In preparation for the New Year, I want to draw up some kind of marketing plan for myself. I know some of you have regular clients and I was hoping you could share some advice on how to generate projects in addition to CC? Put ads on Craigslist? Advertize in the newspaper? Tweet? Wear a sandwich board on a busy street corner? I'm not very good with cold-calling and I have to do it all from my home, so ideas?
Tapping the CC tree for that sweet maple syrup of wisdom.......
I do know of an author (not me) who has had great success posting and looking for work on Craig's list. One of my early clients had a post on there as well and I worked with him for several years. It can be a great way to find additional work. Right now, however, Craig's list has an advisory posted about scammers targeting those looking for writing jobs, so exercise caution. Don't give out too much personal info when responding to anyone.
Debbi,
There was an out-of-work marketing guy in my town who took to the street corners with a "need work" sign nearly every day for several months. He never did find a regular day job, but he was out there about a month ago with a "thank you" sign. Turns out he now has enough freelance work from passersby who later became customers. True story!
A few clients have found me via my Web site and a few others from Twitter. Use a Twitter tool such as Hoot Suite to monitor keywords such as "freelance writer needed" or "need a writer" and you'll see real-time discussions that you can then jump into, offering your services. Some of the results will be automated job feeds but some are real people needing a writer right now! In addition to monitoring keywords, put yourself out there and mention that you're a freelance writer. Use keywords in your posts such as "writing projects" or "writer for hire" so that your posts show up when a potential client searches for a "writer for hire."
A friend of mine found a regular local client by looking up the Web designer who created some local Web sites and then contacting him directly. She gets regular work from this client. Most Web sites have a credit line down at the bottom along the lines of "Web site by _______" (this is usually linked to the designer's site). I think she actually went to his office and called on him personally.
Another idea is to contact your local newspaper. While tons of newspapers are laying off reporters, guess who's filling in the gaps? Freelancers. Papers save money because they don't have to pay employment taxes or provide benefits packages to independent contractors. One way to tell if your local paper uses freelancers is to look at the bylines. "By Joe Blow, Special to the Big City Times" indicates that Joe Blow is a freelancer.
