| 

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Find Your Writing Speciality & Pitch Services to Your Dream Clients with Kaleigh Moore

cta-book-03-1.jpg

If you’ve ever joined us for #ContentWritingChat, there’s a good chance you’ve noticed that we have a lot of writers joining us each week.

It’s amazing having an incredible group of content creators come together for our chat.

But sometimes writers need a little help when it comes to niching down and sending out those pitches.

So, we made it our mission to help those writers with this week’s chat!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Find Your Writing Speciality & Pitch Services to Your Dream Clients with Kaleigh Moore

Our guest host this week was Kaleigh Moore. She’s a freelance writer in both SaaS and eCommerce. She shared a ton of great tips that writers in any field can implement, so let’s dive into our recap!

Q1: What’s the hardest piece of the pitching puzzle for you right now?

Do you ever struggle to pitch your services to other brands? If so, you aren’t alone! We asked our chat participants to share what the hardest part is about pitching. Here’s what a few of them had to say:

Finding the right time to pitch someone can be a challenge. As Cheval pointed out, you never know if it’ll be accepted or rejected.

Brent also knows it’s all about finding the right time in the relationship to make your pitch. It’s also important to learn as much as you can about the publication you’re going to be contacting.

Sometimes Maria finds it difficult to determine what to focus on in a pitch. You want to make sure you’re packing a punch and that people can see the value you provide.

Sometimes it’s hard to keep your pitch short and simple while still being informative.

Gabriela knows that being too prepared can make things go awry. Make sure you don’t stress over it too much! Relax, set the right tone, answer questions, and be genuine. Also, pay attention to their needs so you can fully understand what they want.

When pitching, you won’t always know if this potential client is ready to make an investment. That can always lead to tricky situations if you don’t know how to handle them.

It’s important that you learn how to set rates that don’t undervalue your work or make you unattainable.

Paul knows the waiting game is a stressful one.

Even getting a response can be tough!

Make sure you follow-up afterwards if you don’t hear anything. You don’t want to miss out on a great opportunity.

As Danielle said, getting up the courage to pitch is often tough. You just have to remember that you’re talented and capable.

Q2: How much of your ideal work currently comes from referrals?

Referrals can play a huge role in a freelance writer’s business, as well as other types of businesses. Word of mouth is effective in helping you land paid gigs, after all! Here’s how many of our chat participants rely on referrals for their work:

About 85% of Kaleigh’s clients come from referrals.

For Kelly, her referral rate is around 80%.

The Netvantage team sees plenty of referrals from their past clients.

Once you’re established, those referrals are more likely to come rolling in.

Varun refers people and he gets referrals as well. It’s a happy, never-ending cycle!

For Chloe, her work is only about 30% referrals, but she knows it could have been more if she was better about following up with people. Let that be a reminder for you to follow-up with potential opportunities.

Paul hasn’t seen any referrals yet, since he’s just starting out. However, we’re confident those referrals will be rolling in soon!

Don’t fully rely on referrals though. As Warwick said, you should also use other lead generation tactics to land writing jobs as well.

Q3: Are you currently writing in spaces where your dream clients spend time?

You’ve heard it before. If you want to reach your dream client, you need to be where they are online! So, are you actually focusing on the right spaces when publishing content? These are the responses we got during Tuesday’s chat:

Copyhackers and Inc are two publications Kaleigh focuses on.

As Marijana knows, it’s worth it to pitch those sites where your ideal client hangs out. It could have a big pay off when your post goes live.

Kelly likes to keep her options open, so she focuses on Medium, LinkedIn, and her podcast. This allows her to expand her reach online.

Carla’s go-to has been social media. She knows that’s an effective place to make connections online, whether it’s a Facebook group or a Twitter chat.

Another important thing to remember is to pay attention to the results you’re getting. Andrea used to write on LinkedIn Pulse, but reach was decreasing. That was a good sign to switch over to another site for more impact.

Danielle is just getting started, but she knows it’s important to be where your audience is. No matter how scary it may be to pitch your work, you have to keep putting yourself out there.

Q4: Have you chosen a niche? If so, does it help you land repeat work/build subject matter expertise?

Does having a niche really make a difference as a writer? Will it actually help you land future work? Check out these responses for the scoop:

Kaleigh feels having a niche makes a major difference when landing repeat work.

