How I Used Cold Emailing to Land Six-Figure Marketing Retainers

A winning formula for landing more clients

My biggest and best clients had one thing in common: I won them over through cold email. But few people know how to use cold email effectively. I get bombarded by cold emails daily, and they all miss the mark.

People spend little to no time researching or strategizing, let alone tailoring the message to meet a business's specific needs and opportunities.

Salespeople brag about their numbers. I sent out 100 cold emails this week!

Great, how many responses did you get?

Ehm …

Exactly.

It's not a numbers game, as many would like to believe. It's a game of calculated effort. Spend 3–4 hours on each target, and things start to happen.

When my business was struggling in 2021, I hired a sales coach. She helped turn my marketing business from a stalled motor to a life-changing profit engine.

It's how I went from making $2,000 monthly to over $20,000 monthly in 100 days. One retainer alone was $12,800 per month. I ended up working with this client for over two years. I have used cold email to pick up six long-term clients, two of which were six-figure partnerships.

Here's what you can do to land more clients through cold email.

Step 1: Identify your dream clients.

Think about the brands you know and love. Think about the products you use and can't live without. What products and services did you have to tell other people about?

What have you recommended to others? These are things you could pitch on the spot. Start devising your dream client list, beginning with the companies already part of your life.

Of course, you will need to set realistic expectations. If you love Vans, that doesn't mean they could or should be a client. What smaller brands could really use your help to grow? Hundreds of people are pitching the big brands every day. There are fish in the small ponds, too.

When I worked for agencies, I collaborated with dozens of billion-dollar brands, including P&G, Hilton, MGM, Red Bull, Microsoft, and Dunkin' Donuts.

While I learned a lot from these experiences, these are not companies I would pitch today. I prefer working with smaller, nimble brands with room to grow — and without multi-layer approval processes.

Step 2: Set a goal and track the process.

Determine your target monetary goal. Then, determine how many clients it would take to get there based on the average package you will propose (this will be lower than what you initially propose). If you need four clients to hit your goal, you'll want to 4–5X that number to start. So, in this case, you would send a minimum of 16 cold emails to your ideal list of clients.

You can continue adding to your list of ideal clients over time. Create a spreadsheet to track outreach. You can also use it as a centralized repository for your client research. Link out to separate documents with in-depth information. Industry research and competitive analysis can be applied to competitors if the primary target doesn't bite.

The sheet can include:

Company Name
What You Want To Do For Them
What They're Currently Doing
Cold Pitch Initial Send
Response (Y/N)
Follow Up Date(s)
Response (Y/N)
Next Steps (if any)

Step 3: Spend hours researching each business.

Audit their marketing from top to bottom. Identify voids and outages. The goal is to do so much intensive research that you can educate their marketing director on the mark they're missing.

Dissect their marketing strategies, both as a customer and a potential partner. Take note of how the brand initially won you over, if you remember.

Let's say you want to pitch a blog content package. Visit their blog and analyze their strategy, if they have one. Then, visit 3–5 competitor sites and take notes on what they're doing. How can they become the leading voice in the industry?

From an SEO perspective, you may want to use a tool like SEMRush to determine who owns the highest-volume terms in their niche and the high-converting long-tail keywords that could attract more qualified traffic and move the needle for their business in the long term. Then, identify the low-volume, high-converting keywords competitors are missing out on.

Don't be afraid to spend an entire day on one pitch. You can set yourself apart through old-school effort, attention to detail, and sheer will.

Do what others refuse to do and start winning over dream clients.

Step 4: Figure out what value you could provide based on research.

Devise something they can turn around and run with immediately. If your specialty is Content Strategy, you could give them an abbreviated strategy with a list of blog topics, YouTube video ideas, and lead magnets that resonate with their target.

If you are a designer, you could create a new version of their homepage and/or an email. If you are an email marketer, you could dissect their welcome sequence and create a Loom video explaining why they're leaving money on the table — and how to fix it.

Floor them. Give them loads of execution-ready value they can turn around and use tomorrow — based on what their customers need and want. Show that you understand their market, product, and offer.

Then, explain why you're the best person to bring the ideas and strategies to life. The only person.

Step 5: Email the CEO, CMO, or Marketing Director.

