Market your Services with a Holiday Check-in

The holiday season is a great time to connect with current and past clients. No matter if you do so on the phone, via email, or even in person, this is one time of the year when you should reach out to every current and past client. While job number one is to wish them a happy holiday season, this is also a great opportunity

Three Key Words: Always Be Closing

As a freelance writer, there is more to your success than producing high quality content. Even though you may not enjoy the sales and marketing process, it is a big part of achieving your goals. With this in mind, these three words should always be close to your heart: always be closing. In other words, you should always be ready to close a deal. You

When is the Best Time to Make Cold Calls

Lately, we have been discussing cold calling as a marketing method quite a bit. For example, my last post touched on how to discuss freelance pricing during a cold call. This time around, I want to take a closer look at when you should be making cold calls. If you are going to spend time on the phone, you might as well give yourself the

How to Discuss Freelance Pricing During a Cold Call

For many freelance writers, marketing is the “hot topic” of the day. Not only are these people looking for a marketing strategy that works, but they want to rely on something that doesn’t take up all their time. If this sounds familiar, you have probably given cold calling a second thought at some point in time. This is something we have discussed before. For example,

When Marketing your Services, Let your Passion Shine Through

One of the main reasons for your success as a writer is your passion. You love what you do and it shows through in your work. Are you able to take this same passion and translate it to your marketing strategy? If so, you will have an easier time generating interest and landing new clients. Here are three ways to let your passion shine through

Are you Following up on your Marketing Activity?

If you are going to market your freelance writing services, you might as well do whatever you can to achieve as much success as possible. This means following up on all activity, from cold calls to direct mail and everything in between. It is easy to believe that your marketing strategy will take care of itself the first time around. However, this is not always

What is your Biggest Marketing Fear?

For many freelance writers, marketing is not something they enjoy. In fact, this is something they fear for one reason or the next. But why? Why do so many people shy away from this when it could help take their career to the next level? Here are three reasons why some writers avoid creating a detailed marketing strategy: Afraid it won’t work. Let’s face it:

Implementing a Marketing Strategy: Block Off Your Schedule

Like most freelance writers, your primary passion is writing. Makes sense, right? While there is nothing wrong with wanting to spend all your time writing, you cannot afford to overlook the marketing aspects of your business. If you have yet to implement a marketing strategy, there is no better time than now to change your ways. What is holding you back? One of the most

How to Increase Call Backs from Voicemail Messages

If you spend any amount of time cold calling, you will soon find that your primary targets are not always available to talk. For this reason, you have two options: Call back at a later time and/or date Leave a voicemail message and hope for a return call While there are pros and cons of both options, I always prefer to leave a voicemail message.

Spending Money on Marketing – How Much is too Much?

As a freelance writer, new clients are your lifeblood. The more gigs you land the more money you will earn. Pretty simple, right? Your marketing plan is going to determine how much success you have in this area of your business. While true that some marketing strategies are free, others are going to set you back a few dollars from time to time. This leads

Are you Comfortable Meeting with Prospects in Person?

Although it may be uncommon, there may come a time when you need to meet with a prospect in person. While you are not required to do so, if you turn down the invitation it could very well kill your chance of making a deal. Is that what you want? Some writers have no problem meeting with prospects and clients in person. Others try to

Ask your Clients: What do you need in the New Year?

Now that 2013 is underway, there is no better time to get serious about growing your business. You should look at the new year as a fresh start. You should consider this your time to shine. Although prospecting for new business is always important, you can continue to grow by offering an expanded line of services to current clients. During the month of January, you

3 Steps to Create a Basic Marketing Plan for the New Year

There is no better time than December to create a fresh marketing plan. This will allow you to “hit the ground running” when the new year arrives. But doesn’t it take a lot of time to create a marketing plan? Although you should spend significant time on this task, it doesn’t have to set you back several days. If you stick with the basics, you

Are you Tracking your Marketing Return on Investment?

