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Cold email for content marketing agencies.

This is the cold email plan we'd run for a content marketing agency that serves one industry. This page is about content that helps a company sell. Guides and reports and case studies and the pieces a sales team sends to buyers. It is less about rankings and more about trust.

Part 01

Is this for you?

Part 02

Your market.

Your market is every company in your industry that sells on expertise. Buyers take a long time to decide and they want proof the company knows its stuff before they talk to anyone.

The signals are all on their website and their LinkedIn pages.

  1. 01

    No case studies

    Their site lists clients and shows no stories about them. A company with happy clients and no case studies is leaving its best proof unused.

  2. 02

    An empty resources page

    A resources page with two old PDFs or no resources page at all. Buyers doing research find nothing to read.

  3. 03

    Experts who speak and never publish

    The founder spoke at a conference or went on a podcast and none of it made it onto the site. Listen Notes shows the podcast appearances.

  4. 04

    Good posts on LinkedIn and nothing on their site

    Their people write good things on LinkedIn. None of it lives anywhere the company owns.

  5. 05

    A launch with no launch content

    A new product or service on the site with a single paragraph describing it. Nobody wrote the guide that explains why it matters.

  6. 06

    A growing sales team

    Several open sales roles on LinkedIn or Indeed. New reps need material to send and someone has to write it.

Part 03

Lead list.

At smaller companies the founder or the head of marketing decides. At bigger ones it is the content lead or product marketing.

Part 04

Lead magnet.

  1. 01

    Report outline

    An outline for a research report they could publish by surveying their own clients. The chapter titles and the survey questions and the finding the survey is designed to test.

    It works because a report is the kind of thing buyers save and share.

    Walk through it on a 15 minute call. The survey questions only work when they match what their clients care about and they know that better than anyone. The survey and the writing are the job.

  2. 02

    Case study questions

    The interview questions you'd ask their best client and the outline of the story that comes out of it.

    It works because they can picture the finished piece with their own client in it.

    Go through the questions on a call because they'll know which client will say yes and what that client will be happy to share. The next step is booking the interview.

Part 05

Front end offer.

  1. 01

    One case study written free

    They make the introduction to one happy client. You run the interview and write the story and design it. They pay nothing.

    It works because a case study is proof they can send to each new prospect for years. It also shows them your whole process from the first question to the finished piece.

    It starts with a 20 minute call to pick the client and the angle. Deliver it within two weeks of the interview.

Part 06

Emails by segment.

Each segment gets its own email because a specific email gets more replies than a general one. Split each segment by sub-industry too so the examples in the email fit the reader.

Keep each email under 100 words with one reason for writing and one line of proof and one offer and one question. The proof lines are examples of the kind of result to use. Swap in real results of your own before anything goes out.

  1. 01

    No case studies

    Lead with the client logos on their own site and the stories missing behind them. Offer the free case study.

  2. 02

    Speakers with nothing published

    Lead with the talk or the podcast episode and the guide it could become. Offer the outline.

  3. 03

    New launches

    Lead with the launch and the material a buyer would need. Offer the report outline.

  4. 04

    Growing sales teams

    Lead with the open roles and the material those reps will ask for. Ask for a call directly.

Part 07

Follow ups.

Send two follow ups in the same thread three to five days apart.

Part 08

From reply to meeting.

Each reply should end in a booked meeting that actually happens. The lead magnet and the offer get delivered on that call and never go out as a file to read later.

The replies below cover the three ways people say yes.

  1. 01

    Lead magnet reply

    They asked for the outline. The call shapes it around their clients.

  2. 02

    Front end offer reply

    They want the free case study. The call picks the client and the angle.

  3. 03

    Direct call reply

    They said yes to a call. Tell them what they'll leave with so they show up.

How much to expect.

Results aren't guaranteed and nobody honest can promise a number before the first emails go out. A few things decide how a campaign does.

The first few weeks show how the market responds. The list and the copy and the offer get sharper from there.

Want this run for you?

We build and run this campaign for one agency per industry.

This page is a starting point and a strategy we'd happily test ourselves. Working together gives us more context on your agency. That context lets us add better strategies and build better lists and offers and automations for you.

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Thirty minutes on your market and how we'd reach it.

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