6 Steps - How to Pitch With No Portfolio

You have a creative offering. You have a basic business model. You have your sights on someone you could work with. But now it’s inevitable. You must pitch them. But how do you pitch with no portfolio? Here are 5 steps: 

Step 0 - If you’re a visual creator, make visuals first

I listed this as Step 0 because it only applies to you if you’re a visual creator. Even if you don’t have a portfolio with other companies, it doesn’t mean you can come to the table with absolutely no work at all. 

If you want to shoot car commercials, take your mom’s van out for sunset and make it look amazing. If you want to write marketing copy, write 10 ads for the cereal in your cabinet. If  You can create the visuals you want to create before anyone believes in you or pays you. 

Step 1 - Make sure they value your kind of work

Before you even pitch, make sure the person you are pitching values the kind of work you do. If a company has a bad social media presence, it might seem like a no-brainer that they need visual content or social media management. But guess what? They likely won’t pay for it. They haven’t been paying for it up to this point, which is why it’s so bad in the first place. 

It’s better to track down companies who have shown that they like what you do. Again, this might seem counter-intuitive. If their visuals look good, they already have someone doing the work. So why would they pick you? Believe it or not, there’s a better chance the company with good social media is overworked and is looking to outsource, than the company with bad socials will suddenly find a budget for you. 

Don’t let your pitches fall on deaf ears. Make sure there’s a value on what you do. 

Step 2 - Bring the value first

Show, don’t tell. In your pitch, give the company something valuable for free. If you’re a graphic designer, remix some photo assets for instagram stories. If you’re a photographer, buy the product and shoot it in your backyard. If you’re a social media manager, do a free audit of their last month of posts. Whatever value you’re creating, package it up in an easy-to-digest format. 

You have the choice: you can send a long-winded email about how you’re hoping for an opportunity, or you can make your own opportunity. You can write an email about what you plan to do, or you can just do it. Which one do you think is more enticing? Companies are looking for self-motivated people who take initiative. This is the best way to prove that. 

Step 3 - Make the “yes” easy

When you send your pitch, make it very clear that the company can begin using your work immediately, and for free. Explain how you created the completely original work, and how it’s. Don’t watermark it, don’t use a private link, don’t play hard to get. You’re trying to get a foot in the door. Make it very easy for them to say “yes.”

Additionally, it’s very likely that you’ll need to adjust a few things to make sure it fits their brand. Make yourself available for any edits they might want. Call that out on the front end by saying something like, “If anything needs to be adjusted here to fit the brand better, let me know and I’ll be available to make changes.” 

Step 4 - Save the pleasantries for later 

I’m going to be blunt: no one cares how old you are, where you’re from, what year you are in school, or what your dreams are. They care about the work. Emails come through my inbox often from young creators who start their emails by saying, “Hi, my name is Jack, I’m from Albuquerque, and I go to college here, it’s always been my dream to…” 

Snooze. 

You have one or two shots to catch someone’s attention. Do you really want to waste one of them with pleasantries? Of course you want to be seen and heard and known, but a pitch is never the time for that. After you land a project, you can go out to lunch and talk about all that stuff. 

Step 5 - Build in an up-sell 

Start thinking before you send: if the company wants more of what you sent them, ho can you turn this into an opportunity. If you’re looking for an internship, propose a weekly package in exchange for college credit or connections. If you’re looking for a paid project, map out monthly deliverables and attach a rate to it. If you’re looking for an introduction, do a few more projects and then ask your point of contact to lunch–on you. 

Step 6 - Follow up

If you send a pitch but you don’t hear back, don’t the it personally. People in organizations are very busy, and there’s no time in their calendar to review unexpected pitches from creators with no portfolios. You’ll probably need to follow up a few times before you get a response. But be careful! The quickest way to get no response is to act entitled or needy because you sent them something for free. No one owes you anything, especially a company you sent a blind pitch to. 

When you follow up, be humble and kind, by saying something like, “Hey there, just bumping this to the top. I know you’re very busy, so if there’s anything you need don’t hesitate to reach out.”

Follow up two days after you first send, one week after that, and two weeks after that. If you hear nothing back, consider it dead, and move on. Be light on your feet, and carry no hard feelings! You can spend the day bummed that they didn’t get back to you or you can go find someone who will love working with you. Your choice. 

Closing

Pitching takes work, and it often feels like a shot in the dark. If you are shooting in the dark, make sure you’re aiming in the right direction. Always remember, pitching is a numbers game. Prepare yourself to send ten pitches and land only one of them. That’s how it works, even for me, a guy with a lot of logos on his homepage.