Hi Reader,

Happy Friday!

I'm back from a glorious two weeks off. I spent a LOT of time outdoors, explored everything there is to explore in Paris (and ate my weight in pastry, cheese, and wine!).

I'm feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the last quarter. How are you doing?

P.S. This week on Instagram I shared my thoughts on why you might be stuck at £2k months. Watch it here.

Anyway, here's what I've been up to this week work-wise:

👉 I wrote 3 pieces for clients (including Experlogix and Cobloom)

👉 I refreshed 1 piece for Shopify

👉 I wrote 2 case studies for a client

👉 I chased up a load of unpaid invoices (it's not all sunshines and rainbows)

⏱ Approx hours spent on client work this week: ~22

⏱ Approx hours spent on non-client work: ~2

💰 Total revenue this week: £5,670

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Check out my three practical courses that have helped 500+ people get more clients, earn more money, and create better content.

Friday Freelance Tip​​ ✨ ​

Want to know the pitching strategy that never fails…

Spoiler: there isn’t one.

Look, pitching is a part of business, but it has varying degrees of success. Some years it’s super lucrative and others it’s… well, disheartening to say the least.

I do about 2 pitching sprints each year to keep my roster topped up and I vary my pitches depending on how much time I have available, the kind of clients I want to reach, and how quickly I need the work.

There are three types of pitch that I circulate:

The highly-personalised pitch

I can only send about 5 of these a week because they’re labour intensive. I really get to know the client (and not just the brand, but the person I’m pitching--human connections are everything!). I curate my best, most relevant samples and suggest a few content ideas that might be a hit.

The key here is to go beyond the brand. When you're pitching, you're pitching a real-life human being, not some faceless company. And, the more you connect with that real person, the better your chances of success are.

For example, does that person live in the same city as you? Have they shared a photo of their dog and you can relate to them about dog-mum life? Did they visit your fave holiday spot last year?

Think about ways you can start a conversation on a personal level, not just "I love the post you shared on LinkedIn".

I write each of these posts from scratch instead of using a template, because I want them to feel as genuine as possible. Let your personality shine through!

The thing that makes these pitches particularly time-intensive is I try to offer extra value. Usually, this is in the form of content suggestions.

So, I might do something like:

Use a keyword tool to find content gaps and suggest those to the prospect. I might say "Hey, I notice [competitor] has written a ton about [topic]. Just wondering if there's a reason you haven't cashed in on that yet?"

Or, I might suggest timely content--for example, "Hey, I noticed that [topic] is causing a big stir in the industry at the mo, do you think a research report/ebook/series on it might help your audience do X, Y, and Z?"

The semi-personalised pitch

I can send about 10-15 of these a week. I use a template (you can find it in Pitch & Prosper--get £20 off here) and switch out the samples and personalised information about each client.

Again, I try to find something that goes beyond “love the post you shared on LinkedIn” and instead try to find a true connection--usually it’s a conversation/interaction we’ve had because I like to nurture a warm network.

I work hard to build my network throughout the year, so I'm constantly commenting on posts and engaging with content leads. I won't offer content suggestions here, but I will try and spark a conversation.

Instead of saying, "let's book a call", I might say "would you be open to chatting about potential content ideas?" or something similar. The idea is to get a response. You don't need to sign a contract right then and there, but you do want to enter a conversation.

You can't close a deal if the prospect doesn't reply!

The hit-and-hope pitch

If I’m short on time, I’ll send a few direct, to-the-point pitches. I can send about 25 of these a week. They tend to include very few frivolities and get straight to the point. They might say something like “do you need any more freelancers right now?” or “do you need any extra hands with X project?”.

These pitches have all had varying rates of success. In terms of conversion rates, the highly personalised pitch has performed best, but that’s because I send fewer of them so the conversion rate SEEMS higher.

During the freelance boom of the pandemic, the hit-and-hope pitch worked wonders for me. But now that things feel a little more saturated, I have more success with the personalised pitches. YMMV.

The point of this is: there’s no one fool-proof pitching strategy. Different things work for different people and even those change over time.

The key is to experiment, experiment, and experiment. You WILL fail (trust me), but you might also win too.

Remember, as a Friday Freelance Tips subscriber, you get £20 off Pitch & Prosper, which includes a ton of ready-made, tried-and-tested pitching templates you can use right away.

We need more Freelance Money Diaries entries!

I'm in awe of how many people have been open enough to share their freelance finances with us, but to continue the series we need more submissions.

Just a reminder that you can do this anonymously if you prefer :)

I appreciate every single one of you and I want to continue my mission of financial transparency in the freelance world. Can you help?

As always, happy freelancing :)

Lizzie ✨

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