Browse the All Freelance Writing collection of marketing and PR articles below.
You’ll find posts covering how freelance writers can market their services more effectively, build visibility, strengthen positioning, and better understand the promotional side of client work.
This category is especially useful for writers working in content marketing, copywriting, business writing, press releases, and related specialties.
I know that some freelance writers do not enjoy cold calling. Although this is something I have had success with, many just don’t want to try it out. For this reason, I thought it would be a good idea to talk a bit about cold emailing and whether it can lead to new clients. To give you a better idea of how things have worked
Before you can think about marketing your freelance writing business, you need to know where you currently stand among your competition. Are you dealing with over-saturation in your specialty area? Are you lacking skills other freelance writers have, that clients want? Do you have something going for you that justifies charging higher rates than others? A SWOT analysis can help you figure those things out, and
As a freelance writer, you always want to keep a steady flow of work coming in. The best way of doing this is to market your services on a regular basis. It does not matter how you do this, as long as you are comfortable and happy with the results. With this in mind, many freelancers ask the same question: is there any way to
All successful freelance writers have a marketing plan. That being said, changes may be needed on a regular basis. Although you do not want to be quick to jump ship, there may come a time when you need to abandon your marketing plan. Here are three times when this makes sense: If your marketing plan has failed you for an extended period of time. Have
As you may have noticed by now, I am in the guy at All Freelance Writing who talks about marketing. While most of my posts are tips and how-to articles, I wanted to give some “first hand experience advice” this time around. Last week, I decided to make 25 cold calls to local businesses. Gasp! I am sure some of you get scared even thinking
At least once per week I receive an email asking the same question: Chris, how much time per day do you spend on marketing? This is a very important question, but for the most part it is one that does not have a “set” answer. Everyday is different in terms of marketing. For instance, one day I may send three query letters but the next
Imagine this: you have been relying on the same marketing plan for several months or longer. Everything you do, for the most part, has been working. But out of nowhere you hit a snag and now nothing is breaking your way. What are you going to do? If your marketing plan begins to fail, don’t panic. Instead, follow these steps: Don’t abort what has worked
There is no denying that freelance writers should spend a lot of time marketing their services. This can be done in many ways: cold calls, cold emails, and query letters among others. But before you get ahead of yourself, there is one thing that you may be forgetting. You have to back up your “marketing claims.” In other words, you have to be ready to
Do you have a “go to move” when it comes to marketing your freelance writing services? Many people like to send query letters, some send cold emails, and others rely solely on word of mouth. Have you ever thought about the benefits of cold calling? Believe it or not, this is a great way to drum up new business. There are thousands of companies out
One of the best ways to market your services as a freelance writer is through your own website. Believe it or not, many writers do not have a website – this is a big mistake. With your own site clients can find you 24/7. In other words, you are marketing your services but do not have to put a lot of time and effort into
Normally I don’t talk about my clients directly on my blogs, but today is an exception. One of my clients (the owner of DirJournal.com) made a special link building offer to writers and bloggers, and I’d like to share that with you today. But first, let’s talk about link building in general, why it’s important for freelance writers, and how you can build quality links
Every now and then I talk about the excuses freelance writers make for their lack of success when they’re not happy in their careers (and how they need to take personal responsibility if they want to change that). Let’s talk about the latter half — making changes. It’s not enough to knock off the excuses. You stopped blaming the economy for your lack of work.
