Hi everyone!
I’m starting a new weekly series called, “Ask Michelle Anything.” If you have a question about how to land high-paying copywriting clients, how to confidently charge more, how to manage your energy as a copywriter, or anything related to marketing your business, submit your question here.
This week’s question for “Ask Michelle Anything” comes from Karina.
Question:
When I’m pitching someone my copywriting services (or content writing or editing services, etc.)… how can I improve my chances of having that person receive my pitch well? How can I make my pitches better? I’m getting lots of opens, but no responses yet.
Michelle’s Answer:
Great question!
The first thing to remember is, when we’re sending out an offer or making a pitch, it’s never about us—it’s always about the other person. That’s if you want to get hired.
If we make it about us, our chances of getting hired go down.
That’s because people who are receiving your pitches don’t care about your pitch unless it directly applies to their immediate interests and needs.
There’s a huge question of, “What’s in it for me?” that you need to answer. Every copywriter needs to learn, re-learn, and remember this lesson whenever they’re pitching or applying to anything.
Also… you’re always pitching something even if you’re not making an actual, direct pitch.
You’re pitching people with your energy. You’re pitching with your mindset. You’re constantly communicating to someone as to whether or not you can help them, regardless of if your communication is conscious or subconscious.
That’s why it’s SO important to bring good energy to every pitch, interaction, sales call, and conversation.
Many people are not even aware of how they’re communicating or coming across to others.
(If you want to improve your energy, attitude, and mindset, a great first step is to join my group coaching program for copywriters!)
Here’s an example of how people receive pitches. As an experienced copywriter, I get tons of writers pitching me, asking if I’m hiring. When someone reaches out to me as a cold hiree, I look at them and say to myself, “I don’t know this person. I don’t know anything about them, so what do I have to go off of?” I have their picture, their social media page, their profile posts, their bio, or whatever is in their email signature. That’s it.
If they have no bio, no picture, no videos, no clear information about themselves, then they’re automatically starting off on the wrong foot. It’s like, “Help me get to know who you are…and quickly.”
Busy entrepreneurs get pitched all the time. They don’t have time to decode the gaps of who you are in your pitch.
Help the person see right away what you’re about, and how you can help them. They’re going to make a snap judgment of “Yes” or “No,” and ask themselves, “Do I want to engage with this person or not?” They might say no. It’s usually easier for people to say no or ignore the pitch, because they’re busy.
…Unless you make it directly relevant to them.
High personalization + high relevancy = a winning pitch.
You can’t control people’s snap judgments or actions. But you CAN control how you come across.
Michelle Lopez Boggs is a copywriter, copywriting mentor, and author of "The Anti-Marketing Manifesto: How to Sell Without Being a Sellout." She's helped her clients sell millions of dollars' worth of products and services online by using the MEI(S) principle — motivate, educate, and inspire, and sell. 