“Do not seek for water, be thirsty.”
– Rumi
What stops you from having the online presence you want to have?
Today we’re talking all about client acquisition. It takes the shape of your writer’s website and your LinkedIn strategy. I have good news on all fronts there: you don’t need this huge maw of a presence to land clients and build your business. You don’t have to post 1x a day or draw attention to yourself. You don’t need a $3000 website and custom development.
You just need “green flags” all over your “portfolio website” and/or LinkedIn.
The quote for today is all about the attitude we need to bring to prospecting and cold and warm email outreach. The posture that we bring to our strategy needs to be… “Who can I help do this thing I’m good at?” not “Oh no. I need money. Someone has to hire me. Will you hire me? Where can I find clients??” It’s all in your head… but what’s in your head comes out in your actions and your interactions with other people. Try to develop a posture of service and professionalism… and you’ll see that come back to you in the form of other people being more open to connecting with you.
The biggest theme we have in this program is that making new connections and asking for work is a normal part of business and people need what you do. We’re not here to sell them on B2B writing. They already need that to do their job. We’re here to introduce ourselves and see if they need what we do. It’s not a question of IF they’re working with a writer… it’s WHO is the best writer for them to work with? And could that be you?
YOUR WRITER WEBSITE
There is some debate about whether you need a website right off the bat, or whether you can just stick with LinkedIn, and I fall right in the middle. Some coaches do feel strongly that having a website is very important. I think it’s going to depend on your target audience. I’ve seen writers be very successful just with a LinkedIn profile. So, I think if it becomes something that you’re holding yourself back and you feel like you can’t launch until your website is perfect, I think you should launch with just LinkedIn. If you feel comfortable getting a simple but modern website up and running, go for it. It definitely adds credibility (one of many “green flags” you can toss up.)
But it’s not that a website = a business… a website = just one more green flag that gives a good impression and helps a client choose you. Everything we talk about today is a green flag. There’s no one thing, or one way to do one thing, that will guarantee success. That’s a bummer… and it’s also the best news ever. It means you can truly customize and do your thing and optimize for green flags and make anything work. Anything. And it’s a good thing, but do not feel limited if you just are using LinkedIn.
So, let’s talk about your website! First thing to know… you are not a marketing agency! (Whew.) Your website is meant to position you as a professional, elite writer… not sell content marketing and make it seem like you’re bigger than you are.
| Agency | Freelancer |
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Your website is your calling card that has to serve three functions:
- Proves you’re a real, knowable person… (Not a scam artist or a fake bot)
- With actual experience doing this work… (Clips that show you can write or be taught to write and tells the viewer whether or not you understand current Internet standards)
- Who can help the visitor get their job done (Create some kind of connection or compulsion to reach out to you)
If you don’t do these three things…
- People won’t trust you
- They won’t trust you can do the work
- They won’t think you’re the right person to work with
Before we get into the details of what you’re going to put on your B2B writer website, here are three examples of phenomenal writer websites. I hope you find it interesting what these sites naturally have in common, which we’ll break down in just a moment.
Erika Cuccaro’s James Street Writing = https://jamesstreetwriting.com/
Jessica Coleman = https://www.lamplighteragency.com/
Ted Goldwyn = https://tedgoldwyn.com/
These websites are simple, beautiful, and very effective. And there’s a secret to that we’ll call the 3x3x3 principal:
- 3 Items your website must have
- 3 questions your website must answer, and
- 3 mistakes you must avoid
THREE ITEMS YOUR WEBSITE MUST HAVE
Professional headshot
If someone is going to work with you in a professional context, they need to see a professional photo.
- No cropped wedding photos, no photos with kids, or angled selfies with a restaurant background and grainy sexy vibe.
- It needs to be a clear photo of you smiling at the camera.
- If it would look all right on your dating profile, it will not work for your writing website.
| Yep | Nope |
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A professional headshot from a photographer is ideal and something to save up for. But in a pinch, iPhones and smartphones work just fine. With a quiet, calm background, a friend, and 15 minutes, you can capture a decent headshot to use on your website.
Content about your target customer
It’s natural to assume that your website should be about you. After all, it’s a website about you. But I want you to rethink this: It’s not really a website about you (That would be a personal website). This website is about what you can do for other people.
