One of the most important parts of marketing for content marketing writing is also one of the most challenging–finding the right person to send your Letter of Introduction. With consumer and trade publications, you can usually get a response by sending to a generic editor@ email. But with content marketing writing, it is well worth the time to find a real person for your email. In fact, I will go a step further and say that I don’t think it’s worth the effort to customize and send an LOI if you use a generic email. In all of the hundreds of LOIs for content marketing writing that I have sent over the past two years, I have never gotten one response from an email that I sent to a brand’s generic email account.

Here are four ways to find the best person:

1.  Check the company website – Check the company website to see if there is a staff directory or contact list. Ideally, you want to find someone with the word “Content” in their title, such as Content Marketing Strategist or Content Coordinator. When pitching to a content marketing agency, look for a title such as “Director of Editorial” or something that indicates that they manage freelance writers. If it is a small agency, then I would send it to the President or Vice President, since they most likely wear many hats. For brands, if you can’t find someone who works directly with content creation, look for someone in the marketing department.

2.  LinkedIn – Use the LinkedIn advanced search tool to search for the same titles that you looked for on the company website. If you find several people, read through their job descriptions to find the person who seems like they would be the most hands-on with content creation. I have had best luck with mid-level managers as opposed to Directors and Vice Presidents at larger companies. For content marketing agencies, you can also search for the account manager for the brands that you feel are the best fit for your skills. For example, if you are specifically target the Ford brand, see if you can find a staff member who indicates that they work on the Ford account.

Once you find the best person, click on the Contact Information link on their profile to see if they have a work email listed. If not, do a Google search to see if you can find their email address listed somewhere else, perhaps as the contact person on a press release. If you cannot find their direct email address, send them an LOI through LinkedIn Inmail. (Note: If you don’t have the free upgrade which gives you unlimited Inmails, then sign up for the January training through the LinkedIn for Journalists which qualifies you for a premium account.)

3.  Call the brand – If you can’t find a direct email through online research, pick up the phone and call the main number for the brand. Ask the receptionist who handles content marketing for the company and see if they will give you an email address. I prefer to send an email first than just cold call on the phone. If the receptionist doesn’t know what content marketing is, then ask for a contact in the marketing department. For content marketing agencies, ask for the email address of the person who manages freelance writers. This works especially well if you are targeting a specific custom publication for a brand and need the editor for that publication. Chrystle was able to use this technique to get the contact information for the editor of a custom publication that was outsourced to a content marketing company.

4.   Send your LOI to the best email you can find – If you have struck out on all three previous ideas, go back to the website and find any email address for a real person who works at the brand. Sometimes you can find the contact for the media or the head of sales. In your email, put a note at the top that says, “Can you please forward this to the marketing department for me?” I have found that most employees will forward the email to the right person for you. My experience is that sending it to the wrong person is much better than sending it into a generic, black hole email inbox.        

How do you find contact emails? Any tips that you can share?