Before I get into more complex posts on how to market your freelance writing services, I want to touch on some of the basics. Although I feel that it is very important to have a marketing plan, many aspiring writers do not agree. If you believe that this is a good thing, the following information should help you get started. Believe it or not, your
Thanks to Thursday Bram for bringing this story to my attention. I don’t think it’s any secret that I despise oDesk. Why? Because they not only allow, but encourage, clients to cross the employer / client line with their software that lets clients actually watch you work, while you’re working from your own machine in your own home, etc. I’m not going to get into
In this series, we personally test traditional online freelance marketplaces to share first-hand experiences and honest assessments of marketplaces and resulting jobs, as many freelance writers turn to these outlets to find writing gigs. You can read all the posts in the series here. I’m depressed. Yes, yes, I know this isn’t LiveJournal but still…depressed. Huh? What? Tear myself away from this jelly doughnut and
Yesterday I announced our December 2009 freelance writing contest — you can win cash and prizes just for thinking about your own marketing for your freelance writing business. Write an elevator pitch / elevator speech of 4-5 sentences. That’s all you have to do! But wait, how do you write an elevator pitch? Here’s a quick “how to” to help you out: Step 1: List
No doubt you’ve stumbled across a competitor at some point and thought “how is this person even in business?” Their credentials aren’t as solid as yours. Their samples are terrible (or they don’t seem to have any to speak of). Their professional site is so dated that it needed to retire a decade ago. Given those things, why are they ranking #1 in the search
Do you know that you need to work harder at marketing your freelance writing services, but maybe you’re not sure where to start? Well, we’re all about the business and marketing side of freelance writing here at AFW, and moving forward I’ll be offering Monday marketing tips to bring you new ideas each week for promoting your services. To kick us off today though, I
I was talking to a new freelance writer recently about getting started in freelancing. One of their questions to me was about which services they should promote the most. In their case they wanted to offer both Web content and Web copywriting services. On the surface, there seemed to be three solutions: Promote the one you enjoy doing the most. Promote the one that pays
Today I’m going to give you a quick tip for better query-free freelancing: give things away for free! People love freebies. If they feel they’ll get something for nothing, they’ll often stop and take notice even if they would have otherwise passed you by. Freebies are especially important during growth phases where you’re trying to expand your visibility or reach within your target market. To
I’m a big believer in creating a Web presence as a freelance writer. Frankly, you couldn’t give me an excuse I’d consider good enough for not building a professional website (although some have tried). Let’s explore why I feel they’re so vital, and why it may be worth setting up a professional site even if you already maintain a steady client load without one. What
The Web makes building a writer platform much easier than it would have been years ago, with more of an emphasis required on local networking, securing major media coverage, and setting up speaking engagements. Now in no way am I saying those things aren’t still important. The Web just makes them less of a requirement as you have far more tools and resources at your
If you want to become a query-free freelancer, you can’t just wait around hoping clients are going to find you. You need to create demand for your work. Today I’m going to share a story about how I not only did that, but how I created demand in a relatively new market by identifying a need and choosing to fill it. Those who have known
We recently talked about 30 ways to build your writer platform. In that list of things to consider pursuing to build your visibility, you may have noticed that several platform-building techniques have an added bonus–you can get paid for your efforts! This is one of my favorite things about query-free freelancing. Unlike spending a lot of unpaid time writing queries to various companies and publications
I’ve been a part of an interesting conversation on freelance writing (specifically on the Web) at the DigitalPoint forums recently, and I think it’s a topic worth talking about here. In short, it started with a member asking why buyers always seem to be looking for “cheap content” there instead of quality. Then came calls for us on the forum staff to implement rules or
It’s much too easy to forget about marketing our writing services to someone once we’ve landed them as a client. However, sometimes all it takes is a reminder or a little nudge from you to bring in even more work. Here are five things freelance writers can do to keep existing clients coming back for more: Keep in Touch – A simple email or phone
As a freelance writer, your website can go a long way towards attracting clients in your target market. But is yours currently doing that? Or is it costing you work? When I look to hire a service provider for anything (whether for my business or personal needs), I like to check out their website first to learn more about them, what they’re offering, and what
Today let’s very briefly go over some common components of the author (or book) media kit – in other words, what you should include. While most of these will work for a hard copy media kit / press kit, let’s focus on online author media kits (those in newsroom formats on your website or downloadable .pdf files). Author Media Kit Components – Essential An author
Angela Booth had a great post recently that you should check out: Sell Your Writing: Create a Marketing Campaign. She tackles marketing in a way I really love, because I think it addresses the fears many freelance writers have about the actual act of selling their writing services. She offers a reminder that marketing doesn’t mean you have to make cold calls. It doesn’t mean
We’ve discussed the benefits of specialization and how that can lead to higher earnings as a freelance Web writer. However, the real key to earning a decent income freelance writing online is proving your value to your clients. Specialization plays a major role (if you’re offering a certain amount of depth or understanding others can’t, you’re providing more value). Today let’s talk about other things