PITCHING GUIDE FOR FOOD AND PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHERS> ARE YOU READY?... / ..to start pitching directly to potential clients instead of waiting not-so- patiently for them to come to you? Well, what are you waiting for??? Pitching may seem intimidating on the face of it, but its a huge part of what we do as food and product photographers. Clients are EXPECTING to be pitched to. They're used to this ride and have been on it many, many times. | know a lot of photographers find it uncomfortable because in the back of their head it feels like they are begging for work. You need to kick that mindset to the curb. You are a frickin' business owner. Looking for new business opportunities is what all good business owners do. The clients are business owners too and they expect it from you Get over your fear and go find that dream job! Remember: Ifyou pitch enough and do it right, it's almost hard NOT to bring business in. Read the following pages for a breakdown of what you need to know.START WITH THE STANDARDS In order to be choosy about clients -- which you absolutely should be -- you need two things: 1 To believe whole-heartedly in the value of your services and— 2 To know what your ideal client looks like. For the first part, think of your images not as decorations but as marketing tools. Think about how you can increase visibility and sales for brands, particularly from an Instagram perspective. You're also offering value in the headspace you are giving back to your client. You're removing a huge burden from their plate with your expertise and stellar client experience! That's incredibly valuable. For the second part, remember that any old client just won't do. You're looking firstly for paying clients. You are running a business, and you can't afford to work for exposure or free products. Youre also looking for clients who can pay what you're worth. Clients who can't afford your rate are NOT your ideal client.DECIDE WHO TO PITCH Open up your fridge. Root through your pantry. If you want to shoot products, check out your beauty cabinet or the electronics in your office space. What products and brands do you love? What draws you to them? How can you use your skills to enhance that and make it appealing to others who don't know about the product yet? Now, it’s time to make a list of those products and brands. If you're not comfortable pitching to corporate and enterprise-level brands yet, look at the attributes you love about those big brands and find startups or smaller-scale businesses who share those attributes. You can also use the "suggested for you button" ute aayogs-© TRovemanat beter on Instagram to see similar accounts. e sa as « RESEARCH YOUR BRANDS The most important part, before you write up a pitch, is to do some research. Look at About pages and social media presences. Find the mission, values, and story of the brand you're wanting to pitch. Then, start building a foundation. Interact with their social media pages so they become familiar with you {I like to engage with stories over posts on IG, but both can be valuable}. Google alerts can keep you informed of news that breaks about the brands you are interested in...just make sure you're very specific about the keywords you use! Also, make sure to get a weekly (and not daily) digest. Otherwise your inbox will be packed:FIND THE RIGHT CLIENT INFO Pitching is time consuming, so you'll want to make sure you're not wasting your time reaching out to the wrong contact. You can reach out to their social media manager on Instagram to ask who the right person to talk to is, or you can do a good old Google search. | personally love to use Linkedin to contact brands. Here's what | do: Find the company you want Click the People link for a list of employees Identify a creative director, social media manager, or content creator hWN = Send out a connection request with a short message explaining what you do and why you think you should connect. If you're not comfortable with LinkedIn, cold emails have worked well for me too. You can start by doing a Google search to find the right person to talk to, then using tools like RocketReach or Hunter to find the right email address. | don't recommend contact forms or sending emails to info@..., as they tend to get your inquiry buried in a pile of other contact form responses. For larger companies, search for press releases that the company has put out. Those may list the PR firm that handles their marketing.A GLOSSARY OF TITLES Titles can be a tricky thing because no two companies work the same and they often use different titles for the same position. However, | tried to put together a basic glossary of the titles with the function of the person who occupies them and the type of companies they are most often found at. Art Buyer: Typically working for advertising agencies, Art Buyers are in charge of sourcing assets for the upcoming campaigns. This could include licensing stock photography or hiring a photographer. Art Director: Mostly found in advertising or editorial businesses, the art director is in charge of the layouts and general design of the ads or publications, but can sometimes be lead to hiring photographers. Once the photographer has been hired, the Art Director will most likely be on location to direct the photo shoot Art Producer: Often working for