If you want to find potential clients in your niche market, don’t ignore trade shows. These events bring together well-established companies, as well as newcomers to the industry. Trade shows can be a great opportunity to make new contacts, learn about new products and issues that affect your niche market.
Some trade shows for your niche market may not be held in your area, but that doesn’t mean that you have reached a dead end when it comes to looking for leads. Simply visit go online and check out the list of exhibitors for trade shows for your niche. Then take this information and do some research about each company.
You will want to visit the company web site to a feel for the business. When you make a pitch to the company for your writing services, you want to come across as a problem-solver, not simply someone trying to make a sale. Be specific about what you can do for the company and how you can help.
- Do they have a corporate blog? If not tell them about the advantages of interacting with their customers in this way.
- Do they offer informative articles on their site? Again, explain how quality content will help them in their search engine rankings (and lead to more sales).
- Is the company’s web copy less than compelling? Make them a pitch to rewrite it.
Where to Find Trade Shows
Here are a couple of web sites that list trade shows. You can search by industry, date or country:
Hi Jodee,
This is one avenue I had never thought about. Thanks for this interesting, not often explored gig-finding tip!
It reminds me of a Q I’ve had for some time now – about taking on potentially competing clients. Are there (unwritten?)rules in freelancing as there are in full time positions regarding working for two or more clients at a time that may be in the same industry or offering similar services. I guess if you want to create a niche, one way to do it is to write for several clients in the same field / industry type. So, for example, if I write greeting card concepts or furniture related articles and product descriptions, would it be right/ethical to do it for more than one company simulataneously? I realize that you are likely to find more work in the area where you have more experience or expertise…but is it really ok to take on 5 different clients and do somewhat similar work for them?
Thanks!!
@ Rupa: I would say so. Even projects that are on similar topics will be different from different clients. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects, etc., have multiple patients/clients and may perform similar services for them but that doesn’t mean that any of these services overlap. Everyone they work with is treated as a separate entity…as it should be.
Thanks for responding, Jodee. You do have a point. But, in writing, especially copywriting, where your job is to convince people that your client’s product is better than all the other products out there…well, how do you make the same claim for 4 other similar products, without compromising somewhere? It’s true that sometimes the target audience or positioning may be the differentiating factor, but that is not always the case. I guess the rules are more relaxed when it comes to freelancing and handling competing clients…as compared to say an ad agency environment where you would be bound by contract not to take on competion, even indirect ones, as clients?