Effective Ways to Find Copywriting Clients Part 3. Direct Response Copywriting Archive September 2018 2
/September 2018 2
From the desk of Scott Martin, direct response copywriter, Aspen, Colorado.
The Most Effective Way to Find Great Clients. Part 3.
Defining Your Perfect Client
Quite a few writers and marketers have joined the list of people who receive these emails. Welcome!
Who is your ideal client?
Very few copywriters are able to answer this question with any degree of accuracy and/or conviction.
The real answer is usually, “whoever contacts me” or “whoever posts on Upwork or one of those message boards or facebook groups.” In essence, it’s the client you get as opposed to the client you want.
My biggest goal in this series of emails about finding clients is to change your thinking.
Most copywriters, and I’m guilty of this, simply wait for the clients to walk through the door. I have an advantage here because my website ranks fairly high in the organic search results for key search terms.
But this ranking could go away tomorrow if someone at Google decides to tweak the algorithm. These tweaks happen frequently.
I’m making a much bigger effort to contact the clients I really want to work with.
I want YOU to start contacting the clients you really, really want … instead of relying on a more passive approach.
First, you have to target the right type of client. The ‘right type’ depends significantly on your place in the copywriting space/time continuum.
Beginner/just getting started.
To get started in direct response copywriting, I worked with advertising agencies and digital marketing agencies. The pay is not sensational but it’s enough and there’s a lot of work. Once you gain the trust of the decision makers at these agencies, you’ll get a lot of repeat business. I also had some small business owners contact me on occasion. You can search for these agencies online and start with your local area. A word of warning, though … many agencies will pay decently but many won’t. If the fee is too low, don’t take the work.
Some experience under your belt/moving along.
At this stage, you have some experience under your belt and you’re ready to start working with clients who want copywriters who are looking for more experienced clients. You can continue to work with agencies but you’ll want to charge more. You can look for direct marketers who are selling online and through the mail. You can look for companies who have what’s essentially an in-house agency. You can also work with companies and groups that are looking for one-time projects.
Super-experienced with a lot of success.
Now you can approach the top direct marketers. These are the companies that are genuinely looking for the top talent and will pay the top fees and, in some cases, a royalty.
If you’re just starting out then you’re not going to get much joy from the direct marketers who are looking for top and super-experienced talent. It would be a mistake for me to go back to working for agencies who are happy to work with less experienced talent.
In the next few days, take an hour to define your ideal client.
There are definitely some commonalities between the stages above. You can see these here.
Once you have defined your ideal clients, you can organize your website around who you’re trying to attract … and not attract. You can also start to search for potential clients with more purpose and precision.
In the next email, I’ll write about whether you should focus on a niche. You’ll find my thoughts surprising.
One final thought ... remember there's a huge demand for copywriters. But the work will not come to you. You have to get out there and get it.
All the best,
Scott Martin Direct Response Copywriter