There is no denying the importance of marketing your freelance writing services. Your goal is simple: to inform as many people as possible of what you have to offer. The further your reach the better chance you have of success. Although marketing is a big part of your business, you are likely aware that it is costing you both time and money. While there is

Following up on a Cold Call? Use these Tips

In a perfect world, every cold call would lead to a sale. Of course, if you have ever used this marketing strategy you know that the world is anything but perfect. For this reason, you are going to run into a few obstacles along the way. Commonly, you will have one conversation with a prospect and then be asked to call back at some point

The Benefits of an Organized Marketing Plan

Do you have a marketing plan in your head? Do you complete marketing related tasks, day after day, without any real organization? If you answered yes to both of these questions, you are in the same boat as many freelance writers. It is true that any marketing is better than none at all. However, an organized plan will go a long way in helping you

How to Save Time if you Decide to Cold Call Prospects

There are many reasons why freelance writers often times overlook cold calling as a viable marketing method. While some people are frightened at the thought of picking up the phone and making these calls, others shy away because they don’t feel as if they have enough time in their schedule. Let’s take a closer look at three of the best ways to save time as

Have Somewhere to Send your Prospects

You could spend several hours each day cold calling prospects. You could send out hundreds of letters to editors. You could send cold emails until your fingers are ready to fall off. But guess what? If you don’t have somewhere to send these prospects you are spinning your tires. In other words, you need a professional website for your freelance writing business. Sure, you can

Is Direct Mail a Good Strategy for Freelance Writers?

Some freelance writers spend a lot of time sending query letters via snail mail to editors. Although this is a great way to drum up new business, there is something else I want you to think about: traditional direct mail. This could be anything from post cards to sales letters. Rather than send these pieces to an editor of a publication, you are instead focusing

3 Questions you may be Asked During a Cold Call

When you make cold calls as a freelance writer, you should expect to be the one doing most of the talking. However, any conversation has the potential to quickly turn. In other words, you may find yourself answering questions at some point during the call. If you have somebody asking you questions, it is safe to say that they are interested in what you have

3 Things to Never Say During a Cold Call

Keeping with my theme of cold calling tips, I wanted to discuss some of the many things you should never say when contacting a prospect out of the blue. 1. Is this a good time to talk? Simply put, people are looking for a reason to hang up the phone. If you say this, you are giving the person an immediate out. They will almost

How about this for a Cold Calling Nightmare

By now, you all know that I like to talk about cold calling. For whatever reason, I find this to be one of the most intriguing methods of marketing my services. Not to mention the fact that there is no greater thrill than making a call, finding an interested party, and closing a deal. Of course, things don’t always work out as planned. A couple

Should I take a Break from Marketing?

When you work as a freelance writer you will soon find one thing to be true: there are times when you are super busy and it seems like every deadline lands on the same day. Along with this, there are times when you are not nearly as busy and are searching for new work. With this in mind, you may often struggle with the question

Cold Calling Butterflies: How to Calm your Nerves

The first time you pick up the phone to make a cold call your stomach will likely feel uneasy. Don’t worry, you are not alone – this is quite natural. After all, you are getting involved with something that you are not familiar with. On top of this, the act of cold calling has received a bad reputation over the years. Although you may have

3 Changes to Improve Cold Calling Success

Like most people, regardless of industry, if you don’t achieve success with cold calling early on you are going to forget about this marketing strategy forever. But before you give up for good, take a closer look at the three bits of advice below. By making these changes to your approach, you may soon find yourself generating more business than you ever imagined possible. 1.

Are you Asking Clients to Refer you to Others?

As a freelance writer, one of the biggest challenges you will face is creating a marketing plan that works. If you are not marketing your services appropriately you may have a difficult time keeping enough work in your pipeline. While it is safe to say that you are sending cold emails and queries through the mail (and maybe even cold calling), you may be overlooking

Marketing when you are Bogged Down with Client Work

There is no better feeling than being bogged down with multiple projects. Sure, this is going to bring stress to your life – but trust me, it feels good. Of course, there are issues involved with having this much work on your plate. Not only do you need to keep track of all your deadlines, but you don’t want to stop marketing your services. After

Are Cold Calling Misconceptions Holding you Back?

There are many misconceptions surrounding cold calling, from the effectiveness to the best techniques and more. You don’t want to overlook this method of marketing your services because of a myth that was started by somebody you don’t even know. It Never Works Let me be the first one to tell you that this is a lie. Simply put, cold calling can help you drum

Are you Prepared for Incoming Calls from Potential Clients?

As you continue to market your freelance writing services, you will find that some people don’t have any need for you – at least for the time being. To give yourself the chance at a future project, it is important to provide any connection with both your email address and phone number. The more times you give out your phone number the better chance there

Should you Provide a Free Sample to Potential Clients?

Last week, I was faced with a somewhat common situation. After sending out a few cold emails, I got two responses. One client hired me on the spot, based largely on the samples that I provided. However, the other company wanted to see more of what I could do for them. They asked if I could provide a free sample, based on their particular needs,