Getting in on the Demand for Freelance Copywriters

March 31, 2008 | 1 Comment

So if the demand for freelance copywriters is really so high, where the heck is it hiding?

And how do you get some of that demand coming YOUR way?

Before I give you one possible answer, let’s make sure we understand the nature of the playing field first.

Here’s what I mean…

The simple fact is, with copywriting skills under your belt, you are sitting on one of the most leveraged tools ever created for building a business (almost overnight).

Ever Stop to Think About Just
How Powerful That Is?

But it gets better…

Because there are far more clients than good copywriters to work with those clients.

But many times when I talk to copywriters about their business challenges, it’s clear that’s not their perception at all. In fact, their mindset is more that the burden of proof is on THEM. That they have to “convince” prospects to take a chance on them.

Bottom Line: The playing field is clearly stacked in YOUR favor.

But to take advantage of that, you have to act like it. And you DO have to actually step on that playing field and get dirty.

Okay… so back to this “great demand” for freelance copywriters.

As Eugene Schwartz always said, You don’t create demand… you simply find the demand that already exists and channel it right to your product or service.

Here’s How I Do That
In My Business

I don’t usually sell copywriting services. I don’t sell an autoresponder series. I don’t sell a squeeze page or optin form.

Those things aren’t worth much. Especially when you can find copywriters who will write them for peanuts.

So what am I selling?

I’m selling increased sales.
I’m selling higher profits.
I’m selling lead generating systems that run on autopilot.

Those things have real value to a business. Often times HUGE value. (And you can charge a lot of money for delivering that type of value.)

But none of that “selling” can happen until my prospect has raised his hand and identified himself to me.

And that’s why generating quality leads is so important for your business.

There are tons of ways to do it, but here are some of the ways I use.

1. I send out offers and helpful content for my readers. This is not glamourous, but it DOES work. (I’m not talking about emails here. Anyone can send an email. So it’s not such a stellar way to set yourself apart from the crowd. So I actually print, stuff and mail real publications that can’t be erased by clicking the delete button.)

Some months my offer is nothing. Pure content.

Some months my offer is for a high-ticket sale right off the bat.

Some months my offer is for a low ticket customer generating sale like a copy critique.

The important part is that SOMETHING goes out each and every month. Sometimes two weeks in a row.

Click on the image for an example:

2. I send a pitch letter every now and then. But I don’t usually write it. My daughter does. She has a pretty good conversion rate. Even though it’s a little silly, the goal is STILL to offer your prospects some bit of information that they can put to use immediately in their business.

3. I actually pick up the phone and CALL real live human beings. I’m not talking about cold calls here. I AM talking about calling a prospect who has already expressed interest and asking OPEN ENDED questions. Questions like:

“Mike, I sent you a package last week with a whole bunch of information. Not even sure if you even got it, but I wanted to take a moment of your time and ask you some questions about your business, your biggest challenges and exactly what you’re trying to achieve. That way I’ll know if the information I sent will be helpful or if I can provide some that will be helpful.”

Once they’re talking, you’ll discover their pain. And discovering pain is step #1 to making a good sale.

In a nutshell, I’ve developed my own “tool belt” for collecting leads. So what’s the set of tools YOU’RE going to use to go out and do the same thing?

Here are some things to keep in mind as you come up with your answer:

1. Make it different.
2. Take the focus off of you and keep it on improving your prospects’ businesses.
3. Be consistent.

Of all of those items, number 3 is probably the most important in my book. Being consistent will set you apart from the crowd pretty much right away.

In the end, many copywriters struggle finding clients simply because they aren’t giving themselves a fighting chance.

Their lead flow is so minimal that they’d have to convert 50% into clients just to make it.

Here’s the Important Part

How many targeted prospects are seeing your name and what you can do each and every day/week/month?

What SYSTEM do you have in place to leverage your skills and get yourself noticed by SHOWING your prospects what you can do?

If your only answer is “my website” or a “few ads on Google”… then you know where to start.

Because that very answer is no different than thousands of other freelance copywriters.

