Note from Jennifer: I’m working on a post on cold outreach and want to get your input on what is currently working to land new clients. If you have landed work through cold outreach through LinkedIn or email, take five minutes and fill out my quick survey at Jennifer’s LOI Survey.

Work is slow for many of us. And it’s taking more effort to land clients. You aren’t alone (and you don’t suck) if you are finding things hard right now. There are several factors causing that right now that I’ll talk about in an upcoming post. But I want to put the cart before the horse and tell you what to do about it, since I know that’s what you really care about.

As part of my May 2023 State of Freelancing Survey I asked writers what marketing strategies are currently working. And I was not a single bit surprised at the results. The results of the survey backed up what has worked for me over the years and what other writers are telling me is working now.

Many writers stopped marketing

As I shared at the beginning of the year, there are only three ways you land work – referrals from your network, inbound leads (work that comes to you) and cold outreach. Your goal should be to get to the point where all your work comes to you either through referrals or inbound leads. However, most of us don’t have enough of a personal network to fully launch a business or keep it afloat when things are slow, so the only choice is outreach. However, even the types of marketing where new clients come to us, such as referrals and inbound leads, take effort on our part. And it’s easy to stop doing those things when the going is good.

In a recent Fireside Chat with Ed Gandia as a teaser for our Keynotes at the Content Byte Summit in Sydney, Australia, in September, he made a brilliant point. He says that many writers are struggling right now because it’s been easy to find work the past few years. So many of us (myself included) have stopped marketing, both cold outreach and nurturing relationships, so we don’t have the pipeline that we’ve had in the past.

He is a million percent right.

Marketing is a long game, so without the pipeline that can take years to turn into work, many of us (myself included) are struggling. And now that we’ve realized that we need to do something, it’s the middle of summer and things are slow. That said, now is the absolute right time to focus on marketing. But don’t expect immediate results. Instead, think of it as building the pipeline, as Ed likes to say.

And instead of making your goal to land a new client this month, focus on what you can control, doing marketing tasks every day – check out this giant list if you need ideas. You keep doing all the right things, and you will start getting traction and new clients. Yes, it may be early fall before you start to see results. But if you don’t start now, then early fall will still be slow.

Seven ways to land new work

Now let’s jump into what’s actually working right now. I’m going to go through each one in the order of effectiveness and share my thoughts. Note that writers were able to choose multiple ways in the survey, so that’s why the math doesn’t add up to 364 – the number of writers who took the survey.

1. Referrals from clients

Your client’s company most likely has other projects that need a writer, either in another department/team or on another client team at an agency. Not to mention that they know other marketers at other companies – people they used to work with, went to school with and know from professional organizations.

But most of the time, you have to ask for the referral – especially with agencies. It seems logical that they would automatically put you on other projects in the agency, but it often doesn’t happen. This is even more likely if you write in multiple niches; they may only think of you for finance when, in fact, your main niche is tech. Check out this post on how to ask for referrals – and be sure to let clients know about your other niches. And remember – you aren’t bugging them; you are actually helping them do their job better by letting them know you are available.

2. Referrals from other writers

If you read my monthly income reports, you’ve probably realized that I’ve built my business on referrals from other writers. And the reason that’s worked so well for me is that I have probably given out hundreds of thousands of dollars in work through referrals to other writers. I also have a very strong network of other writers; I’ve been going to conferences regularly for a decade, volunteer with ASJA, have an accountability buddy and am part of a mastermind group. So when writers have work in B2B tech that they either don’t have room for or isn’t in their niche, they often send it to me, which is very much appreciated.

That said, the worst way to get work from another writer is to ask for it out of the gate. That pisses people off. Instead, start a relationship to help each other. And also refer work to other writers – it doesn’t even have to be a formal introduction, but just sending a job ad or tagging them in a Facebook post is very appreciated. Check out this post on how to refer work to other writers. And this one on starting a mastermind group for writers.

Building a writer network takes time. And you need to approach it not with the goal of getting work but of creating a community where you help others and get support. And you will get a lot more from it than just referrals, including support and ideas that will also help you increase your income.

