Can We Talk About Marketing?

[beanandpumpkin]

One of my goals for 2013 is to ramp up my marketing efforts. I've had a fair bit of luck with Craigslist and I've gotten a couple of clients through word-of-mouth, plus I have a website that occasionally pays off... I'm a little bit stuck when it comes to coming up with other ways to market myself.

Anyone care to share ideas?

[anng]

I'm like you, I don't really market myself, and haven't had to honestly. Word of mouth from pleased clients seems to be what works for me. I've found that as long as I have happy clients, they'll pass my name on.

I have heard of others having success with these:

LinkedIn, I'm iffy on. I created a profile per a client's request, and what I found is that a few writers who asked to link to me took the names of companies from my employment list and contacted them looking for jobs, some by saying they'd lower their rates to beat mine. I've stopped accepting connections for that reason.

Facebook, I know many swear by it, but man do I hate Facebook! I can't get my car repair guy's sales and specials without "liking" his Facebook page. I can't get special coupons from Shaws (grocery store) without "liking" their page, same for our local general store. I can't even suggest news tips or comment on local news stores with area papers or news stations unless I "like" them. I hate that. I have a Facebook page for my book reviews that I hardly ever touch, and when it's a group page rather than an individual account, you cannot like anything. I feel it's alienated me from businesses I regularly support.

Twitter again I hardly use, though I have heard of others having success landing clients with Twitter. I simply get too caught up reading Tweets from some of the people I follow, and that ends up being a time suck that I really don't need.

[ErinHill226]

I've gotten hits through LinkedIn. You can optimize your page with keywords, and I've sent letters of introduction. You can also participate in forums related to a niche to demonstrate yourself as an expert, and oftentimes people will contact YOU. I've gotten several emails from there, and I don't even DO anything. They just stumble across my profile. I'm guessing it could be very effective if you actually worked it.

Guest post on blogs

Send queries via email

Send direct mail

Go to local networking events

Contact local graphic designers or web designers to find out if their clients ever need writers

Ask current clients if they have any additional work, or pitch them an idea of something you think they might need

Ummmmm...

I'm only on my second cup of coffee, so that's all I got right now. lol

[beanandpumpkin]

O, I'd forgotten about LinkedIn. I actually do have one client through there... I should go spend more time working on that. Thanks!

[Del S]

OMGosh, I'm with you, anng, about FB! I don't want to join simply to get "deals." It seems like a major pain to have to jump through all the hoops. I do have a business FB account through About.com; the company set it up for us and told us we can be as active as we want. I've made minimal effort with that simply because it seems like a huge time suck.

I have more success with Twitter, although I haven't landed any clients that way. If you follow businesses/clients you're interested in, you often get information on leads/jobs.

Other than that, I think in-person networking is great, if you're part of an organization that's useful to you. Contact previous clients to see if they have work now. One thing I'm going to do with PCs from now on is offer them a discount on their next batch of articles if they refer me to a friend.