Transcripts
1. Introduction: Knowing how to pitch
is so important to being a successful
creative business owner. It doesn't matter
how talented you are if people don't
know you exist. You have to go after the work. That's you marketing
your skills, that's you pitching, and that's what I want to
help you with today. My name is Joy Cho. I'm the founder and creative
director of Oh Joy. You might have seen
my work online, but also some of our
physical products in stores, home decor items at Target, suitcases by CALPAK,
shoes from Keds. So many of these projects
are the results of pitching. Today, we are learning how to put together a couple
versions of a pitch. The first one is
going to be digital, and then there's going
to be a physical version that we're going to send in the mail the
old-fashioned way. Throughout the class,
you can follow along with the workbook
that I've created. We're going to look
at our own work. We're going to figure
out what you're best at. We're going to focus on what we really want to do
and why and then we're going to also look
at our dream brands and clients, and figure out how you and they fit together to set yourself up for the
best possible pitch. You do not need any previous business
experience to take this class. I'll show you that
you already have all the tools that you
need to be able to pitch. I want you to walk away, not only with pitches
that you can use to go and reach out to those brands that you
have always dreamt of, but also the confidence
to go after those. Let's get started.
2. Why Pitching Works: One thing I wish I knew
when I started my career is that you cannot
sit there and wait. You can't just put your art, put your work on a website, sit there and wait
for people to come, you have to go after the work. You really have to go and
put yourself out there, and that's what I have
learned how to do over time. I've used pitching
throughout my career. First, to get my first couple
of jobs out of college. Next, to be able to land my first few clients when
I started my own business, and then to land one of my biggest deals, which
allowed me to not only expand my business to have a studio but also to
start hiring employees. This class is meant for any creative person looking to grow in whatever it is you do. Maybe you're looking to
start a side hustle, maybe you're looking to
work with bigger brands, maybe you're also
pitching yourself to press or to magazines, you could also be
somebody who has a product line, and
you want to get your product into retail stores. There are so many ways to apply these details of
what I'm going to teach you in putting
together this presentation, this pitch that's going to
help people know who you are, why you stand out, why you're special, and why they should know more about you. Now, it's not just about
sending this thing out, it's also about figuring
out what you do, honing in on what
you're best at, re-looking at your
creative work as either it stands now or what are the types of things
you want to be doing? What are the types of jobs and work you want to
be doing more of? Then we're going to also
look at our dream brands and clients, and figure
out what we can do to work with them or how we can help them with their
business, and then we're going to connect those
things together into creating two different
types of pitches. We also have a great workbook that's going to help you think through some
of your thoughts. Feel free to pause and stop and take your notes as you need
to and then come back. I know for me, sometimes
it's helpful to write things down just
whether it's a sketch, whether it's notes, just
thinking through some of this process to really
dive deep into it. Please feel free to share your
worksheets, your pitches, the projects that
you're working on throughout this class in the project gallery below, and I cannot wait to see what
you're working on. Before we start working on
putting together your pitch, I want to show you the very first one that I put together. I'm going to give
you some context. This was the early 2000, and
so, not only were people super excited to
send things over e-mail and use PDFs
as attachments, things like sending things
to the mail were just not the cool thing
to do at the time. But for me as an art major, as somebody who likes
to make things, who liked to construct things, I used a mix of my digital design skills and my hand skills to put
together a very simple, in my mind, jumbo postcard that had samples of my graphic
design work on it. Now, I mark this up at home, I printed on my printer, mounted it on card stock. I made probably 20 or 30 of these in one day, I remember. I sent this out to
all the companies I wanted to work with. I had no idea if
they were hiring. I had no idea if they were
interested in someone like me. All I knew is that I was
a fan of their brand. I accompanied this
with a letter, a personal letter that talked
about my tie to the brand, why I like them, how
I know about them, something that made it
feel special each time. The crazy thing about
this particular one is that I heard back from
almost every single one. Now, not that they actually
had a job opening, not that they
actually can hire me, but that they really
