The One Thing You Must Do to be a Successful Freelance Content Marketing Writer
My freelance career started slowly. I wrote for content mills in the beginning. I spent several years finding my way. And once I started to get some modest success thanks in large part to my persistence, I stayed at the mid-level, income- and client-wise, for way too long.
When working with sources, clients and potential clients, I spent a lot of time trying to write, act and talk like I thought people expected of professional journalists and content marketing writers. It was hard work. It was uncomfortable. And it didn’t really work – I was passed over for many more gigs than I landed and when I did land a project, it turned out to not be a good fit for me more often than not.
I couldn’t figure out why. I was following all of the rules and doing everything the way the experts said to. But it wasn’t working. Not to mention that I was miserable freelancing.
A Client Call and a Glass of Wine
Then one day, I forgot about a potential client call until my phone rang. And since the client was in San Jose, it was 7:30 pm my time and I’d already partaken in a glass of red wine with dinner. I wasn’t drunk by any means, but I was definitely much more “myself.” I laughed during the call. I let my Southern mannerisms slip out (yes, y’all is a real word). I got really excited and started coming up with a bunch of new ideas for the client. It was a really fun call. And I even followed up with an email filled with emojis to the head of marketing for a major company.
Then the next morning I woke up and decided that I had completely blown what could have been a great client. I shouldn’t have laughed. I shouldn’t have used y’all. I shouldn’t have told him how to do his marketing better. And I definitely shouldn’t have used emojis. I was so mad at myself.
I thought those things until I checked my email and found that he had responded to my email – and offered me a very lucrative retainer gig. He commented that he enjoyed our conversation and he thought I would fit in perfectly with the rest of his team. The note even said that he wanted to talk more next week about my ideas. And I almost fell over when I saw that he had used smiley face emoji in the email. The client went on to be one of my anchor clients and was a turning point in my career. I was happy, no thrilled, but I didn’t realize exactly why I had gotten the gig.
Dropping the Facade
A few weeks later I was on another potential client call and I was deep into my act of acting like a formal and very professional corporate writer. It was going terribly. The client and I weren’t connecting. I was trying to be super professional and I wanted to poke my eyes out. As a last ditch effort, I decided to drop the façade, but this time without the assistance from a bottle of Chianti. I simply stopped acting like I thought I was supposed to and decided to let my personality shine through. Within a few minutes, the tone of the conversation changed and the client and I began connecting. Yes, I landed the client.
I don’t think it was the laughing or the southern slang or the emoji’s that made the difference. But instead the fact that I was letting my true personality show during the calls.
Before that moment, each time I acted the way that I thought clients wanted me to act then, one of two things happened:
- The client didn’t hire me at all. I was stiff and boring. Even with great clips, I didn’t give anyone a compelling reason to hire me. And I definitely didn’t stand out from the pool of writers.
- The wrong clients hired me. Clients who wanted a very formal writer who simply showed up to write would hire me. But ultimately since that isn’t my personality or style or strength, then it didn’t work out. These clients were not looking for a writer with a lot of ideas who wanted to be a part of a team, which is the kind of writer I actually am.
But when I started being myself, I was attracting the exact type of clients that were looking for my strengths (ideas, friendly, hardworking, a bit silly) and willing to overlook my weakness (the occasional typo). Previously, I had worried that if I let my personality shine then some people would not hire me. I was 100 percent correct but I was missing the bigger point. That was actually a very good thing because it weeded out the clients that were not ever going to turn into long term clients to begin with.
It’s so easy to get hung up on the minutiae of freelancing. Is my Letter of Introduction perfect? Am I in the right niche? Am I undercharging? Yes, those things are important. But ultimately, in my opinion if you are willing to be truly yourself in every part of your business – website, LinkedIn profile, About Me, LOIs, phone calls and follow ups – all of the other things will work themselves out. I found that the instant I started being myself and letting my personality shine through, I began landing more clients and keeping more clients for years. And most all, I began really enjoying my job.
Do you act like yourself when you meet a potential client whether through email, phone, or in person? What have been your results?
The only word for this post is WONDERFUL! It gives me more awareness about always being myself . . . thank you, JGG!
I’m so happy that you liked it! I gained a lot of awareness while writing it as well.
It’s not always easy to just be yourself when there’s some pressure in the situation. But that’s great advice for anyone trying to sell their services, a product or anything else.
Totally agree. I think it’s totally easier to be myself now that I don’t need a new clients, but am able to pick and choose. I find myself interviewing clients more than they interview me, in many ways. I think when you look at it that way it takes the pressure off yourself. I honestly think that deciding which clients to turn down (even when you need work) is the most important decision you make as a freelancer. A client that isn’t a good fit costs you so much in time and energy.
