Relationship Marketing: Your Freelance Secret Weapon

Quite a few years ago, one of my best friends I’ve never met said something eye-opening.

“You’re not very good at marketing.”

I stifled a laugh and held my tongue. The reason: She said this as she was retooling her business model to include something produced by me. And it was something I hadn’t asked for or approached her on. To this day, I don’t think she realizes that I had indeed marketed to her. I had built the relationship and had taken steps to maintain it. Not only that, I had produced quality content that  had her wanting to make me part of her core business.

Not very good at marketing? Honey, that’s the best kind of marketing.

But maybe more people much like my chum have the impression that marketing is query letters, letters of introduction, cocktail party pitches, or phone calls trying to sell oneself. Maybe they don’t realize that marketing can also be better if you do this:

Market to the relationship.

If you’ve been here before, you’ve heard me talk about it. A lot. Here. And here.  I talk about it a lot because it works.

[bctt tweet=”Your best #freelance marketing move? Make it about the relationship.” username=”LoriWidmer”]

But can you really leave behind traditional marketing methods and focus solely on relationships?

Yes. In fact, I did. I wrote about it right here. In 2016, I had the epiphany that my work wasn’t coming from my pitches or my letters of introduction. They were coming from referrals and word-of-mouth marketing.  To be fair, I had put a ton of marketing in for years to get to that point. But these days, focusing on building the relationship is a much more lucrative approach.

Here’s why it works to put the relationship at the center of your efforts:

When you market to get the job, one thing happens. You do or do not get the job. If it’s a one-time gig, you’ve just put a bit of effort into one paycheck. Same goes for a series of jobs — like a client asking for six articles. When those six are completed, you’ll get paid and move on. And your newly won client will move on, too. All that effort for what?

However, when you market to build and maintain a relationship, you build trust. You learn about the client. You hear what they’re working on, what things they’re trying to initiate, what issues might be getting in the way, and you hear about their families and friends on occasion. You become friendly acquaintances. In time, you might even ask them if they’re in the market for some writing help. The goal is to interact and show them your value without beating them over the head.

Here’s how:

• Talk about your current projects, relate past projects in conversation, and post on social media those types of projects you’ve just completed. In other words, been seen doing what they may need help with.
• Join the conversation and add your insights. This works really well when you specialize. Someone posted a question — you can add what you know (never fake it and never just cut-and-paste an answer; know it or skip it). Share links to relevant articles that might help answer the question. Engage in friendly banter. Hold your tongue when people are arguing.
• Share your articles on social media. You can even write some for LinkedIn. I did a few times and had to stop — I had a lot of people asking for my rates at a time when I was too busy to take on more clients. Never underestimate the power of one targeted article on LinkedIn.
• Share articles and resources that relate to your specialty or the area in which you’d like to work. Showing your interest in the same things potential clients are interested in is an attention-getting move.
• Reshare potential clients’ articles and resources. Maybe add a few words about something in that article that intrigued you.

Is this marketing? Absolutely. It’s networking, too. It’s networking because you’re making connections and sharing ideas. And it’s marketing because you are presenting things that make you interesting and appealing to a potential client.

Once you get a potential client’s attention, go back to the links I included above to see how to take the relationship further. The gist of it is this: You aren’t just their contract writer, but a valued partner. You add value by being that outside voice, that second opinion, that fresh set of eyes on whatever they want to produce. You care more about making them look good than about the check that’s coming. They’re not a transaction — they’re your valued client.

Writers, have you found other ways to market that go beyond pitches and queries?