients. 

3. Create demand for your services

The ever-growing freelancing workforce means the market has a massive supply of freelancers against a low demand for their services. For many gig workers, this further lowers the scope of getting the right clients through inbound means. 

This is where a cold email can generate demand for your services and ramp up your conversions. When you specifically reach out to the right people and convince them to work with you, you can create fresh demand for your work and beat the market. 

4. Build relationships with new prospects

Networking is a must-have skill for any freelancer. When a dry spell approaches, you can tap into your network to find new clients for the season. 

Cold pitches allow you to establish the right connections for a healthy network. If not a conversion, a cold email can at least start a relationship with potential clients and create opportunities for working together in the future. 

5. Spend less and win high returns

Lastly, cold emailing is one of the low-cost channels for freelancers to bag new clients. While it does demand extensive effort, cold emailing can bring a good ROI without breaking the bank. 

How freelancers can find prospects for cold emailing 

Now that you’re convinced to try cold emailing, here’s the first challenge: how do I find prospects for sending cold pitches? 

If this question bogs you down, know that you’re not alone. Even if most freelancers know the benefits and recipe of creating the perfect cold email, they can’t figure out who to pitch to. 

Here are a few tried-and-true tips to solve the puzzle for you:

• Jump to job search platforms like AngelList to find companies hiring for roles you specialize in 

• Invest in a LinkedIn Premium account to use targeted search to find good leads in your chosen niches

• Visit industry-specific job boards to identify companies hiring for the services you offer

• Look for companies sending press releases on PR Web to find brands with a promising marketing strategy and team 

• Use filtered search on Crunchbase to shortlist ideal companies in your niche with the right funding and team size

Remember: don’t go blindly looking for people to pitch to. Take your time to analyze your skill set and decide on a few parameters to shortlist companies you want to work with. Then start the hunt for prospects! 

How to write a cold pitch: 7 actionable tips to follow 

Most cold emails suck. These poorly crafted pitches lack a personal appeal, sound robotic, and seem too self-centered. 

Writing a stellar cold email that brings you the big bucks is nothing short of an art. If you’re here to learn how to write cold emails, these seven best practices are just what you need:

• Be yourself: Add personality to your message to create a stand-out cold pitch. It’s a myth that cold emails have to be sales-y and desperate to get a foot in the door. Avoid generic, overused words and phrases that sound pushy. Instead, bring your unique self to the pitch—write like you’re writing to a friend. 

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• Show them you know them: The first rule of thumb for writing cold pitches is to personalize your message. Do your homework to learn more about your prospects and justify why you want to work with them—show them why they’re your ideal clients. This step will also help you create a sync between your services and their strategies. 

• Speak to their pain points: Don’t flatter every potential client for what they’re doing well. Instead, identify what they’re struggling with and talk about how you can help them fill these gaps to reach the end goals they’re working toward. Skip the smooth talk. Give them reasons to care about your pitch. 

• Create an offer they can’t refuse: The magic ingredient missing from most cold emails is the convenience of working with you. Show prospects how effortless it’d be to work with you by creating a strong offer backed by all the details they’d like to know about the deal. Anticipate their questions and concerns to cover all grounds in your pitch. 

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• Communicate your value proposition: Tell prospects what makes you different from the rest of the pitches in their inbox. Create the unique value and qualities you bring to the table. As a best practice, focus on the outcomes you can produce with these skills instead of flaunting what you can do. 

• Add proof of work: If you want to hit a home run with your cold pitch, you have to include your portfolio and samples. Don’t just claim what you can do for a potential client; show them what you’ve done in the past to build instant trust. 

• End with a solid call to action: Close your cold pitch with a clear CTA, telling a prospect what to do next. Instead of leaving your email with a generic line like “looking forward to hearing from you,” ask them about a specific topic you’d like to discuss—like how they can decide if you’re a good fit for their team. Be clear about what you want the reader to do in the end. 

Use these seven tips to craft a promising cold pitch with the potential to get a higher open rate, more responses, and better conversions. 

How to write a pitch-perfect subject line for your cold emails 

The subject line can make or break the game for your cold emails. 33% of recipients will choose to open (or spam) your emails based on the subject line. So, if you aim to get more people’s attention, you can’t overlook a catchy and enticing subject line. 

