Cold emailing for artists ✦ how it got me all the opportunities in my life
INTRO
Cold emailing is as every bit intimidating as you think is it. I’ve probably sent a few thousand emails since starting this strategy in 2014, and let me tell you, it gets easier, but it’s still hard.
When I was studying graphic design, I knew that I wasn’t the best designer. I could see that everyone had way more talent than me, a better eye and understanding for design than I ever could. I couldn’t draw for shit at the time (even now a little) and I knew I would be up against tough competition in the job market. Literally all my classmates. So what could I do? I could practice and study more HAHAHA nah. So I thought I’d just have to get in earlier.
In my second year, I wanted to get a summer internship. Getting work experience is way more valuable in this industry than grades, so that’s what I did… but how?
I emailed every single design boutique, agency and studio in the city. I probably sent around 200 emails. And guess what? I GOT AN INTERNSHIP! And it was with one of the best studios in the country.
When I went to third year portfolio reviews, so many seasoned designers asked how I got that internship. When I started looking for jobs, that studio was always mentioned. And yes, that studio is great, but what’s greater is that I got that internship myself. That success then made me believe that I could keep on using this method for everything and I did.
Before graduation I started cold emailing again. To a lot of the same companies because Perth is kinda small, but also to print shops and marketing agencies. I landed a job with a tech company because I had sent a cold email to their sister design agency. And that’s where I worked for almost two years.
WHY SOCIAL MEDIA ISN’T ENOUGH
Before I tell you the rest of my cold email story, I have a question for you.
Do you feel trapped? Are you tired of social media? Tired of algorithm changes and grinding away making 3 posts a day hoping that the great algorithm will bring you to the right customer? The right client? Well this is me telling you that, social media ain’t gonna help.
It wasn’t my social media following that got me those first two jobs, it was endurance. I knew that cold emailing was going to be a long game, but social media, in my opinion, is an even longer game.
Now don’t get me wrong. I think social media is a great tool. These days I like to treat social media like a portfolio and communication tool. It’s easy for peers and customers to see your work quickly and get a sense of who you are, but I think there’s something missing from the equation when it comes to outreach. Maybe it IS the algorithm, but think we’ve become too reliant on social media doing the reach for us, we don’t know how to become our own sales person.
This is where I step in! Because you really just don’t know what you don’t know.
If your business is Business 2 Consumer, but you’re wanting to sell your product or service to higher ticket clients, you’ll be wanting to target businesses and become a B2B. For artists this could be clients, or galleries or even media outlets. This isn’t going to be for everyone, but it’s going to be for some of you, and for those who want to hear this, it’s gonna change your perspective a lot.
Focusing on social media only as a lead generation for clients is like shooting in the dark. Cold emails are like shooting at dusk where you can barely make out the target but you know you are shooting in the right direction and kinda hope to hit it in any way .
MORE COLD EMAIL SUCCESS
Now as you might be able to guess, I didn’t just land a couple of jobs through cold emailing, but every single new start in my art career has been through me pursuing it through my cold email strategy. And why? It’s so much work. Well if you don’t have a network, you don’t have someone on the inside, this is the only way I know how to get in.
After my first two very very cheap murals, I sent emails to hundreds of cafes to do a cafe mural. My very first fully paid mural was found through cold emails AND it just so happened to be at the cafe my friend Joanna worked at before we became great friends.
When I first moved to New Zealand I had zero contacts. The only people i knew were my in-laws and Ben’s friends. so i did what i do best and cold email the crap out of this country! That’s how I got to paint for a co-working space in Auckland, and a holiday park in the South Island. Which is where I'm headed right now! Could I have gotten more work? Probably, but I’m also a mum so I’m pretty tired and didn't want to overwork myself, because a good mum is a happy mum and that's my number 1 priority.
When I still had my online shop, I wanted to get into wholesaling my cards, so what did I do? You know the drill! I cold email every bookshop, florist, newsagent. And I got 7 wholesale clients through that. None of them knew who I was or had ever seen my art, and then they started stocking me!
