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My secret cold email strategy

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App Masters11:59Open on YouTube
Chapters show their main points

The bottom line

Cold pitch an influencer by opening with a personal detail from an older Instagram photo, then go straight into your pitch. It shows real research, stands out from the Twitter references everyone uses, and has won replies from Lifehacker, Product Hunt and Apple.

Key takeaways

  • Instagram is more personal and less crowded than Twitter. 0:56
    • People post family, food and vacation photos there, while Twitter holds broader public talk.
    • Some reporters have tens of thousands of followers on Twitter but only a few hundred on Instagram.
  • A Twitter reference reads as too obvious. 2:36
    • The editor-at-large of The Next Web called an opener like I hope you're over that cold a bad pitch, because it only repeats a tweet.
    • Everyone can search Twitter, so a mention there shows little effort.
  • Pick an older photo, not one of the most recent. 7:43
    • Scrolling down to a photo seven weeks old proves you did more than grab the first post.
    • Past hooks were a dead rattlesnake on a bike trail for Lifehacker and a Halloween costume for Product Hunt.
  • Build the email around the photo and keep the app out of the subject line. 8:36
    • The subject line was just awesome Christmas sweater.
    • The first line says where you saw it ("on IG"), then the pitch follows right away.
  • The approach gets replies, but no single tactic works on every journalist. 6:00
    • A reporter who never answered earlier pitches replied warmly to the rattlesnake email and mentioned a possible roundup post.
    • An Apple contact reached this way asked to hear about the game two weeks before release.

Most of the time I want to stay away from these most recent photos because it's too obvious, it's too easy.

Steve P. Young

Chapter summaries

0:00 Why a cold pitch works through Instagram

Instagram gives a cold pitch a personal way in that most senders skip.

  • A cold pitch built on Instagram almost always gets a reply. 0:41
    • A Lifehacker writer said she would look at the app.
    • She offered to pitch it to a Product Hunt moderator.
    • Young already knew a moderator but chose her, because she fit his client better.
    • He read her Instagram feed first to decide what to say.
    • Content is easier to make for Twitter and Facebook, which carry broader topics.

2:30 Testing the idea on a journalist

A light, human detail from a photo shows research without feeling like spying.

  • A personal mention proves the email is not a mass send. 3:41
    • Photos on Instagram make it easier to find a connection worth mentioning.
    • The detail goes in the subject line, so the email stands out.
    • Young wrote the email himself, and the developer sent it.
    • The body said he loved what the reporter covers, then showed the app and how it differs.
  • Humor keeps the detail friendly, but no rule fits every journalist. 4:55
    • Martin found the dead snake a fun talking point and not creepy.
    • What annoys or hooks a reporter differs from person to person.
    • The goal is to avoid sounding like looking through your window.
    • Instagram sits one level deeper than Twitter, and a photo is likelier to be something good.

6:00 Finding a photo worth mentioning

A short search for the right account and a deep scroll turns an Instagram feed into a personal opener.

  • An Instagram opener shows more effort than a Twitter one. 6:22
    • Martin liked the idea because it was more creative than Twitter.
    • He called the usual Twitter approach very very boring.
    • The reporter who never answered earlier pitches replied positively once the email mentioned the rattlesnake.
  • A Google search for the name plus "Instagram" finds the account fastest. 6:51
    • Do this once you know which reporter or influencer to pitch.
    • An about-me page or a personal website often links to the account too.
  • Scroll past the recent posts until something personal stands out. 7:43
    • Skipping the top posts avoids the easy pick and forces real research.
    • The feed in the demo held family shots, workouts and food before the Christmas sweater turned up.

8:48 Writing the email around it

The opener names the photo and the pitch follows at once, so the email stays personal without wasting the reader's time.

  • The opener credits the source, adds a little praise, then pitches. 8:48
    • Say you saw it on IG, mention you follow their podcast or blog, then ask for feedback on the app.
    • Sharing that you own the same sweater adds a personal touch.
    • The joke is that saying where you found it keeps you from sounding like a stalker.
  • The same formula works without a photo. 10:20
    • For The Next Web, the subject line congratulated the editor on a new ASO course.
    • The pitch followed straight after.
  • A Product Hunt moderator who got a cold pitch submitted the app. 10:53
    • The same email template was used on her.
    • The subject line and first paragraph say nothing about the app.

