Grow Your Network With Cold Email Marketing

When I was a kid, there were two things that terrified me: spiders and cold-calling. I’m still not great with either one. 

But cold emailing is far less terrifying than jumping on spiders, and it can be a great way to meet new people and expand your professional network if you follow these simple rules for doing it right.

Takeaways
1. Cold email marketing can expand your professional network.
2. Crafting personalized and relevant emails is crucial.
3. Utilize AI-powered tools for effective outreach.
4. Building genuine connections can lead to opportunities.
5. Following up on cold emails can enhance responses.
6. Tailor messages to recipient’s industry and interests.
7. Effective subject lines grab recipients’ attention.

Start With A Mutual Connection

If you’re looking to grow your network and make new friends, start by reaching out to someone you already know. This could be a friend of a friend or even a connection through social media. You can also reach out to someone who has the same interests as you.

Here are some ways to find common ground with people:

• Look up their LinkedIn profile and see what companies they work for or have worked for recently. Start there!
• Attend events related to your industry (if applicable). You never know when someone might attend an event related in some way that would make them a good contact for future opportunities!

Building a successful cold email campaign requires a thoughtful approach. Learn how to craft effective outreach messages and boost your response rates with our comprehensive guide on A Simple Guide to Cold Emailing: How I Got 5x Response.

Drop The “Just Reaching Out” Line

The first step is to get the right mindset. You can’t go into this thinking that you’re going to beg someone to answer your email. That’s not what cold email marketing is about; it’s about building relationships and creating mutually beneficial partnerships.

Your goal should be to create an opportunity that will benefit both you and the person receiving your email not just yourself. You want them to say, “Wow! This person has done their research on me, so I’m going to give them a shot.”

That’s why when I’m writing my emails, I try not use phrases like “I’m reaching out,” or anything that makes it sound like I’m begging someone for attention or a response from them (which is why we don’t send cold emails). 

Instead, our approach should be focused solely on providing value for the recipient of our message.

So they feel compelled by us as individuals rather than merely responding because we’re asking for something specific from them at this point (like asking them if they’d be interested in learning more about our company).

Get To The Point Quickly

Don’t waste their time. If you’re going to send an email, make sure it’s worth the recipient’s time. 

This means not sending long emails with no purpose or intent (i.e., people who send out mass emails that don’t ask for anything). If there is something specific you want from them, get right to the point and tell them why you’re contacting them in your first sentence or two.

Don’t be afraid of being direct. When reaching out to someone via email for a business reason, it’s best not to beat around the bush your message should be clear and concise so as not to confuse or frustrate the recipient with any ambiguity on your part (or waste their time). 

You can still be friendly without being sassy, though; just keep things professional and straightforward when referencing names or offering information about yourself at first contact.

Create Mutual Benefit

When writing an introductory email, it’s important to create mutual benefit. Ask yourself:

• What do I want? Why am I reaching out to this person?
• How can I help them get what they want?
• How can they help me get what I want?

When you’re clear on your objectives, ask yourself:

Is there any way my contact could help me achieve those objectives by introducing me to someone else in their network who would be a good fit for my business or project? 

If so, specify here and include how it would benefit them as well (e.g., “I’d love the opportunity to connect with HR directors in your network who might be interested in learning more about our recruiting software.”).

Need inspiration for your cold email templates? Check out our collection of Cold Email Templates That Convert to ensure your outreach messages are compelling and engaging.

The show, Don’t Tell

When you’re emailing a potential connection, the best thing you can do is show off your skills. This means using examples from past work that prove your point. 

Or if it’s a pitch for a new opportunity, use an example of something similar that worked for you in the past and why it worked, and how this new opportunity will be different but achieve the same results.

If there’s an aspect of your personality that would help establish rapport with another person (like being funny), feel free to share it! Just don’t overdo it keep it real.

And lastly, make sure that when sharing information about yourself or what you offer as services/products/opportunities.

Show off any connections or knowledge gaps if they exist while also stating how they could be solved through whatever product/service/opportunity is being pitched.

Always Be Closing

One of the most important parts of cold email marketing is always closing. 

When you’re building a rapport with someone, it’s natural to let the conversation drag on to build rapport, but this can lead to your email becoming stale and uninteresting. Instead, always be closing:

• Close your emails by making a request. Ask them for something at the end of every message (such as an introduction or meeting).
• Use the close before sending each email out. By doing so, you will feel more confident about what you’re sending and how effective it is likely going to be making it easier for you to send out more emails!

Learn From Rejection

The first step to getting over rejection is learning to take it in stride. When you do this, you can more easily focus on the next approach instead of dwelling on what happened with the last one.

This goes for all forms of rejection cold email marketing, dating, job applications, and even asking your family if they’ll pay for your new car (just kidding).

