Implementing a Marketing Strategy: Block Off Your Schedule

Like most freelance writers, your primary passion is writing. Makes sense, right? While there is nothing wrong with wanting to spend all your time writing, you cannot afford to overlook the marketing aspects of your business. If you have yet to implement a marketing strategy, there is no better time than now to change your ways. What is holding you back? One of the most

How to Increase Call Backs from Voicemail Messages

If you spend any amount of time cold calling, you will soon find that your primary targets are not always available to talk. For this reason, you have two options: Call back at a later time and/or date Leave a voicemail message and hope for a return call While there are pros and cons of both options, I always prefer to leave a voicemail message.

Inbound vs Outbound Content Marketing for Your Blog

As a blogger, you’re already used to creating content on a regular basis. That makes content marketing an ideal option for promoting your blog, increasing traffic, and growing your readership. Today let’s talk about the two different kinds of content marketing — inbound content marketing and outbound content marketing — and which makes more sense for blog promotion. Outbound vs Inbound Content Marketing Outbound content

Spending Money on Marketing – How Much is too Much?

As a freelance writer, new clients are your lifeblood. The more gigs you land the more money you will earn. Pretty simple, right? Your marketing plan is going to determine how much success you have in this area of your business. While true that some marketing strategies are free, others are going to set you back a few dollars from time to time. This leads

Are you Comfortable Meeting with Prospects in Person?

Although it may be uncommon, there may come a time when you need to meet with a prospect in person. While you are not required to do so, if you turn down the invitation it could very well kill your chance of making a deal. Is that what you want? Some writers have no problem meeting with prospects and clients in person. Others try to

Should Indie Authors Pay for Book Reviews?

I’ve been keeping an eye on a recent trend in the indie publishing community — paid reviews (and family/friends reviews) and the controversy surrounding them. But I fail to see why it’s such a hot topic. On one hand, when I see people asking the question of whether or not it’s okay for authors to do this, the answer’s clear. I want to scream “of

Ask your Clients: What do you need in the New Year?

Now that 2013 is underway, there is no better time to get serious about growing your business. You should look at the new year as a fresh start. You should consider this your time to shine. Although prospecting for new business is always important, you can continue to grow by offering an expanded line of services to current clients. During the month of January, you

3 Steps to Create a Basic Marketing Plan for the New Year

There is no better time than December to create a fresh marketing plan. This will allow you to “hit the ground running” when the new year arrives. But doesn’t it take a lot of time to create a marketing plan? Although you should spend significant time on this task, it doesn’t have to set you back several days. If you stick with the basics, you

Are you Tracking your Marketing Return on Investment?

There is no denying the importance of marketing your freelance writing services. Your goal is simple: to inform as many people as possible of what you have to offer. The further your reach the better chance you have of success. Although marketing is a big part of your business, you are likely aware that it is costing you both time and money. While there is

Following up on a Cold Call? Use these Tips

In a perfect world, every cold call would lead to a sale. Of course, if you have ever used this marketing strategy you know that the world is anything but perfect. For this reason, you are going to run into a few obstacles along the way. Commonly, you will have one conversation with a prospect and then be asked to call back at some point

The Benefits of an Organized Marketing Plan

Do you have a marketing plan in your head? Do you complete marketing related tasks, day after day, without any real organization? If you answered yes to both of these questions, you are in the same boat as many freelance writers. It is true that any marketing is better than none at all. However, an organized plan will go a long way in helping you

What is Content Marketing and Why Should You Care?

Have you heard the phrase “content marketing” before but wondered how it applies to you as a blogger? After all, you’re already focused on content every time you write a blog post. Why should you worry about it beyond that, and how can it affect your blog marketing? Let’s take an introductory look at content marketing strategies and why they’re important for bloggers and business

How to Save Time if you Decide to Cold Call Prospects

There are many reasons why freelance writers often times overlook cold calling as a viable marketing method. While some people are frightened at the thought of picking up the phone and making these calls, others shy away because they don’t feel as if they have enough time in their schedule. Let’s take a closer look at three of the best ways to save time as

Have Somewhere to Send your Prospects

You could spend several hours each day cold calling prospects. You could send out hundreds of letters to editors. You could send cold emails until your fingers are ready to fall off. But guess what? If you don’t have somewhere to send these prospects you are spinning your tires. In other words, you need a professional website for your freelance writing business. Sure, you can

Is Direct Mail a Good Strategy for Freelance Writers?

