I’ve talked about letters of introduction (LOIs) ad nauseam on this blog since I started blogging in 2013: how to write LOIs, who should get them, how many to send. For years, they were the cornerstone of my marketing efforts, and I have always considered them to be a very important part of an effective freelance writing marketing strategy. Back when I was ramping up my business in 2012 and 2013, I sent out hundreds of LOIs and got many clients this way, especially through diligently following up. Over the years, when a writer told me that they weren’t able to find work, I automatically assumed that they weren’t sending out enough LOIs.

I recently changed my mind. I’m not sure if I was wrong initially or if times have changed. I think the answer is a little of both.

I have slowly come to the realization that while the LOI still has a role in finding content marketing clients, the most lucrative work most often comes from building connections and relationships. I think that this has always been true, but that it has become even more important recently. When I read Leslie Lang’s fantastic post about why 2016 was her highest income-earning year ever, her comment about how none of her 2016 work came from the 216 LOIs that she sent out made me stop and think.

Where my work came from in 2016

I remembered that I had a similar experience when I did my marketing push last year – none of my new clients came from those LOIs. But I was curious about the rest of the year. So I took my own advice and wrote out where my work came from in 2016:

• ASJA Client Connections – 3 clients from meeting with editors at the annual ASJA conference (one worth $25K in 2016)
• ASJA member referral – 1 client (annual project worth $15K every year)
• Freelance Success – 1 clients (I have gotten many others through FLX over the past five years through the weekly market reports and member referrals)
• Skyword – 3 clients (I got my first gig through Skyword after meeting an editor at the ASJA conference and I got the additional clients by asking my editor about other projects)
• Newscred clients – 3 clients ( I was put on my first project after following up on an LOI from 2014. I then got several other very lucrative clients through great client feedback and directly asking editors about other projects)
• Contently – 1 client (I used to do a lot of work for them and then this year was put on a project after not having done work for 2 years)
• LOI sent in 2013 – 1 client (I have been doing a few small projects a year for this client. I followed up for 18 months before landing this gig)
• American Marketing Association local event –  1 client (I attend monthly luncheons hosted by the AMA local chapter and met the Marketing Director of a local agency over rubber chicken last summer)
• LinkedIn – 2 clients (Both found me by searching my profile for one of my niches)
• My website – 1 client (Found me through a Google search using the term “Content Marketing Writer,” for which my website is the #1 ranking)
• Combination of LinkedIn, Website and Twitter – 1 client (I was hired to teach a session in the Marketing Profs Marketing Writing Bootcamp and they found by checking out all three of my sites to determine that I had the expertise that they wanted)
• My work on HPE Matter online publication – 1 client (The client had a similar project so went to this high profile online mag to find freelance writers whose work he liked. This agency has sense put me on three other projects and looks like they may turn into a long term anchor client)

Since I had a full client load after my January slump and took some time off for health issues, I turned down a fair amount of work in 2016. Whenever possible, I tried to refer the work to other freelancers, and several friends got some great gigs that way. I looked through my notes to see where those leads came from and found that they all came from clients finding me through either LinkedIn or my website. I typically get 4 to 8 cold inquiries from potential clients through these two sources combined each month. I also have two new clients that I am working with this month and both found me through a combination of my website and LinkedIn.

So, I had my answer in black and white. Almost all of my clients (except for two) came from my online presence or networking. And the two LOI clients were from several years ago. I have now officially changed my position on the LOI.

Why Has the LOI Seemingly Become Less Effective?

I’m not exactly sure why the LOI has become less effective. I think part of it is that there are a lot more freelance writers focusing on content marketing than previously, so brands and agencies are overloaded with emails from writers. This makes it much harder to stand out. I also think that so much of our communication these days is online that when we meet someone in person, they are more likely to stand out because our human-to-human connections these days are much less than they used to be, especially in terms of networking.

However, I think LOI is more important when you are building your business because you have fewer connections and building relationships takes time. Once you develop a large network, LOIs becomes less important because referrals become your main source of work. And getting to the point where you no longer have to look for work, but most of your clients find you should be every freelance content marketing writers goals.

But Do Not Delete Your LOI

I still think that an LOI is an important part of your marketing strategy and can still be effective for landing work. I just don’t think it should be your main strategy. So, no, the LOI is not dead. I just think it should move lower down on your to-do list. Tomorrow I will share my updated sample LOI (another thing I was wrong about) and my post later this week will explain my thoughts on when sending an LOI makes sense.

I now think that the best strategy for finding potential clients is networking with potential clients and other writers (both online and in real life) along with having a solid marketing presence (website, LinkedIn and Twitter) should be your highest priority when looking for clients. I also want to add that I think that the best (and quickest) source of work is always your existing clients, especially agencies who have other projects. So we are going to start talking a lot more on this blog about networking, since I know that this is often out of my and many other writers’ comfort zone.

To help get everyone more focused on networking, I have added more networking tasks to the Second Annual Beat the January Slump Marketing Challenge. Last year the main focus was on LOIs. And if you haven’t started participating, I highly recommend joining in on the fun and the possibility of winning a $50 Amazon Gift Card. And of course, landing some great clients.

What has your experience been in the past year with LOI? Are you getting results? Where did your 2016 clients come from? Why do you think the LOI is less effective more some writers now than previously?