In the growth library

Steve P. Young, Founder of App Masters, app marketing consultant and host. Cold outreach to reporters and influencers works better when the opener references something personal found deep in their Instagram feed instead of an obvious tweet. Steve used it to get replies from someone at Lifehacker, a Product Hunt contact who submitted an app, and a contact at Apple.

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Transcript297 lines
0:00

coming up in this video I'm gonna share my super-secret hush-hush way of reaching out to an influencer completely cold it's a strategy I've used to pitch somebody at Lifehacker producthunt and even Apple and it works like a charm stay tuned what is up app nation it is Steve P young and I'm gonna share my super-secret way of reaching out into to an influencer and it is using Instagram so before I share my strategy about how to use Instagram and reach out to an influencer or reporter completely cold and get actually get a response it's almost guaranteed that I've gotten a response using this strategy it's I want to share with you why Instagram so number one is that we're sharing more intimate stuff we as a content creators on Instagram we're sharing photos of our family photos of our food photos of our vacation things are a really intimate to us whereas Twitter maybe possibly even Facebook we're sharing more broad stuff

1:15

you know things that we may be interested in we're talking about cold and it becomes easier to create that content on Twitter than it is on Instagram and also number two is because there's not usually a big following that we have on Instagram compared to Twitter right these are the more public platforms Facebook is a little bit more private while it's becoming more public I think with when you compare it with Twitter we have a huge following but on Instagram it's probably 10% of that fall I know a few reporters that are in the thousands tens of thousands of followers on Twitter but maybe just a few hundred on Instagram and so it's a really great way to make that connection when you're going completely cold I've used a strategy to actually pitch somebody at Lifehacker who responded and said hey you know I'm gonna consider looking at your app and pitching a moderator a product hunt so I know a moderator but I wanted for a

2:11

client of mine I wanted to pitch somebody else because that I thought it was a better fit and we looked at her instagrams beat stream and then figured out what to say in that pitch and lastly I've actually used it to reach out to somebody at Apple completely cold now he's become a contact of mine I pitched a new game that I'm working on and he actually said let me know two weeks before it's released so fingers crossed but I shared this strategy oh let me give you example why don't use Twitter you shouldn't be using Twitter anymore because I interviewed the editor at The Next Web the editor-at-large at The Next Web it's a big time guy and he's giving me an example of a bad PR pitch and it started with hey Martin I hope you're over that cold that I saw on Twitter so I thought hey you're building that personal connection you're kind of doing a little bit of research on Twitter and on the reporter but Martin said look

3:06

it's too obvious right you're just referencing something I tweeted about you don't know that much about me yet because Twitter is too obvious and so I actually shared him the strategy that I used to pitch somebody at Lifehacker and I'm gonna share this story with you in the recording and his response to my story in this video so check it out here's something that we've done in the past and it's actually gotten a response but we'll we'll look at a person's Instagram and kind of just do a little bit of research so yeah I've always found that if I mentioned something about you personally it shows that I've done a little bit of research rather than I'm sending the same email to every single person so that's why I'm like okay well let me do a little bit of research maybe I look on Instagram because it's a lot of photos there try to find a connection here some worth mentioning and then put that on you tell

4:02

me this good pack of the bad practice so the subject line is completely different about Instagram or something I saw so I'll give you the example hey one reporter that we were trying to pitch saw a dead rattlesnake or snake on the on his bike ride he liked cycling so I said okay crazy rattlesnake I would've stayed away from it that's the subject line and I told the developer to pitch this I didn't pitch it I wrote the email though I said okay all right okay I'm just gonna pretend to you mourn Martin hey crazy rattlesnake that's like I would never get around it hey you're love what do you cover but here's our app here's how it's different is that creepy or what do you think about that because although I said earlier that those kind of things can be creepy you know like oh I hope you're cold get got better because I saw a tweet about it three weeks ago that that rattlesnake example isn't quite so

4:55

bad for some reason it's like a bit more of a fun talking point which is why it's just so it's a minefield and it's so different for every journalist in terms of the actual specifics of what will annoy them or what will make them open an email that there are low golden hard and fast rules but I'd say at least I showed a bit more humor and and wasn't like it didn't call it feel to it I didn't make it feel too much like oh I'm I'm looking through your window you know I'm being really creepy yeah and I like Instagram because I don't think a lot of people everybody can search Twitter that's what my analysis was like Oh everybody's probably checking their Twitter feed so if I mentioned Twitter like like everybody knows that right and so I check Instagram it's at least a little level deeper and hopefully I can find something and you're probably sharing something cool because it's a photo rather than just some tweet right