As with most things in life, rejection has a silver lining; it’s all about perspective. If nothing else, remember that everyone experiences rejection at some point during their life even celebrities! 

And just like them (and me), we can use these experiences as opportunities for growth and personal development by learning from our mistakes and moving forward with confidence and determination.

Looking to take your cold email outreach to the next level? Dive into the intricacies of effective strategies with our detailed resource, The Ultimate Guide to Cold E-mail Outreach, and maximize your campaign’s impact.

Don’t Go More Than Three Sentences Without A Personal Touch

Above all else, don’t be afraid to ask questions and show some personality.

When you’re reaching out to someone for the first time, there’s nothing wrong with asking a few simple questions about them and their business. 

People love talking about themselves (in fact, we may even have a biological predisposition for it), so this is an easy way to start a conversation without feeling awkward or threatening. 

If they’ve written a blog post or done any interviews recently, include their links below your signature line so they can find more info if they want it!

Also, don’t forget that showing some personality will help make things more personal as well. 

This can be as simple as including one or two sentences that show off your sense of humor or some other aspect of who you are outside of work life (e.g., mentioning how much coffee you drink every morning). 

And remember: The goal here isn’t just beating around the bush it’s making connections with people who share similar goals and interests with yours!

So if one message doesn’t work out for whatever reason (and yes – even cold emails get ignored sometimes), try sending another one later down the line when these connections aren’t focused on sales anymore.”

Make It Easy For Them To Say “No”

You mustn’t make it hard for them to say “no.”

This is especially true if you are asking them for help or introductions. It might be tempting to come up with a reason why they should do what you want, but this could backfire. Here are some examples:

• “Please introduce me to your friend who works at X company. I need his help!”
• “I know we haven’t met before, but I’m sure you can figure something out and meet up soon! Please let me know when works best for both of us :)”

Compose Your Message In A Text Editor First

Before you start writing your email, it’s best to think about the structure and content of your message first. Create a draft in a text editor like Notepad or TextEdit on Mac, or Sublime Text on PC. 

This will help ensure that you don’t accidentally make mistakes while composing your message (like forgetting to send it).

 It also gives you time to make sure that everything is structured the way you want it before hitting send! 

You’ll be able to come back later and tweak anything that needs tweaking without having lost all of those precious words you spent hours perfecting! Plus, it’ll save time by not having to worry about typos during live composing!

Write As If You Were Sending An Email To A Friend, Not An Enemy Or Stranger

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have a business relationship with the person or company you’re reaching out to. 

You don’t! If they don’t know who you are and what your product or service is, then they have no reason to trust or care about what it is that you’re offering them. 

This makes building a relationship difficult, but not impossible. We do this by making our emails feel like they come from a friend instead of an enemy or stranger (which would be much less effective).

To keep this friendly tone throughout our email templates, here are some guidelines:

Don’t be too formal: Remember that we’re writing as if we were sending an email to a friend not as if we were sending it to someone we’ve never met before! 

So try not to use any overly formal language in your template copy; keep everything casual and relaxed instead. For example: “Hi there” instead of “Hello.” And “thanks for reading” instead of “thank you for reading.”

Don’t be too informal: One step further than being too formal though don’t use slang either! It may seem like small details like these won’t make much difference in how people perceive us and whether they want us around their inboxes (they do).

But trust me when I say that being over-familiar with strangers can create all sorts of awkward situations where people feel uncomfortable around you because they think there might be something sexual going on between the two parties involved here…

Crafting a successful cold email strategy involves understanding what content resonates with your recipients. Explore valuable insights and tips in our article, Cold Email Strategy: What Do I Send & How Do I Make Them Care?, to create emails that stand out.

Follow Up As It Depends On It (Because It Does)

In most cases, it’s not enough to send an email and then sit back and wait for the results.

To grow your network, you need to make sure that your emails are read and acted upon. That means following up every time you send an email even if it takes multiple tries before someone replies or agrees to meet with you (or gives any response at all).

You should follow up as it depends on it (because it does). Followup is one of the best ways to show new connections that:

• You have professional courtesy
• You’re interested in their success rather than just promoting yourself with no real interest in them as a person
• You’re persistent, but not pushy

Don’t Only Start Conversations When You Want Something From Them

One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to cold email marketing is that they only reach out when they want something from someone else, whether that’s a job, advice, or a favor. 

This is bad news for two reasons: 1) It’s obvious and uninspired (no one likes being used), and 2) most people don’t want to be constantly asked for help or favors.

Instead, give them a reason to respond and hopefully like and trust you as well! Here are some ideas on how do this:

Share relevant content. If someone asks me how I got my first big client at my previous job, I could reply by saying “Oh yeah? Well here are three things they asked me before agreeing to work with us…” 

Or perhaps send them our latest blog post about cold-emailing CEOs without an introduction first because it’s just that good?

