Turning Bread-and-butter Freelance Gigs into Caviar Clients

I was hungry when I wrote this post.

And I was thinking about how I was going to approach today’s marketing. The plan is to reach out to existing clients and do a little upselling. Because nothing is more important than keeping current clients in front of you, buying.

And if they’re buying those services you enjoy providing, even better.

Let’s say you’re excellent at writing SEO content. And you love it. It’s where you’ve made the most income, or it’s where you want to concentrate more of your energy.

But your current clients aren’t really buying those services, and the ones who have bought those projects are no longer in your orbit. Or they’re not buying for one reason or another. And you really, really want to write more SEO content because you can knock those projects out quickly and the results for your clients are impressive.

Here’s what you do:

Deliver the current project. And a snippet of something else. Look, I’m not one to advocate for giving away work, but giving them a sampling of what you can deliver for them works. Consider it like a coupon. You’re offering up something that may appeal to them, and while you’re not giving them a discount, you’re giving them maybe three tweets (sticking with the SEO example) that they can use to accompany the project you just delivered. Or a one-page case study. Or ….

Create a giveaway. I’m thinking a newsletter or an eBook that targets exactly what you love doing. Teach them how to do it. Chances are, they’re going to hire you to do it anyway. But hand them something that shows your skills in that area (and your expertise).

Reach back into your client archives. By that I mean go back to your former clients. Ask how they are. Remind them of what you’d worked on together. Tell them what you’ve done recently for a client that reminded you of their project. And ask if there’s anything you can do for them. Keep it a conversation, not a sales pitch.

Teach it in public. I love Twitter and LinkedIn for the ability to have chats on hyper-specific topics. You want to have a chat where you teach prospective or existing clients how to put together a killer email blast? Set up your chat — #emailmarketing #insurance would be my hashtags. Find the hashtags that fit your topic and your intended audience. Market the bejeezuz out of it about a week out.

Share your knowledge on social media. Speaking of social media, it couldn’t be easier to find new clients when you hit them up with quick strategies from your experience. Set up tweets to reflect little-known bits that show you know your stuff.

Create marketing messages that focus on your sweet spot. If you want to write SEO content, advertise that fact to your clients and prospects. Send out emails and letters that reflect your background and your interest in showing them how this expertise can improve their marketing results. Or show them that blog posts you write (and share) have netted more traffic for your clients. Or …

Writers, how have you turned some of those bread-and-butter jobs into caviar (or really good tofu)?
What’s your most effective way to upsell to your current clients?