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Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers #6: What You Need Up Your Sleeve

Carol Tice — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Today, I only want to talk about one tiny thing. It’s usually less than three inches long.

But it can have an outsized impact on your freelance writing income.

Have you guessed? I’m talking business cards here, people.

That’s right, the marketing tool that’s older than dirt.

There’s a reason business cards are still around. It’s because they’re useful.

Even if you have no plans to do in-person networking, I want you to get some. (There’s really no excuse since you can get free ones from places like VistaPrint.)

Why do you need business cards in today’s digital world?

Because you never know.

You never know when a casual conversation at your kid’s school will turn up the news that Joey’s dad heads marketing at a medium-sized company in an industry you know.

And then you start fumbling around and scribbling your number down on a napkin? That’s not very pro. And that scribble will be easily lost or mislaid.

And then you open your purse and take out a business card and hand it to his wife? Now you’re talking.

Next, Joey gets that card and sticks it on his desk, where it hangs around for a few months until he suddenly realizes he’s swamped.

He needs a freelance writer. And he doesn’t really have time to look through 300 resumes off a Craigslist ad.

Then he says, “Didn’t I get a card from a writer recently?” He looks around his desk, and there you are.

Most businesspeople keep cardfiles of business cards, so the card allows your info to hang around their office until a prospect is ready to use you.

How to make your business card better

Here’s the thing about most business cards: They’re boring.

When you’re a freelance writer, you can’t let that happen to your business card. That little square of paper is an opportunity to show you are a word stylist.

Mine shows my title as “CEO and Janitor,” which almost never fails to get a reaction.

Linda Formichelli’s says “My clients think I’m swell.”

You want something on there that starts a conversation, and gives a sense of your personality. Otherwise, you haven’t made the sale that you’re a creative writer.

You can also use that often-blank other side of the business card to make your card one that’s never thrown away.

How? Put an offer on it — 15% off your first project, or a free half-hour consult. Whatever makes sense for your business.

Now that card is never hitting the trash — that’d be like throwing away money.

21st Century business cards

Beyond the writing, what can you do to make your business card special?

I use one of the most obvious ways — instead of paper cards, make business-card magnets. Those get tossed onto the front of the filing cabinet and then stay there forever.

The minute you hand it over, people feel the weight and start looking it over. You’ve made an impression.

Magnets cost more than business cards, so I’m saying, “I take this seriously. And I’m not cheap.”

Also, when’s the last time you threw out a refrigerator magnet? They’re so useful!

If you’re really slick, you could put a QR code on your business card that leads savvy recipients to more information about you — maybe a special offer page on your writer website, or a free report they can read.

You can also give your business card social-media style with new formats such as Meet-meme, a baseball trading-card style business card that can include lots of your social media stats…and a QR code, too.

There are loads of eye-catching new twists on the business card you could try. For inspiration, here’s a great post that’s got 21 different examples of ways to use QR codes on business cards.

Whatever strikes your fancy in business-card style, get business cards. They’re as much for you as they are for prospects.

When you hold those little rectangles in your hand, you can’t deny it — you’re a freelance writer. You have a business. You’re looking for clients.

Now, you’re ready to go out and promote it.

Do you have a business card? If so, share what makes your card stand out.

Next up on Marketing 101: How to get a steady flow of new-client nibbles without a lot of work. Click here to see the first episode of Marketing 101…it’s an important one. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss upcoming installments of this 21-week marketing series.

Business card photo: contracox on stock.xchng

3 Ways to Succeed as a Freelancer by Conducting Experiments

Carol Tice — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

by Linda Formichelli

I see it all the time: Aspiring freelance writers stay stuck in newbie-land because they don’t know precisely what to do. They fear that they need to always be doing the exact right thing at the exact right time — or why bother?

Guess what? There is no one exact right way. There is only the right way for you.

And how do you find out the right way for you? By experimenting.

Here’s how:

1. Ask “What If?”

Successful writers don’t take anything for granted. Sure, they learn all they can from the pros, but they also use their imaginations to develop new and better ways of writing, marketing, and conducting their business.

Pros come up with new theories and test them out. “What would happen if I pitched editors on the phone?” “What if I snail mailed sales letters instead of sending e-mails to copywriting prospects?” “What if sent my clients gifts for Valentine’s Day instead of Christmas?”

Experimenting with different tactics by asking “What if?” will keep you from following the crowd like a writer sheep. For example, while everyone else is bombarding clients with cards and gifts at Christmas — and getting lost in the rush — you might stand out by sending your gifts on a different holiday.

I did this myself: One year on tax day, when I calculated that Family Circle made up most of my income that year, I asked myself, “What if I sent them a Tax Day gift to say thank you?” And I did.

