Cold Pitching for Freelance Work: Tips for Improving Your Success Rate

Summary:

·         Cold pitching for freelancers can be successful, if you’re targeting the right people at organizations.

·         Research the organizations you want to pitch to, then learn more about the person who would hire you to do the work.

·         When you reach out to them, don’t make the email about you. Address their pain points and position yourself as a solution.

·         Remember cold pitching takes time—it’s not an immediate solution to finding work.

I’m not an expert on cold pitching to find clients. However, I’ve had some experiences receiving cold pitches which have shaped my opinion on the matter.

If you’re not familiar with the concept of cold pitching, it means that you submit an idea to someone you’ve never been in contact before in hopes they’ll give you money to make it come true. Freelance writers will be most familiar with the term if they’ve ever submitted an article idea to a publication; they’re hoping an editor will like their pitch enough to pay them to write the article.

The concept of cold pitching goes beyond publications, though. As a freelance writer, I’ve reached out to companies and pitched my services. Sometimes, the pitch was successful. In other cases, not so much.

In the following sections, I’ll explain why I’ve had some success with cold pitching prospective clients in the past, and why the people cold pitching me weren’t successful.

Being on the Receiving End of Cold Pitches

If memory serves, I got my first cold pitch in the spring of 2025. Someone reached out to me on LinkedIn and asked me for work.

When I read this person’s message, I felt two emotions: confusion and empathy. Confusion, because I wasn’t hiring, nor was I even in the position to hire. If these folks had read any of my posts on LinkedIn, they’d see I’ve never written anything saying I’m hiring. Empathy, because I know what it’s like to be so desperate for work that you’re willing to try anything.

In the months that followed, several people reached out with similar messages, asking me to hire them and to outsource my writing work to them. I kindly told them that I could neither hire them nor outsource my work. However, I offered to write a social media post about them promoting their services.

I also felt a little frustrated. I couldn’t understand why anyone would send me a cold pitch. I’ve never publicly stated that I can hire anyone, or that I’m open to cold pitches. I definitely can’t outsource my work. Where would someone get that idea?

I decided that instead of being frustrated, I’d channel my energy into writing an article about tips for cold pitching. Maybe this advice will help someone else before they reach out to me.

Tips on Successful Cold Pitching to Find Clients

Successful cold pitching starts with:

·         Research

·         Learn about the person you want to pitch to

·         Making connections

How Do You Research the Right Contacts?

While I’m far from an expert on cold pitching, I can tell you what’s worked for me. When I’ve looked for freelance clients, I’ve always started off doing the same thing: research.

The first time I cold-pitched back in 2016, I focused on web design agencies, because I figured they might have clients who needed my freelance writing services. I had some success there, although I also learned what clients I didn’t want to work with. Several years later, when I was between jobs, I turned to freelancing again. My cold pitching efforts this time around centered on content marketing agencies in the B2B tech space. I believed my experience as a journalist and content writer in this area made a good fit to work for their clients. My cold pitching paid off: I found a content marketing agency that needed a case study. A few months later, they referred me to someone else because they liked my work.

So, if you’re going to cold pitch, do your research. Your research will depend on what services you’re offering. If you’re a copywriter who works with outdoor apparel retailers, you’ll want to look for the marketing coordinator or director at such companies. Here’s a tip: there’s a hierarchy in businesses. Look for someone with the words “coordinator,” “manager,” or “director” in their title. They’re more likely to have hiring power. You can research other writers that work at the company, but they’re not going to give you work. And they can’t outsource their work, either. 

What does research look like? Start looking for organizations. We’ll use the outdoor apparel retailer example above. Google a list of companies in that niche. Then, go to LinkedIn and look at company pages. There’s a section there that shows employees. Be aware that this isn’t foolproof—not everyone has a LinkedIn account. However, chances are high that if they’re in marketing, they will.

What Should You Learn About the Person You’re Pitching to?

After you’ve identified the person who might be able to hire you for work, read their posts. That’s right, just read their posts. Don’t connect right away. See what they’ve written about. Is the company hiring? Conversely, is the company laying people off? Pay attention to signs about the company’s ability to give you work.

You might want to consider following this person, too. Following someone on LinkedIn can also give you an indication of what the person might be like to work with. Do their posts come across as smug? In contrast, do they speak well of their coworkers or subordinates? You might discover that no matter how amazing the company sounds, you don’t want to work with that person. If you can avoid a toxic client in advance, you’re doing yourself a favor.

What Should You Say When You Reach out to the Contact?

How long do you want to follow someone on LinkedIn before you reach out, either by sending a connection request or through an email? That depends. Do you feel that you’ve gotten a good idea of whether the organization can give you work, pay you for that work, and that the person in question would be good to work for? If the answer to that question is “yes,” then you’re ready to connect.

What do you write in your first message or email to them? While it’s tempting to say, “Please give me work, pretty please,” that’s not the way to go. The hard truth is that no one cares how badly you need work. The people you’re reaching out to most likely have a million things on their plate, and they don’t want to hear about how badly you need a job.

What’s worked for me is asking people if they need writing services, then providing a short summary of the types of services that I offer. Has this formula worked every time I’ve sent it to a company? No. There are plenty of companies I never heard back from. This is also why I’m including tips from Lizzie Davey, a full-time freelancer and expert in cold pitching:

·         Write the same way you’d speak. Sound like a human. That’s not to say you should be super informal or leave typos in your email. Just don’t use vocabulary that will leave the recipient scrambling for the dictionary.

·         Make it about the client, not you. Identify their pain points, which might be an overworked content team, or a team that doesn’t specialize in the types of content you create. You want the prospect to feel like you understand their needs.

·         Consider offering a mini version of your service. If you write landing pages, offer to write a single page for the prospect. It’s a low-pressure offer that gives them the chance to see what you can do.

·         Include an easy-to-understand call-to-action. Tell them what the next step is to start working with you, and how they can take it.

·         If you’re sending a cold email, make your subject line stand out. The prospect most likely receives many emails, and you don’t want yours to get lost in the shuffle. Write a clear, attention-grabbing subject line. Davey recommends including the pain point and personalizing it, like “How I can help [organization] boost email open rates with engaging content.” She also suggested using questions, like “Are you ready to improve conversion rates?” Such an approach boosts curiosity.

·         Don’t forget to follow up! I’ll be the first to admit I was very bad at this when I was freelancing. Once I got a yes, I ignored everyone who never responded, although maybe I should not have. Davey advised waiting a week to ten days and reach out to say you’re checking in and seeing where they’re at with their writing needs.

How Long Does the Cold Pitching Process Take?

There’s no easy answer for that. It depends on how long it takes you to research and identify prospects. Once you send out LinkedIn connection requests or emails to prospects, the ball is out of your court. You have no control over how long it will take them to get back to you, if at all.

What if you need work yesterday? Start promoting yourself. Go onto social media and tell people you’re open for work. Specify which clients you work with and what kind of work you do. Some people will tell you this is cringe. These people are wrong, and you should ignore them. You might also have to find another income stream while you’re in the cold pitching process. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed as a freelance writer. It just means you need to earn money, and you’re building your freelance business on the side.

Good luck!