When you have a niche, you’ll be able to build up your experience and expertise. Then, people will start to see you as an authority in your field. That will help you land jobs with the right clients.

As Jason said, you have to be great at something. Choosing a niche allows you to truly become a master at your craft.

Finding her niche allowed Elise to triple her income within one year. Impressive!

Finding your niche allows you to understand the unique value you can bring to a client.

Varun focuses on two niches, which allows him to reach more people and cover the topics that interest him the most.

Niching down is something Terry is focused on in the year ahead. It’ll allow you to be more selective about the work you take on and the types of clients you work with.

Jade hasn’t niched down, but finds versatility is the way to go.

Felicity also likes covering a variety of topics in her writing.

And Ankitaa thinks not having a niche helps her to have a more diverse portfolio.

Q5: Do you refer overflow work to fellow freelancers (or have you been on the receiving end)?

What do you do when you have more work than you can handle? Do you take it on anyway or pass the opportunity along to someone else? Here’s how a few of our chat participants manage the situation:

Check out this handy article Kaleigh shared for some tips!

Gabriela knows it’s all about empowerment and helping each other out, so she’s all for referring work to others.

If Jason knows someone else will do a better job, he’s not afraid to refer it to someone else who can get the job done.

Marijana is still building up her network of freelancers, which will really come in handy for overflow work.

As Jade said, what’s important is that you always keep the client’s best interest in mind. If you can’t handle the work, be honest and pass it along.

Brent has been referred work from others and he’s also building a list of writers he can recommend.

Here at Express Writers, we don’t really refer work to others. If the workload gets big, we take on more team members.

Sharing is caring, after all!

Q6: How do you get face time with your dream clients right now?

It’s important that you have the opportunity to chat with those dream clients of yours. It’s the best way to get to know them and to better understand their needs. But how do you go about getting this face time? Here are some ideas for you:

It’s all about those referrals!

Marketing meet-ups and conference are great ways to connect with potential clients.

Call up that dream client of yours and get a coffee together!

The content you publish can help draw people in, but you need to follow that up with a chat on Skype or another platform.

Social media a is a great way to meet clients, but you can still rely on phone calls and emails to get the job done.

As Cheval said, Twitter chats are fantastic as well.

Just make sure you aren’t afraid to ask for an introduction. You have to be willing to put yourself out there and take the chance.

Q7: What’s the biggest question you have about pitching your writing services in general?

Before we wrapped up the chat with our final question, we asked everyone to share their number one question about pitching their services. Here’s what a few of them had to say:

Since so many people struggle with pricing, Kaleigh shared a post with some helpful tips.

Even Gabriela recognizes that pricing can be stressful.

Is your pitch being understood? Is it well-received? These are things that likely go through every writer’s mind when hitting send.

And I doing this right? Am I charging the right amount? Chloe knows questions like these can drive a freelancer nuts!

If your pitch didn’t go well and you missed the opportunity, you might not know where things went wrong. And that’s a huge struggle because you won’t know where to improve.

Terry wants to know how you can build that level of trust with a potential client so they’ll see the value in your work.

Q8: What plans do you have for 2018 to get in front of more dream clients?

If you want to reach more clients this year, these are the tips you need to know!

Kaleigh is planning to focus more on teaching this year, which sounds pretty exciting!

Here at Express Writers, this year is all about serving our existing customers and taking care of them in the best way possible. After all, having a loyal customer base is key!

Gabriela plans to do guest posts, speaking engagements, collaborations, and more this year.

Guest posting is on Elise’s to-do list for 2018!

Carla wants to pitch to more publications within her niche to reach new people.

For Terry, it’s all about creating more content. After all, it’s the best way to expand your reach online.

Connecting in person, pitching publications, and writing are just some of the things Brent will be working on.

Video is definitely one way to stand out online this year!

Kaisha wants to become more visible and accessible.

Andrea knows it’s all about being bold. Don’t be afraid to pitch someone because you’re worried about a no. A rejection is not the end of the world.

Take time. Be consistent. Be visible. Follow through on conversations. Great advice!

#ContentWritingChat happens every Tuesday at 10 AM Central! Follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat so you can join the fun too!

The post #ContentWritingChat Recap: How to Find Your Writing Speciality & Pitch Services to Your Dream Clients with Kaleigh Moore appeared first on Express Writers.

Advertisements

Related Articles