You can be sure that my Tax Day gift stood out a lot more than the crush of holiday cards and candy they received in December — and I went on to write close to 20 articles for this magazine.

Buck Conventional Wisdom

Following conventional writing wisdom will only get you so far. You never know what will really work for you until you experiment with different ways of doing things.

It helps to know the rules that everyone else is playing by, but you need to tweak the tactics you learn to make them fit your own circumstances and personal style.

For example, when I first started out I was writing one-page queries like all the writing books and magazines advised writers to do. But only when I started experimenting with longer queries — up to three pages — did I have success with the coveted women’s magazine market. I bucked the conventional wisdom — and it paid off.

What you read a piece of advice, remember that’s what worked for some writers (or even for only one writer). That advice is usually a great starting point and will get you on your way — but you can only do as well as the other writers who follow that advice. To reach the highest level of success you can, try out different tactics and see how they work for you.

Ready, Fire, Aim

Most new writers take the conventional approach “Ready, aim, fire.” The problem is that this becomes “Ready, aim, aim, aim, aim…” That’s because you don’t want to take action until you’re absolutely sure you’re doing the right thing — which means you never take action at all.

The personal development blogger Steve Pavlina recommends taking the approach “Ready, fire, aim.” It means you choose something to do — anything at all — do it, see what happens, and correct course as necessary. It’s the only way to discover what works.

For example, instead of not pitching editors because you’re afraid your queries aren’t perfect, just start sending them out. Send out dozens. You’ll learn quickly enough if you’re doing it right from the reactions you get from editors. Lots of acceptances and “nice” rejections that invite you to keep pitching? You’re doing it right. Lots of form rejections? Something’s amiss. Tweak your tactics and keep trying.

It’s better to get out a bunch of “almost there” marketing and experiment with ways to make it work than to hold off until everything is perfect — which will be never.

Have you ever experimented with different ways of writing or marketing? Let us know in the comments.

Linda Formichelli writes the Renegade Writer blog, and teaches the Freelance Writers Blast Off Class for Newbies with me (registration for our January class closes next week).

8 Steps to Making Your Freelance Writing Dreams Come True in 2012

Carol Tice — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

by James Palmer

Well, another year has gone by. Didn’t make much progress on your freelance writing goals?

Don’t worry. There’s still hope.

Below are eight ways to finally make your freelance writing dreams come true:

Get your head on right. To succeed at freelance writing, you have to get in the right mindset. Two things I did to help get into a positive frame of mind are to read inspirational quotes and motivational books — my favorites are Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz — and to simply take responsibility for what happens in your life. If your life is always messed up due to your spouse, that skinflint editor, and the economy, you’ll never see how you can change things. But if you are responsible for your problems, it means you can fix them.
Set realistic, actionable goals. Writing ten thousand words a day while holding down a full-time job is probably not going to happen, but 500 words per day is doable. Getting published in Esquire is a laudable goal but not within your control. Querying five publications per week in order to build up your clips is more actionable.
Stay away from lowballers. If you start out writing for pennies you could get stuck there for years. Go after publications and clients that know the value of good writing and have the money to pay for it. Low-paying clients won’t respect your work and often turn out to be the most difficult to work with, too.
Learn to query. Professional publications want to work with professional writers. Learn how to write professional query letters and letters of introduction.
Read. You would think this is obvious, but for some it isn’t. You have to read if you are going to write. Read novels and poetry and blogs and how-to books and, last but not least, the magazines and websites you want to write for.
Write. Believe it or not, here’s another one we often forget. You’ll never get good unless you practice.
Pitch. You’ll never get paid if you don’t pitch stories to editors — lots and lots of stories. Study the publications to get a sense of what they’re looking for and send those queries out.
Stick to a niche. Specialists usually earn more money than generalists. Try to become known for a particular market, type of writing you do, or client you help.

James Palmer is a freelance copywriter and author of 23 Ways to Make More Money as a Freelance Copywriter. For more tips on becoming a successful freelancer, check out his blog The Successful Writer.

How will you earn more in 2012? If you need help figuring out the freelance-writing game, you can ask two pros about it live at noon PST tomorrow – my Freelance Writers Den Open House Call guest this month is The Well-Fed Writer‘s Peter Bowerman.

If you’re not already on my free-call list, you can register here.

Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers #3: Without This Tool, You’re Invisible

Carol Tice — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Freelance writers do different kinds of marketing.

Some writers like to make phone calls, some go to in person networking events and hand out business cards, some reach out on LinkedIn. Some send query letters.

But no matter how you do your marketing, sooner or later it all boils down to one thing: Prospective clients would like to look at your website and read your clips, so they can decide whether they want to hire you.

