January 25, 2024
Kris: Is there a chill in the air? Don, can you feel it?
Don: Haha yes!
Kris: Today we are talking about targeting cold leads. Do we recommend it? Are there ways to do it that don’t suck? Let’s chat about this. You’re listening to Design and Prosper episode 119.
[Intro Music]
Don: Hello!
Kris: Welcome everybody. So cold pitching.
Don: It’s a big one, right?
Kris: So how do you feel when you hear those two words?
Don: Are they chilling to you? We are going all out cheesy today!
Kris: I know, I know, but you know, cold pitching, it’s a bit icky, right? You know, it just feels a bit, Oh, do I have to?
Don: Yeah, it’s hard. It has a lot of negative connotations around it as well. So we just want to clarify, you know, we don’t want to see designers ever pitching, like pitching, pitching for free in terms of giving away their creative ideas for free. Never, ever.
Kris: Never. No. No, no.
Don: Nope, See episode, I think it’s 17. Beautiful designer, please don’t do work for free.
That episode talks directly to that. So it’s not about that. This is different. We aren’t opposed to cold pitching. And this is, in fact, one of the biggest tools that we have in our marketing toolkit.
Kris: We used it extensively. In our design businesses, to build up our design businesses, to get clients because all it is really, it sounds scary, but all it is, is reaching out to a client that has no idea you exist.
Don: Exactly
Kris: What could be scary about that?
Don: And telling them that they need you.
Kris: Yeah, that you’re not scary at all! It can be really, you know, like a bespoke visual love letter. Think of it like, Oh, I’m sending them a love letter from a secret admirer. No, not a secret admirer, but an admirer without, you know, being creepy, of course. but cold pitching can be brilliant, brilliant for you, especially if you are new in business and you feel like you’ve got.
Don: In fact, it’s perfect. It’s where to start. Cold pitching is where it’s at for you. Beautiful designer whoever you are, at the very, very beginning of your journey, and even if you’re an established designer and you wanna break into a new market, maybe a different type of client that you want to target.
Kris: You want to do packaging and you’re thinking, okay, I’m going target packaging clients now. I need for them to know who I am because maybe you’ve only had one or two of these and you’re not going to get lots of referrals. Or maybe it’s not an industry that you’re likely to get referrals because they don’t know each other. Like there’s lots of reasons why you might need to cold pitch.
Don: Yeah.
Kris: So if you have a list of dream clients you want to work with and we do encourage you to have a dream list of clients and they need to know about you, well then, cold pitch.
Don: Absolutely how else are they going to find out about you? They don’t know that you even exist. You have to put your business in front of them. You need to get their eyeballs on your business somehow. And with cold pitching, you can be really strategic about it. You can be really intentional.
And we’re always talking about intentional moves, we want every move you make to be proactive and intentional rather than reactive.
Kris: So here’s some main ways that you can cold pitch or cold target.
Direct mail, we mentioned it before, can be bespoke, so beautifully tailored to your client. You know, you can make it feel really special, like they’re just getting this special things like an invitation, especially in the age of digital print, we’ve got to say because each piece can be tailored to your recipient, you know, like you can You know, do a really cost effective, small run, print solution. And it’s really like designing a stunning invitation.
Don: Yes.
Kris: You know, how much fun do we have designing invitations? But, you know, an invitation to work with you! Like, it’s gorgeous!
Don: I was literally about to say the same thing, Kris. invitation to work with you. It’s really special.
Kris: Invite them into your business.
Don: Yeah. Absolutely. And direct mail for us was a really, really powerful marketing. We used direct mail a lot in our businesses and that it worked really, really well. And we really think that it’s untapped. It’s still untapped. Even though we’ve been talking about it now for a couple of years now, we still are meeting new designers today who haven’t even thought of direct mail campaigns and, and when we talk about it with them, they’re like, wow. Oh my gosh, how exciting. And you can see the wheels turning at ways that they can be very intentional and very intimate with their request to work with another business. To me, it’s like, Oh, I want, I want to do and see more of that.
Kris: Yeah. We have our get clients now challenge, which is a five day training which you can purchase in our shop. So you can head to designandprosper.co/shop. And you can get it straight away, there on demand, you can watch it immediately, It does drip over five days, but you can get started immediately and we run through a whole, concept behind direct mail, exactly how to do it for designers.
