Defining Your Perfect Clients. Direct Response Copywriter Email Archive June 2017 1

June 2017 1

From the desk of Scott Martin, direct response copywriter, Aspen, Colorado.

Over the next 8-12 weeks, I’ve set a goal of finding one, maybe two additional long-term clients. I have plenty of work to keep me going right now, and I’m enjoying some additional free time, but it would be prudent to find some new clients.

Here are some notes from this assignment.

My first step is to define who is a good fit for me. I have a mental checklist that will soon be a physical checklist and I’ll share this with you in the upcoming weeks. But here are the thoughts.

They must be serious direct marketers with a marketing director who knows a ton about direct marketing.
They must be an organization built around selling tons of stuff through direct response copy. This makes me, a direct response copywriter, indispensible. Get rid of me and it’s like turning off the electricity.
They must have a big list or be really good at traffic.
They must be “white hat” with a strong product portfolio.
For some reason, the ideal size company is 10-25 people. This size means they’re big enough to be serious but not big enough to have an in-house copywriter.
They must have a solid budget and be open to a royalty.
They must understand the key role of a copywriter in their success and not view the copywriter as a commodity.
They must not be meddlers who change my copy… unless there are factual errors or compliance issues.
They must love testing.
How quickly can they move? Are they likely to be super-slow and bureaucratic? Are they going to move as quickly as one of my clients? One client gives me a week to write a promotion and has it live the next week. That’s my type of client.

Well there’s my physical checklist!

Notice something here? I’m starting to go after the clients I’d like to work with, instead of hoping that these near-perfect clients arrive out of thin air. I’m going through my lists and I’ve identified about 400 potential strong clients. This week, I’ll send the first of a bi-monthly newsletter to this list, even though I’m currently speaking with four strong potential clients.

Just because you may be relatively new to copywriting doesn’t mean you can’t define your perfect client. Take a few minutes when you can to write down the traits of your perfect client based on where you are in your copywriting journey.

One more thing … I’m also working with a couple of clients to help them with more copy. Remember … once you have a client and things are going well, you MUST ask them for more work.

In the next email, I’ll discuss the importance of speed and why you don’t want to be like a lawyer when it comes to billing.

Scott Martin Direct Response Copywriter