My attitude to freelancing has changed over the past few years. When I first started I would put lots of energy into my pitches and then sit back and wait. I might send one email follow up if I hadn’t heard back, but more often than not, after that follow up I’d forget about it.
In the last few months I’ve started to realise just how important it is to follow up. As we all know, editors and content managers are incredibly busy people. It doesn’t take long for their inboxes to fill up and for your carefully crafted email to be pushed off their screen.
Following up requires you to be proactive and to have a good system of knowing who you contacted and when.
1. The warm email
Instead of cold calling, there’s a thing in freelancing called the warm email. It’s about making a connection with someone you might have already had contact with (CHECK THIS). In this first example, I saw a callout for writers on LinkedIn. I emailed the content manager who got back to me saying that she was looking for writers for a new project that was launching in the next few months and that she’d be back in touch.
A few months passed and I didn’t hear anything. I had made a note in my diary to follow up with her at the three month mark. I checked the website that was due to be launched and it was live. I sent the manager a quick congratulations email on the website and asked if she was ready to receive pitches. She was.
I don’t know if she would have followed up with me, but I’m sure glad I touched base again with her. My first pitch was a bit of a disaster (LINK TO POST), but I quickly pitched another idea that got accepted and I’ve had pretty regular work with her since.
2. Keep an eye out for new publications and businesses that will need content
Another example of the value of following up is when I saw that a couple of journalists had started their own content company. I read about it on Mumbrella (LINK) and emailed to ask whether they were thinking of using freelance writers. I received a lovely reply from the editor who said they were just starting out but hopefully she’d be in touch with some work soon.
Five months later I hadn’t heard anything so I sent off a quick email to update her with the kind of work I’d been doing (BLOG POST ABOUT THIS) and to say that I would be really happy to hear from her if she had any projects coming up that she thought I’d be suited for.
