Whether you’re building your prospect list to land clients or targeting a major publication like Huffington Post to build credibility, you need to send an email to the correct decision maker.  It doesn’t help sending a pitch to a generic email like info@companyname.com or contacting a company through an online submission form. That’s a surefire way to hear crickets every time.

So, depending on whether you’re targeting a publication or a business, you’ll want to target the editor, content manager, content marketer, or even CEO (in this post we’ll use “editor” to encompass all these positions).

In most cases, a Linkedin or Google search will reveal the editor’s name, and often a simple search on the company website will give you similar results. Regardless, it’s important that you connect with the right decision maker from the start.

The next important step is to find the editor’s email address. Simple enough, right? Well, I can tell you that I’ve spent hours upon hours searching for editor’s email addresses. Sure, some emails are easy to find, but others can be a little more elusive – I’m sure as a fellow freelance writer you can relate.

With that in mind, I thought I’d share 5 techniques I use – and plan to use – to find an editor’s email. There’s even a technique you can use for a small fee which will do most of the work for you. Sound good? Okay, let’s jump in.

1. Email Finding Apps

There are plenty of online email finding apps that let you find almost anyone’s email. And I mean ANYONE – all you need is their name and website domain, and you’re good to go. Email finding apps include:

1. Voila Norbert
2. FindThat
3. Lusha
4. Hunter
5. Rocket Reach
6. Rapportive

All the apps are free to use, but there are a limited amount of monthly credits available for searches per app. I recommend alternating between apps to make use of all the free credits and prevent running out of searches.

My personal favourite is FindThat.

I’ll use it to show you how easy it is to find an editor’s email. Let’s say I want to find the editor’s email for Thrive Global – I know Arianna Huffington is the Editor in Chief after reading an article about her leaving Huffington Post to launch her new startup.

A simple Google search backs this up.

Using this info I log into my FindThat account, type in the details, and hit search.

The results of the search are visible in the search log on the right.

As easy as that.

2. Fiverr

Fiverr is an online global marketplace that offers services starting at $5. This is a great service for freelance writers on a low budget, or those looking to grow their business for a fraction of the cost.

I’ve used Fiverr in the past to outsource my client prospecting. And on the surface of it, it’s great – you get someone to build up your leads for a minimal fee. The problem is that you know your business best and unless you’re specific when interacting with sellers on Fiverr, the results will be poor.

I experienced this when asking a seller to find 50 trade publications across several niches, together with contact details of the editors. What they provided wasn’t inline with what I wanted.

I decided I’d rather find the clients I want to target on my own and provide the web domains to sellers on Fiverr. From there they could find the email addresses for me. After building up a list of 60 potential prospects I selected a provider following a search.

For $10 the seller provided me with the email addresses of 60 plus editors.  Sure I could do this on my own,  but I’d rather outsource so that I can focus on other business activities and my writing. Why not give it a go yourself? Let us know how it works for you by leaving a comment.

3. Phone call

This is a simple yet effective technique I stumbled across when doing a little research for this article. And it’s a technique that makes total sense.

We live in a digital world. But the problem with digital is that there’s often no personal connection. So why not make use of that phone you have in your pocket? The majority of large companies will have a phone number listed online.

Once you have the editor’s name, call the company and ask to be transferred to the content/editorial department. Once in contact with the receptionist, mention that you want to confirm that the email address you have of the editor is the correct one. You can do this or make something else up.

4. Publication Guides

There are also many online publication guides like the Writer’s Market that you can buy that will provide you with all the editorial information you need, including the editor’s email address. Sure, you’ll have to pay something for these guides, but the value you get exceeds the small investment. I purchased the Writer’s market on Kindle and it set me back just under $20. That’s nothing in the bigger scheme of things.

5. Look on The Website

There’s great power to be found in simplicity.

It’s not uncommon for editors to make their email addresses publicly available on their websites, so be sure to look there too. Sometimes, finding an email address really is that easy!

So, there we have it: 5 simple techniques to help you find an editor’s email address.