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Does your marketing cover the bases?
by Steve Slaunwhite
Marketing your services is a lot like coaching little league baseball when your team is in the outfield. You have to make sure that all the bases are covered. Because if you don’t, some other hotshot writer is going to get the job.
Here’s what I mean:
Let’s say you promote your writing services by networking at business events. (The local branch of a major marketing association, for example.) This is a good strategy. And a terrific way to meet potential clients who would otherwise be difficult to reach.
But if networking is your ONLY marketing strategy — and you’re doing little else to attract clients — then you are losing opportunities.
Why?
Because your success is limited to only those people who attend the events. What about the thousands of other potential clients who don’t attend? How are they going to learn about your services?
Chances are, they never will. And when one of these potential clients has the perfect project for you, you’ll never know it. Because they will have called someone else.
That’s why you need to cover the bases with your personal marketing. You need to ensure that as many people as possible know about the great writing services you offer.
What are these “bases” I keep referring to? There are four:
1st Base: Visibility.
You need to be seen, heard and read. You need to become “known”.
There are dozens of ways to accomplish this. You can write articles for marketing publications, post comments on popular blogs (I recently got a new client this way), participate in online discussion forums, speak at meetings and conferences, the list goes on and on.
What’s your visibility strategy?
2nd base: Outreach.
Many potential clients will never call you first, no matter how visible you are. But that doesn’t mean they won’t hire your services. You just need to make the first move.
How? There are lots of ways. You can send a letter, make a cold call, network at events. One copywriter I know sends potential clients — mostly ad agency executives — an invitation to lunch. He manages to schedule at least two or three lunches with new prospects every month!
What’s your outreach strategy?
3rd base: Radar screen.
A potential client may be genuinely impressed with your services. She might even say, “I’m going to hire you for our next project”, and really mean it. But guess what? People get busy. Priorities change. Months go by. And a promising new writing source (you) is easily forgotten.
So you have to find a way to stay on the radar screen. You can make follow-up calls, or publish an ezine (a technique that works wonders for many copywriters I know), or send updates to your portfolio. There are many other techniques you can use, too.
What’s your radar screen strategy?
4th base: Client satisfaction
Clients are your number one source for new business. They can not only offer you a steady stream of writing assignments but can also refer you to their colleagues at other companies.
So you need to keep clients satisfied. How? Remember, clients don’t just want great copy. They also want a great experience. They want to enjoy working with you.
What’s your client satisfaction strategy?
There you have it. The four bases. Miss just one and potential clients will slip through your fingers.
Cover the bases. And you’ll get more business.
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