One more thing, You’ll notice I’m not spelling out a laundry list of tactics to create leads. There’s a very specific reason for that. If I did that, I’d be shortchanging your chances of success. Because part of YOUR value as a copywriter is knowing how to leverage YOUR skills in a unique way. And if I give you a list of things to do, that pretty much shuts off the part of your brain that is forced to create your OWN solution.

OK, now it’s your turn. Take some action.

NOTE:If you’re interested in getting more personalized help to work through some of these strategies to increase YOUR lead flow… you might want to take a look at something like this:

Business Growth Mentoring

Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog 

Are You Selling Your Client or Working Towards YOUR Goal?

March 28, 2008 | Leave a Comment

I’ve done it many times. Got caught up in selling a particular client and lost all sight of my real target.

My goal became getting the client instead of finding the right client to help me take a step towards the ultimate goal I’ve set for my business.

Most of the times I’ve worked with clients under those conditions, I’ve been sorry. And frustrated.

Looking back, I could have avoided most of my frustration simply by asking myself one of 5 important questions BEFORE I decided to work with the client.

I’ve put those questions into one document for you. If you haven’t done it already, now’s the time to get clear about where you want to go.

Here’s my recommendation:

Print this document out and hang it on your wall. Each time you are about to get a new client, ask yourself these questions.

I guarantee you, these simple questions will save you a lot of headache AND help you to make more money.

icon for podpress  Stay on Target: Download (66)

Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog 

Confessions of a Freelance Copywriter: The Biggest Mistake I Ever Made (Over and Over Again)

March 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment

When I was getting my freelance copywriting business off the ground, I had some serious obstacles that were standing between me and where I wanted to go.

You could say I had some things working against me.

I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence. I wasn’t comfortable talking about money. And I had this unending urge to please other people… even at my own expense.

I quickly found out that all of these traits are bad things in business.

So I started reading every book I could find on selling. I needed a crash course on how to sell myself.

Almost every book I read said the same thing about what it takes to succeed selling your own services.

It takes follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.

The key to success in sales is follow-up. You’ve GOT to follow-up.

Being a “good student” type of person, that’s what I did.

I followed-up. If a prospect called about my services, I followed-up.

If I got a new email subscriber downloading information about my services, I followed-up.

I was doing what all the experts said I should do, but it wasn’t working. At least not enough of the time.

The funniest part was, the more I “followed-up,” the farther away my prospect seemed to move.

“I’ll call in a week to follow-up…”

But the prospect wouldn’t return the call.

“I’ll check in a few weeks from now to see where you’re at.”

But the prospect was never available.

“Give me some time to think it over. Call me next week,” the prospect would say.

And then the prospect would disappear.

It took me a while to figure out what was wrong. But eventually I DID figure it out.

And what I figured out was that all of the sales “experts” were WRONG about following-up.

Following-up with your prospect is a mistake… IF you know what you’re doing.

Follow-up is unnecessary IF you know how to sell. (I didn’t.)

Here’s the key:

You NEVER end a conversation with a prospect without knowing exactly what is going to happen next and when it’s going to happen.

And you get firm agreement from the prospect on all the details.

“Follow-up” is the wishy-washy meaningless term I used when I had no clue what was going to happen next. I didn’t know because I didn’t have the guts or foresight to ask my prospect for the information.

How are you supposed to figure out what’s going to happen next with your prospect?

You ask.

So here’s one way you could do it:

Mr. Prospect… I’ve enjoyed talking to you today and I think I might be able to help you solve the problem we discussed.

But Mr. Prospect, let me ask you a question. Often I have a long conversation with a potential client, things go well… and we arrange a second conversation to discuss all of the details.

But sometimes, when I go to follow-up, my potential client kind of just disappears and stops returning my calls.

So I just want to make sure that’s not going to happen here. After all I don’t want to waste your time or mine.

So if you think there’s a chance of that happening, could we just talk about it now, before we end this conversation?

[You talk, he talks, you get clear on his intentions.]

Mr. Prospect, just one more thing. When I call you next week like we agreed, what’s going to happen?

[And then you stop talking. What he says next is going to give you a clue about whether there’s a potential sale in your future.]

I’ve come to realize that “follow-up” is simply sales-speak for chasing your prospects.

