Comments on: How Do You Market Yourself As a Freelance Writer?

By: Thursday

Thursday — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:14:20 +0000

New Writer,

I’ve found plenty on Meetup.com. I’ve also managed to meet several people in my area through LinkedIn, and we’ve met in person since then.

By: Freelance Writing Jobs » Blog Archive » Networking in Your Community: Finding the Freelance Writing Jobs in Your Area

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 17:02:58 +0000

[...] in our discussion about marketing yourself, we talked about cold calling and finding local business alliances in your area. This led to [...]

By: damaria senne

damaria senne — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:30:06 +0000

many pr companies use freelancers to write their press releases, marketing copy etc. The big advantage is that when they get new business, they may be inclined to pass some of the writing work to you. Could keep you real busy. And their rates are not bad either.

By: Erin

Erin — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:53:05 +0000

You’re a mind-reader, Deb; I’ve just been thinking about how I need to team up with some graphic designers to rustle up work.

Can you give us an idea of the pitch you used when you called? Did you just introduce yourself, or was there a more specific angle to your call?

Thanks for this! It’s a great kick in the pants for the new year.

By: Nikki

Nikki — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 04:24:49 +0000

Thank You! Sheesh! I should have commented here before going backwards to comment on another discussion! Either way, I whole heartedly realize that I need to step up the Marketing. Like you said Deb, marketing can mean many things it’s nice to see some of the ways that people market and I think that marketing can be a daunting task if you don’t have a plan in place for it.

By: Ingrid Cliff

Ingrid Cliff — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:46:46 +0000

I agree 100% about alliances with web designers and graphic designers. My strongest leads come from alliances.

I hate cold calling and I even tried direct mail to all the local designers.

I found the best and most natural way to build alliances was through networking events. By getting to know and trust each other we have built up a relationship that naturally converts to cross referrals.

That said – watch the events you attend. You can spend all your life at networking events. Pick one or two events and go to them regularly to form deep relationships rather that going to everything brandishing business cards and competing to see how many you can collect!

Exuberantly yours!

Ingrid

By: elle

elle — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:46:28 +0000

@jcm – amen! Tell everyone about your writing, and carry business cards. This is really true for any business, but especially in writing…everyone needs writers.

Also: I landed a great gig b/c one of my (non-writing related) blog readers saw a post that said I was bored. He knew I was a writer because I had talked about it, and liked my writing style. Consider every piece of written word that you put out marketing…including these comments.

By: Peggy

Peggy — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:39:08 +0000

I love’d the kick in the pants to do some cold calling. Hearing that it has worked, is inspirational.

I send out quarterly emails to everyone that I have a potential writing relationship with. The emails are fun to read tips for business and showcase my marketing and writing expertise. It keeps me in people’s minds so they are more likely to think of me when they hear about a job.

I also find LinkedIn a great place to post your resume. I have received great contacts and jobs through it. I’d love to hear more about how other people have used it. I know it has great potential for even more than I’ve gotten out of it.

By: lornadoone

lornadoone — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:35:01 +0000

Our plan in moving forward for 2008 is very much about stepping outside of our comfort zone. Thanks for these suggestions on ways to do it.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 18:32:27 +0000

New writer,

I don’t cold call, but rather “warm” call, trying at least to build a small relationship first.