6 Secrets To Pitching For Business Via Email
In this post, we look at the art of writing email pitches and include six secrets to pitching for business via email.
Writers write a lot of things, but few of them are as integral (or as difficult) as the business pitch email.
Pitching for business via email can sell articles, ideas, marketing campaigns, and blog posts. Writing a good pitch email is one of the important skills that a writer can learn.
Do you want to learn how to develop a higher pitch success rate from the very next email you send after reading this article?
A Bit About Pitching (For Business)
A pitch asks something of the recipient.
Pitches ask for an opportunity, and presents a concept or idea in return. Within business writing, the basic pitch is used to send important ideas back and forth – and the good ones sell.
This is why every ideal pitch should be three things:
- Brief (and to the point).
- Written in plain language.
- Convincing.
Pitch recipients receive many other pitch emails, and do not have a great deal of time to read each individually. It’s true for most businesses, writing markets, and people that a writer will ever pitch.
Businesses are busy, and a corporate inbox might see twenty to two-hundred messages every day. A good pitch is one which stands out to its recipient, or one which sticks in their memory. An excellent pitch is one which gets a response.
TOP TIP: If you want to write great emails, buy The Complete Email Workbook.
6 Secrets To Pitching For Business Via Email
Here are six secrets to pitching for business via email that will help business writers turn their corporate pitches into electronic gold.
1. Study The Business First
Study every business that you intend to pitch in detail. Gather information about their targeted market, their overall industry, and their recent advertising campaigns or posts.
Style and tone for a specific business can be established through their website, blog posts, mailing lists, and prior press releases.
A successful pitch is always based on doing basic research first. A writer should know as much as possible about a prospective email recipient.
When you know more about the business, you can approach almost any pitch with more confidence.
2. Establish The Correct Email Address
A great pitch isn’t useful when it goes to the wrong person’s inbox. Establish the correct email address (and contact-person) for the pitch before setting out to write it.
Business pitches are best directed to specific departments. Marketing, head office, or the general information email address are the first three places to start if you are not sure.
Look for contact details on official websites. Search further on business listing websites if you cannot find the correct details, send a first email to ask, or call around to others in the business
3. Write In Plain Language
Plain language rules the world of business, and should be the first priority for any corporate writer planning their pitch.
The use of plain language in pitching emails guarantees that the email is quick to read, and easy to understand. An email recipient should never get stuck on long paragraphs, complicated sentences, or anything that counts as jargon.
Would you read a wall of text in your inbox?
The truth is that nobody does, and that plain language guarantees a better pitch every time. Certainly, it increases your likelihood of being understood and responded to in the business world.
TOP TIP: If you want to write great emails, buy The Complete Email Workbook.
4. Your Pitch In A Paragraph
If you have an idea that you believe has merit (or you have been assigned a brief to include in the next business email you write), describe this idea on paper first.
Can you outline the core of your idea in a single sentence? (Use the five W’s and one H of The Inverted Pyramid to help you do it.) It’s easier and faster for an email recipient to read a single sentence than a page or paragraph.
Practice this skill by outlining random movie or book plots using 15-25 word sentences. Next, apply this skill to the next idea you would like to pitch a business and see if you can do the same.
If an idea takes more than a single sentence to explain, it won’t make a great pitch. Rewrite using synonyms and plain language terms until you can cut your core pitch down to a sentence that looks good. (Tip: The final sentence should be as short as possible (not 25 words), or you can split it into two or three sentences for the email.)
Once you have that golden sentence on paper, you have the best sentence to approach your business email with.
5. Fill In The Rest
Business emails are best started with a formal greeting. Dear, Best, Kind, and Hello are some of the most basic suggestions. Writers can be creative, but not so much that it voids the professional context.
- Include a first paragraph after the greeting. The first paragraph should reveal why you are sending the email, and who you are to be writing it.
- Include a second paragraph with your idea. This paragraph is your core idea or concept as best (and as brief) as it can be described.
- Include a third paragraph as a conclusion to your idea or email. This paragraph brings together what has been said already, and requests a response. For longer emails, elaborate.
- End with a salutation. Suggestions include Kind regards, Best regards, or Warm regards – although variation exits.
The form of structuring an email above is what’s called the elevator pitch, and it always gets the necessary information across to your recipient.
Read: A Step-By-Step Guide To Help You Format Your Emails
6. Avoid Setting Off Spam-Filters
Spam-filters can stop an important email from going to the right inbox. Email writers should always avoid setting off spam-filters when sending a promotional message or pitch.
What triggers them?
- Including links in your email.
- Including attachments or images in your email.
- Including too many addresses in the CC: bar.
- Sending repetitive emails to the same email address.
- An unnecessarily word-heavy text.
- An unnecessarily long subject line.
- Using poor grammar or bad formatting.
The Last Word
The art of pitching for business via email is a skill that all writers should learn. You’ll use it for promoting your own business as a writer just as much as you’ll apply it to the businesses of others.
Good luck
TOP TIP: If you want to write great emails, buy The Complete Email Workbook.
By Alex J. Coyne. Alex is a writer, proofreader, and regular card player. His features about cards, bridge, and card playing have appeared in Great Bridge Links, Gifts for Card Players, Bridge Canada Magazine, and Caribbean Compass. Get in touch at alexcoyneofficial.com.
If you enjoyed this, read other posts by Alex:
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- 8 Unethical Copywriting Techniques To Avoid
- 8 Things To Do With A Rejected Manuscript
- 7 Lessons In Better Writing From The Beatles
- A Step-By-Step Guide To Help You Write Resolutions
- How To Write The Death Scene
- 9 Ways For Writers To Find More Clients, Customers, & Writing Markets
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