Lots of juicy conceptual development designers love this training. They get so excited about the conceptual aspects of it. Even the conceptual aspects of it can be applied to other design projects as well for your clients.
Yeah. So it’s a really juicy training and we love it and we stand by it. It works.
Don: It works. 100 percent it works. Another way you could cold target is via socials. This one’s a bit more of a long game, so we wouldn’t rush this. Because it can get a little bit icky. So what we recommend is that you engage, and you follow, and you engage again, and then you engage again.
You respond to a story. You get a natural conversation going. You know, you maybe connect on LinkedIn. If it’s a larger company, you might follow the marketing director or the marketing manager.
Kris: Yeah, brand managers, yeah, creative leads, those sorts of people.
Don: People in the decision making seats, and then build a genuine connection before pitching. You know, they’re more likely to respond with people that they’ve had a connection.
Kris: If you say, I wanna send you something in the mail, or can I send you an email or whatever? Like, it’s that’s the pitch we’re talking about. You know, before you’re introducing them to the concept of working with you.
Or even, I would love to work with you. Would you wanna hop on a Zoom? Or if you’re in the same area, the same city, do you wanna catch up for a coffee? And let’s talk about how we can work together. People are more likely to respond if you’ve got that genuine connection built up already. It is a bit of a slower burn with socials.
Don: Yeah, definitely. Because you don’t want people feeling like you’re just jumping in there and, and, you know, wanting to marry them before you date them.
Kris: Yeah.
Don: It’s a nice slow, slow build. So take your time with it.
Kris: Another one is ’the pop in’. This is for local businesses, obviously, you need to be able to pop in physically. So you’re actually popping in, you know, you’re, you can introduce yourself, leave something behind.
Don: Could be that lovely little direct mail piece.
Kris: Yeah, have a little script ready to go, like exactly who you are and what you do and all that sort of thing.
And yeah, do the pop in or it could be even a business that you can experience their service. And then introduce the subject of what you do and how you can help to elevate their brand and all that sort of thing. So, I love what you do. I love what you’re doing here. I’m a graphic designer.
I specialize in this (whatever it is). And you talk about how exciting it would be to work together to elevate their branding.
Don: I absolutely love that. And I think a lot of genuine connection comes from that when you are experiencing their their service and loving it, then that will naturally come through. And then you get to talk about your business and it’s kind of like, it’s, it’s a beautiful thing to do.
But that intentional pop in is almost like, Kris and I have done this where we’ve sort of done a drive by of certain areas and we’ve gone. We want to work with with that person or it might be there’s a business on route to your home and you’ll pick up of your children or your home and your parents house and you’re like oh I love that business or it’s a cafe that you that you are actually in love with and you frequent and you and you ethos is brilliant and you’d love to work with them.
You would probably create a beautiful direct mail piece for them and then hand it to them. Go in and hand them this gorgeous direct mail piece. So the pop in can very much go hand in hand with the direct mail approach as well. Because you’ve got that beautiful leave behind that you can leave with them.
Kris: I remember during lockdown, there was this thing during the rounds on socials, and I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned it on the podcast before, but it was like this guy took doughnuts into, Some sort of place of work to try and get business or try to get a job there. And it was just like, wow, how original, like the box of doughnuts. And we’re like, what? That’s what everybody did! But everybody stopped doing it. So it was actually quite novel again. It was like, okay. Because he put his personality into it, it was a bit cheeky or whatever, how he did it. But it was like, okay, you can get really conceptual with it and have a lot of fun as well.
Don: And good on him. I love that he did that. It was incredible that it went viral. But what it highlighted for Kris and I is that this a lost art. People have forgotten about it. But then when we were doing the research for the training, we discovered there’s a whole bunch of credible research that is really, really positive for retention of memory when people are handed a physical item versus the digital scroll.
Kris: Yeah, there’s more senses involved.
Don: Right? It’s the touch, it’s the sight, it’s the sound, perhaps if you’ve got some sort of bells and whistles. It’s the scent if it’s a candle for, you know, that type of thing. The beautiful campaign that the travel agent did with the apple was just a gorgeous crisp apple.
