Client Outreach for Freelancers: To Get Clients, Reach Out to Them
Copywriter Robert W. Bly shares the power of successful client outreach for copywriters (and other freelance writers).
When I started as a freelance copywriter in 1982, I built my practice with direct mail. In my first effort, I sent a one-page letter with a business reply card to 500 potential clients. Result: a 7 percent response, 35 leads, and a bunch of new clients. I was on my way.
I particularly liked direct mail because it generated leads. So you never had to chase new business. Instead of you going to the clients, the clients came to you.
However, things have changed. And direct mail is no longer the top method of getting new clients. There’s a new method that often works better than PD today: client outreach.
Client outreach requires that you find and reach out to the clients, rather than then coming to you. (If you prefer them coming to you, content marketing and email newsletters can make that happen for you, with some caveats; e.g. how to get prospects to see and read your content, and how to build an opt-in list of prospects.)
The primary tools of client outreach are digital. Specifically, email and LinkedIn.
You have in your computer many names of people whom you should reach out to: clients, past clients, inactive clients, prospects, people in your network, and others who either could hire you now or refer you to people who can.
With LinkedIn, you can search for people by job title and company, at businesses that are a good fit with your experience. For instance, I am a chemical engineer. And I worked for a company that makes process equipment (e.g. pumps, valves, filters).
So I searched on LinkedIn for chemical companies by the name of the company. LinkedIn shows you a list of key personnel. Click on the person who has a marketing title. Then, when her LinkedIn page pops up, click the Connect button and request a connection.
LinkedIn lets you personalize your request, and here is the copy I use: “If you ever go outside for copywriting, I have been writing copy to process equipment for more than 4 decades for ITT, Koch Engineering, and others. May I send you my free copywriting information kit?”
I often start with a first sentence that somehow connects to the prospect and her work. A few examples:
- “I just saw you are coming out with a new widget [product name here].”
- “Congratulations on your new position as [title here].”
- “As a fellow member of [trade group he belongs to].”
- “I used to work for [a person they know].”
As for the free copywriting kit, it is simple a multipage PDF with key documents that the client may be interested in seeing. These can include a client list, testimonials, bio, descriptions of your services, an article you’ve written, and a sample or two of your copy. Obviously don’t share samples of client work unless you have permission to do so.
Some copywriters in their outreach messages make a blatant sales pitch for their services, which is probably premature and possibly off-putting, given they have no idea who you are.
Offering a free copywriting information kit is more palatable, as you are not seen as soliciting work. And also the prospect can request and receive it online without talking to you—a stranger they don’t yet know.
Once they ask for and get your kit, you can follow up. I do a soft follow-up, offering samples of my copy in their industry and even (if I have it) their product category.
Often this two-step soft follow up results in them wanting to communicate with you one-on-one, either to learn more about your capabilities or discuss a potential project. Which brings you a step closer to being hired!