Offer something useful in return if possible – maybe send along your resume too so he knows what he’s getting into before agreeing?

If done right, this will give him incentive not only to help his company grow but also to work with YOU in future endeavors down the road!

Create Opportunities For Others To Help You By Helping Them First

When you help someone else, they will be more likely to help you. If you keep helping people, they will want to keep helping you. The more people that are willing to reciprocate and help each other, the stronger our networks grow.

To create opportunities for yourself, think about how you can create a win-win scenario where both parties benefit from the interaction. 

For example: if I start working out again and decide to post a picture on Instagram with my progress tracker (and also share it on Facebook).

Some of my friends might see this photo and ask for advice about how they can get started exercising or lose weight themselves. 

In this case, I would either direct them back here so that they can learn how best practices are applied in cold email marketing campaigns or give them tips.

Such as keeping track of their diet using MyFitnessPal so that they don’t overdo it with exercise without maintaining healthy eating habits first (which is why many fail).

Be Interesting And Interesting Things Will Happen

All of this is to say: Be interesting, and interesting things will happen.

The first thing you need to do is be interesting. But what does that mean? It means more than just being good at your job, or having a wide range of knowledge on an array of topics. 

It means you’re going above and beyond just the surface level; it means you care about people because they are people not because they can help your career or bring in revenue for your company or make you look better in front of other people (or yourself).

Keep Your Follow-Up Emails Short And Sweet!

• Keep your follow-up emails short and sweet!
• Using the same subject line, greeting and closing is a great way to make your emails look professional.
• Don’t be afraid to use a template that already exists for your industry or even just for the specific company you’re reaching out to.
• Make sure you use the same formatting (fonts, colors) in every message so it looks like it belongs with all of your other messages on their end. 

This will help build trust over time and show them what kind of business partner they can expect from you.

All Of These Things Should Make Reaching Out To People Easier

A lot of people are afraid to reach out because they think it will hurt their chances of friendship, so try to make things easier for them by:

Making it easy for them to say “no.” You should tell them exactly what you want from this new friend and how that might benefit them in some way (e.g., if you have a cool job, let them know). Giving people a safe place where they can decline your offer is key here!

Following up like it depends on it (because it does). 

You don’t want to be too pushy about getting back into contact with someone once you’ve been rejected (especially if the person was polite enough), but continuing to show interest with follow-up emails will help keep things warm between both parties. 

If someone indicates that they’re not interested in becoming friends after an initial cold outreach email, then don’t ever send another one again!

Keep your follow-up emails short and sweet! Don’t ramble on endlessly just remember that every word counts when trying to build rapport with someone new! 

Be interesting enough so that they want more information from YOU rather than being interested in something else altogether…and interesting things will happen 🙂

Planning a strategic cold email marketing campaign requires careful consideration of various factors. Learn how to optimize your approach and drive better results with our guidance in 17 Tips for Creating a Strategic Cold Email Marketing Campaign.

Conclusion

I hope this post has helped you get a little more comfortable with the idea of cold emailing. It can be daunting at first, but it’s not that difficult or scary when you break things down into steps and follow the process I outlined above. 

Is there one thing I want you to remember from all this though? It’s that these strategies are meant to make reaching out easier; they aren’t an excuse for not bothering!

Further Reading

Explore more resources to enhance your cold email marketing strategy and networking skills:

11 Types of Cold Emails That Generate a Response: Discover a variety of effective cold email templates and approaches to increase your response rates.

Cold Networking Email Guide: Learn how to create compelling cold networking emails to expand your professional connections.

AI-Powered Cold Email Networking Template: Utilize AI writing tools to generate personalized cold email templates that are tailored for networking purposes.

FAQs

How can I improve the effectiveness of my cold emails?

Enhance your cold emails by crafting personalized and relevant messages that address the recipient’s needs and interests. Utilize compelling subject lines and clearly communicate the value you can provide.

What are some common mistakes to avoid in cold email networking?

Avoid sending generic and impersonal emails, as well as overloading the email with excessive information. Make sure to research your recipients and tailor your messages accordingly.

How can I make my cold networking emails stand out?

Focus on building a genuine connection by demonstrating your knowledge of the recipient’s industry or interests. Provide specific reasons why you’re reaching out and how your interaction could be beneficial.

Should I follow up on cold networking emails?

Yes, following up is important. If you haven’t received a response, consider sending a polite and concise follow-up email to reiterate your interest and inquire about their availability for a discussion.

How do AI-powered tools assist in creating effective cold networking emails?

AI-powered tools can help generate personalized and engaging content by analyzing data and crafting relevant messages. These tools offer templates that can save time while ensuring your emails are targeted and impactful.