The people visiting this website, B2B company representatives and marketing managers, don’t have a particular reason to care about you until they know what you can do for them. The first thing they want to know is whether or not you can help them. So, the majority of your content – even your about page – should be about the person who is going to hire you, not you.
Examples of your writing
The main way you can show website visitors whether or not you can help them is by showing them what you can write. To that end, your writing samples need to be easy to find, and easy to read. A PDF of a Microsoft Document or copy and pasted clips can work, but ideally we’re going to have something they can click through and read directly, like clips uploaded directly into your website through WordPress as a page or a blog, or links to downloadable and designed PDFs. Make it super easy on them — feature three of your best clips prominently, then a less prominent list of “all” your work in case they want to dig deeper.
THREE QUESTIONS YOUR WEBSITE MUST ANSWER
The website examples also answer the three most important questions a marketing manager might have when they visit your website:
What problem do you solve for the people you work with?
When you first get started as a B2B writer, the problem you’re going to solve for the people you work with is “content.” They need content, and you’re going to write it for them. But content really stands for other things: It’s time, energy, skill, and strategy. So try to go a little deeper than, “I write blogs for companies,” to speak to those things… “I help marketing managers stay on top of a busy editorial calendar with excellent thought leadership articles,” is a lot more specific and appealing than, “I write blogs for companies.”
And something to keep in mind: as you step into your power as a writer and begin to excel in this field, you’re going to narrow down this answer. Today, the problem you solve is content. Next year, the problem might be only case studies, or only email copywriting, or, even better, only email copywriting for manufacturing companies in North America. The more specific you get, the higher a rate you’ll command, and the safer and more in-demand your writing business will be. Right now, just know that your B2B writer website needs to at least attempt to answer the question of how you help people.
Have you done this before?
Here’s that frustrating chicken-and-egg dilemma: no one wants to hire you if you don’t have experience, but you can’t get experience if no one will hire you. You can work with this by posting any writing samples you have then replacing them with B2B clips as you get going (and mention this in your introduction notes). Or you can write your own clips “on spec” which is challenging but very educational.
This is the second most important question your website must answer for a prospective client. They should walk away feeling confident that yes, you have done something like this before, you understand the work that goes into it, and they can expect a reasonably professional experience from working with you. If you can’t promise that… all is not lost! There will be lots of marketing managers willing to take a risk on a new writer. You just need to max out all your other “green flags.”
How can I reach you?
The final question you must answer is how to contact you. It should be obvious how to contact you from the front page of your website (“Click here to contact me,” and “Email me,” are good options). Create a free Google voice number instead of listing your personal number online, if you want to list a number.
Once you have a full workload and get more picky about clients, you’ll want to create a screening process where clients fill out a form with a few questions when they email you, such as:
- What kind of work are you looking to have done with our partnership?
- What made this a priority for you today?
- Have you worked with a freelance writer before?
- Are you willing to invest at least $2,500/month in your content marketing program?
- Is there anything else I should know to prepare for our conversation?
THREE MISTAKES YOUR WEBSITE MUST AVOID
The websites we’ve shared here as examples didn’t make these mistakes. But these mistakes are so common – even among very successful writers – that I want to call them out.
Of course, if very successful writers are making these mistakes, you might wonder if they’re mistakes. Good point! But in this case, these writers are successful in spite of these errors. That is, they’re so skilled that their sales calls and outreach methods can overcome these errors. If you can avoid them, you’ll make it that much easier for a prospective client to opt to work with you.
Don’t downplay or infantilize your abilities as a writer
This is an error that I made on my very first website. It’s so common it’s almost to be expected from writers today. But I’d ask you to reconsider it, especially if you’re a female B2B writer because it undermines your ability to be a valuable strategic partner to a B2B company.
What does it look like to downplay or infantilize your abilities? It looks like…
Being punny or making flashy statements like “Make Your Words Count” (Businesses making millions of dollars a year don’t want to “Blow away the competition”; these meaningless words make light of the value you bring to an organization.)
Talking about your childhood/how you’ve always been a writer (This may be true, but successful companies want to hire a professional to do a job and deliver value, not fulfill your lifelong dream).