enjoyed the piece that they received and they appreciated the time that I had put into it. The crazy thing is because
I've also sent out hundreds of resumes online through
job sites before this, you don't hear back for
most people, usually, you only hear if you
actually qualify and they're ready to interview at
that exact moment. So after doing that, I
knew that this works, pitching works,
sending stuff out to people even if they have no
idea you exist, it works. Even if they don't need
you at that moment, if you catch their attention, they will remember you again
in the future. [MUSIC]
3. Kick Self Doubt, Chase Joy: Before we get started,
we're going to do some work to help you
figure out what makes you special, and
make you feel extra confident, and we're going
to kick that self-doubt. I remember when I was first
starting my business, this is back in 2005, and I
was really just thinking, I don't know if I can do this. I have no idea what I'm doing. I remember I was
having a talk with my brother-in-law, who also majored in graphic design
and studied advertising. The words that he said to me are something that I
will never forget, and I always think
about all the time. He looked at me, and he said, who says you can't? I was like, me? I'm the one who says I can't. He's like exactly,
because the thing is, when we have self-doubt, when we don't think
we can do something, it's not usually the
people around us who are telling us that, it's
usually ourselves. It's us thinking we're
not qualified enough. It's thinking that we don't
know what we're doing. We don't have
business experience. We didn't go to business
school, all of those things. Why should somebody hire us? Why should we be the ones who could have our
own businesses? Who could get that new job? Who could get that promotion? Whatever it might be. So here's the time now to remember, if you ever
have self-doubt. What is that word in there? It's the self part. Remove that part and the
doubt part will also go away. As you get more confident
in what you can offer, when you remind yourself
what you can offer, you will be so much more
ready to tackle going after all of the new things
that you want to go after. Remember that
workbook I mentioned, I want you to get it out, and let's start
looking through it. Here's an exercise I
want you to work on to help kick self-doubt. We're going to think about all
those things you've always wanted to do but
haven't gone after. I'll give you an example. Back in the early 2000s, when I was at my second job, I knew I wanted to
have a line at Target. Now, you said that out loud. You think it in your mind, you think that sounds crazy. I mean, it's just
one of those dreams that you have in your
mind. Then guess what? Over a decade later, I had my own line at Target. What are some things
you've always wanted to do but felt impossible? Let's write them down right now. Next, write down five
people you think are doing an amazing job
in their work right now. It can be so easy to compare ourselves to
other people. I get it. I do it all the time, while it might be fueled
by envy and might sometimes make us feel not
as great about ourselves. I want you to spin that. I want you to look at
it as inspiration. These five people
are killing it. They're doing amazing things. Why? What is it
they're doing that makes you feel you want
to do something similar? What is it that inspires you
to go to the next level? Here's an example of five people that I'm really
inspired by right now. Number 1 is Mikaela
Pabon, who is a mom, influencer, fashion
designer in Brooklyn. I love that she's
authentically her. She's just dressing colorfully, doing her thing, loving life, being joyful, and I
love that so much. Aww.sam is located in Texas. She has such a great vintage, 60s and 70s-inspired style. The cool thing about
her is she decided to learn how to make these
really cute cakes. I'm so inspired the fact
that she's not a baker, and she just figured out
how to do it on her own. Rachel Burke is an
artist in Australia. She's making these
pieces that seems so over the top to some people, but they are so
amazing and so unique. Hilton Carter, who
is a plant stylist. He's just made plants cool. I love the fact of
when somebody can make something that seems so
ordinary, so extraordinary. Finally, Jonathan Adler, who was an OG in the
modern design world, not only with his
ceramics and his stores all over the country,
but also, he does so many licensing projects
with other brands that it's very inspiring for me as somebody who also
does licensing. Now, what do these five
people have in common? This is the point of this
exercise because you can start to see based
on who you pick. For me, when I looked at
this list of five people, everybody has a very
specific aesthetic, and they're owning it. They are owning their style, they are owning their voice, they are owning what
they are all about. So it's a reflection and
a reminder to me, hey, Joy, don't try to be
everything to everyone. Remember who you are, remember what you're good at, and remember what you
can bring to the table. So show me who your five are. Share it in the project gallery, I really want to see who is
inspiring you right now. We've talked about
kicking self-doubt. Let's dive into
knowing who you are.
