The Anatomy Of A Cold Email
Recently, I learnt about something called Cold Outreach, which is where businesses reach out to strangers to sell their stuff.
This made me think, why not apply the principles of cold outreach to my situation: reaching out to YouTube creators to potentially work for them.
There are 2 elements of a great cold email
- Personalization
- 3 Bullet points of Value
Personalization
The best cold emails make the reader feel like it's meant specifically for them.
The way to make an email feel personal is to make it personal
Step 1 of personalization is increasing your input: watch their videos, read their newsletter etc. After doing this for a while, you will notice where they have a problem and where they could use help.
In the first few lines of the email you have to make it obvious you are familiar with them an you've done your research.
Value
I define value as giving them something that they want. Ideally, this will be a sample of your work. But if you want to go above and beyond (for the right person/company, you should) show them how you would apply your skillset to their company.
Make a video or atleast write a blog post of what you can do for them. Draw on your past experience and then talk about what you would do for them.
The biggest risk for any employer is some version of "what if we hire him/her and they suck". By showing what you would do for them, you take away that risk and make it easy for them to say yes to you.
Expect a low hit rate
Unfortunately, the vast majority of the time you won't get a reply. Expect a reply rate of 5% or lower. That is, 1 in 20. That's just how the game works. Hopefully, with these tips, you'll alteast do better than most people.
In the next post, I'll write about the most common mistake beginners make when they write cold emails.