That is a campaign that we talk about inside our Get Clients Now training. That campaign The person who received it was telling Kris, Oh yes, I love direct mail. I received this gorgeous crisp red apple, single apple, in a box, and it was promoting travel to Disneyland or LA. She was a travel agent.
Kris: It was promoting Snow White or something like that.
Don: And she was telling Kris the story. I feel like you should be telling this, Kris. 20 years later.
Kris: More than 20 years later.
Don: She loved the apple! That’s memorable, right? And we have lots of other examples that we share inside the training, the point is, there is a really high chance that your campaign is going to be remembered if it is tactile. It’s like a little beautiful bundle of something. But it can be a postcard, right?
Kris: Oh gosh, I started off with postcards, for sure. Like, it doesn’t, it’s so much fun to deep dive and you will love this training, yeah. But whatever method you decide to use, just make sure your messaging is super, super clear and there needs to be a really clear offering and a really clear action that they need to take. So even if like you’re in the DMs or whatever, it’s like, here’s my calendar link to book a time or what is it that you want them to do? It might not be a calendar link, but you need to have an action step.
Don: Yes, you do. Absolutely.
Kris: And bonus points if you’ve done your research and you have identified something really specific that you feel that they need help with because you can integrate that into the cold pitch as well. It can be quite specific, like what’s in it for them. You can customize your promo.
Don: Yeah.
Kris: Yeah. Do your research. Don’t just cold target somebody and you haven’t looked at their website yet. You know, you, you’re looking at their website. You can sign up to their email list, you’re looking all throughout their socials.
You just wanna be as informed as you can and you’re actively looking for ways that you could help them and optimize their brand or optimize their, whatever it is you are designing for them. Opt might be their website might be their packaging or, or whatever it is.
Don: Yeah. And let them know how you can help them and you know, don’t be a robot about it. Be human, you know, add that beautiful personal touch, like a little handwritten note or even a little illustration, whatever your strengths are, you know, be specific with your little note, you know, mention something related to their business, offer a unique compliment that only they would be the recipient of, something special for them. Like, Oh my God, I love your whatever the product is You know if it’s in a DM the more personalized the better, you know, it shows genuine We want we want that real genuine love of business and if we’re attracting like businesses and they will be excited by that because they’ll be able to see that it’s genuine.
Kris: Yeah. yeah. So with all these things that we’ve been talking about, we haven’t mentioned email yet. And this is completely subjective in that we don’t know the stats behind this at all. So full hands up, we don’t know. But generally we don’t like cold pitching by email.
We get cold pitched multiple times a day. And I’m sure you are too. It’s really easy to see who is genuine and who is not. And you can sniff out a templated email a mile away. But even ones that It might seem a little bit intriguing. I still am cynical. I don’t know what it is. I’m just so cynical. I’m like, who are you? We’re on guard. I don’t know why, but we’re on guard in email and I just don’t think it’s a nice way to start a relationship.
Don: I agree. Kris, I really don’t like it. You know, it feels icky. It just feels icky. It feels targeted and awful. And you know, if we actually get to the point of opening an email and there’s a truly genuine looking message like, Hey, Kris and Don. You know, so and so from this business gave me your email. Hope you don’t mind. I’m reaching out. Well, that’s a whole different story.
Kris: Exactly.
Don: We’re actually okay with that. But, oh, we turn our nose up to call pitching by email. It has to be that tiny little connection. And so what we recommend there if there is a slightly warm contact, ask that contact to set up an introduction for you. So you don’t actually have to do a cold pitch for that one. Email that person CCU and say, Hey, I really recommend this beautiful designer. They’re doing great things. I just wanted to reach out and offer a formal introduction.
Kris: Yeah. It’s like, Hey Tom, meet Kate. Kate does awesome design. And I feel like, yeah, there’ll be a great fit for, yeah, but that’s up to the other person to do it. But a lot of people will do that for you. And maybe they even need a template from you. Just write this. But that’s one way to do it for sure.