We’ve curated a few tips to help you create cold email subject lines that hit the right spot with your prospects and nudge them to open your mail:

• Make them curious about what’s in it for them 

• Use humor to your advantage if it fits the brand’s personality

• Hit their pain points to hint at the solution you can offer

• Add first names to add a touch of personalization

• Create a sense of urgency to push them to open your mail

• Frame relevant questions that press on their problems 

• Bring industry-centric words to the focus

Spend extra effort writing, re-writing, and testing the best subject line for your cold pitches. It’ll be worth the effort and potentially double your chances of getting a response. 

How to follow up on a cold pitch—like a pro

A cold pitch doesn’t end with the first email. You have to back up that original email with a series of follow-up emails to get a response from potential clients. Follow-ups are arguably the most game-changing part of cold pitching strategies. 

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Your prospects might’ve missed your mail in their inbox, they might’ve seen your mail but forgot to respond, or they might’ve noticed your mail but didn’t find the time to reply—there can be ten different reasons why you didn’t get a reply to your pitch message. Mostly, it’s because you’re approaching insanely busy people. 

So, a few follow-up emails can help you make a repeated impression on your prospects and get a reply to your pitch. 

If you’re wondering how to write a follow-up email for cold pitches, refer to these best practices whenever you’re sending out the next cold email:

• Follow a regular cadence for taking follow-ups—ideally between 5-7 business days from your last email

• Pack your follow-up emails with more value propositions to get readers’ attention, encouraging them to read the original pitch 

• Reference any latest updates related to your prospects, like a funding announcement, any company news, a new media feature, or something similar 

• Switch up the subject line to create a quicker impact 

Remember that there’s no harm in following up with a prospect up to 3-4 times. In every follow-up email, try to highlight an interesting take on why they should work with you. 

4 top tips for cold pitching as a freelancer 

You’ve tried several cold pitching strategies only to face disappointment every time. All the regurgitated advice on the internet doesn’t seem to help either. If this sounds like you, here’s a solution you’ve been looking for: our four best tips on cold pitching as a freelancer. 

1. Research your prospects to *really* understand them 

Most freelancers drop the ball when it comes to understanding their potential clients well enough before sending a cold pitch. If you don’t know who your prospect is and what their goals are, you can’t really convince them to work with you. 

So, dig deep into the trenches to learn more about your leads. Gather details like their business model, team size, strategies, growth map, and resources. To do this legwork successfully, you can:

• Listen to their founders or employees on podcasts and webinars

• Read up about their company on media coverage

• Speak to a few employees on social media channels 

Figure out the weak links in their strategy to position yourself as a must-have resource for their success. 

2. Make your pitch about them, not you

Keep the focus of your message on the outcomes a client can achieve if they choose to work with you. Talking only about your skills and what you can do can be counter-productive. Turn the narrative around to show prospects the goals they can reach by working with you and explain how you’d make that happen. 

3. Warm up your prospects 

We’ve come a far way ahead from the days of hard selling. That’s one of the most important things to remember when sending out a cold email—don’t make it too cold for prospects to ignore it straight away as a hard sell.  

Increase your chances of getting a response by warming up your prospects. Engage with their posts on social media or highlight their views in your content to come to their notice first. Once you think they know you well enough, send your pitch to do the job. 

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4. Don’t beat around the bush 

Nobody likes reading a long and tiring email from a stranger. For cold emails, the golden rule is the shorter, the better. Most freelancers aim to wrap their message in 50-80 words. 

When you have such a small space to convey your points, use it strategically and cut out the fluff. Get straight to the point and be upfront with what you want the readers to know. Write with empathy to strike a chord with your prospects and make an immediate impact. 

Write winning cold emails to skyrocket your freelance business

With so many moving parts and nuances involved in crafting a cold pitch, it can seem like too much work to some. But once you master the art of writing these stellar pitch emails, your freelancing career will take off the way you’d always dreamed. 

If you found this guide helpful and want to dive deeper into the world of pitching you’ll enjoy my £250k warm pitching method workshop, available for free here.