4. Know Who You Are: We've kicked self-doubt. Next step is to know who we are and what we
bring to the table. As you get more confident
in what you can offer, when you remind yourself
what you can offer, you will be so much more
ready to tackle going after all of the new things
that you want to go after. So in your workbook,
I want you to look at some of the questions
that I'm asking you, and I want you to
think about them. Feel free to pause when you need to, but let's
go through them. The first one is the
classic elevator pitch, but I hate that word
because it sounds so cheesy so the way that I'm
asking you about it is, if you met somebody at a party, what would you tell
them that you do? Here's the thing. I came
up with this question because I always
have this problem. Especially when you're
a creative person, it can sometimes be hard to
define what your job is, especially if you do lots
of different things. Usually, I try to
say something like, I have a lifestyle
brand called Oh Joy. Half of what I do is design, where I work with brands
on licensing projects, I help to design products that they carry in their stores, and half of it, is social media. I create content on social
media and I work with brands to do fun
videos and photos, and that usually gives
enough of an explanation. So let me hear what you do. Next, I want you to
think about what defines your style or work and
what makes you special. This is going to
come in handy later, when you're putting
together your pitch because you really want to
be braggy about what you do. You want to show
people how you shine. One thing that I have to remind myself all the time is that you can't be everything
to everyone. I know there has been some
jobs I've had in the past, as a freelance graphic
designer where I took a job from a company that aesthetically
really wasn't mine, and you know what, it
didn't go so well. I took it because
it was a paycheck, and sometimes, you have
to take a paycheck. But also, once you get more
developed in your style and you know who you
are, and you know where your work is
really going to shine, it's going to help
you be happier in the long run and your clients. What are some of your
weaknesses in your work? These are some things that
maybe you're not as strong at. Sometimes it could be a
certain style that you can do, but maybe it's not as
strong as another style, or it could just be some things that
you're playing around with that maybe haven't
been as developed yet. It's good to assess
those things as well. Now, what are your
strengths in your work? This part is going to
come extra in handy for the pitch because we definitely want to
focus on our strengths, whether that's a
strength for these types of style of work we do, maybe we're an illustrator, and there's one style
we're really strongest at, and one that we're
still working on. This is where we're going to
parse that out a little bit. These exercises are
really meant to help you figure out who you are,
what your work is, what your strengths are, and all the things that
we're going to take later into building our pitch
to show off to brands. Now we're going to
start researching our dream clients.
5. Research Your Dream Clients: This is where we get into some really fun research about our dream brands. So
here's the thing. You could totally
send out pitches and examples of your
work to anybody, to everybody if you want. But as somebody who has
been an employer before, who has gotten resumes, who has gotten portfolios, who has gotten
things sent to me, I can tell when somebody
is sending something to me just for a
shot in the dark, just to see if maybe
I'm interested. But I can also tell whether
they're not the right fit and when they really
have not researched it. When they have no idea. So to me, it shows that you
haven't done your research. It shows that you don't really know what the
brand is about or maybe don't have a strong
sense of your own style. So it doesn't help
anything to send something out to a brand that does not
feel like the right fit. So that's why I'd
rather have you focus on the brands
that really are the best fit for your work, and where you can bring
the most value to them. This is going to increase our chances of not
only getting noticed, but getting a response, and potentially, getting
to work with them. I want you to think about
what are the companies that you would love to
work for or work with. This could be a
list of 5, 10, 20. I've put some space here
for you to write them down. Write down what they are, and also what value you can add. Now, this is a really
great way to connect, not only what we're good at, what our strengths are, and then also thinking about
how they relate to when it comes to these companies
we want to work with. We've made our very first
list of dream brands. Now, I want you to narrow
down to your top five. These are the ones
that feel like, "Yes, I still really want to
work with them and yes, I feel like I have
value to add." Then we're going to start
doing some research. Have they worked with
people like you before? Maybe you're a photographer. Maybe you're an illustrator. Maybe you're a surface
pattern designer and you want to work with them on putting patterns
on a brand sneakers. See if they've worked with
other artists like you. See if they've worked with
freelancers like you, because that will
give you a sense of if they're open to it. If it's something that
they do naturally. Now, just because they haven't, doesn't mean they won't, but it's good for you to know
in the back of your mind, also gives you good
context for a brand. If you eventually are
going to talk with them, you want to know a little bit about their history
and what they do. Now we're onto the next
step of getting ready to think about actually
sending them something. We need to figure
out who the boss is, who is the person in charge
of potentially hiring you, meeting with you, being
interested in you? Is that a creative director? Is that a marketing person? Find the contact either
on their website. You can poke around
on social media. Sometimes I'll go on their Instagram to
DMs and you can ask. Another thing you can do, which not a lot of people
think about these days, is you can actually
just call the company, get the phone number, somebody at the front desk
or receptionist will answer. If you ask, most of the time, they will give you the contact. Write that down, find out
where they're located, find out who the
right person is, email, phone number, and
you'll have that all here to reference back when you're ready to send out your pitch. You have your top list of the people and the brands
you want to pitch to. If you need to, pause the
video, fill that out, make sure you have
everything you need because next we're going to start
developing our pitch.
