A Guide to Cold Emailing for Creative Business Owners
Sending a cold email shouldn't give you a visceral reaction. There, I said it.
So why does it?
If I told you, right now, to drop and give me 10 cold emails, I'm willing to bet you'd either blink at me with confusion, freeze in horror, or let out a garbled "NO" the second your faculties returned to you.
When it comes to cold email marketing, people tend to fall into two extremes: they either love sending cold emails, or they absolutely, positively, despise the entire process.
If you love cold emailing, it’s because you were properly taught how to cold market (i.e., cold email, message or call) and you know that it works. If you hate it, you may have been told a plethora of lies, including and not limited to:
It’s annoying
It’s too salesy
It’ll drive people away
It doesn’t work
It’ll make you look bad
It’s embarrassing
It’s scary
Are any of those ringing a bell?
Now, I’m the girl who used to go door to door and sell copiers to commercial businesses. Yes, copiers.
Was there a time where cold calling, cold emailing and door knocking terrified me? Absolutely. Did I get over it?
Yes.
Today, we won’t be talking about selling copiers door to door (thank the good Lord), but we will be talking about the process, art and strategy behind sending cold emails, creating cold email templates, sending cold messages via direct message, and why and how you should do it all. [Insert "it'll be chilly" joke here.]
Ready?
Why you should cold email as a business owner
I was driving through a Trader Joe’s and Target parking lot, and had an epiphery (if you know that reference, please DM me so we can be friends. YES I know it’s not a word).
Every single vehicle in that lot belonged to someone who had been sold to.
Whether it was in a used car lot, an upscale “showroom” or dealership, on Craigslist, through a friend or even Instagram, every single vehicle owner experienced the same thing: sales.
Sales works, my friends. This poor connotation that the word “sales” has borne is not only unfair, it’s just a narrative that isn’t true.
The people that bought those vehicles saw an ad online, scrolled and saw a picture, heard about a deal happening through the grapevine, got referred in, or (gasp) GOT AN EMAIL THAT GOT THEM IN THE DOOR, AND MADE THEM PUT THE MONEY DOWN.
Okay, I’m done yelling! I promise.
Hopefully you’re getting my point, though. Sales = the backbone of the American economy. So let’s strip away the filthy, stinky connotation that it has, stop saying, “I don’t wanna be salessyyyyyy,” and realize that sales, marketing and relationship building is what will feed your journey, guide you into that next step of growth, and ultimately get you in front of that dream client.
How to start cold emailing - 6 simple steps
For today’s post, we’ll keep it VERY basic. Let’s put together the skeleton of the cold email marketing process, and go from there.
1. Identify your target audience
You’ve probably already done this! Just gather your list of target clients. When I was getting started, I searched for local small businesses, went to their websites and grabbed their emails.
2. Create a list
This is a MUST-DO. As your list grows and your responses trickle in, you’re going to want to have an area to update and keep track of things. Create a google doc spreadsheet, put the business name, contact name, and any contact info you can in there, and leave a space for comments and updates.
3. Check it twice
Kidding, and I’m sorry. I really am. I can’t control myself.
4. Start Cold Emailing
Start your emailing process with your template email that you customize for each person. There’s a reason why we’re doing this, and not just blasting things out in an online database via a mass email. I’ll get to that in a minute.
Please do NOT blind copy people to try to save time. Send your personalized template individually - they can see the difference.
(This may or may not be the perfect place for me to shamelessly plug the fact that I have, indeed, created an entire Cold Emailing Workbook with every template you’ll need to effectively cold email, and follow up with, your target client. Click here to check it out!)
Remember, you’re not trying to loop in 1000 people, just a few people who will pay you the big bucks. It’s worth the energy.
5. Find your target client on Instagram
Follow up your cold email with a sweet and short Insta message:
“Hi there!
I actually just emailed you, but wanted to put a face to the name on Insta. I’m looking forward to connecting when you have a moment!
- Kirsten”
Why do we do this, you ask?
Two reasons: it gets the person to immediately open your email, and it familiarizes them with your face. After several years in the sales world, I’ve learned that people are far more likely to respond once they’ve put a face to the name, heard your voice or shaken your hand. So, we can knock one of those out easily right away!
6. Engage with their Instagram, but not like a stalker
If you really want to work with these future clients, you should be following them and building a relationship. Don’t just blast through their grid with likes, that can be misconstrued as disingenuous. As they post, just comment on their stuff - show you’re into what they’re doing. It works, I promise.
Things to know about cold emailing
You’ll see that I didn’t recommend that you utilize a fancy emailing service, and that’s for a reason. I’ve actually tested out cold emailing through emailing softwares like Flodesk, vs. cold emailing through my business/gmail account.
I have had triple the amount of success through my personalized email.
Why? Probably because it doesn’t look like spam, or a mass email. It looks like I personally emailed that business owner, because I did. It’s a win-win. You save money on not needing to utilize a system, and you get a higher success rate.
How not to direct message prospects on Instagram
I’ll keep this really brief, but please know this: people can spot a sell from a mile away when you dance around the topic.
I’ve gotten my fair share of DMs where total strangers have tried to strike up a long conversation:
“How are you doing today?”
“Girl, thanks for following me! Tell me more about yourself!”
Here’s the thing - I am very conversational. I love engaging on my platform with everyone. But, that doesn’t change the fact that I can tell when a sell or a “flip,” is about to happen.
Be super direct and courteous. When you reach out, just succinctly say why you’re reaching out, throw them a compliment, and go on about being your genuine self.
Being direct and showing that leadership goes a lot further than striking up a disingenuous or forced conversation where your future client feels the need to answer, just so they don’t look like a jerk.
I promise you, if you’re direct, kind, polite and likable, they cannot fault you for sliding in those DMs. Just don’t be tragic or desperate - utilize the template I shared above, and you’ll be good to go.
What to do if your cold email prospect says no
Great! You got an answer. I’ll take a no that I can overcome (or not overcome, depending on the circumstance) any day over a non-response.
The goal here is to weed through folks and find your dream clients. Not everyone is going to say yes, and that’s completely okay! Thank them for their honesty and response - trust me, I’ve had a few people come back a few weeks or months later and say, “...actually…”
You made it!
If you read through all of the above, congratulations! It may have been long-winded, but I wanted to share as much information as I could with you, because I want to help.
I believe that many small business owners hold themselves back from their true potential because of fear - fear of rejection, of failure, and of the unknown.
You’ve got goals to achieve, money to make and next steps to take. Whether you’re looking to sell your new product, onboard a few new clients as a service, run a webinar… the list goes on, cold marketing and cold emailing works, I promise you.
About Kirsten
I share marketing and sales tips and resources for creative business owners, so that you can create engaging content, connect with your audience, and book your ideal clients. And I’ll make sure you don’t sound weird and stuffy, too.