Without at least a basic writer website, you just don’t look professional. Especially in the fast-growing world of online writing markets. You just can’t compete for the good gigs.

So you need a writer website.

But you’re broke.

And technology makes you cry.

How can you get at least a rudimentary website together on the cheap, without having to become a technological genius? Here are a few options I like:

Take over your Zoominfo profile. Zoominfo automatically compiles references to people online — but you can take control of your profile and style it up. I actually used this for the first 18 months when I started freelancing in late 2005.
Use the Behance plugin on your LinkedIn profile to show your portfolio. This allows you to add many more than the requisite three or so links usually allowed.
Join the National Association of Writers & Editors, NAIWE, for $99 and get a hosted WordPress blog. This is my personal favorite deal. You get all the resources of a professional support organization — plus they throw in a hosted WordPress site for you. It’s pre-set up with a portfolio page for your clips and a basic design you can leave or improve. Bonuses: Your blog posts appear in NAIWE’s blogroll on its busy website, and you can get the organization to retweet your posts, too. An instant site that comes with some instant exposure, too.
Use a free, quickie platform such as Yola, Cuttings.me or Flavors.me to throw up a basic site. There are some real limitations you’ll bump up against here — but on the plus side, you could have somewhere to send clients right away.

What needs to be on your writer website?

Once you’ve got a site, you want to turn it into a useful tool that convinces clients to hire you. There are eight basic items you need on a professional writer website:

A professional photo of you. Find a photography student and get a decent-looking shot that says “I’m a writer, and I love what I do.” Not a photo of you with your poodle, or in a bikini, or in a bar. Remember, people hire people. Look accessible and relatable, and real.
Lots of clips. Don’t only put a few. Don’t just list the titles like a bibliography. The main point of visiting your site is to read your work. Don’t force your prospects to download your clips, either — they won’t. Either link to where the clips live online, or link to where they are on your site (you can get them made into PDFs, then upload them in WordPress on the “media” tab). Group them by topic and show the publication name in the title, too. Don’t make prospects click on each clip to find out where it appeared. Make sure your clips are readable — they shouldn’t be photos of the article where the text is all blurry.
Contact information. Don’t hide it under a tab, and don’t make it one of those contact email forms none of us want to fill out. Put it in your header or sidebar so it’s visible all the time. This is the number-one thing you want prospects to do, so make it easy.
Key words. Figure out what you’d like to rank for in search — maybe “Charlotte freelance writer” or “freelance medical writer.” Do some keyword research and think about the types of phrases prospects might put in a search engine when they need your kind of writer. Then get those phrases into your URL, your headline, and/or your tagline. Mention them in your body copy. Keep updating your site to help your rankings.
A strong About page. This is the second-most-visited page on most sites. Tell a compelling story about who you are as a writer — one that a prospect would want to read. Describe the types of writing you enjoy doing. Don’t talk about how you’ve wanted to be a writer since you were five. Prospects don’t care. This isn’t the place for a boring resume with dates and publication names, either.
Testimonials and awards. If you have these or can solicit testimonials, get them on your site. Cut and paste recommendations from LinkedIn and use them here, too. My experience is that prospects are inordinately impressed by testimonials and awards. If you can, get small photos to put with your client testimonials — it makes them more relatable and impactful.
Clean design. Once writers get a site, some tend to go nuts, slapping on three sidebars, flashing ads, backgrounds that make text unreadable, and widgets with little pictures of all their Facebook friends. Don’t confuse prospects with too much information. Keep it simple.
Personality. This is your chance to show prospects that you are unique. Style up the writing so it’s like having a conversation with you. Speaking of which, don’t write about yourself in the third person on the Internet. It’s pretentious — we all know you’re writing it.

Got a writer website? Leave a comment and let us know how you got it done — or stay tuned next week for a free website video-review contest. If you don’t have a site yet, use the tips above and get one up in the next 48 hours — then, share a link with us below.

See the previous installments of Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers starting here. Next week: How to network the easy way. Subscribe and you won’t miss any of this 21-part marketing series.

113 Things You Can Do to Grow Your Freelance Writing Income — Now

Carol Tice — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Aren’t you sick of the negativity out there in the freelance writing community? I know I am.

You know the spiel. Comments like:

The economy is still so awful, bla bla bla.

All articles are now $5 or less.

I can’t believe this Craigslist ad asks for three free samples.

The fact is, some freelancers are still earning a great living, and you can, too. But first, you’ll have to stop buying into the gloom and realize that what you earn is really up to you.