6. Develop Content For Your Pitch: I want to go over
all the basics of the things that you need
to go into your pitches. Now, number one,
before we start this, you should already
have a website which I think you all
do, but if you don't, you need some web presence, whether it's your social
media that shows off your work or a basic site. Next, we want to make
sure that for our pitch, we have an About section. The About section
is going to be, as you guessed it, about you. We want something short, clever, and clear, and also feel free to note anything else that
makes you special. One thing you don't
want to do here is tell your whole life story. We don't need to hear a huge long paragraph about your history
of too many things. It's really about who
you are right now in the work that you do and why you would be
interesting to a brand. We want a photo of you. It could also be you
doing your work. Let's say you're a mural artist and you're painting a mural, that's a great option as well. If you don't have a
photo, get one taken. You can hire a
professional photographer, find a friend who's
good with a camera, something that speaks
to your personality, that is clear,
beautiful, does the job. Now, here is how I
did my bio page. It has information
about me as a designer, about my brand, and also what the brand is known
for. Work samples. One of the hardest things
sometimes for creatives to do is to edit down work samples. For this pitch, we're not
showing our entire portfolio, that's what your website is for, that's what your
Instagram is for. Here, we're going to narrow
it down to about five to ten, and this is going
to depend on how your pitch ends up
coming together, but that's a good
ballpark number. Also, make sure you are only
showing work that you love. We've all done projects and work that maybe aren't
our favorite things, but we did it
because it was part of our job and it
was a paycheck, but it doesn't mean it was
our most favorite thing ever. Show only the things you love, because when you show those, you're going to get more
of that type of work. But remember, we will also
want to be able to customize it for each brand that we
contact as it makes sense. Because let's say you're
contacting a fashion brand versus an athletic brand
versus an educational brand, we might need to show
different work to different companies based on
who we're reaching out to. Here, in this case, because I'm pitching to another brand to work with
them on licensing products, I'm showing some
of my favorites. This crosses
different categories. You can see I have dog clothes, I have home decor items, I have tissue boxes,
band-aids, luggage, shoes. This is the, hey, here's a summary of
the work I've done before within this context. Now, here's a page
that gives you an idea of what if
you're reaching out to a specific brand
in a specific category. These would be great examples
to show if I was going to pitch to another
clothing brand for something else or
something similar, maybe it was a fitness
brand for activewear, it doesn't have to be
the same exact thing because you're not going to
always have those examples. But anything that feels close, anything that feels like
it has the general idea, is helpful for brands to
be able to visualize. Now, what happens if
you don't have examples within the category or within the type of
work you want to do? That's okay too. Showing past work, as
long as your work is concise and it feels like it has an aesthetic
and it's cohesive, you are going to show
the brand what you can do without it being
an exact example. The show-off page, this to me is your social
media on active accounts. Don't put it there if
you haven't updated it, and also any press. That could be if you were
included in a magazine, if you were written
up on a blog, if there was some article
written about you, or if you had your
work in a gallery, you did some great show, anything to brag about. For some of us, I
know it's super hard, but this is the place to do it. For me, it's focused
mostly on magazines. I love magazines, I think it's so cool to be mentioned in one. I try to make sure it's a mix of different types of magazines. Also, here's another
area that you can customize depending on who
you're reaching out to. If I'm reaching out to
a home decor magazine, it's pretty cool that I was
on the cover of Domino, but if I'm reaching
out to another genre, another category, you can customize it as it
makes sense for them. Next, I'm going into
my social media reach, which is part of my brag page. If you have a good
social media presence, you should always put this
in because these days, when brands look at your work, they're also looking at what
you can bring to the table. If they want to work with you and it's something
where they want to launch a collection or do
something public with you, they want to know
that you can bring your audience to this as well. This page for me is
our demographics page, it shows our audience,
who we can reach. This may or may not
be relevant for you, but know that it is helpful. If you are a content creator or an influencer and you're trying to reach out to
brands to show them, hey, I reach this audience of this gender or
this age range. Here's another page that
you don't need right now, but at some point in the future could be really helpful for you. I gathered this page
of testimonials from past partners, clients, brands that I've worked with, who had great
things to say about me and my company and our
time working together. Finally, some information that tells people how to
contact you directly. You won't believe
how many emails I've received with
people's pictures, that have no contact
info, no website, it just tells me something but I have no
way of reaching them. You want to make sure you
list your email address, list your phone number if
you do have one and you're okay with potential
clients calling you there, make sure it is somewhere. It could be anywhere,
right here. I have it on the very last
page as a final ending page, but you can also put
it on the front page, or some people like to put
it throughout on every page, maybe in the
bottom-right corner. Ideally, don't have a form
only contact on your website. You want to make sure that
there is something clear that if someone wants to
contact you directly, they know your email address, they know how to
get a hold of you. We've gone through what the content of your
pitch should be, so now let's get into
actually designing it.
