When I attended the ASJA conference in New York City in April, a lot of fellow writers had the same question. When applying for a content marketing writing gig, do you send a pitch or a LOI?

The term pitch or query typically refers to an idea for a magazine story that a writer sends to the editor of a print publication, and it includes the story idea, including sources, outline, and scope. While a successful pitch always includes information about the writer’s experience, the focus is on the idea for the story.

On the other hand, a LOI focuses on the writer’s experience and what a writer can do the publication. LOIs usually do not include any ideas for a story and are often sent to editors of trade publications, since most trade publications generate story ideas in-house and assign them to freelancers. At the conference, several editors told attendees that they wanted to see story ideas from potential content marketing writers, which is not typical.

But, they also didn’t really answer the question when asked if they wanted a pitch. I know that I left the conference not exactly sure what editors wanted in terms of pitches or LOI for content marketing. In the past few months, I have talked to several content marketing editors as well as experimenting with my marketing efforts and have come up a solution to the quandary–a pitchy LOI.

And no, I am not referring to an LOI that is sung off-key. I have found that by sending a letter of introduction that focuses on how my experience can help the brand including a few ideas, I have increased my response rate. Additionally, I have found that by including several ideas for content marketing deliverables, I illustrate my understanding of the brand’s audience as well as its marketing goals.

For example, if I am writing to a marketing manager at a brand producing healthy snacks for children, I might include the following ideas:

1. Since I saw on the company’s website that they are launching a new brand of snacks for toddlers, I might propose starting a blog for activities for parents to do with their one to three year olds.
2. A smartphone app for tracking the amount of fruits and veggies children eat.
3. White paper geared towards merchants on the trend for parents to pay more for healthy snacks.

Next week I will include a include a sample of a Pitchy LOI and talk about the different components. Being able to write an effective LOI letter is one of the most important skills for content marketing writers (or any writers, in fact).

Share your experiences writing LOIs and pitches for Content Marketing Gigs. Have you had any success with a pitchy LOI?