This contest has ended and is no longer accepting entries.

I’ve found that January is often a slower time for freelance content marketing work. Last year I launched the January Marketing Challenge and it was one of my top posts of the year. Throughout the year, I heard writers were using the list when they wanted to focus on marketing. So, back by popular demand, I am holding “The Second Annual Beat the January Slump Marketing Challenge.”

Of course, there is a prize! When you complete one of the tasks, post a comment saying what you did and any tips you want to share. All writers who have commented on this post by January 31, 2017 at 9 p.m. ET will be put in a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift card. The catch is that you will get one entry for each task you complete. So the more marketing tasks you do, the more chances you have to win. And even more importantly, you will likely land new clients and increase your income.

Note: If you have found other marketing tasks to work for you, post in the comments, and I will add to the list and you’ll get an entry for it.

January Slump Marketing Challenge Tasks:

Connecting with Clients/Following Up

1. Touch base with 5 (or more) past clients. In my experience, this is one of the most effective ways to get work quickly since these editors know your work and already trust you.

2. Ask current clients for more work. You get 1 entry for each time you do this because it is such an effective strategy. If the client is an agency, let them know about other niches that you specialize in and ask if there are other projects that might be a fit for your skills. For direct clients, ask about other departments or projects in the company that might have freelance content marketing needs. You can also brainstorm some specific new projects for the client that fits in their content marketing strategy.

3. Follow up with every single LOI and pitch you have sent in the last 6 months. I cannot stress this enough. I honestly think that this is the biggest mistake that I see writers making. If you are not following up, you are losing out on work. It is especially true to follow up with contacts that tell you that they will keep your information on file or that they don’t currently have work. I get 75 percent of my new clients through following up, sometimes even after 18 months of regularly following up.

4. Follow up with every single pitch or LOI you have sent in the past year. Same as above, but go back a little further in your inbox. If only do one thing on this list, I highly encourage you to do this one.

Letters of Introduction

5. Edit your Letter of Introduction. Most writers, myself included, have several template LOIs for each niche then customize it for each client. But I know that mine is a bit dusty. So do the same thing you did for your LinkedIn profile – add new clients, services and jazz it up as needed.

6. Have a fellow writer review your LOI and give you feedback. You also get another entry if you review their LOI as well. An LOI is pretty much the most important thing you write and an extra set of eyes can be invaluable.

7. Send out 10 Letters of Introduction to Content Marketing Agencies. Check out my post for ideas on how to find agencies. If you send out more, you can get 1 entry for every 10 LOIs.

8. Send out 10 LOIs to businesses in your niche. You can use LinkedIn as well as Google to find companies to market yourself. Be sure to also look at the advertisements of magazines in your industry to see which companies are advertising to travelers, computer programmers or retirees. Every single one of these are most likely potential clients for you. For this one as well, you can earn 1 entry for every 10 LOIs.

9. Send out LOIs to 5 association or trade publications in your niche. Did you know that there is association for pretty much anything? I am positive that there are many associations in all of your niches. Most of these groups put out a monthly publication for their members and many use freelance writers who have experience in their field.

10. Put a date on your calendar to follow up in 2-3 months with all pitches that you send this month. This way you can’t forget to follow up.

Website/Social Media/Profiles

11. Update your LinkedIn profile. I landed several clients in 2016 that found me by searching for my niche on LinkedIn. Take an hour and look at your profile. Update your niches, add new brands/publications/agencies you worked with in 2016, and make sure that your summary speaks to the type of client most likely to hire you.

12. Write a LinkedIn recommendation for a former editor that you would like to reconnect with. Everyone loves to get recommendations, especially unsolicited. This is a great way to reconnect without asking for work. You get one entry for each one.

13. Ask for a LinkedIn recommendation from a client. LinkedIn has a feature where you can request a recommendation. I have done this a number of times and highly recommend it. No one has ever refused and I have gotten some great recommendations this way.

14. Sign up or Update Your Profile on either Contently, Skyword or Newscred. (Bonus for doing all three). I have worked for all three, but don’t recommend writers count on this as a source of work since it can be hard to break in and work can be sporadic. But if you don’t have a profile, you definitely won’t get work. I personally have had much better experiences with Skyword and Newscred, but know writers who have found good projects on Contently. Note that your experience with each of these companies is very dependent on the specific client that you are working with.

15. Add new clips to your website. I am often so busy creating content, that my website is months out of date with new clips. And if you don’t have a website, get moving on creating a website.

16. Update the About Me Section of Your Website with new clients, experience and services. I am embarrassed to admit that I recently realized that mine was at least year out of date.

17. Update your email signature. Your email signature is free advertising. Make sure that you are making the most use of this real estate. Some savvy writers even include a link in their email signature to their newest story in a high profile pub.

18. Spend time evaluating your current social media strategy and take steps to improve your presence in 2017. I stink at social media and am actively working to focus on building a good social media. Clients want writers who have a solid social media following in the industry and are willing to actively promote their work.

19. Follow up with potential client that viewed your LinkedIn profile. Almost every time I do this trick, I get a response. And have gotten several clients this way.

Networking 

20. Contact a local business, either agencies or businesses, to see if they use freelance writers. Even though it is totally easy to work with writers located anywhere, I have found that many clients really like working with local writers. Don’t neglect marketing in your own backyard. You get 1 point for each contact.

21. Follow up with a contact you have met in real-life in the past year. Go through your business cards, notes and LinkedIn connections and reach out to everyone you met at a conference, Meetup or networking event. I realized at 5 a.m. last Thursday there were a ton of people I met last year at Content Marketing World that I never followed up with. You get one point for each contact.