5:53

so I don't know that's why I'm thinking cool and that this funny thing partly I'll just tell you is that I've pitched this guy before never responds he never responds but the developer we use that lets up decline and say hey developer you know email it like this guy and then he actually responded like positively like oh my goodness yeah like that rattlesnake was crazy blah blah and this cool-looking app and I might be doing it a roundup post and so yeah we'll keep this in mind but yeah you did respond positively to that cool so to my surprise actually Martin liked that idea because it showed a little bit more effort now it was being a little bit more creative than what we could have done on Twitter which is very very boring so let me share with you the exact strategy how to really leverage Instagram and cold email one of your influencers whether it's a reporter or an employer that you're trying to get

6:47

ahold of let's go to the screencast alright so here we go for the Instagram strategy so generally what I like to do is once I figured out the right reporter or the right influencer to pitch is search for their name and Instagram so I'm gonna use me as an example because I don't want to expose anybody else that we've already pitched but I will put Steve P Jung Instagram boom I'm able to find it and usually if you just google somebody's name using on Twitter they might find their about me page which has their Instagram account so there are various ways to find it if you find their website you might be able to find the Instagram account on the website but any which way that you want to try to find their Instagram account I found that that Google is probably the best way I'm gonna click on this yep this is the guy such a handsome guy this is the guy that I want to pitch so here's what I want to do most of the

7:45

time I want to stay away from these most recent photos because it's too obvious it's too easy right I don't want to make it so easy for myself really because I want to go deep research so I might stay away from these photos I don't know what the heck he's doing there but it let's go down a little bit more very cute daughter it's got a few workout pages some food shots beautiful wife keep scrolling down OSI Bowl okay there might be something there I'm gonna throw it down just try to see something that might be able to leverage and here I see something so this is a little bit he's wearing a Christmas costume I'm gonna click on it and it looks like it's in the new year so seven weeks ago this is probably a photo that I want to use as sort of the photo dominant pitch so when I'm pitching what I'm gonna say to him in the subject line is awesome Christmas sweater right that's it that's the subject line now I'm gonna use Steve

8:46

awesome Christmas sweater and then the opening sentence in my cold email is gonna be Steve love the Jesus sweater that I saw an I Instagram and it was a funny sweater I actually got mine myself or and you can maybe share that photo if you want but then that's something personal that you can use and then you go into your pitch so what I like to say is a couple of things in the opener is I say I know where I found it zombie a stalker right I say hey great-looking Jesus sweater that I saw on Instagram so IG if you want to be one of the cool kids like I do so that's I say saw the great sweater on IG the Christmas sweater on IG been big fan of your podcast and blog blah blah blah blah and then I go straight into my pitch haip got this app but would love your feedback on and going straight into my page and so that's the great that's the way I've been able to do it for a few other people that I

9:45

shared with a life hacker we saw a he saw a dead rattlesnake on his biking trail and so we used that like whoa crazy rattlesnake for the Instagram for the product time it was a Halloween costume I generally like to go into the older post so that you know I'm just not finding something at the very top I'm actually doing a little bit more work and finding something that's more that's older that it shows I did a little bit more research than just finding the first post that I could finally find and then writing that email so you know like even this you know this I shared this in the past said oh wow I'm gonna be Korean of course for the next web this is you can say hey Steve Congrats on creating the next web course on ASO can't wait for it and then go straight into your pitch that would be the subject line and then go straight into your pitch right so the subject line I have uses stays away from nothing related to the app

10:41

itself or what I'm trying to promote it goes straight into what I see on Instagram the first paragraph is sort of the opener on how I saw this is a photo and then I go straight into my pitch and if you want a sample so I'm actually giving away one of my email templates that I've used on a product hunt moderator you can use the link below and get access to this exact template that I used on a product hunt moderator and while I know somebody we pitched her cold and we got she submitted the app onto product time so if you want that use the link below get access to my free template and then utilize it if you had some success you know leave a comment on this video or email me Steve at at masters CO and let me know how it's gone and let me know that it's you found some success with it as well alright guys if you like it if you like this video if you liked any of my videos so far hit subscribe on YouTube hit the

11:37

like button really appreciate it and then I will see you next week with my that's about ending I'll see you next week see you there we go here we go Pierce des warm up here we go