How to Market your Freelance Writing Services
Time and time again I have preached that freelance writers need to treat their work as an actual business. Just because you do not work for somebody else does not mean that you should throw all business theories out the window. One of the many details that go into running an effective business is marketing. Do you know how to market your freelance writing services? Believe it or not, the ways that you market and advertise your services will have a lot to do with your success; at least early in your career.
Here are three of the best methods for freelance writers.
1. You need to have a website which offers the following: a bio, pricing information, samples, and several methods of contact. It is not necessary to spend thousands of dollars on a website; something functional will do just fine. A website will give you a place to send interested clients, while hopefully bringing visitors from the search engines as well.
2. More and more freelance writers are finding that a blog is a great way to market their services. Although the main point of this blog is not to increase my freelance writing workload, I have received several quality jobs from readers. The nice thing about a blog is that clients will be able to get a good feel for who you are, as well as your writing style.
3. It is not fun for most people to make cold calls, but this is a sales and marketing method that freelance writers should not overlook. When you call somebody on the phone they are more or less forced to deal with you on the spot. At the very least you will be able to tell them who you are, and give them some information on yourself. You are not going to be successful with every cold call that you make, but you never know when your big break will come. And remember, just because somebody tells you no the first time you call does not mean that they won’t get in touch when their needs change.
This is not my first post on how to market your freelance writing services. The reason that I talk about this so much is that it is one of the more important aspects of the industry. If you are going to be a successful freelance writer, a lot of it will fall back on how well you market your services. Use the three points above to put together a killer marketing plan for 2008.