Great article. It teminded me to be more authentic and transparent. Less stress when I am not busy trying to be who I am not. Plus I want my writing to trad like an enjoyable coversation not a boring PC diatribe! Thanks for sharing this Jennifer
I totally agree. I really started to like my job so much more when I began doing this. Glad you liked the article.
Good point, Jennifer! I think business today is definitely about matching personalities–while still being professional and delivering on time.
I totally agree. I think learning to spot the clients that you are a good fit for (and vice versa) is the key to being successful.
What a great topic for a blog post, Jennifer! You make a great point.
I’ve had a similar experience. When I’ve spoken with potential clients (who I enjoy and appreciate working with) I found they want to speak with another human being, they want a human-to-human connection, someone who understands their problems and challenges and has creative suggestions to fix them. They want someone who can help them and who can offer good ideas from a new perspective, not just spout off verbose words as part of a “facade” (good word choice by the way). They want a human, not a robot 🙂
You are totally right – a human to human connection. Love it. And you can’t do that when you are being a robot.
I think it’s important to remember that you’re not just selling your work but also the relationship you have with the customer. That’s why it’s important to connect with your clients. I know that on freelancing jobs where I took the time to know and connect with the clients, they were more excited to work with me, were more understanding, and the projects tended to be more successful.
Hi Neil,
I agree with you a million percent. I also think this is even more so with content marketing than journalism. With content marketing, brands are typically looking for writers to be a part of the time and work on the product regularly. I always say with journalism you are primarily selling your idea, but with content marketing you are selling yourself.
Great post, Jennifer. I had a similar experience recently. I’d gotten a call from a prospect marketing manager whom I’d been nurturing for about six months. She said her CEO needed help writing a LinkedIn post and would call me at about 6 p.m. We didn’t end up speaking until about 7. When he finally called, he apologized and said he hoped I’d found something else to do in the interim. I told him I was just sitting playing my guitar. Well! That hit a chord (so to speak) with the CEO. Turned out that he played guitar, too, and was in a rock band. Wow, we completely hit it off. I was in this great space, riffing on new ideas. He ended up saying it was a great conversation that really helped him get this thinking together. And then I wrote an essay that his marketing manager said completyly captured her CEO’s voice.
I cringe when I think back on my days in corporate p.r. when I used to meet with the CEO and executives to discuss the coporate annual report. I was never comfortable and always felt like I had to pretend to be somebody else. Ugh!
Lesson: Find a way to connect as a real human being with people in business. Don’t assume that because they have a big fancy title that they’re big fancy people. In fact, THEY may be on guard themselves, thinking they have to act a certain way to impress YOU.
I LOVE that story. That is exactly my point about being a real person. I also think you are right about clients being nervous and thinking they have to act a certain way.
Hi Jennifer,
I just stumbled across this post, and I thought it was absolutely spot-on and wonderful! Thank you for your honesty. It really helps to hear other stories of what works and doesn’t work. Blessings to your continued success!
You made my day! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Hello Jennifer,
I just stumbled upon your site, after reading Freelancers Can Break into Content Marketing. I copied your article and began to check off your tips. I learned so much just by reading two articles. Thank you for your candor and authenticity! I am a freelance journalist moving into content marketing. Now I am looking for bigger clients who can afford to pay me a competitive rate. Do you have any suggestions? Books? Other resources? I work full time in another field and my goal is to first get a steady stream of income from copywriting and second transition to full time income. Any suggestions?
Bless your heart; of course y’all is a real word, sweetie. Who doesn’t know that?
Funny thing, I start hearing crickets when I let the real me (who is very similar to your self-description) out of the cage. It’s suddenly like Si Robertson walked into some fancy NYC restaurant. Guess I’m just talking to the wrong folks.
Keep feeding your tribe, Jennifer. Y’all are pretty darn good at this stuff.
This post just made my day. I was actually looking for the words resonating with my inner voice (which I kind of, ignoring).
Many many thanks from a struggling Content Writer
If content is the King, you are up there….but now… can too much of anything be dangerous? The attention span of such a detailed and technical blog post, IMHO goes beyond…..writing for readers to….writing for search engines. By the end of this article, I had more than 10 open table and have read another 10-some recommended blog posts.
[…] away from this post, I hope it is this point. My income increased dramatically as soon as I started letting my personality shine through every time I interacted with a client. I really think this is a key to negotiating as well as landing a client because a client […]