Don: Yeah, I want to circle back to being able to sniff out a template. It is so obvious to us when templates have been used, when people haven’t bothered to inject their brand voice into a template. Templates are powerful, powerful things. we recommend using them. But, make sure that you are speaking directly to the person that you’re intending that templated email to. to land with because they’ll be able to tell, you know, so just be careful, you know, future proof your emails and your templates by making sure you inject your own beautiful voice.
Kris: And also when you receive a cold pitch email and, maybe I’m slightly interested and I’ll go and have a look at them on socials and they’re not following And it’s like, you’re not even following us, you don’t care at all.
Don: It’s so true.
Kris: So really think about that as well. Even when you’re doing, uh, physical direct mail or if you’re, you know, if you’re reaching out in socials, of course you’d be following them. Hopefully you would be following them but make sure you are. Make sure you are following them and even if you’re doing via mail, because they might check you out.
Don: They would, they, well they should.
Kris: If the direct mail piece is successful, they should. Yeah.
Don: When that happens, be strategic with the follow up.
Kris: Yeah, don’t be a one hit wonder.
Don: So how are you going to follow up? That’s the question. You know, plan a follow up sequence. If you don’t hear back, send a follow up mailer or a personalized email because by now it’s not so cold. They’ve received the thing.
And you know, persistence pays off, but it’s, you know, it’s really crucial to strike at the right balance between being really beautifully endearing and just a pain in the neck.
Kris: I’m like, I’m just so eager, I’m so excited to work with you.
But yeah, there is a fine line, but here’s another catchphrase. You know, we love our little catchphrases, but the fortune is in the follow up. You got to follow up.
Don: Yes. That’s it.
Kris: You can’t be afraid to follow up. No. Because they might not have gotten it, or it might have gone into the wrong hands or whatever.
Don: It might have been been bad timing.
Kris: Yeah, bad timing.
Don: Or they might just be going, OK, OK, beautiful designer. Let’s just see what your plan is now. I’ll wait for you to follow up. And then when you don’t, they’re like, oh, well, missed opportunity. You just don’t know. They might be waiting for you to lead this dance. So make sure you do.
Kris: Yeah. And then also measure, track, learn, like what is happening? Is this actually successful? You’ve got to track the success of your direct mail campaign or your cold pitch or whatever campaign it is. Pay attention to how people are responding. Maybe if you’re using certain language and you’re not getting response, you know, you’re going to be tweaking it.
Don: Mm hmm.
Kris: Use the data that you’ve got to change your approach for future pitches. So just say you’re instructing people to go to a website and they’re going to fill out a form and you’re noticing they’re clicking on the website, but they’re not filling out the form. What’s going on there? That’s data. That’s Intel. Something needs to change. What’s stopping them?
Don: What’s stopping them? Ask the question. So, that’s it. Measure and learn. So, in conclusion, beautiful designers, cold pitching, when done really thoughtfully, can provide the start to a really lovely client relationship.
Kris: Yeah, definitely can.
Don: Started many a client relationship of ours. Yep.
Kris: Obviously, the success is going to be dependent on the quality of your pitch.
Don: Yeah.
Kris: You know, is your messaging clear? Does it pass the what’s in it for me test? Are you communicating the value? Do you look like a human who can be trusted?
Don: And is there a call to action? What do you want them to do next? Like, no matter which way you cold pitch, what do you want them to do? How do you want them to respond or react to your beautiful words and your outreach?
Yeah. Mm. So this is gonna take some courage. This is one of the things in your business that is going to take some courage, the follow up really, really hard. The actual pitch is kind of fun and exciting, but introducing ourselves to someone who has no clue you exist, it goes without saying, it’s, it’s an incredibly big task and it can be super scary but it doesn’t have to be.
With the right system in place, with the right strategy in play, you can do this with confidence. But it is going to take a little bit of courage, yep, we get that. So be brave.
Kris: You can tell that right the way through this podcast, we were biased towards direct mail. We love our direct mail. That’s what we’d be using. So yeah, give it a go.
Don: Well it was my first love. It was my first job out of uni in a direct mail advertising agency. in love. It’s powerful. It’s a powerful process.
Kris: Alright, everybody. Enjoy figuring out how you’re going to do some cold pitching. Tell us what you do.
Don: Yeah. Be brave!
Kris: Bye!
Don: See ya!
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