Freelancers: Guide to Winning New Clients with Cold Outreach

As the practice of hiring freelancers started to rise, a vast majority of people decided to pursue a career in freelancing. After all, the thought of being your own boss is universally attractive, thus the sudden burst of new people on the freelancing scene comes as no surprise. But, before one could start establishing their own career as a freelancer, it’s useful to get familiar with proven-to-work strategies that helped countless freelancers establish their name in the industry. One such strategy is titled the “Cold Outreach”, which refers to so-called ‘cold’ e-mails that businesses and stand-alone freelancers send to potential clients that have had no prior relationship with them. Usually, the whole concept of constructing and sending e-mails comes off as unimportant and time-consuming to freelancers of any niche, but we’re here to tell you the truth: The Cold Outreach strategy works wonders, and isn’t a hassle to get done.

A successful ‘cold’ email outreach can help tremendously in gaining trust from your potential clients- and the more you seem trustworthy, the chances are you’ll land a contract. The positive effects of following the Cold Outreach strategy are impeccable, but the question remains- how should it be conducted?

Simply put, before even thinking of sending out emails, a freelancer or business should create a well-rounded e-mail template that will make sure your email doesn’t get labelled as junk mail, whilst also being compelling and interesting enough for the receiver to want to read. A successful way of doing this would be:

Constructing the e-mail template in such a way that it doesn’t use misleading subject lines,

To correctly label your content; meaning, if your email is an advertisement for your service or something similar, be sure to label as such,

And give the reader all the necessary details they’ll need in order to get in further contact.

In terms of the e-mail format, it’s important to tailor your e-mail template in such a way that its content makes sense to the reader. In other words: don’t overthink it. The content of the e-mail should be straight to the point, easy to read and true to the topic that’s being presented. Present your content using headlines and short paragraphs, bulleted lists, highlight important parts of your text in bold, and strictly avoid using jargon which will make you and whatever service you’ll be offering as unprofessional. 

So, we have the basics all set up. Still, there’s one more key strategy that, if paired with the Cold Outreach, can maximize your chances of getting noticed among thousands of others who too want to score the gig you have your eye on, and that is building a brand image.

The importance of branding is still a widely misunderstood concept, especially among freelancers, who mistake It for a concept that’s relevant only to the industries’ biggest names- but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Whether you’re on a road to building your career as a freelancer, or you’re already a well-known and established freelance veteran, building and maintain a brand for yourself is essential to any type of business and service. No matter what area of the industry you belong in-design, photography, literature and so on-you’d attract far more clients by establishing and maintaining a brand image rather than competing with thousands of other freelancers every day by submitting CVs and job proposals that most often get lost in a whirlwind of other, similar-looking ones.

Put quite simply: branding makes you more memorable- and what freelancer doesn’t want to be perceived as interesting and different from the crowd? Talented freelancers want to be remembered and taken seriously, above anything else. Branding helps immensely with how your potential clients perceive you. Creating a powerful reputation assures you’d be considered professional and trustworthy, which not only means you’d get to keep your current customers, but you’d also accumulated tons of new ones who are already impressed with your image. 

Well, now that we covered all the ways a brand image can benefit your carrier, the question is- how has an individual even started creating their brand? Well, one of the most essential parts of a freelancer’s brand image is their website. A website should put you and your services front centre. One should start with a simple yet captivating bio that will perfectly describe your service and let you communicate a compelling story to everyone who decides to visit your website. Of course, adding your professional social media accounts, such as Facebook and Linked In, can enhance your chances of landing a job tremendously. Even better, alongside your social media, you can be a bit more daring and add a special contact form directly on your website, so clients have the option of direct messaging you through your own website. Having these things checked out, you’re already a few steps closer to accumulating more clients, thus more capital and opportunities.

As every freelancer and independent business owner knows, working to get your services noticed can be a daunting task. However, with the steps we covered here, you should be able to make a plan unique to your situation and start applying these principles in a way to make your service more noticeable and memorable within your section of the industry.