Find the basic naming format of the company's email if you can't find the address with a name search. If you can't find the format, try the most common ones (i.e., firstname.lastname@). You can also use an online email finder.

If one contact doesn't answer, work through them all. But focus on one at a time.

You can always send the message using a contact form as a last resort.

Your initial email could look a little something like this:

Hi Samantha,

My name is John. I’m a content writer, strategist, and [Product or Service] user. I visited your website the other day and decided to come up with XYZ that would resonate with [target] interested in [benefit(s)].

[Insert micro strategy with clear, result-driven actions and overarching goal(s)]

I’ve done similar work in the past. Here are some examples [links to live examples or case studies].

I could start working on XYZ next week if that works for you?

Love what you’re doing in the [industry], and congratulations on your success.

Don't waste much time talking about yourself in the email. The message is all about what value you can deliver.

For example, I pitched a content strategy to a home fitness equipment company. I listed six blog article topics and explained how they can be used to promote their latest product, earn more newsletter subscribers, and attract more qualified traffic.

I then gave a high-level linking strategy and teased ideation for a 12-week workout program and a science-backed guide to their flagship product.

I then outlined an example article, like so:

Introduction
Headline & 1-sentence section overview
Headline & 1-sentence section overview
Headline & 1 -sentence section overview
Call-to-action

I like incorporating existing promotions, newsletters, or products into the micro strategy. This allows them to see that results are just a few steps away. It eliminates the friction of resource constraints. They don't want to reinvent their wheel. You can help them with that later on.

It might also make sense to tease a larger initiative, which would entail more hours and money—but only if it makes sense for them.

Step 6: Follow up.

Potential clients typically answer the first email or ignore me forever. Either way, it's a good idea to follow up — in a strategic manner.

Follow-up emails and messages keep you in their minds and hearts. Keep these communications short and sweet.

Here are some email examples, along with an ideal outreach timeline.

Day 3: Reply to the email you sent to keep the email in the thread.

Hi Samantha! Just reaching out about the article ideation I shared (see below) for the [Company Name] website to get more people interested in [Product].

The goal of the articles would be to get more eyes on [Company Name] by creating content that will appear in relevant Google search results, as well showing current and on-the-fence customers how well know your stuff when it comes to [industry]. We can utiliize paid and organic social to get even more eyes on them.

I’m happy to answer any questions you have about why I chose those topics, how we can integrate [Product], and my past writing experience.

Day 7: Follow up again by sending a direct message via LinkedIn or Instagram.

“Hi Samantha! My name is John, and I sent over an email about writing articles for [Company Name]’s website. I see a lot of potential for [Company Name] to create high-quality, high-impact articles that show your ideal customer your expertise in the [industry].

For example, an article like [article example] would be able to grow brand awareness and help convert visitors who want to know more about you before they buy [Product]. I included 5 article topics in the email I sent over, but happy to send the article titles and outlines here if that is easier for you.

Would you like me to send them over?”

Day 10: Send the last follow-up to the email you sent.

“Hi Samantha! Just wanted to check and see if you would like me to tackle any of these articles mentioned below. I really see this being a huge driver in growing your brand awareness through search, as well as showcasing your expertise in [industry] with both current and potential customers. Please let me know if you have any questions. I can get started on these as early as next week.”

Day 12: Send a second follow-up to their social media account

“Hey Samantha! Checking to see if you’ve had time to look over the 5 article ideas I sent over via email. Happy to answer any questions you have about why I chose those topics, how we can integrate [Product], and my past writing experience.”

If you send the initial message through a contact form, send the first follow-up to a social account before sending a second follow-up message via the form.

Set a time and get to work.

When you receive a response, try to answer on the same day and set a meeting as soon as possible.

When deciding on a retainer number, find an uncomfortable amount and go slightly beyond it. This will give you some wiggle room if they want to negotiate. Don't undervalue yourself.

You may have to pitch a 90-day project to earn the trust and see if the partnership is a good fit. There's nothing wrong with that.

In fact, this could help you down the road. If you crush the initial project, you can charge more than you could have initially.

Lastly, don't be attached to the outcome. When I develop an attachment, I lose the client. People can feel that energy, and it comes through in the email or on the sales call.

Best of luck, and don't hesitate to comment with questions.

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