Welcome to the world of pitching, an intricate dance of forming relationships through emails and trying to get what you want. Whether you are pitching to brands, to be a speaker at an event, to influencers, to be on a podcast, or to be in a gift guide; here are the 5 mistakes you are making while pitching.
Top 5 Business Pitching Mistakes and How to Fix Them
1. It’s Too Long – Let’s be honest, the email world is brutal. We are all bombarded with emails all day every day. The last thing anyone wants to read is your life story explaining why they should work with you.
How to fix it – make sure that you only have 2-3 sentences per paragraph and keep it to 3- 4 paragraphs maximum. I promise you can keep all the relevant info you need within that length.
Some companies are receiving 100s of pitches a day. If they open up an email that looks like a novel it is instantly getting deleted.
2. Including Your Media Kit – This one is especially geared towards influencers. DO NOT send your media kit with your initial pitch. You want to think of your pitch as a hello, a first meeting of sorts. By sending the media kit immediately looks presumptuous and that all you are looking for is money. Start the relationship first, then get into logistics.
3. Not Doing Your Research – Jobs in the marketing industry can turn over quickly, so before you hit “send” make sure you have the correct name and email. While the email itself can be difficult to sleuth out, if you are unsure you’re reaching out to the right person, be sure to add in at the end something like “if I reached the wrong person would you kindly send over the correct email, or pass this along, thank you so much!”
4. You are just sending emails by hitting “copy + paste” – Every pitch is different, every company, marketer, and brand has a different aesthetic you need to address. For instance if I wanted to pitch Canada Goose and L.L. Bean, these would be two drastically different pitches even though these are two of my favorite brands. Make sure your pitching verbiage is on point.
5. You’re Not Following Up – This is by far the biggest mistake out of the top 5 mistakes you are making while pitching. 85% of my collabs have come from follow ups. I repeat…85%. This is a huge number. So why do follow ups matter? Because as I mentioned above, brands are getting hundreds of emails a day. It is so easy to be missed in a pile of unread emails. Or to be read, meant to answer, yet forgotten about because of a distraction.
I have made up to 4 follow ups before. I use boomerang to keep track of how many days it has been since I have gotten a response, and it is the easiest tool to use!
There is no magic number as to how many follow ups is too many. The main point I want to stress to you is being polite. You need to be extremely polite in your follow ups, because again, you are trying to create a new {and lasting} relationship.
There you have it – the top 5 mistakes you are making when you are pitching! Are you making any of these mistakes? Sound off in the comments below!
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Do you have any extra tips or questions about business pitching? Let me know in a comment below!
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