4 Ways to Put More Marketing Cash in Your Pocket

What’s on the iPod: Through My Prayers by The Avett Brothers


One more week to sign up! 8 Steps to Conference Marketing Success self-study course: Broken out into easy-to-follow sections, the course shows you every step in the process of marketing at conferences. You’ll learn how to choose a conference, when and what to communicate with potential clients, and how to turn that dialog into sales. Click here for more info.

Snow. It’s snowing. I’d predicted it would happen at least one more time (back in February). Since then, twice. This one is already sticking and is going to keep coming down until late tonight. I love it. Nothing makes the earth feel more serene and fresh that a blanket of snow, in my opinion.

After a nice weekend, it’s exactly what I needed to ease me back into a busy work week. Today, the marketing picks up even more as the conference I’m thinking of attending is in less than four weeks. If I can get enough appointments, I’ll book my flight. 

Thanks to that conference last year, I doubled my income over the previous year, and I’m still working with most of the clients, plus picking up new ones (three this month have been in touch and I’m meeting a fourth tomorrow). I’m not one for shameless plugs, but if you want to learn how to get similar results, try my conference marketing course. The link is above.

For those writers not quite ready to attend conferences and trade shows, there are other ways to increase the impact of marketing. Here are a few of my favorites:

Give it 15 minutes a day. Okay, maybe 30 minutes. But in your head, you don’t have 30 minutes, do you? I bet you think “I might be able to spare 15 minutes.” Do it. Once you get practiced at query or LOI writing, you’ll be able to crank out a good one in 15 minutes. If 15 minutes sounds like an eternity, commit to writing one query or LOI per day. Keep it within an acceptable range so you don’t automatically run from.

Focus on your approach. If your queries or LOIs are getting you nowhere, revisit what you’re sending. Are you telling them why you’re writing? Are you spending a short paragraph giving them your most relevant background? Are you looking at their website or other marketing materials to see who they are, what they do, and what they may need? Are you showing them the benefits of working with you?


Don’t forget them. How many times have I gone back to a client who was either not responsive or said not right now and ended up getting the job? Plenty enough to know that follow up is a key part of any marketing plan. Just three weeks ago I’d sent a note to a woman I hadn’t talked to in a year. The result — my first project with her has just been completed and we’re working on revisions. Ask again. You have to get over the “I’m bugging them” mentality and realize they may be looking for a writer just like you to help them.


Be yourself. Know that really formal, authoritative letter you’ve been sending to clients to show them how much you know? Lose it. Okay, don’t lose entirely the fact that you know stuff that’s beneficial to them, but lose the stick-up-your-back writing. Loosen up — this is a real person needing to connect with a writer who’s approachable and willing to concede what their limitations are. We like doing business with people who are nice. Be nice and be positive.


How do you ramp up your marketing efforts?