Guest Post by Holly Bowne: How My Massive-Action Daily Marketing Plan Paid Off
Note from Jennifer: I was so excited when Holly, one of my longtime blog readers, told me how she created a marketing plan and made a massive push this winter that landed in new work. And since in addition to the new gigs she has already landed, she had a high response rate that didn’t land work yet, I bet that she will be getting work for months (or years) from this push by following up. I love stories like this and was thrilled when she agreed to detail how she did it. You can visit Holly at her website or on Twitter. I also highly recommend Mridu Khullar Relph’s content marketing course that Holly mentions. Several blog readers have taken it and all said it was well-worth the money.
By Holly Bowne
I knew I needed to make a change.
Even though I had my biggest year of earnings in 2016, I was still only bringing in a salary that might satisfy a fresh-out-of-school college graduate…with a degree in philosophy. (No offense intended to any philosophy majors out there!)
Like the good, little freelancer that I was, I did have marketing built into my regular weekly schedule. But to be honest, it was kind of lame. My goal was to send out five LOIs per week, and follow-up on five LOIs per week. (Like Jennifer, I’m a firm believer in following up as I experience a decent response rate for doing so.) Marketing goals like these may work fine for a busy writer earning a comfortable income and carrying a normal workload, but that was not me.
At the end of 2016, I had one regular client who provided me with consistent work, and a few more that sporadically sent me one-off projects. Then, several things happened that really brought home my need to up my marketing game. First, I had carpal tunnel surgery which impacted my ability to work for a few weeks. Second, my one regular client underwent a software change, and temporarily stopped assigning me work. And last but not least, the company that my husband worked for laid off half of their North American workforce, including him.
Long story short, from mid-December until the end of January, I had nuttin’. Nada. Zero income.
Uh-oh. What to Do?
I knew I needed a plan, and I needed it fast. First off, I’m a big fan of Mridu Khullar Relph. I’d taken her Content Marketing for Journalists course back in 2015. (Highly recommend it!) I recalled her saying that when you are low on business, you should be sending out at least 20 to 25 LOIs/queries per week. I was hitting nowhere near that.
Next, I recalled a post Jennifer had written titled, “How I Landed $50K in New Content Marketing Clients in 45 Days.” In the post, Jennifer details exactly what steps she took to boost her business income over a short period of time. She also mentioned that if she were in a niche that was less in demand, or if she needed to pay the electric bill for her family, she would have doubled her efforts. So, that became my target. I took her 45-day plan, doubled it, broke it down by week, then by day. It looked something like this:
Daily Marketing Action Plan
- Send out 4-5 LOIs: I batched them by specific business industry, or category such as agencies, trade publications, etc. to make the most efficient use of my time.
- Send out 4-5 follow-ups: I not only followed up on recent LOIs, but went back into my previous years’ records and sent follow-ups to old clients and prospects who had responded favorably to my initial LOI.
- Apply to at least one job online: Not just any old job, mind you. I was targeting jobs that sounded as if they would be decent paying. I belong to the Freelance Writer’s Den, so I periodically search their job board, as well as on LinkedIn since I know that job posters must pay to post there. I also signed up for the new LinkedIn Profinder program.
- Network on LinkedIn: Now I have to admit something a little embarrassing. Up until this point, my LinkedIn networking was so pathetic that I hadn’t even made it a point to connect with my clients, let alone any hot prospects. So, I started sending offers to connect to clients (both old and new), and prospects who responded favorably to my LOIs.
- Twitter: I planned to tweet or retweet something at least once a day, and connect with one to two people in some way, whether clients, prospects, or writer friends.
I also freshened up my website writing samples and touched up my LinkedIn bio. I track every LOI I send on an Excel spreadsheet, making it easy to see when I sent something and when I need to follow up. And although there were some parts of my marketing plan that pushed me outside my comfort zone, I made myself do them anyway. I admit, I didn’t hit every target like I planned, but I took way more action than I ever had in the past.
My efforts paid off.
The Results
I’m only midway through the plan now, but between January 16 and February 22, I sent out 139 Letters of Introduction. I’ve followed up on about half of them so far. Plus, I’ve followed up with any hot prospects from previous years. I’ve also applied for about five jobs. So far, I’ve received 25 positive responses. The majority were of the “Yes, we use freelancers. Nothing now, but we’ll keep you in mind,” variety. But two of those 25 resulted in instant projects, and a third, in an in-person meeting with a potential client who is locally based. I just met with them yesterday, and they plan to send me a small project next week.
Also, I did my best to really hit the ball out of the park with the initial two projects I received and as a result, my name got passed around the office. This led to two additional projects with new client A, and a second project with new client B.