Talking about your family or unique outside interests (Again, this is good information for a meet-and-greet call, but it’s not what you should lead with when you’re making the case that a company should hire you.)
PRACTICAL TAKEAWAY:
When you’re writing simple website copy for yourself, pretend you’re talking to a marketing manager who really needs someone who does what you do. What would you say to explain how you can help? I.e.
- I can help you write highly researched white papers on a regular schedule.
- I can help you keep up with an aggressive editorial calendar.
Don’t list everything you can do
Every B2B writer starts out as a generalist. That is OK! But you don’t need to advertise that fact. The little-known secret is that even when you niche, people will ask you to write outside that niche.
For example, for almost five years, I had niched exclusively in long-form content like white papers and blog articles. And in the past two years, three B2B clients have asked for “promotional copy” like social media, email content, webinars, and social media ads.
When you create a page on your website that lists 14+ types of content you can write, it makes you look like you’re an undecided “copy shop” available for any and everyone. It doesn’t make you look talented– it makes you look desperate. And successful companies want to hire successful writers, not desperate ones.
PRACTICAL TAKEAWAY:
Even if you’re still figuring out what you might like to specialize in, pick three formats or three industries to focus on. i.e…
- Most of my clients contract me to create a quarterly white paper and monthly blog posts.
- While I have experience in many different forms of writing, I specialize in writing high-conversion email sequences for e-commerce companies.
Don’t make it about yourself
This is a recurring theme throughout this lesson for a reason. As a writer writing your own website, you are going to be very tempted to make it about you! But this is not about you. It’s about the people you serve.
How much you love writing, how long you’ve written – your clients won’t care about that until you’re clear about how you can help them. Talk about your customers and their problems on your website, not you and your love of writing.
Not sure who your customers are, or what their problems are?
That’s a sign you need to hang out with marketing managers more, follow them, and understand them better.
SUGGESTED TRAININGS:
PRACTICAL TAKEAWAY:
Every line you write about yourself, write about why that matters to the person who will hire you .i.e.
- My long history with formal English writing means my clients don’t have to spend a lot of time editing my work.
- My degree in theater means I can identify and replicate your brand voice so everything we write together really sounds like you.
USING LINKEDIN FOR PROSPECTING
LinkedIn is the Lord’s gift to freelancers. It’s literally a rolodex of people who are active in marketing. They’re active for their own company’s marketing, they’re active for their careers, and they’re active for vendors they want to work with. So the best way to reach out to them, find them, figure out what’s on their minds. See what kind of resources they’re looking at to connect on LinkedIn and very low key, low pressure situations. It’s perfect. And invaluable for you and me.
The first thing to share is that you don’t need to use LinkedIn the way you think you need to use LinkedIn. Visibility and publishing could play a role over time…But LinkedIn’s true power is as a rolodex and how you use it for behind-the-scenes connections and messages. It’s all in the DMs… very, very little of it is in the publishing.
If you’re looking at my presence and feeling skeptical, keep in mind my target audience is not marketing managers. It’s you. I’m not trying to land clients right now… so I’m posting 1-2x a day. For you, it’s about looking up very specific people and creating relationships with them. Totally different ballgame.
We’re going to talk about four LinkedIn things:
- Your profile
- Your connections
- Your posting
- A proposed prospecting schedule (and script!)
YOUR PROFILE
Check your settings and change your LinkedIn URL to a custom one (ideally your name, perhaps with “writer” in it).
Update your tagline to indicate who you help and what you write. For me, that’s “Select B2B content marketing projects in HR retail, and e-com,” for it’s “Freelance B2B technology copywriter.” This helps both in search on LinkedIn as well as in letting people scan and decide if they want to connect with you or not. If you have something vague about content or an old job title, it won’t be clear that people can reach out and hire you.
Update your profile summary with a clear statement about what you do and who you help (not sales copy selling them on content marketing, writing, or their pain points). I know, this is against the grain advice! But B2B folks aren’t in it for the hype or the hard sell. They know what they’re about. They want to know who you are and what you do… that’s all!
Things that are helpful:
- Lists of the type of content you create
- Ways you’ve helped people
- Maybe a very small, short testimonial and a link to your website.