Oh actually! There’s one more success story, kinda. When I got made redundant from my tech job, I was looking for design internships in China because I thought it’d be great place to go and also immerse myself in the language and culture. After cold emails, a hundred companies or so, I got offered an internship for 6 months with accomodation and to go the next month. buttttttt I totally chickened out. And it’s something I have regret ever since. But at least I get to tell you a story!
So that’s all the cold email success that I’ve ever had. Might seem like a lot to some, and nothing to others. But to me, this is one of the best recounts that I have of my own tenacity and endurance.
HOW TO FIND EMAILS
Ok, so that was a long story. Let’s get into how I actually approach my cold email strategy step by step so you can do it to. In fact, let’s do it together, right now!
Firstly I have my Google Sheet set up, so I can input the emails and business names in straight away. I have created a free template which you can get from my link in the description.
To search for businesses I always use Google Maps! You want to be targeting you local area first and this way you’re not getting a bunch of sponsored listings when you’re just using google.
Let’s say I’m looking for breweries to pitch my mural service to.
Breweries near me.
Click on the page, find the email. If it’s not on the map listing, it’ll be on their website. Not on their website it’s on their facebook or insta. It will always be somewhere. You might have to dig a little.
Ok so I have all these emails. And now I’m ready to send them a pitch.
SENDING YOUR EMAIL
I simply use a template like this. It explains what I do, where I’m based and how we could work together. I’m still working on this opening line and I have changed it a lot over the years and probably will continue to do so.
Then I paste a link to an example of a mural I did. I’ll try to choose an example that’s similar to the business. i.e. past cafe clients
Talk about my specialisation and what my goal is when creating a mural, then I say I have attached a short presentation, which has examples of my work and a client list.
Then close the email with a call to action like, would love to schedule a video chat.
And that’s it. Once an email is sent I make sure to check it on my spreadsheet so I know i’ve done it. I know there are email tools you can use, but I have signed up to so many and I just cant be bothered using a third party service tbh. Some services also limit the number of emails you can send, or they can end up in the clients spam box. So I find this is the simplest way to go about it.
OTHER WAYS TO FIND EMAILS
When I was looking for holiday parks to contact I happened to stumble upon a government directory that had a list of every holiday park in the country! So that time, I didn’t have to pull out google maps.
It got me thinking about other ways you could find emails that may not be location specific. Searching up directories or guides. I just quickly searched directory of event stylists NZ and one blog had a list of different vendors.
Search functions on Instagram and TikTok are great these days too. This way you can also see if the business is active and what their style is like. A lot of businesses on Instagram will have their email in their bio or contact button.
NUMBERS
Ok, so that’s the gist of it. Now to get into the nitty gritty of the success rate. I’ll tell you straight up that it is not even a full percent. HAHA Just doing the numbers in New Zealand, I have sent 390 emails to various industries, I received 24 replies, and I have converted 2 clients. That is a 0.005% success rate. It is incredibly low! It’s a long slog and mentally draining. but you know what? It’s not 0
If I didn’t send those 390 emails, I wouldn’t have had these two amazing clients. I wasn’t focused on growing my social media here, because I can see my numbers. Out of 2000+ followers I have had 3 clients from Instagram over 4 years. Coming to New Zealand I knew that the fastest way to get a client would be to get in contact with them myself. And i was right!
OUTRO
So I think that’s it? Moral of the story is, if you want something you have to be the first to reach out. If you want a change in your career, use this tactic if you have nothing else.
Reality check. You will NOT hear back from a lot of companies. That’s just what it is. They may read your email, see that it’s a service they don’t want and not even bother saying, no thanks. The replies I got that didn’t lead to anything were kind rejections saying my work was lovely, but not what they need.
So if you’ve been feeling down about how to move your art career in a new direction, please give this a go! Whether it’s to contact art galleries, potential clients, or even peers for collaborations! You never know where a nicely worded email will get you.
Check out my free spreadsheet template for download in the description. It’s super simple which is what I like about it, and makes keeping track of emails very handy.
Thank you for watching this video. I hope you found it helpful. If you have anymore questions or feel like i can go in-depth in certain areas let me know in the comments.
Till the next video, bye!
