Elevator pitch examples for writers
An elevator pitch fails when it describes the business instead of giving the listener a reason to ask a second question. These end somewhere the other person can pick up.
Ten of them follow, written for writers rather than filled in from a template. Your customer is an editor or a marketing lead deciding in a minute whether you can write, and what they are weighing up before they get in touch is commissioning someone who misses the brief, or the deadline, or both.
The one-liner
I am a writer in [your town] — I write features and essays and ghostwriting for an editor or a marketing lead deciding in a minute whether you can write.
Use this when you have one sentence and no idea who you are talking to.
Problem first
The thing people worry about with writers is commissioning someone who misses the brief, or the deadline, or both. That is the part I deal with. I am a writer, and you send a brief and a deadline and get a yes or no within a day.
Use this where the problem is instantly recognisable and the service is not.
Names who it is for
I work for an editor or a marketing lead deciding in a minute whether you can write. Mostly features and essays and ghostwriting. If that is not you, you probably know someone.
Use this at an event where most people are not your customer, to find the ones who are.
Credential first
I am a working writer. Published clips you can read, with the outlet and the date, rather than a list of logos. I mostly do features and essays and ghostwriting.
Use this in a room where qualification is the thing that buys attention.
The contrast
Most writers [what the default does]. I am the one that says no quickly when it is not a fit. That is more or less the whole difference.
Use this when your market has a clear default and you are not it.
With a number in it
I am a writer — [number] years, [number] pieces, and I link clips rather than list clients.
Use this when you have a real number. Do not invent one.
The origin
I started because commissioning someone who misses the brief, or the deadline, or both was normal in this trade and it did not need to be. So that is the business: a writer where you send a brief and a deadline and get a yes or no within a day.
Use this when the reason you started is short and true.
Ten seconds
Writer. Features and essays, mostly. [your town].
Use this when someone asks what you do and is already half-turned away.
Ends with the ask
I am a writer doing features and essays and ghostwriting. If you ever hear someone say [the thing your customers say], that is me.
Use this when the point of the conversation is a referral, not a sale.
The warm version
[their question] — I am a writer. The part people usually ask about is hitting the brief and the deadline without being chased.
Use this where the pitch would land badly and a conversation would not.
Writing for writers: what actually matters
What should a writer’s website say that a generic one does not?
Three things, in this order. That you are published. That you understand the thing people are actually worried about, which for writers is commissioning someone who misses the brief, or the deadline, or both. And what happens next: send the brief and the deadline and I will say yes or no within a day. Everything else on the page is decoration by comparison.
What does an editor or a marketing lead deciding in a minute whether you can write check first?
The credential, then the proof. For writers it sounds like this. I link clips rather than list clients. I say what I am good at and what I am not. I quote rates ranges rather than "it depends". Put at least one of those above the fold rather than on a separate page nobody opens.
What is the most common mistake on a writer’s website?
Writing about the business instead of the customer. "We have been established since 1998" answers a question nobody asked. "Send the brief and the deadline and I will say yes or no within a day" answers the one they are actually holding. If you only fix one thing, fix that.
How long should the copy be?
Shorter than you think, except where trust is being built. An About page of 120 well-chosen words beats 500 vague ones. The exception is anything explaining commissioning someone who misses the brief, or the deadline, or both — there, specifics earn their length.
Everything else for writers
Elevator pitch for other trades
- Plumber
- Electrician
- HVAC Technician
- Roofer
- Carpenter
- Painter
- Landscaper
- Handyman
- Therapist
- Chiropractor
- Massage Therapist
- Personal Trainer