Mar
How You Can Gain Clients By Getting Off the Web
With the ubiquity, cheapness, and ease of the interwebs at our fingers, many freelance writers and creatives like myself use it almost exclusively for marketing our services. We create websites that are search-engine optimized to draw prospective clients in. We add online portfolios to those sites to give prospects a quick and dirty intro to our capabilities. We send out e-newsletters and personalized emails, network through LinkedIn and Facebook and even through Twitter, and can even post Google Ads or other enticements.
But here’s the thing: because it’s so ubiquitous, because it’s so cheap and easy, everyone is doing it. The definition of marketing clutter? This is it.
So how can you break through? First, remember this: there’s a lot of crap out there. You can easily and oh-so-effectively differentiate yourself simply with clean, compelling, well-written messages. Another surefire way to break through: go retro. Traditional print marketing can be just what you need to cut through the online clutter and make yourself heard. Consider the tried and true marketing collateral, and what they can do for you:
- Direct Mail: This is the most cost-effective, measurable, and successful form of marketing, hands down. Think about it – it’s highly targeted, with well-crafted lists. It’s inexpensive, with simple letters or postcards. And you know when, how and to whom the mail is being sent. I’ve used postcard campaigns to nice success, announcing new services and driving traffic to my website, teasing the additional content that can only be found there.
- Brochure: A well-designed and written brochure can be an effective tool. Bring it with you to networking events, sales meetings, and customer calls as a leave-behind. Ask colleagues to distribute the brochure as an affiliate program (and do the same for them). Mail it out alone or with cover letters to new and existing clients.
- Advertising: A sales letter offering a 10% discount on all online orders incites action. Advertising, on the other hand, focuses on keeping a brand or company top-of-mind through flash, slogans, or images. Consider a print ad in a magazine geared towards your niche audience. Think about low-cost ads in classifieds. Think about places you can paper with flyers and business cards.
A marketing campaign built only on print advertising won’t work in today’s world. But a marketing campaign built only on online activity won’t work either. The best way I’ve found to grab prospects’ attention is to do both. Each quarter, my goal is to contact every marketing agency, trade magazine, medical organization, and other prospect on my list through a different means. One quarter it’s a well-written, benefit-oriented email. The next it’s a short and sweet postcard. I’m thinking about sending a trifold brochure next time around. And throughout the year, you can use the power of print and online advertising to reinforce your message.
The goal is to continually contact people in different ways. They see that you’re consistent, that you’re still writing, and that you can effectively create multiple marketing pieces. It works: I scored one client last summer after repeated, respectful contacts through print and online means. He called, and joked: “You wore me down.” I laughed, saying, “That was the goal.” He proceeded to give me my biggest contract ever, and has more coming my way.
It may be an online world, and we may just be the eyeballs in it. But by being slightly rebellious, by looking back and using print marketing means, you can stand out and grab some of those eyeballs for your own.
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Amy, your blog couldn’t be more timely! I was going to e-mail to ask about your postcard campaigns (I hope you read this comment!). I like postcards because of their size and shape. They stand-out from other mail.
Also, how did you develop your mailing list? Did you use a service or compile it yourself? Lastly, if I can ask an indelicate question, what can one expect to pay for a postcard mailing.
I hope your move went well. Did I understand you correctly? You moved to a loft? You’ll have to blog all about it. Take care and thanks.
March 27th, 2008 at 7:27 pmHey Sherree! Great questions, and points that should be addressed here.
My experience with postcards has been through VistaPrint. They’re a very quick, nicely priced service, where you can upload your own images and/or words. You can get them sent directly to you to mail yourself, or you can add on mailing services there. To get around 500 postcards simply printed and sent to me (and I did the mailing) was around $100.
There are many other postcard companies out there that offer comparable services; do a little research and make sure you’re comfortable with the one you choose.
Developing a mailing list: I’ve worked on these over the past two years. My list of marketing agencies was developed by looking at Chicago and suburban chambers of commerce, where they list advertising/marketing agencies. I supplement that with general Google searches for Chicagoland marketing firms. My list of trade magazines was developed by Google searches and identifying big publishing companies that offer these magazines (Penton, Hanley Wood, etc.)
Hope this helps, Sherree (and all other readers!) And yes - my longtime boyfriend/living-in-sin-partner and I bought our first place, a cool loft in River West/West Town. We’re homeowners! Exciting, and petrifying!
March 27th, 2008 at 9:13 pmOkay, you get me every time with the interweb thing. I thought to myself last time: the only thing that could make that funnier is if she said interwebs. Know you’ve done it, and I’ve got to clean coffee spray off of my monitor.
This is a great post, as too often we forget that multiple marketing streams are far more effective than one, diluted marketing stream. The post card idea is simple but effective branding, as well; it’s that little bit of nutmeg in the cookie that makes it stand out. Well stated, great tips.
Maybe for the third quarter you could do pop up cards?
March 28th, 2008 at 4:30 amThis is a really important point for web writers to understand. I think many of us get in the habit of thinking that all of the work is online but the reality is that there are a lot of real world businesses that could benefit from our services precisely because they aren’t as active online as they could be.
One real world marketing trick that I employ myself are to attend live networking events where I can hand out business cards and brochures. One I don’t use (but know I should) is cold calling. I definitely think that learning more about offline marketing is the key to growing an online writing business today.
March 28th, 2008 at 10:53 am@Charlie: So glad I can make you spray coffee on the monitor. Next time I’ll aim for milk or soda out of the nose
And pop-up cards: genius!!
@Kathryn: Thanks for the comment, and your own experiences! It’s so true - something to hold in your own two hands can go a long way towards making a good impression and cutting past clutter. I also don’t do cold calling, on purpose. The phone is a frightening beast when it comes to that…
March 28th, 2008 at 2:26 pm