LESSON 3: APPROACHING AGENCIES & BUSINESSES. Agencies are inundated with applications and emails from copywriters every day. I's easy to get overlooked when applying, so a few things have to stand out. But first, let’s look at the different agencies you can approach: + Full-service marketing agencies + Graphic design agencies + Branding agencies * Copywriting agencies All of these will most likely outsource to freelancers. And if they don’t regularly, it still pays to impress them, as you never know when they might get a large job and need extra help. AGENCIES - TASK 1 Create an email list of all the agencies you want to work for. Do your research: * Are they in your niche? * Who is the best person for you to contact? (Recruitment/Head Copywriter etc.) + Are they looking for freelancers? Some will say on their website and may even have a dedicated email address This will be your go-to, under construction list. Make sure you update it regularly so contact details are correct. You can also add new agency networking connections you come across. Make sure to save the list under your Marketing folder. MASTERING THE INTRO EMAIL Intro emails are so important when approaching an agency. Let's put it this way, if we open an email from a potential writer, if it’s boring and dull language, we're just not going to take it any further. We won't even look at the portfolio you've linked to. And yes, this happens to us at The Creative Copywriter several times a week. Lazy intro copy just doesn’t bode well for future copy. Think of your intro email as your portfolio, CV and interview alll rolled into one Remember that agencies get up to dozens of these emails a month. And agency people are busy people. Very busy. So you really have to grab their attention right away and impress them with your intro email or you will never hear back from them again. On the bright side, I can also say with a 100% certainty that we always get back to anyone who managed to grab our attention and impress us with their copy. And we read every single email and submission form sent our way. So when sending these out, don't for a second think these are just disappearing into the abyss. If you sent an email to 10 agencies and haven't heard back it probably means the email wasn't strong enough and you have to try tweaking it or taking different approach or angle. APPROACHING AGENCIES TASK 2 Let’s take a look at some of our greats in action. These are all actual emails we received from copywriters approaching us for work. Some of them have become part of our regular freelance team. Others were unfortunately, deleted on the spot. I'd like you to read through them and put them in order of how powerful they are. 1 being terrible, 5 being amazing. Here goes: Hello creative copyurriters, Are you burdened with so many (no-doubt fantastic) clients that you can't quite keep up? I'm here to provide support. A little about me... Cutting my content teeth among Google's pandas and penguins, I have seven years' experience writing and editing online content. I'm very personable, solutions-driven individual and a creative at heart. My employment to date has exposed me to all kinds of content, audiences, making me very adaptable, robust and astute, T've spent the past two years working as a barista (always wanted to master that fancy milk), garnering experience towards my ambition of owning a cafe and publication space. This employment has been interspersed with freelance work including transcribing interviews for Monocle magazine, content writing for agencies and copy-editing academic essays. Experience... Housed at Reader's Digest for three years, I was in charge of content strategy, commissioning, editing and writing for web and social. | also had a little music column in the magazine which I was rather fond of. I worked with many brands while at RD, these ‘partners' wished to sell their products through the overarching RD brand. This work would range from very vanilla (at the dlient's request) to quite a lot of fun. Before that... T worked for an SEO company as a "Content Creative" which basically involved writing and commissioning and strategising and marketing heaps of content for a variety of websites (including a fashion designer, a gay dating website, a storage company, a travel company and the digital agency itself). Lam confident in my abilities as a writer and editor and would love to hear from you. Please find my CV attached and do let me know if I can be of any help. Best regards Hey Creative Copywriter - How can I get in your face to show my writing chops? Would love to be part of your team, freelance or otherwise. Perhaps throw something my way that I can do on spec, with no strings attached? And if you like what you read, we'll play it by ear? ve been writing monthly retail/fashion reports for a high-end Japanese department store chain for 25 years. I’m also a musician. And I have a knack for tag lines and slogans. ’'m sure you've heard this all before, but I'll do an assignment gratis just to prove myself. Hope to hear back. Thanks, G Hello, Pma newly freelance writer and communications professional hoping this email catches you at the perfect moment: so overwhelmed with work that you’re receptive to unsolicited emails, not so busy you don’t have three minutes to read it. I’ve got nearly 20 years’ experience, most recently as Assistant Comms Director for one of the biggest government departments. I've successfully done everything you'd expect: designing and managing big public campaigns that have an impact; running internal campaigns in organisations of 50,000+; board-level influencing; leading teams of 40 people... But I’m not just a strategist; I’m a doer, too. If you want help putting together a plan and getting it delivered, then look no further. And at heart I’m a writer with a love of words and a loathing for jargon, with very wide experience: * trade and staff magazines from the highly technical to the highly accessible * turning complex technical information into everything from short and fluffy PR pieces through to slightly less technical but still accessible briefings * press releases so great they are lifted and reproduced verbatim * consumer letters going to thousands that simplify complex instructions and actually drive action * marketing brochures and leafiets — compelling ones! * speeches and by-lined