3. Inbound leads from LinkedIn

I’ve gotten so many great clients who found me on LinkedIn – and that’s without a ton of effort on my part. I keep my profile updated, get recommendations from clients and occasionally share my work on LinkedIn. Clients who need a writer often head to LinkedIn and search for their niche, making it key that you have your niches in your title and subniches in your profile. I’ve also found that inbound LinkedIn leads are often very motivated since they took the time to search and reach out.

Check out this post on how to get more LinkedIn cold messages and this one on how to use Who’s Viewed Your Profile to get clients. Because this ranked so high on the ways that writers are getting work, I highly recommend taking the time and effort with LinkedIn. It doesn’t take a ton of effort or time, but it can pay off hugely for you, often with clients you may have never reached out to.

4. Nurturing contacts from LinkedIn

I think that many writers overlook this way of getting work; it’s easy to think that you need to either wait for work to come to you or do cold outreach. But there is a middle ground – nurturing clients on LinkedIn, which means making connections, sharing articles they may enjoy, commenting on their posts and sharing their posts. The goal is to build trust and demonstrate both your value and your expertise so that when they do need a freelancer, it’s a no-brainer to reach out to you. I’m going to do an upcoming post on nurturing contacts, but the first step is sending connections to everyone you work with, from sources to people you meet at professional events.

5. Sending cold LOIs

This one landed about where I expected – middle of the pack. They’re less effective than referrals and more effective than job boards. I do think that cold LOIs, which refer both to sending them through email or LinkedIn, can get work when you target your outreach at companies likely to hire you and follow up regularly. I’m going to be writing a new post on LOIs with the results of a survey I’ve got out right now, but in the meantime, check out this post that walks you through my five(ish)-sentence LOI.

6. Applying for job ads

Yes, you can get work from job ads. But it’s a long shot. My recommendation is to keep an eye on job boards, but only take the effort to reply to ads if you are so qualified that you are going to stand out from 500 other applicants, which is how many they often get. Also check out this post on how to spot legitimate job ads.

Here are a few of the better job boards out there:

• LinkedIn – search for freelance writer or remote part-time work
• Qwoted job board
• Sonia Weiser’s Opportunities of the Week

And if you’ve got other favorites, share them in the comments.

7. Inbound leads from your website

I’m often asked if writers need a website. I think that when you are starting out that you can get by using portfolio sites such as Contently to host your clips. And while websites aren’t a great source of work, I do think that they establish your legitimacy as a business owner. I’ve also been asked in recent years to provide my website to prove that I’m a freelancer with other clients for tax purposes. So I recommend getting one, but it doesn’t need to be fancy or cost a crap ton of money. It should be functional and professional, with the goal of using to send to potential clients to showcase your work and expertise.

8. Referrals from other professionals

At first, I was surprised that this was ranked least effective, especially when the other referral options topped the list. I expect that the reason it’s last isn’t because it doesn’t work but because writers overlook other professionals as a source of work and do not nurture these connections. I feel strongly that this category – meaning people you went to college with, former co-workers, neighbors and people you meet at networking groups – is an overlooked source of work. I’m going to write a blog post this summer on how we all can do this better.

Getting started building your new client pipeline

I know all that I just shared may feel overwhelming, especially if you are slow. But take a deep breath. Starting small and being consistent can turn into huge results. And I don’t recommend picking just one way to land work but instead several, such as client referrals, building a writer network and cold outreach.

However, each of us has a different perfect client, meaning a client where we are likely to be their favorite freelancer. So that means that what works to land your perfect client is going to be different from what works for landing mine. So pay attention to what is working, and then do more of that.

I recently had a writer tell me that she hated doing LOIs and that they didn’t work for her. She said that she got all her work through referrals. I told her that then she shouldn’t send any more LOIs but should keep doing what works for her – networking.

Many writers start with the goal of landing a client, but then you feel like a failure when you don’t get a client on your timetable. By instead setting a goal of five to 10 (or more) marketing activities a day, you are in control of meeting your goals. And if you keep doing all the right things, then you will land new clients.

What are your thoughts on the survey regarding what marketing is working? Any tips you want to share?