To help you take charge of your writing career, I put together a list of 100+ proactive things you can do right now to build your income:

Tell your clients your rates are going up.
Raise your rates for new clients.
Raise your rates every year in the fall, to take effect the following year.
Let your current clients and all your friends and former co-workers know that you’re looking for new clients and you’d appreciate their referrals.
Grow your network.
Write for more parts of your existing clients — does that publisher have other magazines? That company have other divisions?
Have a writer website.
Improve your writer website. Pro sites make a big difference in the rates you can command.
Make it easier for people to contact you on your website. Kill that contact form, for instance.
SEO your website. Get key phrases into your URL, headline, tagline, and copy.
Solicit more testimonials from previous clients and add them to your site.
Respond to full-time job ads you see and ask if they need a freelancer in the meanwhile.
Read more widely so you can find more story ideas.
Get a Book of Lists for your nearest major market, for a ready source of quality corporate leads.
Get The Writers Market with online support, so you can research publications.
Stop doubting yourself.
Stop waiting.
Stop worrying about what people think of you.
Stop wondering where the shortcut is and start marketing your business.
Stop writing for content mills.
Stop buying into the revenue-share dream.
Stop bidding on jobs where you’re competing with thousands of other writers. Opt out of the race to the bottom.
Get a perspective on your writing obstacles. Then just make the time to write.
Get out and meet live humans. People give you jobs, not computers.
If you’re scared to go networking, bring a friend for support. Then, take it slow. The first time, just go and observe and smile a lot, and then go home. Next time, introduce yourself to one person.
If there isn’t a good networking group in your area, start one and serve as the host. Great way to get known by a lot of people fast — because everyone thanks the host, don’t they?
Create a “me” speech so you know what to say to people who ask what you do — after the part where you say “I’m a freelance writer” and then they say, “Really? What kind of writing do you do?” (Thanks to IJ Schecter for this one.)
After you network, be sure to follow up and start building relationships with the prospects you meet.
Send query letters.
Send simultaneous queries, even when magazines’ guidelines say not to.
Send more than one story idea in a single query letter. Ups your odds of success.
Don’t wait to hear back on those query letters. Send more query letters immediately.
If you don’t get results, learn more about how to write great queries.
Do more research and find new markets. New online markets are emerging every day and new magazines are started.
If you write for a print publication, see if they also assign articles separately for their website — and vice versa.
If you only write for magazines, consider adding a few corporate clients to the mix. They tend to pay better and faster.
Send customized prospecting emails.
Make cold calls. Just grab the phone book, pick up the phone, call marketing directors and ask if they use freelance writers.
Send direct mail postcards. Few writers do that, so you can really stand out.
Drop your lowest-paying client, to make time to market and find better-paying clients.
Get up earlier.
Stay up later.
Give up television.
Get more exercise. You’ll be healthier and better able to focus and write.
Take at least one full, 24-hour day completely offline each week.
Take mini-breaks where you get up from your computer and walk around a bit.
Take a class and learn a new writing specialty.
Join a writer’s community and get support and feedback from peers.
Stop reading Craigslist ads.
Find job boards where the companies have to pay to post a listing.
Find niche job boards for industries where you specialize.
Get on LinkedIn.
Stuff your LinkedIn bio with key words your prospects might search to find you.
Find former editors on LinkedIn and reconnect. Let them know you’re freelancing.
If your former editors are out of work, send them job leads. They’ll remember you when they get their next gig.
Send InMails to people who’ve viewed your profile if they seem like prospects.
Join LinkedIn writer groups — you can find jobs leads, support, and a sounding board.
Get on Twitter and start figuring out how it works.
Find editors and prospects on social media and pitch them.
Do some sleuthing to find out if there are niche social-media platforms where your prospects hang out. Join them, too.
Explore emerging social-media hangouts such as Google+ to see if they’re useful for finding clients.
Write an ebook and sell it. Then, help clients do it.
Send bills out more promptly. Often the payment clock ticks from the day they get your bill.
Get cool business cards that say something about your unique writing skills. Bring them with you everywhere.
Make a special offer on your business card, such as a free consult.
Consider getting a t-shirt or magnetized car sign that advertises your writing.
Experiment with Facebook or Google ads for your business.
Whenever you’re out shopping or at a doctor’s office, look for customer magazines. Read, pitch them — you already know their products.
Read all the company newsletters and magazines you get at home. Pitch them.
Learn to write hard stuff — write about actuarial forecasting or software development. Find the niches where they can never get enough good writers.
Learn to write sales copy. Helping clients make more money will always pay well, and there’s always a need.
Learn about lucrative types of writing such as white papers and special reports.
Put on free classes for your prospects, either online or in person.
Create a free, informational report to give your prospects with writing or marketing tips. End with your contact info or a special offer.
Create a newsletter your prospects can subscribe to, in order to stay in touch.
Donate your writing services to a charity auction — you’ll meet a prospect, and get some good PR.
If you need more clips, find somewhere legit to volunteer. I once wrote for my regional library system’s newsletter, for instance.
Collaborate with designers and other related-industry professionals. Refer each other business.
Cut your expenses. Then, you’ll feel less pressure to take low-pay gigs and have more marketing time.
Know and take advantage of every home-business tax break. Keeping more of your money has the exact same effect as earning more.
Consider using a co-working space for the networking and synergy with other business owners working there.
Track prospect nibbles that haven’t panned out yet, and keep following up. Send them articles of interest — anything to keep the connection.
Have a marketing plan.
Analyze your current client base, and how you got each client. Which marketing methods paid off? Do more of that.
Analyze your daily activities, and eliminate things you do that aren’t resulting in income.
Query better-paying magazines.
Pitch bigger companies.
Join professional writer organizations and volunteer. Great way to get known and referred.
Get listed in online resource guides of service providers and professional associations in your target industries. Often, it’s free.
Ask for the gig.
If the job gets bigger, ask for more money.
Don’t work without a contract.
Be sure your contract defines your payment terms — when you will be paid.
Make initial commercial writing contracts for only 60-90 days — then negotiate a better rate when it expires, based on your growing knowledge of the client’s business.
If you’ve only sold first rights, resell your articles.
Recycle unused parts of interviews you’ve done into new stories.
Write more than one article off the same set of research, for noncompeting markets.
Ask interview sources what else is going on in their industry. Leave with another story idea.
Don’t overreport. You’re not going to be able to fit eight sources into a 500-word article.
Learn to write to length. Less rewriting means time saved, and more income potential in the year.
Every time you turn in an article, be ready to pitch another story idea.
Land government contracts. Get qualified to bid directly or save the paperwork and connect with agencies that are bidding contracts — often, these are big projects at decent rates.
Look for ongoing projects. Even regular blogging gigs can add up to big revenue, and let you start each month with some pre-booked revenue.
Offer new clients that have the potential for ongoing work a one-time discount on a small, first project. Get that client in the door, make them love you, and line up a steady source of revenue.
Enter free or low-cost writing contests — it gets your work in front of editors who might hire you.
Write at your most productive and creative time of day.
Do the writing-biz task you’re in the mood for now, instead of the one that’s “top priority.” You’ll be more efficient.
Write blog posts in batches.
Plan out blog posts with a scheduling tool such as WordPress Editorial Calendar.
Put a “hire me” tab on your blog, so people know you want gigs.
Remember your blog is a writing sample. Have a clean design, show you understand social media, and write every post like it’s a $1-a-word magazine assignment.
Keep idea lists, so you always have more ideas to pitch if an editor asks.
Outsource time-consuming tasks that rob you of productive writing time.

