marketing Cold Emails

I'm looking for people's thoughts on cold emails... Do they work? Who do they work best on?

I'm looking to approach local business and potentially bands for both Video work and Photography work.

I am also considering Twitter ads. I don't use FaceBook or LinkedIn, so I'm not going there. I need to keep my marketing budget under $200, as that's all I have.
 
Cold-call emails are very easy to ignore. In-person cold calls to businesses aren’t easy to ignore.

Either way, you need an updated reel and a presentable website. And polished business cards. There’s still a lot to be said for personal networking IRL.

You’re in a saturated market, too. Twitter ads may have some reach by Twitter’s metrics, but are people really looking? Word of mouth is okay, but getting out there on foot and meeting people face-to-face is still necessary.
 
I'm looking for people's thoughts on cold emails... Do they work? Who do they work best on?

I'm looking to approach local business and potentially bands for both Video work and Photography work.

I am also considering Twitter ads. I don't use FaceBook or LinkedIn, so I'm not going there. I need to keep my marketing budget under $200, as that's all I have.

I never even read cold emails. Not interested. Somebody that knows what I'm doing and who I am and what I want? I'm listening....
 
Seems like freelance anything is a dead-end route then. The market is already saturated... why would anybody deal with somebody they don't know? And in order to build up a quality network to actually make a living you're looking at years and years of network building.

This is something I was looking to do to get out of debt and then stop; really have no interest in long-term client work... I don't understand how anybody really wants to do it longer than they have to.
 
How am I supposed to do this if I have no prior work, and no client prospects? I have no connections to anyone that would be willing to even help me create a demo/sample. I don't even have a potential subject to photograph or film....

Wel...you look for a artist or subject that you like and say Hee want a free videoclip? And there you have it...the beginning of a portfolio...
 
How passionate are you about film making?

Filmmaking or doing video client work? To me they're not the same thing. Filmmaking is you are your own boss doing your own projects. Video client work is you are subject to being hired by a company or organization to shoot a project on their terms. I'm very passionate about the former not nearly at all about the latter. I'd do the latter just long enough to get myself out of debt and build enough of crew network to do the former, but not longer than that.
 
Video production as a source of income isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It takes work.

No, it isn’t easy to do. It requires knowledge, experience, and ability. You have to build all of those.

Yes, you have to get out there and shoot some spec stuff on your own time in order to build a reel you can show. Without a reel, how does any prospective client know if you can produce anything of quality?

Yes, you have to get out there and introduce yourself to folks to build your network. You may even have to work on other peoples’ productions for a bit in order to build your network of crew and talent. It’s called initiative.

Building a video production business, like any small business, is a money pit for the first five years. It won’t get you out of debt as a short-term adventure. You have to pour pretty much everything you make back into the business to pay your own expenses, update gear, etc.

You need to have a website, and you need to own your own domain. None of that myproductioncompany.yahoosites.com or myproductioncompany.wixsite.com crap. If you can’t spring for your own domain, your website won’t present as professional.

You need to have business cards.

You need insurance that covers liability as well as your gear (as you’ve discovered... that ain’t cheap).

You need a reel.

This isn’t just something you do on a lark. You’re building a small business, even as a freelancer. If you want it, you’re going to have to work for it.
 
Seems like freelance anything is a dead-end route then. The market is already saturated...
I can see why you think that. I have the opposite problem. I'm trying to get out and people keep throwing these low budget ($20-30k range) projects at me. I would expect if it was saturated others would pick up the work before they find me.

This is something I was looking to do to get out of debt and then stop; really have no interest in long-term client work... I don't understand how anybody really wants to do it longer than they have to.
I understand. Why would anyone want to do hard work?
 
I understand. Why would anyone want to do hard work?

Not what I mean at all.... What I don't get is why anyone would be willing to subject themselves to the whims and control of other people. If you freelance you are an EMPLOYEE of whoever hires you. You are NOT your own boss. I want to control my own destiny free from the control of any other person.... that means no boss of any kind (whether a corporate boss or a work-for-hire boss).
 
Not what I mean at all.... What I don't get is why anyone would be willing to subject themselves to the whims and control of other people. If you freelance you are an EMPLOYEE of whoever hires you. You are NOT your own boss. I want to control my own destiny free from the control of any other person.... that means no boss of any kind (whether a corporate boss or a work-for-hire boss).

Good luck with all that.

No man is an island.
 
Not what I mean at all.... What I don't get is why anyone would be willing to subject themselves to the whims and control of other people. If you freelance you are an EMPLOYEE of whoever hires you. You are NOT your own boss. I want to control my own destiny free from the control of any other person.... that means no boss of any kind (whether a corporate boss or a work-for-hire boss).

It'd be great if that was possible, but that's not how the real world works. You always have someone to answer to, whether it be your boss, your customer(s), governments and perhaps even their constituants.

If you require more control, do what I do and pick and choose which projects suit your style. As a film maker, the better you are at your job, the more control you'll be able to gain from clients who trust you.

You'll always have a boss. Even Steve Jobs was fired from his own company.
 
Twitter is the sewer of social media.
Perfect if you want to express anger.
I never look at ads.

If you can't show anything and if you actually what you have to do: don't do it.
You seem to think that you have to be a mindless robot to do your clients' bidding. My clients hire me because I say it when their ideas suck. And then I present alternatives, which are sometimes even cheaper to make.
 
What you need to do is network in real life, get an assignment, overdeliver so you have something to show plus a client who can recommend you to others.

Paying for ads and spamming people to lead them to 'nothing' is a total waste of everybody's time.
It's like drawing a crowd to your restaurant while you still have no kitchen.
 
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