Note: The Summit on Content Marketing starts today so if you have been thinking about registering, now is your chance. I found out over the weekend, that the price is actually $199 Canadian, which is around $149 US, depending on the exchange rate at the time you buy. This means the conference is a really good value since you get over 100 hours of training for that price. And since I’m donating my commissions to the ASJA WEAF (Writers Emergency Assistance Fund) to help writers in need, you are helping your career and other writers.  Register here using my referral link so that I can donate my commissions. 

Every hour you spend marketing is time that you are not working on paying clients. One of the easiest ways to increase your income is spending less time marketing and getting more gigs for each effort. And I’ve learned the hard way that the most effective way for me is to get more work from existing clients. They already know me and like my work. I already know that I enjoy working with them. And I’ve already filled out all the onboarding paperwork and direct deposit slips, which honestly is my least favorite part of freelancing.

While there are times current clients will approach you with new projects, I have found that clients don’t always think about how they can use you on other projects, but are almost always open to the idea if you simply ask. After my firsthand experience and talking with other writers, I feel strongly that if you aren’t asking your current client for more work, then you are leaving money on the table. I’d estimate that over the past nine years of freelancing that I’ve easily gotten at least $100,000 worth of work by simply asking.

Here are five ways to get more work from your clients:

1. Ask content agency clients about working on other projects. 

One of the reasons that I think content agencies are great clients for freelance content marketing clients is that they always have more than one client. I used to assume that they automatically knew I would want more work, but I have found that isn’t always true and that you can almost always get more work simply by asking. While you should ask at agencies of all sizes, I have found this to be especially beneficial at large content services like Skyword, Contently, and Newscred since they handle so many projects with many different content managers. I think that I have gotten more work using this strategy with agencies than any other marketing technique. (As an aside, if you want to find more content marketing agency clients, use this post to get you started.)

2. Make sure that your clients know about other niches.

Project managers at agencies often only know about your expertise relevant to their specific project. You must share all of your niches and experience to get considered for more projects. Instead of just saying, “In addition to B2B tech, I also write about finance and insurance,” I will usually say (or write something like this: “I wanted to also let you know about my expertise in finance and insurance. I worked for a large financial firm for four years and have written financial content for State Farm Mutual, Genworth and Ameriprise. I also wrote for Principal Insurance and worked on the Resources & Tools section of the Allstate website for a year.”

3. Talk to direct clients about other departments needing content.

When you work directly with a business, your client likely has other departments that need content as well. After you have done a few projects and they love you, ask if there are other projects needing content in either their department or other departments. I recently got hired by a large telecommunications company writing hospitality content for hotels. While looking through the website, I realized that they also specifically targeted the healthcare vertical, which is one of my niches, so I asked about projects in this area and was immediately introduced to another manager looking for a writer.

4. Suggest spin-off deliverables from a project.

During initial conversations with a big tech company about a whitepaper, I suggested that a great way to bring traffic to the whitepaper would be to use the same information to create blog posts and infographics. By then directing people from these shorter pieces of content to the whitepaper, the company could get more traffic to their whitepaper and more leverage from the whitepaper content. The company loved the idea and immediately commissioned me to create several blog posts and infographics in addition to the whitepaper.

5. Propose new ideas and projects.

One of my regular clients recently partnered with an association for a survey and the results were especially interesting. Instead of a short post about the survey, I suggested that we create an ebook so we could use both text and graphics to more effectively share the main points. The client agreed that it was a great idea and I ended up with an extra $2,000 for the month.

While on this subject I want to answer a question that I’m often asked “How do I break into writing a new to me deliverable, such as whitepapers or case studies.” Your existing clients are the answer because they are much more likely to assign you a new-to-you deliverable than a new client. Then you can use the clip to get even more whitepapers or case studies. However, make sure you are only suggesting new projects that make sense for the client and their readers, and not simply because you want more projects. Clients will see right through your intent.

Have you gotten more work from existing clients? How have you gotten the work? Any tips to share?