Some freelance writers spend a lot of time sending query letters via snail mail to editors. Although this is a great way to drum up new business, there is something else I want you to think about: traditional direct mail. This could be anything from post cards to sales letters. Rather than send these pieces to an editor of a publication, you are instead focusing

3 Questions you may be Asked During a Cold Call

When you make cold calls as a freelance writer, you should expect to be the one doing most of the talking. However, any conversation has the potential to quickly turn. In other words, you may find yourself answering questions at some point during the call. If you have somebody asking you questions, it is safe to say that they are interested in what you have

3 Things to Never Say During a Cold Call

Keeping with my theme of cold calling tips, I wanted to discuss some of the many things you should never say when contacting a prospect out of the blue. 1. Is this a good time to talk? Simply put, people are looking for a reason to hang up the phone. If you say this, you are giving the person an immediate out. They will almost

Free Monthly Marketing Calendar for Freelance Writers

I’ve decided to make some changes to my plans for the Web Writer’s Guide e-book. Rather than updating it and moving on with a series, it will remain as-is. Sometime in the next few months I’ll pull it off the market, and much of the information in that e-book will be worked into print books or e-books in the Query-Free Freelancer series. The problem with sticking with the Web Writer’s

How about this for a Cold Calling Nightmare

By now, you all know that I like to talk about cold calling. For whatever reason, I find this to be one of the most intriguing methods of marketing my services. Not to mention the fact that there is no greater thrill than making a call, finding an interested party, and closing a deal. Of course, things don’t always work out as planned. A couple

Should I take a Break from Marketing?

When you work as a freelance writer you will soon find one thing to be true: there are times when you are super busy and it seems like every deadline lands on the same day. Along with this, there are times when you are not nearly as busy and are searching for new work. With this in mind, you may often struggle with the question

Cold Calling Butterflies: How to Calm your Nerves

The first time you pick up the phone to make a cold call your stomach will likely feel uneasy. Don’t worry, you are not alone – this is quite natural. After all, you are getting involved with something that you are not familiar with. On top of this, the act of cold calling has received a bad reputation over the years. Although you may have

3 Changes to Improve Cold Calling Success

Like most people, regardless of industry, if you don’t achieve success with cold calling early on you are going to forget about this marketing strategy forever. But before you give up for good, take a closer look at the three bits of advice below. By making these changes to your approach, you may soon find yourself generating more business than you ever imagined possible. 1.

Are you Asking Clients to Refer you to Others?

As a freelance writer, one of the biggest challenges you will face is creating a marketing plan that works. If you are not marketing your services appropriately you may have a difficult time keeping enough work in your pipeline. While it is safe to say that you are sending cold emails and queries through the mail (and maybe even cold calling), you may be overlooking

Marketing when you are Bogged Down with Client Work

There is no better feeling than being bogged down with multiple projects. Sure, this is going to bring stress to your life – but trust me, it feels good. Of course, there are issues involved with having this much work on your plate. Not only do you need to keep track of all your deadlines, but you don’t want to stop marketing your services. After

Are Cold Calling Misconceptions Holding you Back?

There are many misconceptions surrounding cold calling, from the effectiveness to the best techniques and more. You don’t want to overlook this method of marketing your services because of a myth that was started by somebody you don’t even know. It Never Works Let me be the first one to tell you that this is a lie. Simply put, cold calling can help you drum

The Easy Fifteen-Minute Marketing Plan

You wake up, get that cup of caffeine, go through your morning ritual, then work through your daily ritual of writing. Marketing? Yea, that doesn’t happen because you’re busy. Yet if you have fifteen minutes to play Facebook games, you have plenty of time to locate new clients and more projects. Just fifteen minutes – that’s less time than it takes to run to the

Are you Prepared for Incoming Calls from Potential Clients?

As you continue to market your freelance writing services, you will find that some people don’t have any need for you – at least for the time being. To give yourself the chance at a future project, it is important to provide any connection with both your email address and phone number. The more times you give out your phone number the better chance there

A Funny Cold Call Story

Last week, I decided to make a few cold calls. Believe it or not, this is something I miss when I don’t get around to it as often as I would like. After a few calls, I got a business owner on the phone. What ensued was something I had never experienced before. With this call, I had to first get through the receptionist. She

Crafting an Author Bio that Helps Sell Your Book

[This post is part of a series on how you can maximize your ebook sales.] Almost every book includes an author bio. There’s a reason for this. The author bio tells the reader why he or she should care what the writer thinks. It tells the reader that the writer knows their stuff. This is often clear with non-fiction and how-to books; the author’s bio

Two More Ways to Sell More of Your Novel on Amazon

[This post is part of a series on writing sales copy for your book—see the first piece in the series here: The Truth About the Back of your Book, and the 2nd post here: Compacting Your Whole Plot into Paragraphs] What you choose to include in your Amazon product description will ultimately make or break your book sales, no matter how hard you’ve worked on the