advertising agencies, but sometimes for large brands, Art producers are in charge of producing video, animation, illustration and photography assets for use on social media, digital advertising, out of home advertising, in-product, and more. They can be in charge of hiring photographers Creative Director: Often working for Marketing Agencies, Creative Directors lead a team of graphic designers, copywriters and marketers, They are responsible for establishing and maintaining their clients’ brand identity through graphic design and photography.A GLOSSARY OF TITLES Content Manager, or Community Manager: The main responsibility of a content manager is to run the social media outlets and keep the information displayed on a website fresh, informative, and appealing, He creates content as a voice for the company. He often works directly with the Marketing Director when there is one. Marketing Director or Marketing Manager: A Marketing Director's primary duty is to oversee the entire marketing department. This responsibility involves creating content, managing marketing campaigns and strategy, and then planning, coordinating and directing marketing efforts. He will be in charge of finding and hiring photographers to fulfil the photography needs for the company. Restaurants, brands and mid-size businesses can have a Marketing Manager or Director. Photo Editor: often working for PR advertising agencies, a photo editor takes the imagery captured by the Photographer and then reviews, edits, formats, manipulates, and prepares for digital upload, use, launch, and sharing, When a photographer submits 20 images for a campaign, the Photo Editor then selects the best image, or image(s) most appropriate for publishing, The Photo Editor doesn't generally hires the photographers, but he works in close relation with the person who does.ANATOMY OF A PITCH EMAIL Still feel hesitant about actually writing up that email and clicking send? I'm going to take all of the guesswork out of this for you right now. Here's everything your pitch email needs, in this order: A CATCHY SUBJECT LINE Don't go with something generic like “Proposal”. Try to find something that will catch their attention. Bouncing off a company news or new product can be a great way in. AN INTRO THAT'S 100% ABOUT THE CLIENT Put them first. Start with what you like about their brand and throw in a little tidbit about what theyve been up to lately. It shows that you did your research and have an interest in the success of their brand. A REASON THEY WANT YOU ON THEIR TEAM How can you help them? What do you have to offer specifically that will boost their brand in just the way it needs? Include a link to your portfolio so they can see what you're capable of A CALL TO ACTION What do you want them to do next? | usually encourage them to reply back and include a link via Calendly, where they can book a discovery call straight from the email A PROFESSIONAL SIGNATURE Mine is just a little something | worked up in Canva. It doesn't have to be elaborate, just your name, business, and contact info will work just fine. We're not talking about an essay, here. All of the above can be written in a few sentences, and that’s exactly what potential clients want. They're busy people, just like you!FOLLOWING UP Ifyou don't hear back after one or even two emails, that's not a rejection. Nothing is off the table until someone responds, actually saying “no”. Ive even landed clients after months of following up every few weeks! As | said before, clients are BUSY. And just like you and |, they may receive hundreds of emails a day. Polite follow ups are expected in business, and as long as you are courteous and don't badger them, clients will appreciate your tenacity. CREATE A PITCHING SCHEDULE Even when you're doing everything right, you may need to send many pitches at a time to get enough responses to fill your schedule. | send out a certain number of pitches each month, and keep track of them with a schedule that works for me. That keeps me as busy as | want to be, and | can always scale back or ramp it up depending on how many bites Im getting back at a time, {Sometimes a lot of clients are eager to get started and others you won't hear back from anyone for a whole month or two.} | would advise you to schedule pitching directly into your calendar each month. This way you don't lose track of when you've made contact and you know exactly when it’s time for a follow up with each potential client.WHAT TO DO WHEN THEY ENGAGE? You got a response. Eek! This is the super exciting part and it's totally fine to do a little dance at your desk The next step is to prepare a welcome guide that you can send when someone contacts you back, | also suggest that you put together a customer questionnaire for potential clients to fill out before their call so that you can prepare (or even better, use it as a reference and ask the questions yourself during the call) Thank you so much for downloading this Pitching Guide. I do hope that it will be a valuable asset to help you start confidently reaching out to all those dreamy brands! Need a little help preparing for the next step? I'm here to help! | put together a template shop with some valuable templates to help you create welcome guides, proposals and more! Keep an eye for some new templates coming up soon! Take me to the Templates!