And chasing after prospects isn’t a smart way to turn them into clients.

When you chase people, they tend to run away.

Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog 

Top 5 Copywriting Course Myths

March 25, 2008 | Leave a Comment

A little over 12 months ago, I began my career as a freelance copywriter. When I started, I had zero clients and zero income. To develop my skills and get a fast start, I bought most of the copywriting courses available on the market.

If you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of them.

And while most of them are pretty good–filled with proven secrets for turning words into wealth–virtually all of them were missing something huge.

They were missing any helpful advice about HOW to make money as a copywriter. As I quickly found out, it doesn’t matter how good your writing skills are if you can’t make money using them.

Over the past 12 months, I’ve learned a lot about what it takes to make it as a freelance copywriter.

Here are a few things I wish I had known when I got started. These are some of the things that most copywriting courses don’t talk about. I call them, the 5 Copywriting Course Myths.

=====================================
Myth #1: If Your Copywriting Sells,
You’ll Make a Lot of Money
=====================================

Making money writing copy has a whole lot more to do with HOW you deal with clients than how to string words together.

You could be the world’s greatest copywriter. But without clients to pay you, you’ll be hard pressed to put food on the table.

As a business owner, your number one priority is to sell your product. And your product is your copywriting service. Without knowing how to attract clients, you’ll never even get the chance to put your skills to use.

Work on your copywriting skills. But more importantly, work on your business acquisition skills.

=====================================
Myth #2: You Need to Start at
the Bottom and Work for Peanuts
=====================================

You’ll hear this a lot from old school copywriters. The ones who put in years as a copy cub for a big name. Or the ones who honed their chops in an agency working for well known copy chiefs.

Most of them started at ground zero and worked their way up. But you don’t have to. What do you have they don’t have?

They didn’t have the internet.

And since the internet has come along, the demand for copywriters has gone way, way up.

And the fact that there is DEMAND means you can potentially charge more for your services. Because they are more valuable.

Your copywriting income has little to do with experience or the number of years you’ve “put in.” Your ability to make money as a freelance copywriter comes down to your ability to communicate the value your services deliver to your client.

Sure you have to deliver, but the first step is to get the order.

=====================================
Myth #3: You Need to Work for
Free to Get Started
=====================================

If you need to work for free (or on spec as they call it), then it’s not your copywriting skills that need work, it’s your selling skills.

If someone is selling you on the idea of writing copy for them on “spec,” then chances are, they’re a much better salesman than you are.

Don’t do it. Not because you won’t get experience. But mainly because it’s just not necessary.

=====================================
Myth #4: You Can Get Wealthy
Working for Clients
=====================================

You can make a very good living writing copy for clients.

But chances are, you won’t become wealthy. Not really wealthy.

Wealth comes from income that requires little or no work. That’s leverage. And with it, you can grow your income without investing an equal amount of time or effort.

Remember, the only reason your client can pay you $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 for a promotion is because they’re making a whole lot more than that.

That’s a clue about where the real money is hiding. Become your own client.

Acquire or create your own products and use your copywriting skills to build your OWN business.

=====================================
Myth #5: Writing Copy is Easy
=====================================

Being a freelance copywriter is real work. Often times a lot of work. Add to that the fact that a majority of the promotions written by even the most experienced copywriters either break even or lose money.

It’s a little like baseball.

Copywriting is about a whole lot more than writing. You’ve got to connect the demand of your market, to the product you are selling.

A promotion that worked 2 years ago might bomb today, and vice versa.

Copywriting takes time, effort and a whole lot of guts to stick with it through thick and thin.

The payoff can be huge, but there is a price you must pay. Just be sure you know that before you get started.

Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog 

Do You Have Trouble Asking for Money?

March 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Do you have trouble asking for money?

I do… or did… or still do… kind of.

When I first got started in this business last year, the idea of me asking someone for $1,000 was a big deal.

The kind of big deal where your throat would dry up and you’d get that terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach.

Later in the year, asking for $4,000 was my new “big deal.”

Then it moved to $10,000…

Then it doubled to $20,000…

This year, I finally realized the real problem.