7. Design a Digital Pitch: What we're going
to go into next is pulling together all
these components, all this information
into a very first pitch. What you can see
is, I've laid this out on Adobe InDesign. You can use whatever program
works for you if you are familiar with InDesign or
Illustrator or Photoshop, or if you're not necessarily
well-versed in any of those, something like Canva is really great because it
makes it really easy for you to be able to put
together something on your own. This is formatted to
be able to be printed out so that just in case
someone gets it as a PDF, they want to see a
physical version, even though you're emailing it, you're making in a format
that makes it easy for them. I have mine 8.5 by 11, but it's horizontal,
sitting this way. The very first page is just visual images
that you get the vibe, you get the idea of who I am
and what my aesthetic is. As you can see, I've created
a simple, clean design. It's really about
letting your work shine. Whatever your layout is, have something that
feels cohesive, it feels intentional,
but don't overthink it, focus on the work which
is the star of the show. Now, this is my base PDF pitch. I call this the base because this is going to
be like your template. This is going to be
where you start, but the idea is that
once you create yours, there are areas where you can customize it for every brand
that you're reaching out to. For example, this page
that has pieces from my most recent
fashion collection. This is meant for a clothing brand or is
meant for an apparel brand, but you can change
this as you need to. The way that I've set
it up is that it is easy to swap out
these images for other images depending on what the category is and depending
on who you're talking to. In your workbook, there's
a page for you to sketch out your ideas
for this digital pitch. Now, if you're somebody
who likes to work on computer or who
likes to go straight to computer like I do, feel free to start there
in whatever program feels comfortable for you but it might be great if you just want to get
your ideas out there or start a general template to sketch it out first.
It's up to you. Regardless of what
program you use, you're going to want to export this when you're done
and it feels good to go as a PDF and also
check the file size. Sometimes especially when the
PDFs have a lot of images, the file size can
get pretty big. Mine typically end up
being 20 and 30 megs, which is a little bit
too big to email. So what you can do in
Adobe is make sure you save it in a lower
resolution version. You don't want it to be so low that it looks
pixelated on screen, but there's going
to be some setting that you can figure out that's going to bring it down
to maybe under five megs, that is a good size. It should still be
clear on screen, but something that's
very easily emailable. You want to make
sure that it's very easy for everyone and nobody
has issues opening it, because if they do, they're
probably just going to ignore it and not even
bother looking at it. Then what I like to
do is I'd like to open it up in Adobe. I just want to make sure that everything has
translated nicely, your images are there,
your fonts are there. Save the file in a way
that you can remember. Also, I like to put the
year and the month as well because you will
update it and you will inevitably have
multiple versions, so make sure it's clear for you. It's also very helpful later in the future when you
want to send out and they want to know when the
last one was that you made. We've built out
our digital pitch and now I want to
show you how to translate that into a physical
analog version. [MUSIC]
8. Design a Physical Pitch: We just created
our digital pitch. Now, that was a
great template and a great starter for
now transitioning into making a physical version that we can send in the mail. Let me show you how. I'm
taking my digital pitch, the version that I made, as a PDF, and now, I'm
going to reorganize it a little bit into an
accordion style booklet. So I'm taking some
of the major pages, bringing it down
into a smaller size. Then I'm going to mock it
up onto a physical booklet. For me, the version that I
did is based on bookmaking. I love making books. So this was how I
translated mine into something that
somebody can hold, look at, get in the mail. You do what makes sense for you. If you know how to collage, you know how to
paint, you know how to do all different things, feel free to make it as
long as it's something that can be sent in the mail. Here you have the
printed pages from my physical pitch that
I have printed out. I have my front cover, I have my bio page, I have a recap of