22. Research local networking events in your niche, freelance writing or content marketing. Make plans to attend one. With a quick search, I found several Meetups and networking events where potential clients will be this winter and spring. I vow to get out of my warm house and meet them.

23. Register for an upcoming conference. It can be a writing conference, an industry conference or a content marketing client. I plan on attending the Raleigh High Five Conference, ASJA National Conference in NYC and Content Marketing World. I always learn new skills, make new contacts for clients and find a new energy for my career. If you are going to ASJA’s conference, apply for membership in early 2017 so that you can participate in Client Connections on Members Day, where you meet with top editors.

24. Connect or reconnect with a fellow freelance writer. Freelance writers know which editors need writers and even have their email addresses. Many writers view other writers as competition instead of colleagues.

25. Go to the LinkedIn alumni search and find 3 people from college to connect with. Another writer shared this tip, and I thought it was brilliant since your college neighbor or former classmate could now very well be a marketing manager at a top company.

26. Connect with a co-workers (email, phone or LinkedIn). I realized last week that I have connections in the tech industry that are now spread over many different companies that could turn into potential clients.

27. Help another writer. Find a writer who is starting out that could use some advice. Spend 15 minutes on the phone brainstorming market ideas, review their LOI or share an editor contact. I am positive that many other writers have helped you along the way. I strongly believe that as writers we are all in this together.

28. Google “Top NAME-OF-MY-NICHE companies” and find 5 new companies that you haven’t targeted. (Another entry if you send out LOIs to each of them). Thanks Holly Browne for this tip in last year’s challenge.

29. Join American Society of Business Press Editors (free). Post your contact information on their Freelancers list. (Thanks Heather Larson for this one from last year.

30. Email a writer friend and let them know that you are looking for work. Now, this should only be done with someone you have a relationship with, not a stranger, but my writer friends and I do this all the time. Send a quick email letting them know that you are looking for more work and to let you know if they run across a lead that would work for you. This works well for both writers in your niche and other niches.

31. Send a writer friend a lead that is a fit for their niche. One, this is good karma. But it’s also good marketing. If you send out leads to writer friends that don’t work for you, then what do you think that they will do when they run across leads that work for you? Bingo! My best clients have come from writer referrals because they are already vetted (decent pay, nice people).

32. Join or apply to join a writers organization. My personal favorite are Freelance Success or American Society for Journalists.

33. Talk to a potential client on the phone before taking work. I find that this is the best way to weed out PITA clients and to identify those that you will be the best fit.

34. Research upcoming conferences in your niche, writing or content marketing. 

35. Research upcoming local events related to your niche.

36. Attend a local event. You get 1 point for each event.

Niches/Finding Potential Clients 

37. Quote a rate that is higher than you feel comfortable. The worst feeling is when a client says yes too quickly or even tells you (this actually happened to me recently) that their budget was higher than your quote. Since this is so hard to do, I am going to give you one entry for each time you do this. Remember, you can also lower your rate during negotiation, but you cannot raise it.

38. Pitch a double-niche story to a client. This is the best way to gain a new niche. For about two years, I tried to makes sure as many of my stories as possible were double niche.

39. Apply to five job ads. Yes, I think that applying for jobs listed in ads is the least effective way to find work. But it is still possible to get gigs. Be sure to only apply to gigs that sound high paying and for those that you are highly qualified.

40. Look at your resume and identify a new niche. It doesn’t even have to be a professional job. One writer I know got a great gig from her experience guiding white water rafts in college.

41. Look through your clips and identify a new niche. I am positive that you have niches hiding in your clips that you don’t even realize would be great niches.

42. Write a new template LOI for each new niche you identify. Be sure to include your experience, brands you worked for and publications you’ve written for in that niche. Then when you go to send out LOIs, all you need to do is customize the letter to your recipient.

43. Take one of your broad niches and determine sub-specialties. You are much more likely to get high paying gigs when you market yourself as a neurology writer instead of a health writer. The more you define your niches, the fewer freelancers you will be competing with, the easier it is for you to identify new clients and the high your changes of landing the gig.

44. Find a consumer or trade publication in your niche and make a list of advertisers. If someone is advertising in the pub, then they are most likely a potential client. This is a great way to find new companies in your niche.

Productivity

45. Do your taxes. Yes, this technically won’t get you more work. But by the time the work is rolling in, you won’t have to take time out from paying work to complete this necessary evil.

46. Find one new productivity enhancing tool and integrate it into your business. There are so many cool apps and tools that can save you time, which translates into more money. But when you are swamped with paying work, it’s hard to make the time to get up and running. Check out this Fast Company article if you need ideas for the best tools for freelancers.

47. Apply one of my tactics for increasing your writing speed. The key to being a high income writer is to write fast. Most all of the writers I know that regularly break six figures are fast writers. I personally think that you should aim to be able to write a 400 word blog post with no interviews in no more than two hours (closer to one hour is better) and a 700 word article with one or two interviews in three to four hours at the absolute most.

48. Ask a current or new client to revise a contract to be more freelance friendly. This is best done when signing a new client, but if you have a long time client it is possible to get a new contract as well.

49. Outsource a task. It might be about hiring a proofreader, working with a Virtual Assistant or using a transcriptionist. While outsourcing technically costs you money, if you can free up your time so that you earn a higher hourly rate even minus the costs, then outsourcing gives you either more time or more money. Your choice.

50. Figure out how much you need to earn each week and each month to meet your 2017 income goal. I have found that this is the best way to stay on track with my goals and know where I am throughout the year.

Share your marketing tasks in the comments (just list the corresponding number of each action on the list above) and I’ll give you one entry for every item you complete. If you complete more than one (which you hopefully will), please reply to your first post so that I can keep things organized and I don’t miss any of your entries!

And if you have any tasks to add, please share them below and I will update the list!