A Quick Start

Guide To Pitching

BONUS EBOOK
OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION
 INTRODUCTION
Before I say anything else, I want
to say thank you for
downloading
this eBook - it means a lot to me.

Second, congratulations. You’re

about to learn the single most
important skill you can master as
a fashion photographer…
Pitching!

You may be thinking that

pitching sounds really scary. You
may have no idea where to start.
You may not be sure whether
pitching is right for you.

My hope is that this eBook will

help you to answer as many of
your questions as possible.

Let’s dive in.

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING - OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION
Why should you even want to pitch
yourself to businesses?
Essentially, if you want to progress as a fashion photographer and get
hired for the work you dream of, the brands and magazines that you’d
like to work for need to know that you exist.

It’s far too easy these days to assume that we can rely on social media or
websites to help us to get hired. For a very long time, that was what I
thought, too. I spent hours curating my Instagram feed, reading up
about how to grow my following and go viral. I’d tweak my website
over and over again… and then sit back and wait for the clients to come
rolling in. But they never did.

It wasn’t until I took matters into my own hands, and began to reach
out to the brands and magazines that I wanted to shoot for via email,
that things really took a turn for the better.

My first experience with pitching took place way back in 2017. I’d never
shot for a brand in my life. One day, I found an email address to
someone on the social media and marketing team at a brand I loved.
On a whim, I sent her an email, asking if I could create some imagery
for them in exchange for products. To my delight, they said yes.

It was in this moment, that something clicked.

I realised that I didn’t need wait my clients to come to me - I could go
to them.

Since that first success, I’ve probably sent thousands of pitch emails.
Many have been ignored, but many also haven’t. I’ve honed my skills,
made mistakes, learnt what works, and what doesn’t. I’ve gone from
never shooting for any brands or magazines, to working with major
magazines like ELLE, Grazia, and Marie Claire, to brands like Karen
Mabon, Daisy Jewellery, RIXO and so many more. Pitching made all of
that happen in just a few short years.

The beauty of it, is that it really isn’t difficult. Anybody, anywhere can
learn how pitch themselves to their dream clients. This eBook will be
your first step toward that, too.

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING - OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION

How to write a pitch email.
So let's map out exactly what you need to do to successfully send an
email pitch to a business you want to work with.

1. Know who you want to work with.

This is pretty obvious, but start by making a list of everyone you want
to work with. I keep an excel spreadsheet on my computer with my list
of dream brands. Whenever I discover someone new that I’d like to
work with, they get added to the spreadsheet.

Top tip:
Make sure that your portfolio is properly curated to the brands you’re
reaching out to. For example, don’t start emailing skincare brands if
you have no examples of skincare shoots in your portfolio.

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING - OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION

2. Find the email addresses of the people you need to
pitch to
We all know that it can be tricky to find the exact email address of
someone who works for a big brand. Brands like H&M and Chanel
don’t list their head of marketing’s email address on their contact page!
So what do you do?

Search for people on LinkedIn

Step one: Find the brand’s page on LinkedIn.

Step two: Click on the link where it says how many people work at the
company. i.e. 1600 employees. This will take you to a page(s) that list
everyone who works for the brand, and have an active LinkedIn profile
(which is most people these days).

Step Three: Find the people who will hire photographers. You can to
look for people who are in production, or marketing. Job titles I look
for are things like: Head of Production, Head of Marketing, Marketing
Director, Creative Producer, etc.

Step Four: People will very rarely list their professional work email
address on their LinkedIn profile (although some do!). So you need to
guess it. However, that’s quite easy to do once you know someone’s
first and last name.

Most email addresses go something like this (using the brand GAP as
an example): firstname@gap.co.uk or firstnamelastname@gap.co.uk or
firstname.lastname@gap.co.uk
There’s no real easy way around this… you just need to test out
different combinations until an email gets through.

Inside my online course, Pitching With Confidence, I go

through loads of other ways to find contact information
for people at brands, but LinkedIn is genuinely my
favourite method.