(Yes, there are a few affiliate links in there, for products I have used and highly recommend.)

What have you done to grow your freelance writing income lately? Leave a comment and tell us your tip.

Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers #2: The Easiest Promotional Tactic

Carol Tice — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Last week, I kicked off a Marketing 101 training course for freelance writers. If you missed our discussion of the critical first step, you might want to go back and read that one first. It’s important.

Because before you start marketing, you’ve got to have your self-confidence together.

Next, you need to realize that if you want to have a freelance writing business — as opposed to a writing hobby — marketing needs to be a regular part of your routine.

Breathe, and accept this. In, out. OK, got it!

Now, we’re ready to start.

Marketing the easy way

There are only two types of people in the world.

People you know

People you don’t know (yet).

The easiest marketing you will ever do always involves that first group — people you already know.

These people already know you! I’m betting they like you, too.

Begin your marketing by contacting everyone you know and making them aware that you are looking for new clients.

Yes, this includes friends and family (unless they’re the sort that keep telling you you’re crazy to be a freelancer and ought to look for a job).

Don’t assume because they don’t have a business to market or aren’t an editor that they can’t help you. Who knows who will hear a business owner griping that their website sucks? Or who will get a new job at a company that needs marketing help?

Beyond current clients, friends, family, and co-workers at a current or recently concluded full- or part-time job — there is one particular group of people you already know who should be your prime target.

Are you in touch with all your former editors?

I’m always surprised at how often the answer is “no.”

Unless you hated each other and it ended in screaming or flaming emails, you should stay connected to each and every one of these people.

Why? Former editors are a great source of referrals.

And referrals just rock.

They’re the marketing that does itself.

Once you let people know you need referrals, they might just send you business.

Beats having to actively market your business, hmm?

You want to get your network working for you, as it’s a real marketing time-saver.

What’s the best way to get started?

My experience is: LinkedIn.

There’s something about this particular social-media platform — it’s the perfect place to get back in touch with former professional colleagues. There’s something casual and friendly, yet businesslike, about the climate on LI.

And sending a message through LinkedIn is a lot less intimidating than trying to call a former editor on the phone. Also more likely you’ll get through to them and get a response.

How to reconnect

A lot of writers have told me they feel uncomfortable reaching out to former editors.

But I’ve done it a lot, and my experience is — it’s fun! Sort of like a high-school reunion, only professionally. And virtually.

Your goal should be to simply check in, catch up and find out what they’re up to now. Then, you’ll drop in your news that you’re looking for clients.

Step one: Send InMail messages to your former editors.

Write something along the lines of:

(SUBJECT LINE): (Long time no talk!)(Hi from one of your writers)(Congrats on your new job)(Just found you — would love to catch up)

Hi (editor name)!

I just noticed you are on LinkedIn — I’d like to stay connected with you on here.

I see you’re (still at X magazine/company)(now over at X magazine/company)

I’d love to catch up sometime and hear about what you’re doing now.

Me? (I’ve been working as a freelance writer for X years now)(I just quit my job/was laid off and have started working as a freelance writer)(Basic facts of your freelance situation here — no sob story, please.)

I specialize in (your specialized industries and/or types of writing here). Recently, I’ve really enjoyed (describe favorite recent client or assignment). If you’d like to see, let me know a good email for you and I’ll send you a couple links. Or you can take a look at my writer site — it’s linked from my LI profile.

(OPTIONAL PITCH LINE:) If you hear of anyone looking for a writer along those lines, I’d appreciate your referral.

Let me know if you have time for a quick phone chat!

Sometimes I prefer to wait until I speak to them live or get an email response to make the referral request. With others, I go ahead and put it right in the connection email. Sort of depends on the relationship you had, and how likely it is that you can line up a phone call or will chat further beyond making that LI connection.

That’s all there is to it. Pretty simple, hmm?

Tip 1: Be sure to remove all the stock language LinkedIn provides. Many busy networkers on LI automatically delete any messages that aren’t customized (including me).

Tip 2: Do NOT put any links in your InMail message. These will cause LinkedIn to reject your message.

Tip 3: Set your message so that the recipient is allowed to see your email address. That will allow you to quickly take the conversation off LI and onto your email, where you can send clip links.

Step two: follow up

Once you’ve connected, try to stay in touch every few months — maybe send them a link to an article of mutual interest.

You might also see what LI Groups the editor belongs to and join, so that you could run across each other in group conversations, too.

Step three: Be patient.

The request for referrals does not necessarily pay off immediately. But it can bring you some great new clients.

Why? Good editors tend to travel in herds — they know each other. So if you liked the work you did for one editor, their referrals will probably be good, too.

Referral work can really add up, and cut back on how much active marketing you need to do. I just did a tally and my editor referrals brought me over $6,000 of income in the past year — from clients I didn’t have to spend marketing time to find. Other writers I know have ended up with tens of thousands of dollars of work from former-editor referrals.

Trust me, this is the most efficient marketing you will do.

Are you in touch with your former editors? Leave a comment and let us know how you stay in contact with past clients.

Next week on Marketing 101: We’ll talk about the most important basic marketing tool freelance writers need — and cheap, easy ways to get it. Subscribe to catch this whole series.

6 Things You’re Flubbing in Your Marketing Emails

Carol Tice — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:00:00 +0000

I’ve been reading a lot of writers’ letters of introduction lately as part of an online-writing bootcamp I put on.

An LOI is a short email you send to introduce yourself to prospective businesses or trade-publication editors. These are also known as marketing emails or prospecting emails.

I learned a lot reviewing participants’ letters. I learned why so often, these emails don’t get you clients.

There are some basic, common mistakes I saw over and over. Avoid these, and your pitch has a much better chance of landing you a gig.

Here are the six problem areas I’ve found in writers’ email marketing pitches:

No research. Have you looked at this company or publication’s website and compared it to its competitors? You should be able to tell the prospect something about their marketing materials that you’ve noticed is missing — something you could write. Find out what the best companies in their sector are doing — then, suggest they do it. Or read the publication, so you can comment on a recent story.
No connection. Are you randomly sending emails to companies you found in the phone book, whether or not you have any expertise in their industry? That makes for a weaker pitch. Focus on industries or publications where you can claim some relevant life or writing experience, and you’ll have a much better chance of convincing them you are the writer they need. It doesn’t have to be a lot of experience, or even recent — I was a legal secretary an eon ago, and I’ve used that to land literally tens of thousands of dollars of assignments. Your connection might just be that you are their customer and use their products — that can work great.
Not using their tone. Companies have a culture, and a style to how they communicate. Some are formal, others humorous, still others casual. To grab a prospect’s attention, you need to speak their language. Writing in their tone tells prospects you know their company — and you get them.
Not saying who you are. Some letters of introduction could be mistaken for fan mail. The writer gushes about how great the company or magazine is — but without saying at the top “I’m a writer,” your prospect might quickly scan the top of your letter and then toss it, never realizing you were a writer looking for a gig.
No personality. You want to inject a little bit of who you are into this letter, so that it’s almost like meeting you and chatting in person.
Not asking for the gig. Each marketing letter should end with some kind of call to action. What do you want your prospect to do next — pick up the phone and call you? Be ready for your followup call next week? End with a clearly defined next step. Asking for permission to send a few links to your clips can be a great closer that allows the prospect to take a low-risk action that keeps you in touch and building the relationship.

Marketing 101 for Freelance Writers #1: The Essential First Step

Carol Tice — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Quick: What’s the difference between a freelance-writing hobby and a freelance-writing business?

Marketing.

It’s just that simple. Writers who actively market their business find more and better clients, and end up making more money.

Businesses do marketing. Hobbyists do whatever they feel like doing, or whatever falls in their lap.

We talk a lot on this blog about marketing. But I felt the information was scattered about.

So I’m getting organized.

This post kicks off an 18-week series of posts on savvy marketing strategies for freelance writers. I’m going to offer my best marketing tips and talk about what’s working right now, in our crazy-making, fast-changing new-media world.

Today, we begin with the most important step. Without doing this step first, the rest of your marketing is likely to fail.

Believe in your product

The first step to marketing your writing is pretty simple. Ya gotta believe ya got something to sell.

Something special.

When you’re a writer, what you’re selling is you.

You have to believe in you, or you won’t market your business with any real energy.

Fear will hold you back. I’ve asked about your fears before, so I know many writers are dogged by them. Here’s some of what you’ve told me:

You’re afraid people will figure out you’re a fraud.

You’re afraid you’re not good enough.

You’re afraid because you didn’t go to journalism school.

You’re afraid you don’t have enough clips to be taken seriously.

You’re afraid you’ll screw up and ruin your chances of being a paid writer.

You’re afraid of being laughed at.

Lots of writers want to skip this step, of beating back their fears and building self-esteem. They want to try to fake a positive attitude about what they’re putting out there.

But then, you won’t be prepared to face all the “no”s and take the rejection and just keep right on rolling. Which is what successful freelance writers do.

Become an unstoppable force

Here’s the attitude you want to approach your marketing with: You’re not going to let anything stand between you and your freelance-writing career dreams.

If your positive-feelings tank is a little low, how can you fill it up? Here are a few techniques I recommend:

Make a gratitude list.
Make a list of all your strengths as a writer and as a person.
Flip through your portfolio and look at what you’ve written in the past.
Look in the mirror every morning and say, “Damn, I’m good!“
Learn more about the business and craft of writing.
Avoid negative, toxic people and spend time with people who think you’re great. Kids are good for this.
If you need to, talk to a therapist. Release old demons. Learn to love yourself and appreciate your uniqueness.

To sum up, get your head on straight. Because people are attracted to people who feel good about themselves.

Prospects can smell that desperate, insecure attitude on you a mile away. So lose it. Then, you’re ready to market your business and get great clients.

Next week, I’ll tell you about the easiest type of marketing you’ll ever do — and it’s a method that gets great results, too.

Why will it work for you? Because you know you’re awesome.

How do you build up your self-esteem? Leave a comment and add to my list. To see upcoming installments of this 21-part marketing series, subscribe now.

10 Best Articles for Writers – September 2011

Carol Tice — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:00:00 +0000

Lately, I’ve been talking to a lot of freelance writers who have great portfolios but low incomes. Which I guess is why I have sales and marketing on the brain in this edition of our monthly Top 10.

These are all pretty recent vintage…seems like the last 10 days or so were red-hot for interesting articles on the business of writing. Lots of new folks here to follow, too.

Enjoy!

10 Ways to Get Your Affiliates to Sell the Crap Out of Your Product by Barrie Davenport on A-List Blog Marketing. This one makes a nice companion piece to my own recent post of affiliate marketing tips.
Action! Can Our Hollywood Experiment Help You Make Money Blogging? by Joke and Biagio, on Problogger. You think you’ve heard every way to monetize a blog…but this couple have a unique model. Check it out.
Cold Calling for Freelance Writers by Linda Stephens, on The WM Freelance Writers Connection. This one makes a nice complement to the recent guest post I had here about cold calling by volume cold-caller Sarah Maurer.
Create an About Page for Your Blog That’s a Secret Freelance Sales Weapon — by Michael Martine of Remarkablogger. Most writer website About pages truly suck. They start, “I’ve wanted to write ever since I was 5…” and go downhill from there. Here’s a guide to how to give your About page a radical rewrite and make it into a real client magnet.
Does Your Networking Come Across as Stalking? by Jennifer Mattern on All Freelance Writing. Learn how to keep those boundaries healthy, people.
Sickly Sales Page? Try These 3 Copywriting Remedies by Amy Harrison on Copyblogger. I love the simple analogy here for how to make sales pages better. A great short course here on copywriting, all in one post.
Should You Unfollow Everyone on Twitter? — by Laura Click of Blue Kite Marketing, on Pushing Social. Radical action! But I’ve been thinking about doing it, since I don’t have time to scroll back through the 500 people I’m following to cull the list down. To me you want it to be just about 3-4 dozen terrific thought leaders, so you have an amazing tweetstream. But then I keep spotting new people I think I should check out…and the next thing you know, it’s a mess again.
Stop Selling and Start Telling — How Clarity Trumps Persuasion for Getting Sales by D Bnonn Tennant on KISSmetrics. This one makes a nice complement to Amy’s post above.
The Top 5 Things That Bother Me About This Headline by Alissa Walker on Good Technology. Finally, someone discusses how Google has crushed the creativity out of article headlines.
Word Count Limit Got You Down? Try These 6 Editing Tricks by Barbara Diggs on The Expat Freelancer. Here’s a great, short primer on how to write tight — which you should do whether your hitting your word limit or not.

Bonus news: For those who don’t already know, Copyblogger’s Jon Morrow has started a new site, Boost Blog Traffic. It’s not launched yet. But you want to register. If you have not yet experienced Jon’s genius, check out this awesome trailer on the home page for why you want to sign up .

Read any good articles for writers lately? Leave some more links in the comments and add to my list.

3 Basic Reasons Many Freelance Writers Are Broke

Carol Tice — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:00:00 +0000

By Carol Tice

Three years into the economic downturn, gripes about pay are still common among freelance writers. But there are still a lot of good-paying assignments out there.

So why aren’t you making more money? In my experience mentoring writers, there are three main reasons:

#1. You’re not marketing. When I talk to writers who’re stuck making $10,000 or $20,000 a year, I usually begin by asking them about their marketing. Are they not getting responses to their queries? Feel they don’t do well at in-person networking? Need help with their cold-calling skills?

The answers are always the same. It isn’t that they need help improving how they do these things – they simply aren’t querying, aren’t networking, and aren’t cold-calling. To sum up, they’re not marketing their business, aside from perhaps shooting the occasional resume to an online job ad.

To earn well, you’ve got look constantly for new and better clients to keep your slate full. This is also how you raise rates – you find better-paying clients, and then one day you look at your roster and realize you’re so busy you can drop the lowest-paying account.

If you’re actively prospecting, you get more new clients and can drop low payers faster, leading to higher average pay. If you’re writing for $15 an article, it’s because you’re not taking the time to market your business and find better-paying markets.

#2. You’re getting assignments instead of building relationships. New writers often get so excited about having an assignment that they forget an important freelancing rule: Every assignment should be, like they say at the end of Casablanca, the beginning of a beautiful friendship. You should link in social media to that editor so that you never lose track of them, even if they change jobs.

When you turn in your story, don’t let the relationship momentum die. You should be ready with two or three additional story ideas. If you don’t have ideas, at least ask the editor what their needs are coming up. Instead of a one-off, try to turn each relationship into a steady gig.

#3. You’re not reselling. One great way to maximize your earnings is to take each story idea you have and sell it multiple places. Personally, I’ve recycled story ideas so much lately I’m dizzy.

I’ll write about a business topic for a Canadian conglomerate, then a U.S. magazine, then a corporate Web site, then a U.K.-based business blog. Reselling accelerates earnings because you leverage the research and expert interviews you did once across many paychecks, making you more efficient.

You can interview one source and sell the story to their university magazine, a business magazine, a local newspaper…and so on. You fit more articles into each year more easily, you bill more, you make more.

What’s it all boil down to? Up your marketing game and do your writing assignments more efficiently. Then, your income is bound to rise.

This post is part of the e-course How to Move Up and Earn More over on The Freelance Writer’s Den. To read and view the other 25 posts and multimedia presentations in this course, join the Den.

Looking to get better-paying magazine assignments? Den members will be listening to a free call Wednesday with top-earning travel writer Robert Earle Howells of the Surefire Writing blog, author of Write Where the Money Is and How to Write for Magazines. He’ll be giving out a free copy of each to some lucky Denizens.