Soft-pitching your freelance services
By: Laura Mcdonagh
Tags: Marketing, Copywriting, Selling, Freelancers, Pitching

Does selling feel sleazy? Avoid the ickiness with these 10 easy ways to say ‘hire me’ without leaving the house.

Have laptop, will write. It sounds like a good plan.

But given the fact that the question I’m most often asked by new or would-be freelancers is ‘Where do you get your clients from?’, it’s clear that finding those first few paying punters can prove a challenge.

Behold: my 10 tried and tested tips to get your name out there without sounding like Derek Trotter. Ready? Here goes…

Update your bios. Yup, all of them: LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, wherever the Youth are hanging out online these days. Use the job title(s) which best describes your experience and the work you want — e.g. ‘copywriter’, ‘digital strategist’ — plus key words and phrases your clients will be searching for, e.g. ‘press and PR’, ‘SEO’, ‘B2B’.

Think ahead. Best advice anyone any gave me: use the words and phrases that describe where you want to be in 6 months time, not necessarily where you are right now. It’s what mediocre white men have been doing for centuries. Mind blown.

Tell people about your business plans and services. And do it regularly. Get a little verbal summary ready so that you don’t clam up (“Oh, you know, I write…things.” FACE PALM). Ask the people you speak with to tell more people. A lot of my work initially came from the classic ‘Oh, I know someone who does that!’-type conversation: my mother-in-law got me a gig with an international headhunting firm after giving the boss my business card while cleaning their offices. Random.

Research your existing connections. Do a mind map of everyone you know. Go through your colleagues, ex-colleagues, partners, ex-partners, anyone you’ve ever snogged — everyone. Find them on LinkedIn and drop them a line. You’ll be astonished at the leads it generates.

Tap up local content and marketing agencies. Send them a speculative enquiry and a CV and ask if they have any gaps coming up which your skills could fill. If you’re at the beginning of your freelance writing journey, see if you could go in and shadow a team member for a day or two— kind of like work experience, but for grown-ups. As they say in the North East, shy bairns get nowt.

Keep it authentic but professional online. Don’t be that person who bombards people with photos of their kids/dog/five-pints-in selfies. Instead, share articles you’ve found interesting. Ask questions and voice opinions. Share recommendations and ideas. Convey a sense of who you are and what makes you tick work-wise. In short, show up in a meaningful way. As time goes on, you’ll attract people like you and who want to work with you.

Team up with other creatives. First of all, you need to find them —try the Freelance Heroes and Being Freelance communities on Facebook as a starting point. Don’t necessarily avoid groups of writers because of a misinformed notion that they’re ‘competition’ — over time, you’ll develop a name and a niche and talking to writers will generate valuable connections, golden advice and potential work — honestly.

Offer something of value. Write a useful blog post — um, like this one — and direct people towards it. If you’re thinking of setting up a newsletter, a freebie is a great incentive for people to give away their precious email address. Also, people like to share — and shout about — helpful free content.

Use your fallow time productively. No bites? Go back to that list of blog posts you said you’d write. Produce more helpful content. Then share the bejesus out of it.

Follow up every enquiry and piece of work you do with an email. ‘Huge thanks…if you ever need anything else…’ My email signature is, ‘Lots of my work comes through personal recommendation — feel free to pass my details on :)’ And always, always ask for feedback and testimonials afterwards.

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I’m Laura, and I’m a writer and communications strategist specialising in authentic, intelligent written content for the public and third sector.

My background is in education, marketing and community work — I spent 10+ years as a secondary English teacher, including a four year stint at the British School of Brussels — and my recent and current clients include Agrespect and Changing Lives. I also run an ongoing digital storytelling project with Leeds Irish Health and Homes.

Drop me a line at laura@strikethematch.co.uk, find me on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram or visit my website here.