Although I was/am feeling a little desperate, I resolved not to let it show. I was offered a couple of projects which I turned down due to low rates. One disappointing response: “We pay writers 2-4 cents/word. If that works, let me know. Thx.” But on literally the same day, I snagged my very first ever $1/word gig. Yay!
I’m not rolling in dough quite yet. But hopefully, I’ll get there!
The key takeaway: If you want more work, there is no substitute for marketing your…er, tushy off! (Can I say ‘tushy’ on here, Jennifer?)
Have you ever tried a massive-action marketing plan? How did it work out for you?
And yes, you can say tushy on here :>) you can even say butt! I’m actually fine with the other word as well in the right context. And you have earned the right with your marketing plan to say whatever you want!
Thanks so much, Jennifer! And thanks again for your awesome blog. It is always so helpful with great, actionable advice. :o)
Awesome post. I am following suit, as I’m in a marketing competition type thing on Freelance Success and doing pretty much as you listed. I do need to be better on Twitter, a goal for this year. As someone who has done this type of push in the past, I’m sure you’ll be rolling in dough, and up to your eyeballs in work, soon. It will all come in at once, so be prepared!!!
Thanks, Jean! I must confess, my Twitter goal is the one I was least likely to hit each week. (But I try!) And may your prediction come true. That would be totally awesome!
Nice Work Holly! You’re killin’ it out there!
Goes to show that there’s no substitution for getting out there and knocking on doors. 🙂
Thanks for the encouragement, Joshua! And so true. There really is no substitute for marketing, marketing, marketing.
Really inspiring!
Thanks, Suzanne!
Holly, big kudos on your plan and on the success you are seeing from all your hard work! You are inspiring!
Thanks so much, Kathy!
Holly, great post. I love that you took Jennifer’s advice to heart and doubled her plan, broke it down and just rolled up your sleeves. I’m glad it’s working for you and I hope your email keeps pinging with more work!
Leslie
Thanks so much, Leslie! I feel like I am constantly printing out Jennifer’s blog posts, highlighting them, and attempting to apply them to my work life (probably because I am, ha, ha!). That particular post really resonated with me. Everybody keeps saying marketing is a numbers game, and I really need my numbers to start moving up.
Really inspiring–I’m amping up my marketing efforts too, and this is exactly what I needed to read. I’m also working through Mridu’s course and agree it is great!
I’m so glad, Kristin. That’s great to hear! Best of luck as you amp up your marketing and work your way through Mridu’s awesome course!
Taking “massive” action was how I got started as an freelance SEO writer a decade ago. I haven’t looked back. I tell readers of my blog/students in my SEO writing class that this is the way to go. I call it “success by the numbers.”
If you make enough “touches”, assuming your writing samples are good and your rates are competitive, you WILL land clients — it’s practically guaranteed. Sometimes, when I first started out, I’d make as many as 100 to 150 touches per week.
Congrats on your success. May the luck of the Irish continue to be with you (as I’m leaving this comment on St. Paddy’s day). 🙂
I completely agree with you. I think that many writers under estimate the amount of marketing touches you need when you are starting out. It decreases the more experience and name recognition you have. But I can’t tell you how many times a writer has come to me asking advice because they can’t find work. I always ask how many LOI’s or calls they have made, and often the answer is really low, like 20 in the past month.
I do think that if you are getting no responses after about 75 LOI’s, then you might need to tweak your marketing. Responses aren’t the same as assignments, but just people asking for more information or saying that they might be in touch later down the road.
Thanks for sharing the luck of the Irish and your insights, Yuwanda. I wish I’d encountered people like you and Jennifer when I was first starting out. I’m positive I would have been successful much faster.
Also, quick update: Just had another positive response from a follow-up. We’re supposed to chat hopefully next week!
Thanks so much for sharing Holly – congratulations on your efforts and it’s great to read that they are paying off. This post is such a super reminder that landing clients is often a numbers game.
It truly is, Lindy! Thanks so much!
I like how you broke the larger weekly/monthly tasks down into daily tasks. Makes it much less intimidating!
Wow, I really like your name, Holly. :o) And yes, breaking it down into daily “bite-size” chunks really did help to make a seemingly overwhelming task much more doable.
[…] Create a marketing plan of daily and weekly marketing activities. Check out Holly’s post about what she did and her results. Now create your own and stick to it. A daily habit of marketing is crucial to earning a high […]
[…] and ideas to get you moving. • Create a marketing plan and get moving. For inspiration, check out Holly Bowne’s guest post. • Ask yourself if you have developed any new niches that you can market yourself in. • Follow […]