It's a brand new year, which means the holiday decorations have been put away, the champagne is long gone, and the race is on for freelancers to generate new business. Many of these ideas are specific to freelance writers, but some of them will work for other types of freelancers, too.Hopefully you'll find something in the list below that you can add to your own arsenal of marketing and business development strategies. And if you have other ideas, please be sure include them in the comments.
- Pitch additional services to a current client. Maybe they could use a blog, someone to tweet on their behalf, or a monthly enewsletter to stay in touch with customers.
- Reconnect with a client or editor you’ve worked with in a past. You might even send them a slightly belated New Year’s greeting.
- Attend a networking event. But show more interest in learning about the other person than pitching your services. Otherwise you might scare them off. Networking is more of a long-term strategy than a short-term one, but it works.
- Post an ad in the services section of Craig’s List. Use keywords and experiment in different geographic areas, since you’ll be working remotely. Then screen responses like crazy so you don’t end up working for pennies!
- Follow up on query letters or letters of introduction from last year. If you have new clips that might be relevant, be sure to include links.
- Revamp an old query letter for a new (or new-to-you) publication. This post offers more ideas on that front.
- Pair up with a web designer or photographer and pitch your services as a designer/copywriter or photog/journalist duo.
- Check out this list of trends to watch in 2010 and create a few new queries around one (or more) of those trends.
- Look at job postings for full time editors or copywriters and send an email of introduction. If it’s a new venture, this can be a can great way to get in as a freelancer on the ground floor. Just make sure it’s well-funded!
- Create your own project, such as a book proposal, an online class, a new blog, an ebook, or a podcast. The great part about these types of projects is that you have total control. The downside is that without deadlines, it can be tough to keep momentum going.
Your turn! What are you doing to drum up new business? Any tips that you would add?
Flickr photo courtesy of thinkpanama
7 comments:
Great ideas! I've tried many of them, but also see some new ones, such as placing an ad on Craig's List. Another strategy I'm trying is getting to know my online pals offline. That is, reaching out to Twitter buddies and people I know but don't see very often to get together for coffee or, if they are not local, a Skype chat.
Great ideas. In addition to these, I'll be putting more effort into face-to-face meetings with my editors this year. Over the past couple of years, I've found those meetings to be very fruitful and a very quick and easy way of drumming up regular work.
@Mridu: Great idea! I know you (and lots of other freelancers) have been successful at setting up face-to-face meetings, but the editors in my area just don't seem to be receptive to that because they're so busy. Besides offering to meet at a time/place that suits their needs, any other tips on requesting a meeting?
Thanks for the round-up of great ideas, Susan! I recently posted a couple of ads on Craigslist -- so we'll see what that yields.
One of the tips you mentioned is to develop an ebook. As someone who did that last year, I will say to anyone thinking about doing it to be prepared to put in a lot of work to market it. Unless you already have a platform in your subject area, it's not a quick fix unless you just happen to be a very lucky person. The same holds true for blogs and podcasts. They take a lot of work and the payoffs can be way down the line; so make sure you're passionate. FWIW.
These are all great strategies, some of which I just need to do more of, especially querying, especially getting in touch with existing clients, especially proposing ideas to others. Thanks for the great reminders.
Great post! I followed up on a bunch of queries from the fall yesterday and landed an assignment a couple hours later. It pays to follow-up, even from stuff a few months old. I have learned my lesson.
All great ideas. Reminding to follow up on queries is a good one. I always figure if I haven't heard anything that the idea is dead, but maybe not. My personal plan is to try out several face-to-face networking groups in my area to see if any are a good fit for me, and also be more active in LinkedIn groups to build up a presence there and do more online networking.
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