Add your clips to the “featured content area” on your profile. Make it easy to see your work and that you’re active in the space. And that’s why I think LinkedIn also can make a very good short term stepping stone for having your own website… because you can host your portfolio here and have a nice space for people to come and see where you’ve worked and who you’re connected to.
YOUR CONNECTIONS
Building your rolodex requires you to take proactive action by following and connecting with prospective clients, partners, and “networking nodes” that can help you discover new connections.
- Potential clients – People you actually might work for and inquire with (Marketing managers, agencies, etc.)
- Potential partners – People you can network with and get to know so that you can refer work to each other (Project managers, graphic designers, etc.)
- Networking nodes – Leaders in the marketing space as well as leaders, publications, or news sources in project management, graphic design, writing, content, etc.
Build your own customized “feed” that brings new people and ideas to you, then leapfrog off those things to find clients (brainstorm ideas off what you see, like and share, send links to specific people, etc.)
- People
- Companies
- Publications
- News sources
Once you start to build your network, a lot of different things might come up for you, like “I don’t know these people, I don’t know why they would want some rando from the internet connecting with them on LinkedIn.” And I’m going to go back to what I said previously, which is that people are on LinkedIn to be connected and find other people. So some people will have personal opinions where they don’t connect with people that they don’t know. And that’s fine. You have an opportunity to ask and they have an opportunity to say no, but many people are here just to grow their networks and be connected with people who have similar interests.
This isn’t a pitch or a letter. This is a simple, tiny yes. “Do you want to connect?” You clarify right from the start, what your intentions are, and that builds trust because they know what they’re getting into. This is not a hard sell. This is not pressure. This is not scammy. You’re simply a writer sending out your information. Then we incorporate this into our work life as a behavior we do every Monday for an hour (or more or less depending on how much you’re prospecting.)
Where I’m going with that is that just your interest in their business, in that niche in writing qualifies you to reach out and build your network with them. So go with your gut. If you see people who you have similar backgrounds with locations, with interests in niching, send a short note, to connect and leave it in their ballpark.
YOUR POSTING
A lot of people come into the B2B space and maybe they’ve used LinkedIn haphazardly in the past. Maybe they’ve been asked to share things from their employer in the past, but it’s never really been a personal thing or something that you’ve used to represent yourself.
And so that might be the first thing to think about is just that mindset shift, that when you are in your social media, whether it’s LinkedIn or Twitter, or to a lesser extent, Facebook, you now get to represent yourself and what you think is important. And that can be intimidating. At first, it feels like a lot of pressure. But once you get used to it, it can be really freeing too, because the best way to think about social media is not as a spotlight on yourself, but as a spotlight on your interests and what you like to think about.
Because a lot of us don’t have super strong opinions. So when we start posting on social media, it feels like we’re forcing it. When in reality, you can just be an observer and comment on what you said. What do you think you’re just signaling to other people that you’re active, that you’re thinking about it and that you saw it as a writer, You’re signaling that you are a writer immersed in this. For example, let’s say you follow Content Marketing Institute and you look at their recent posts. It could be as simple as sharing “Wow, this was a great article. I think X is super important, and I see clients doing Y about it.”
PROSPECTING SCHEDULE
Suggested schedule*:
- Day 1 – Connect
- Day 7 (after connection) – Send a message
- Day 14 – Send a message
- Day 21 – Pitch working together
- * Take this as a suggestion and trust your gut! Some clients it’s going to feel right to pitch right away. Some clients may ask you before you ask them. Some clients may ghost you.
Prospecting messages template (Google Doc)
Website “Green Flag” Checklist 🟢
- 3 Items your website must have
- Headshot
- Target customer language
- Examples of your work
- 3 questions your website must answer
- Do you solve a clear problem?
- Do you list related experiences?
- Is it easy to contact you?
- 3 mistakes you must avoid
- Screen for infantilizing language
- Do you have 3-4 clear, specific services you offer?
- Screen for language “about you”
LinkedIn “Green Flag” Checklist 🟢
- Custom URL for your profile (your name)
- Tagline that mentions something about your niche
- Bio that speaks to what you do for clients (not sales copy)
- Clear, professional photo of you
- Featured content section that links to clips (published or spec)
- A content marketing related post within the past two weeks
- 500+ connections