articles that genuinely sound like the speaker wrote them (have you ever tried writing in a broad Yorkshire accent?) * digital content that actually gets read, and * rewriting a million and one things produced by clever and important people who aren’t great at communicating. In short, I write creative, punchy copy that nails the tone of voice, and works for both the medium and audience. Pm also a townie settling into a new life in the country with high hopes of finding the elusive work-life balance ~ hence the shift to freelance. And I'm a slow-but-steady runner with an obsession for the life-affirmation that comes from getting mud all the way up your back, accompanied by a bottomless passion for pasta and red wine that makes running less hobby and more requirement. Ifyou think I can help you, then I'd love to have a chat. Best wishes D: Hello, Do you have any copywriting positions available at your agency? P'm an experienced copywriting freelancer looking for work. Let me know. Regards, Kind regards, & Hello fellow creative copywriters, Too many deadlines? Too few lunch breaks? Too many words and too little time? The solution is just TOO EASY. !'ll write you some words for free! WHO AM I? - Keen copywriter at this place (link) and have been for two years, writing for charities such as Oxfam and Shelter - Keen writer in general, often here (link), at one time here (link) and here (link). WHY AM I OFFERING MY PRECIOUS WORDS FOR FREE? Twill be the first to admit that, although I LOVE crafting stories and concepting at my current agency, the digital aspect of the job can be quite thin on the ground (the focus is predominantly DM appeals, just good old paper and good old postage). So to get experience, I really want to be more immersed in all things digital and/or DRTV/radio - which, hey, what do you know, seems to be your specialty. WHY TRUST ME? 1. You don’t have to - send me a copy test/fake brief if you like and decide yourselves 2. What have you got to lose? 3. Pve been a copywriter for two and a half years 4, [have written plenty of blog content (see above links) 5. I've concepted and written Facebook ads, emails, online quizzes, website copy, Instagram ads and Facebook banners 6.1am ballsy 7.1.am free, so you're not really taking a risk at all. DRTY, radio, brand guidelines, or anything digital - throw your excess work at me and give yourself a break. HERE, WHENEVER, WHATEVER. So hit me up soon. Thanks, How did you order them? Remember 1 is bad and 5 is good. Of course, this is open to interpretation (although some are glaringly obvious). Share in the community to see what your peers are saying. Scroll down to the end of the lesson to reveal our answers. APPROACHING LOCAL BUSINESSES Local businesses are a great way of drumming up new business. The best way to do it, is to re-purpose your agency intro email for a local business. But there are some key differences: First, make sure you offer a freebie up first of all (take note of the glowing examples in the agency intro email examples). Local businesses won't understand copywriting as well as agencies, so you'll need to make it easy for them. Something like this will work well: Hi [name], T took the liberty of having a nose around your website. Thave to say, I’m impressed. The branding is seriously powerful stuff. But let’s back up for a second. WHO AM I? I'ma keen local freelance copywriter from [insert location] who can be regularly found spicing up brands like [link] and [link] Copy can often be an afterthought for brands. But in fact, investment in good copywriting can greatly impact conversions. It can lead to impressive sales and leads coming rolling in faster than you can say Yahtzee. But I’m not asking for you to invest a penny. In fact, I’m willing to transform your brand voice for FREE. That's right, you heard me. And that’s exactly what I've done. I’ve rewritten your website brand copy, to be more persuasive, high-converting and powerful. I'm building my portfolio, so this is a pro bono gift from me to you Take a look fhere] to see what I’m made of. Let me know what you think! I’m dying to know. Cheers, And a few more tips: + Remember to try and use work examples that are relevant, either to the type of work (website) or industry. Preferably both. + And if you have the gift of the gab, and don’t mind picking up the phone to call businesses directly - that's another way to get yourself out there + This technique will work best with smaller local businesses. The affinity of geographical closeness will play a big role in selling yourself. + You could try this technique with bigger national and international brands but chances on success are very low. APPROACHING AGENCIES TASK 3 We'd like you to write an email to an agency. Picture us when you do it (we have high standards, so it will be a challenge!) Use storytelling, talk about your niche, talk about how you can help us. Tell us what you've leamed by doing The Academy and why you would be the perfect addition to our freelancing gang of wordsmiths. When you're done save it to your 'marketing’ folder and, share it with us on the Community so that we can give you feedback and final tweaks. You'll probably want to get a bit more experience under your belt before you actually approach agencies or local businesses, but this way you'll have an email ready to go when you reach that point. INTRO EMAIL TASK 1 REVEALED 1-D It’s boring. It’s not creative. It offers no value or intrigue to the agency whatsoever. 2-B Ithas a gripping first line and offers to submit work for free (at first), which is always a winner with agencies trying out new clients, But the language fizzles out quickly and the UVP isn’t clear. Se The intro is perfect in prompting the reader to believe how they could help. It’s persuasive, but feels like it lacks in personality in patches. 4-A This is great as it opens with a question and instantly shows that they understand what we need. It then goes on to talk about their experience and how they can help. The sentences could be shorter, following the one thought per sentence rule, as sometimes it feels a bit lengthy in places. 5-E For us, this is the superstar. It’s so creative and punchy. And it offers to give a freebie, but also highlights exactly what they can bring. You can just tell from the email that they'll be an awesome creative copywriter.