It wasn’t the size of the fee. It was the size of my confidence. And it was my (crazy) idea that I somehow to had to “feel the pain” and invest a lot of effort to charge a lot of money.

After all, if you’re not working hard, why should you be paid high fees?

Listen up…

Crazy Ideas Like This Are Too Expensive

Here’s the key:

If you’re using the talents you’ve been given to make money, it’s not supposed to feel like work. In fact, that’s a clue you’re doing what you’re on this earth to do.

So basing your fees on how much work it feels like you’re putting in is actually a little bit nuts.

Because what you’re actually doing is penalizing yourself for what comes naturally.

That’s bad for your self-image…

But it’s even worse for your bank account.

So what should you try instead?

Stop thinking about you and start thinking about your client.

They’re not hiring you to save their life. They’re not hiring you to “work hard.” They’re hiring you because they believe that you can help them take one step forward towards their goal.

If their goal is to have a business doing $10 million a year, how much do you think you should be paid to move them forward one step… or even three steps?

The point is this…

Your Fees Have Nothing To Do With You

They have everything to do with your client and what they want to achieve.

Think about that… because my hunch is that you deserve a pay raise.

Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog 

Getting More Leads

March 17, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Leads… without a steady supply of QUALIFIED leads, growing your copywriting business is going to be very tough.

My hunch is that’s why so many freelance copywriters have trouble growing their business up to six-figures and beyond.

It’s because they’re dealing with one, or two, or maybe three leads a week.

With a lead volume that low, the focus shifts from sifting and sorting, to SELLING. The focus is on SELLING your services to the leads that come through your front door.

But here’s the problem with selling…

Your Prospects Don’t Want to Be Sold

If your business success depends on SELLING the leads you generate, your success will be limited. And the going will be more difficult than it should.

But sit back a moment and imagine your lead flow growing to 10, 20, 30 or more leads PER WEEK.

NOW who’s in control?

When your lead volume grows so that there’s more interest in your services than you could possibly fill… YOU are in the driver’s seat.

And that’s EXACTLY where you want to be.

So HOW Do You Generate a
Steady Supply of Leads for
YOUR Copywriting Business?

There’s not just one answer. There are many answers.

Now a lot of new freelance copywriters head straight for AdWords to generate leads.

After all, there aren’t many other ways that you can have traffic flowing to your new site in about 10 minutes.

Many copywriters spend hundreds of dollars a month on AdWords, competing with every other freelance copywriter on the planet who’s trying to wrangle in some business.

Here’s the problem with AdWords…

You can’t get inside the head of your prospect enough to ask him exactly what he thinks the term “copywriter” means.

And it doesn’t really matter anyway, because if you’ve written a compelling ad… BANG… you get charged for the click.

So maybe you could bid on keywords like “freelance copywriter.”

That’s more specific. But even then, do you know how many people are out there looking for a “freelance copywriter” who will rewrite their brochure for $50 an hour?

There are a lot of businesses like that. And those folks are NOT the profitable clients you’re looking for.

It takes a lot of hours at $50 to reach six-figures. (2000 hours actually.)

So what’s a better way?

The better way to generate MORE qualified leads is to broaden your horizons. Consider the fact that many of the clients out there who would pay thousands of dollars for your services have no idea what a copywriter does.

But here’s what they do know:

They KNOW They Want More Sales

So instead of your lead generation ads selling copywriting… why not talk about something that a broader subset of the market actually cares about?

Like getting more sales.

All of a sudden, your possible ways to generate leads just doubled, tripled and quadrupled.

The reason is that instead of generating leads by targeting businesses looking for copywriters, your criteria has changed.

Now you can generate leads by targeting businesses who want to increase their sales.

Your challenge is just to position your services so that your prospect realizes how you can deliver that result–an increase in sales.

Instead of generating leads from businesses looking for a copywriter, you now have only three qualifications:

1. They have money to invest in the growth of their business.

2. They’re willing to invest that money for the potential of a much larger return.

3. They believe that YOUR services can help them grow their business.

Now how many businesses out there do you think satisfy those three qualifications?

The answer is THOUSANDS of them. Next time, we’ll talk about how to turn them into YOUR leads.

Posted by Jason | Filed Under Blog