Comments on: Event-ful Opportunities

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:24:31 +0000

Denene, that sounds like a super plan! Go for it. :)

Anne, I like conferences because if you go to the same ones, you make friends. I like seeing familiar faces. Lord, I should have been a salesperson the way I love to mingle and chat people up!

By: Anne Wayman

Anne Wayman — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:33:04 +0000

hmmm, food for thought here, although I tend to avoid crowds a lot these days… hmmmm

oh, and yesterday I was as crazed as Lori describes… and I wasn't even on im – but it turned out to be a great webinar

By: Denene @ Freelance-Write-Now

Denene @ Freelance-Write-Now — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:15:46 +0000

Thanks, Lori! That's very good info to know. I have thought about marketing myself as a ghostwriter for company experts who market themselves through trade articles since I do so much trade writing. I just need to take the time to market myself in this capacity.

Thanks so much for the additional info. Have a great weekend!

By: Lori

Lori — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:10:23 +0000

Hi Denene - my LOI use is a shorter history (before I would send a sales letter and brochure), but some of the projects I've worked on as a result are articles (they work for magazines, too), ghostwritten thought pieces for companies, editing work, and newsletters. I did find it better to send the LOI, though there's nothing wrong with walking up to a company booth at a trade show, asking them to tell you about their business, then handing them a business card and giving them a brief summary of your background. I did this at the last show and I'm actually still talking with two companies on project ideas (nothing concrete from them yet, but one is close to deciding).

At that show, I contacted them a bit too close to the conference time - three months, I believe. I did get six or so appointments, but no one took me up on the offer to help with conference materials. That's probably because the work was already done at that point.

Does that help?

By: Denene @ Freelance-Write-Now

Denene @ Freelance-Write-Now — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:41:46 +0000

Lori: This is a pretty interesting marketing approach. Would you mind sharing what types of projects you've worked on from approaching companies this way? Did you find that sending LOIs prior helped in connecting while at the conference? Would love to hear more! Thanks!

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:13:37 +0000

PERFECT suggestion, Paula! I managed to get the editor of one pub to ask me - at the conference -to keep my eyes open for story ideas. Better to have it lined up prior to, though.

Glad it's helpful, Wade. One more bullet in your arsenal, eh? :)

Jake, probably not the best conference to gain clients from, I agree. I'd look in industry first. Writing - hell, we're all looking for clients! LOL

That had to be one fun seminar! I'm envious. :)

By: Paula

Paula — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:02:04 +0000

Conferences and conventions can also be a boon to feature writers. The best way to approach it is to query business mags or trade pubs about covering the convention. If you have a valid assignment, not only does the press pass get you in for free, but you usually get a book listing all of the exhibitors, bios on the speakers, and after the show you'll have loads of ideas to pitch to multiple publications. Yeah, you'll have the exhibitor list for future reference, too.

By: Wade Finnegan

Wade Finnegan — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:54:44 +0000

Thanks Lori for taking my suggestion. I believe not having a niche is the biggest hurdle. After reading this, I have some direction and that helps a bunch. Thanks for sharing your insights, hopefully others will comment on their experiences.

By: Jake P

Jake P — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:42:58 +0000

The closest thing to a conference that I've done since my corporate stiff days was the Tucson Festival of Books. I was one of several manning the Editorial Freelancers Association booth.

I got a couple of leads out of it, but nothing ever came to fruition. Most of the people there were trying to get people to edit their unpublished novels for free, or next to it.

In addition to great people-watching, honestly, the best thing that I got out of it was attending a seminar on "How to write sex scenes without sounding stupid" or something like that. It was pretty hilarious, if nothing quite applicable to my daily writing tasks for corporate clients.