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING - OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION

3. Writing your email
Once you have someone’s name and email address, you need to write a great
email. I have a template that I use as a guide, but I recommend that you
personalise each email you send out. You’ll get far better results! People can
smell a template from a mile away, and they will be far less likely to
respond.

Here is the template that I use:

Dear _________,
I hope that you're well.

My name is __________________ and I'm a

fashion photographer based in
_______________. I've previously worked
with brands such as
___________________ and magazines like
_____________. You can see my
website at __________ and my Instagram
at ____________.

I feel that there is a real synergy between

my portfolio and ______________(the
brands name), and I'd love to work with
you. I really love (the brand) because
_____.

I have attached a PDF with my recent

work. I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,
________________

Always include the name of the

person you're emailing, tell them why
you love the brand, and feel free to
include any personal anecdotes. Also,
make sure that your links are
clickable, and that your PDF is kept
small (ideally below 2MB).

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING - OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION

4. Keep your work relevant
It needs to be clear to someone why you are both a good fit. The easiest
way to do that is to share previous work you've done that is similar to
their brand, or name previous clients. That’s where the PDF can be so
useful. Create lots of different PDFs that target different types of
clients. Keep them on hand, ready to attach to your pitch emails.

I share lots of my own PDFs inside my Pitching With Confidence

course.

5. Keep your email short

As an ex magazine editor who received hundreds of emails a day, I can
tell you right now that people don't like getting long emails. They
simply don't have time to read them! Keep your emails short and sweet.
2 or 3 short paragraphs is all you need.

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING - OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION

6. Keep track of what you're doing with a spreadsheet
This has been the game changer for me when it comes to pitching. As I
mentioned earlier, I created a spreadsheet where I include the names
all of the brands I want to work with. On that spreadsheet I have 3
other columns:

1. is a "To Do" column where I jot down what I have to do. i.e. "Email
Marie at Gap."

2. is a "Contact Info" column. Here I write down the names of the

people I've found, and their job role. That way, I never forget or lose
track of anyone.

3. is a "What's Been Done" column. I keep track of what I've done

already i.e. "Emailed on 1st Jan 2022" or "Followed up on 5th Feb 2022."

Each time I do any pitching, I open my spreadsheet and keep track of

every action I take. This stops me from sending two emails out to the
same person, helps me keep track of when I sent my original pitch, and
when I followed up.

7. Follow up
People are busy, emails get read on iPhones and forgotten about. It's
nothing personal. So often if you don't hear back after your first email,
it doesn't mean that they don't like what you do or want to work with
you. I encourage you to follow up after about a week. Something along
the lines of "Hello ____, I hope you're well. I'm just following up on the
email I sent you last week regarding ____. Please see it attached below
for your convenience." Short, sweet, to the point.

If you don't hear back for another week or two, it's probably a sign
they're not interested. Don't take that to heart, as it's never personal
when it comes to work like this. Simply focus on keeping going, jot
down when you send that follow up email,

and in a few months, try again!

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING - OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION

8. Don't give up or be disheartened
It can be tough when you spend an afternoon emailing loads of people,
only hear back from one or two, if any. But the reality is that you're not
going to be for everyone. Some brands may love your work, but not
need you right now, others just won't think you're the right fit, or they
already work with someone like you.

So keep at it. If you don't hear back, try again.

Don't give up on your dream.

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING - OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION

 So, there you have it.
I really hope that you’ve found this eBook helpful. This just
scratches the surface of pitching, and how you can master it
yourself. It’s a huge topic, which is why I created a self paced
online course going over absolutely everything that there is
to know about this skill. It's called “Pitching With
Confidence” and you can learn more about it here -
www.oliviabosserteducation.com/pitching-with-confidence-
course

I’m also always sharing tips, doing Q&As, and going live
over on my Instagram, so come and follow me there at
@oliviabosserteducation. See you there!

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING

OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION

A QUICK START GUIDE TO PITCHING - OLIVIA BOSSERT EDUCATION