some of my past work, I have examples of recent
things that might be notable, and I have my
notables press page. Also for this version, I have created a
letter that is built in to my accordion
style booklet. This is where I'm going
to be able to change it every single time, depending
on who I'm reaching out to. Everything that I
use materials-wise, I already had at home. I'm using a printer, printer paper, I have my ruler, X-Acto knife, tape, various adhesives to attach to the printer paper to a
slightly thicker card stock. So those are the
things that I need. As you think about your ideas, think about your
materials as well, and things that you might need. I cut out those
pieces that you saw. I spent some time assembling
it, and you can see my almost completed booklet
that is one piece here. Now, the last piece I
have goes right here, which is my customized letter. So I have this here. This is specific to someone
I'm sending a pitch to. Again, I will use this as
a template to customize it every single time for
a different brand. So my last step will
be to apply this, and then it will be
finished and ready to go. Here's the last piece
to assemble from my accordion style booklet
for my physical pitch. Remember, the key thing is for your pitch to be memorable. I want to show you examples of things that I've received in the past that I have kept
because they're just cool, they're inspiring in some way, and they showed me what
that person can do. Now, most of these
are printed on paper, but people used paper
in such unique ways. Sometimes it was a
thicker card stock. Well, this has a
piece of tape on it. Sometimes they were
small booklets. Sometimes it was a
giant fold-out piece. You can do things with dye cut. Again, so many
different formats, even just the way you change at the size of a standard
booklet makes it feel extra special or the way you use black ink on colorful paper. It's a great way to show
a miniature version of your portfolio to show
people what you can do, and again, to show what
you bring to the table. Now remember, you don't
have to limit yourself to paper or printing things
out or making a book, you can do whatever
makes sense for you. Whether it's painting,
whether it's a sculpture, whether you want to
make a Jack-in-the-box, anything that would
be fun, inspiring. The most important thing
is to get their attention, show what you can do,
and surprise them. One more thing to keep in mind, don't just send it
in a white envelope, in a brown paper box. Let's make it special. Decorate that envelope. If you can do calligraphy, if you have some
great hand lettering, paint on the box, do something that's going to stand out so that when
people receive that package, before they even open it, they want to know what's inside. Now that we've finished
the physical pitch, we're going to get
ready to send it out. But before you do that, snap a photo, share it
in the project gallery. I can't wait to see
what you're working on.
9. Send Your Pitch Out: [MUSIC] Let's be real. It
might take 100 pitches to land, ten solid connection. So let's make sure we
give it a solid send-off. Sending off means crafting the
perfect letter or email to make sure you're getting across what it is that you're wanting. Let's go through a checklist
of things that are very important for this letter. Number one, you want the name of the person
that you're contacting. We're not doing, 'To whom it may concern.' We're not doing. Dear, sir. Dear,
Ma'am, none of that. We want the actual
person's name. Next you want to make a
connection to the brand. If you have a personal story
or memory about the brand, here is your chance to share it. You want to share
an intro to you. Who are you? What do you do? Next, say what you want. What is it that
you're asking for? What is it that you
want to do with them? I can't tell you how many
emails I received that says, hey Joe, I'd love to collab. What does collab mean? I have no idea. If they don't spell it out, there could be so many
possibilities. Don't leave it to the person who's
receiving your letter to guess, tell them what you want. Finally, close it. Thank them for their time, tell them how they
can connect with you. Is it your phone
number, is your email, make sure you leave a website and any links to
relevant social media. In the workbook, I've
typed up a couple of sample letters for
you to reference. The first one is going to be the very first contact point. Either that's written
or typed out in your physical pitch or it's in an email if you are
attaching a digital pitch. This is where you want all of those components that
we just talked about. Here's an example, Dear Sophie.
