Answering The Most Common Questions about Cold Outreach

Judy, the community manager and growth operator at CopySkills, shares her insights on some of the most common questions she gets asked by copywriters when they begin their cold outreach. Judy answers the questions by offering practical tips that can help you increase your chances of success. Here’s a detailed breakdown of her advice for getting started with outreach as a beginner copywriter.

1. Do You Need a Portfolio?

One of the most frequently asked questions is whether a copywriter needs a portfolio before starting outreach. Judy advises against focusing too much on creating one, especially for beginners. According to her, portfolios often don’t make much of a difference when it comes to landing a client. Clients are generally too busy to look through portfolios or evaluate your ability based on samples of past work.

Instead of wasting time building a portfolio, Judy recommends creating a tailored piece of copy specifically for each prospect. She suggests analyzing their sales page, identifying what’s missing (like a VSL script), and offering a piece of writing that addresses that gap. By doing this, you capture the prospect’s attention because the copy is relevant to their business and product, making it much more compelling than a generic portfolio.

In essence, you should prioritize demonstrating your skills directly rather than trying to sell yourself with a portfolio. While setting up a website isn’t a bad idea, personalizing your outreach with tailored pieces of copy will leave a stronger impression on your prospects.

2. Should You Wait Until You’re Good at Copy Before Doing Outreach?

The second question many beginner copywriters have is whether they should wait until they’re skilled before starting outreach. Judy’s answer is clear: yes, you should have a certain level of competence in copywriting before reaching out to potential clients.

Conviction is one of the most important elements of selling anything, including your copywriting services. When you’re confident in your abilities, you can sell your skills with conviction, making it more likely for clients to hire you. On the other hand, if you’re still unsure of your abilities, it will be harder to sell yourself, and clients may pick up on that lack of confidence.

Additionally, your prospects will evaluate the quality of the copy you send them. If the copy is bad, they’ll likely ignore your outreach. For this reason, Judy recommends waiting until you have a decent level of experience and confidence before starting your outreach efforts. Rushing into outreach without having developed your skills will only lead to frustration and missed opportunities.

3. Should You Focus on Quantity or Quality in Your Outreach?

A common question for beginner copywriters is whether to focus on quantity (sending mass emails to many prospects) or quality (sending personalized emails to fewer prospects). Judy has experimented with both strategies and shared her experiences.

She has tried sending 100 emails per day, as well as sending 30 personalized emails with tailored copy. She’s also tested the extreme—sending 100 personalized emails per day, which, as she points out, can take up to 20 hours of work. While this extreme method got the most responses, she acknowledges that it’s not doable for everyone.

Judy’s recommendation for most beginner copywriters is to focus on quality outreach. Personalizing your emails and copy for each prospect makes a lasting impression and sets you apart from the crowd. While sending mass emails may seem like a faster way to reach more people, quality outreach, where you demonstrate your skills and focus on the prospect’s specific needs, is more likely to land you a client.

4. How to Optimize Your Social Media Profile for Outreach Success

Another critical aspect of outreach is optimizing your social media profile, particularly if you’re reaching out through platforms like Instagram. Judy talks about the importance of building a personal brand that stands out from the typical “professional” profiles that many copywriters use.

Instead of following the same templates as everyone else, posting generic marketing tips, using yellow backgrounds in profile pictures, or creating the same carousel posts, Judy encourages copywriters to create a blend of professional and personal content. Your profile should reflect your unique personality and skills while maintaining a level of professionalism.

By doing this, you can avoid raising the-prospects’ subconcious sales guard. Making your profile a little more personal can lower the sales guard and increase your chances of landing a client. Judy’s advice is to let your social media reflect you, not a cookie-cutter version of what you think a copywriter should be.

5. Does the Niche Matter?

Finally, Judy talks about the often-debated question of whether choosing a niche is important for copywriting outreach. While some copywriters are focused on niches like finance, relationships, or fitness, Judy believes that the niche you choose doesn’t matter as much as you might think.

There’s opportunity in nearly every niche, and being overly concerned with choosing the “right” one can cause unnecessary delays in your outreach and chances of landing a client. Judy’s suggestion is to choose a niche that interests you and start from there. You can always switch niches if one doesn’t work out. The key is not to overthink it; getting started is far more important than finding the “perfect” niche.

Judy has personally reached out to as many as 500 prospects in a particular niche before deciding to move on if it didn’t yield results. The takeaway is that while the niche can play a role, it’s your skills and outreach strategy that matter most.

Final Thoughts: Keep It Simple and Get Started

For beginner copywriters, the outreach process can seem hopeless and tiring. Judy’s advice simplifies the process: focus on building your skills, create personalized outreach that demonstrates your value, and don’t get distracted by overthinking your niche or creating the perfect portfolio.

Most importantly, just start. The more you wait or overanalyze, the more you delay landing your first client. Judy’s practical tips, rooted in her personal experience, provide a clear roadmap for getting started with copywriting outreach and building a successful freelance career. If you’re looking for more guidance, you can explore our free course Fastest Path to Cash and check out Judy’s YouTube channel for reference to optimize your own social media profiles.

0 comments… add one

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *