By on 4th May, 2009Filed in Marketing
Jenn is a professional blogger and freelance business writer. She has worked as a freelance writer since 1999, and has been an active business and niche blogger since 2004. She owns All Freelance Writing as well as several other sites and blogs covering PR, small business, and related topic areas. She is also currently writing a nonfiction book for freelance writers called The Query-Free Freelancer, and is the author of the Web Writer's Guide e-book series.
Don't miss the latest posts, tools, freelance writing jobs, and more from the All Freelance Writing team. Subscribe today!
With spring in full bloom and summer on it’s way, May is the perfect time to get out more and take a fresh approach to marketing your freelance writing services.
This month’s monthly marketing mix focuses on networking. Here are a variety of things you can do during May to further your writing business and grow your client base:
- Get out in your neighborhood. Spend some more time (or any if you don’t usually) networking and reaching out to locals.
- Branch out. If you aren’t attracting as many clients as you would like, your target market might be too narrow. Think of at least one new, but similar, market to pursue this month. For example, if you write for women’s interest magazines, you may want to look at parenting publications. Or if you write marketing copy for law firms, you might add a new vertical writing for other professional groups (like accountants).
- Grow your confidence. It’s difficult to effectively network if you aren’t confident in your work and abilities. Go back to your USP (unique selling proposition – the value you’re really selling clients). Remind yourself why clients should hire you, and then spend some time thinking about how you can better convey that value to prospective clients moving forward in your networking.
Related posts:
- Monthly Marketing Mix – June 2009
- In Like a Lion – Monthly Marketing Mix – March 2009
- Holiday Marketing – Monthly Marketing Mix – October 2008
- Evaluation Time – Monthly Marketing Mix – November 2008
- How to Keep Your Client Relationships Fresh Online
About the Author: Jennifer Mattern
Browse all posts from this author.
Jennifer do you think its better to network online than offline. I know you recommend both but which one you think is more rewarding. Great article by the way.
Omar – it really depends on your target market. For example, I work entirely virtually, for clients all around the world. It therefore makes more sense for me to network online (almost exclusively). That’s where I can find the type of people in my market.
If someone works predominantly with local or regional clients, they might find offline networking much more rewarding, such as through seminars, classes, conventions, or networking groups.
Those who work with a broader mix of clients would probably want to incorporate both sides – online and offline networking.