On a lazy Sunday morning, while having a warm cup of tea, I got a call from one of my senior colleagues. She is a professional content writer with an experience of 2-3 years. After a few gossip things and a long call, she asked me to help her in searching for more clients. It was a bit surprising for me and made me realize that ‘how to learn content writing’ and ‘how to get clients for content writing’ are two different skills to learn.
Content writing is one of the fastest-growing fields in the digital world. There are influencers, marketers, and consultors around you who are making 5-6 figure incomes with content writing and even influencing various people through social media to start but how to get those clients is not explained deeply by anyone.
Getting genuine clients is an underrated trick and how and where to get clients for content writing is what you will master at the end of this article.
Here are 10 proven ways to get clients as a freelancer.
Table of Contents
1. Start cold pitching
Go for a more personalized pitch by searching for the right editors or companies for content writing you want to approach. Study their work, their profile, and their website and pitch them by writing; “Hey ABC company, I just went through your website and I want to suggest you apply _____ to increase more traffic and engagement.” Go with the genuine reason to work not just for the sake of a fake impression. Just sharing the resume will make you count in the same 100 people but this pitching technique will make you stand out from the crowd.
2. One week one blog
Start your blog in whatever niche you are comfortable with. Write the solutions in your blog for the queries people are searching for and end it with a smart call-to-action. This activity will take time, you won’t get 100 visitors in your first blog. Learn SEO, circulate your blog, and publish at least one blog per week to maintain consistency. There are companies that can provide great pay for blog content writing services. Look for the pages like content writing tips blog, pepper content blog and Neil Patel’s blog for inspiration.
3. Create content for social media
Social media content is consumable at most. Every age group is consuming content on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Create content for your audience as well as for your clients. I got my first client through Instagram DM only. Create the content to showcase your copywriting skills and mention ‘open to work’ in your BIO. LinkedIn is the most favourable handle to find genuine clients. Share copywriting tips, do storytelling, build connections, and observe agencies. Post consistently and there are chances for you to get approached by your clients.
4. Work with other freelancers
There are graphic designers, web developers, and SEO experts who are doing freelance writing business. Connect with them and offer them to work with their clients at a rational rate. Sometimes clients demand content for a website, social media, and brochures. Work in a partnership with them and deliver your best copy.
5. Sell Smartly
Convert your single client into multiple. Yes, you read right. Usually, marketers after delivering one project close the deal. After completing one project for your client offer other services. For example, after delivering website content, offer them brochure content and social media copies to enhance their digital presence. Create a combo pack of services to attract more clients.
6. Showcase your work
After just learning content writing as a beginner, people directly go for how to get clients as a freelancer. There are thousands of writers who have years of experience in almost every content writing topic and can write phenomenal. You need a reason to be chosen by the people. Offer your work on freelancing websites like Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer at zero price. Apply the strategy of JIO, make the people habitual with your free work, and start charging from them slowly.
7. Join networking groups
Once my mentor told me that the ‘network’ is called ‘net worth’. Start building connections with people. Meet people, talk to people, connect with people and genuinely help them. Usually, for any help, we contact anyone within our network group. More connections build a big community of people. Join networking groups like BNI. If you performed well, word of mouth is enough to market your work.
8. Approach former clients
Relation is more worthy than money. If you lose connections with your previous clients, you are leaving the business on the table. Connect with them, and approach them multiple times for work, it will remind them about you whenever they need the service. Given them, the advantage of being your old customer with special offers, and discounts.
9. Cover local businesses
This is the most underrated way of approaching more clients. When people just starting their content writing journey, they are fond of international clients for content writing but whenever you start, the first thing to do is offer solutions to your nearby clients. Starting content writing for businesses available locally helps you in building community. Local companies will pay you less but it will help you to build brand awareness very fast. Local people are more vocal people if you are delivering the best quality work you will be getting more clients nearby only. At the start go for ten $5 clients and then search for one $500 client.
10. Write free for three big shot clients
Yes you have to write for free. If you want a bigger jump you need to prove yourself. Pitch the big brands and start working for free. Big brands will appreciate your work and give you a great opportunity. It can’t be done in a single way try it for 3 big brands on the market.
There is some FAQ in terms of how to get clients for content writing.
How to get your first client as a freelancer?
Approach local businesses for your work and start cold pitching to your targeted agencies. By going with it, there is a possibility to face rejection but stay focused on it to get guaranteed results.
How to get international clients for content writing?
Run social media ad campaigns at their locations
Use LinkedIn special feature
Answer questions on Quora
Use Twitter to approach clients
Join Facebook groups and communities
How much does a content writer charge?
A 500 word article is short in length and the charge amount fairly depends upon the expertise of the writer. If any beginner is starting his content writing journey, it will be around $10-$15 but as an expert, the price can go up to $75-$200.
Where to find clients for content writing?
There are multiple platforms for content writing to get more clients.
· LinkedIn
· Fiverr
· Upwork
· Freelancer
· People Her Hour
· Social media DMs
Conclusion
Your journey of searching for clients will be long and may be problematic. At the starting steps, you won’t get any monetary return but you will earn the precious experience. Start slowly and keep doing consistently. The above steps will definitely help you in getting content writing projects. I hope the above guide is helped you in getting the answer to your question, of how to get clients for content writing. Share your views in the comment section about the guide.
Thank you for reading. Best of luck.