I've got the name there. I've been a big fan of Urban Outfitters since the
mid 90s when I would beg my parents to let me drive
into downtown Philly to go shop at your
first flagship store. The brand resonated with me
then and continues to today. Now, there's the
personal connection. I'm a freelance graphic designer specializing in surface pattern design. I would love to share my work with you should
you be looking to hire any surface pattern designers
in the near future. Now here I combine
two things together. I said who I am, what I do, and also what I want. I've attached a PDF of my
work for your reference. I would love to
meet in-person or virtually to discuss
any opportunities. This part is telling
you my call to action, but also the fact that
I'm nearby and I can meet up with the person should they
be interested in meeting. Thanks for your time
and consideration. And then I've put a link to my website and my
Instagram so they can easily find more of me should they be
interested. Here we go. We have all the pieces, you are ready to send
those pitches out. Now, it might make sense to
send some only digitally. It might make sense to send
some in the physical mail first and then follow up
with the digital version. It's really going to
depend on what you do and who you're contacting but I always say if the physical version makes
sense for you and your work, definitely do that, because you can always send the digital version
as a follow-up. Go out there, figure
out how many is realistic for you to
send on this first go. Is it five, is it ten, is it 50? Then do your first patch, wait a little bit,
do another batch, and then just keep going. It can feel really vulnerable. You've put all this
work and energy into crafting these pieces, into putting together a pitch, into putting yourself out
there, and you're just waiting to see if
somebody is interested, if somebody wants
to work with you. It can be nerve wracking. I totally agree. What I want you to do is
remember that this will pay off. You are going to get
something in response. It might not right away be
the exact thing you want, but I promise you that you will get somebody coming back to you, with interests of some
sort that you can turn into your next thing. Once you have this down, once you have this
template and this format, it's going to be easy for you. Every single time
you come across a new brand you
want to work with, you want to work for, you can
put one together for them, boom, and send it out. [MUSIC]
10. Create a Fanciful Follow Up: [MUSIC] It's been a week
or two since you've sent out that email, that physical cool piece in
the mail. What do you do? I know that I always think, how long should I wait?
What should I do? I usually say give it two weeks
from the time that you've sent something out that you
know somebody has received. Give it two weeks
before a follow-up. You do want to follow up
because you know what, you really never know if someone got your email
lost in their spam folder, if that piece of mail is just sitting on their desk and
they haven't opened it, so it's a good reminder. You know what? You don't
know if you don't try. Check out the workbook for a sample follow-up email that I have crafted as
an example for you. It's short and sweet and simple and it
gets to the point, and just reminds them, hey, I'm here, I'm still interested. Now, what do you do? You are getting a response. You get a call or an email
from someone who has received your pitch and is interested in
working with you. Now, amazing news, of course. Best-case scenario, yes, Joy, we want to work with
you, we're going to do exactly what you said, let's get going,
here's a contract. It's going to happen, but there's also stuff in
the middle that happens. Sometimes people come
back to you and they say, hey, we got what you sent, it's super cool, we love it. We don't really have
a project right now, we don't have space for a
collaboration right now, we don't have budget right now. These are all words
you've heard before, but at least they
know who you are, they now know your name, they now know your work. Great. Make sure when you're responding, you show interest, you show appreciation, and also keep them in mind. If somebody has shown
interest in you, it's okay for you to come
back to them in a month, in a couple of months, in the next quarter and say, hey, just checking back to see
if things have changed, to see if you need a designer, to see if you need
a photographer, to see if the marketing
budget has changed and they now want to work with
you as a content creator. Remember, it might not happen right away the second
they receive your pitch, but the fact that
they've noticed you is amazing and it's
something that will help you to come back
and keep fresh in their mind when they are ready
to work with you. [MUSIC]
11. Final Thoughts: [MUSIC] You've made it
to the end of the class. I'm so proud of us. We have deep-dived
into our brands. Figured out who we are. Researched the brands
you want to work with. We've created a couple of
different versions of pitches. We've sent them out
into the world. I guarantee you so much
is going to come of it. Now, remember all the work that we've put into
this, the research, the brainstorming, the physical, tangible, putting
together of this pitch. This whole process is
about [inaudible] . We can do it over and over again. That's not just making multiple copies or sending
out 100 different versions. It's also the idea that it
will evolve as you grow, as your brand grows, as you change what
you want to do. The pitches that I
put together back in 2001 when I just
graduated from college, look way different than
ones I'm putting together today but all the
components are the same. The things I'm getting
across are the same but what has evolved is
who I'm contacting, what it is I'm asking for, what are the things that
I want to put out there into the world
that I want to do. This process is going
to be something that's going to change the way that you approach getting work
from now going forward. It's going to make
you more proactive, it's going to make
you dream bigger, and it's going to
make you realize that you have to ask
for what you want, and you can't wait for
people to come to you. No matter what your art form is, what your EDM is, what type of work you do, you can apply that
to your pitches. Don't forget to share with me in the project gallery all the
things you're working on. I can't wait to see what comes from all of
your amazing pitches.
Joy Cho, Founder & Creative Director of Oh Joy!
