It was 2008. My youngest had just started school and I was determined to make this freelancing thing work. So I took pretty much any client that came along. I was marketing my services to anyone who would hire me. Yes, I got some work, but not a ton. It wasn’t till around 2011 when I began strategically marketing myself to certain  types of clients that my career really took off. It’s easy to just look for new clients without having a plan in place. And often you will find some clients. But I promise you that if you aren’t really thinking about who you are marketing to and what they are looking for then you are leaving money on the table.

I’ve mentioned these concepts a few times in my posts about writer’s websites, but I keep repeating myself and I’m not really fully explaining what I mean. So I decided to step back and write an entire post on this topic so I can simply link to it. I also really think that this is the crux of growing your business. Recently gave this advice to a fellow writer and she was quite, then said “I write about marketing, I know this stuff. But it never crossed my mind to apply it to my writing.” I think that it’s very easy as writers to think of ourselves as writers for hire instead of business owners.

What type of clients are you looking to attract?

The best place to start when answering this question is to start with your current long term clients that you have been highly successful with. I highly recommend writing down your answers. Trust me, there really is something more meaningful about writing it down.

Think about the characteristics that they have in common. Are they similar size companies? Or perhaps mainly agencies? What niche are they in? Are they formal or casual? Do they typically ask you do write the same type of deliverables? Odds are that when you really think about this on this level, you will come up with some commonalities. The reason I suggest doing this is that we writers do our best work in certain environments and our skill set is most appealing to specific types of clients. So, by looking at past successes, you may likely gain some clues as to the type of client most likely to hire you and that you are most likely to be successful with.

Then think about, as you grow your business, what type of clients would you like to add to your business? Do you want to add more direct businesses instead of mainly agencies? Is there a niche that you think has become more marketable, but you aren’t currently getting much work from? Are you looking for more local clients so you can have more face to face interaction or perhaps it is the opposite?

What skills, experience, and qualities are these clients looking for?

Now that you have a list of a what clients you are looking for (and it’s fine if you have a few different types of clients – in fact you should have a couple different types on the list), make a list of what each specific client type is looking for. Do they want specific experience in an industry? Do they want a type of tone? Are they looking for a writer that presents themselves more formally or with a fun, casual flair? Do they typically want a snappy and sarcastic tone or more of a conversational and friendly one? Get as detailed as possible with this information.

I highly recommend talking to a few of your current clients that you are friends with to get their thoughts about what they look for. You can also ask others in the industry that you know hire content writers. I have learned that almost everyone loves to be asked for their opinion and expertise so don’t be shy. When you have all this information, determine what is most important to the client and put that at the top of your list.

What to Do With Your Answers

The answers to these questions really should guide all of your business decisions from this point out. It’s not a static list, but something that you should continually update as your business evolves.

Here are four steps for using this information:

1. Rank the types of client in the order of importance to your business – which one is the client that you want to attract the most, then the next and so on. I think that the most effective order is prioritizing those that are most likely to hire you at the top, but there is a case for putting a new client type at the top in certain situations. Spend some time thinking about your business goals and where you want to take your business as you rank the clients.
2. Go through your existing marketing materials (LinkedIn, website and social media) from these client’s perspective. Ask yourself if you are presenting yourself in a way that gives the clients you listed in your answer to question #1 the information that they are looking for (your answers to question #2). If possible, I suggest having a fellow writer, virtual assistant or someone that is not you do this exercise as well since often we are too close to this issues.
3. Make notes of all of the changes that you need to make to revise your marketing materials. You want to make sure that you are presenting yourself in a way that gives your target clients the information that they need and presents your experience in a way that most closely matches their needs. You don’t need to do everything at once. But since you have determined what is most important to your target client, first make the changes that will help a potential client see that you have their most important qualifications. And then go down the list.
4. Use this information to make every single marketing decision. Every time you market yourself whether it’s sending an LOI, having a phone conversation with a target client or even adding clips to your website, ask yourself if you are presenting yourself in a manner that answers what your target client is looking for.

It’s a change in mindset for most writers. But I honestly think that you aren’t going to find what you are looking for if, you don’t know what you are looking for. And these two questions are the place to start.

Do you target specific clients? Do you know who you are looking for or are you just looking for “work”?