Hey there copywriter,
Are you tired of searching for good copywriting clients? I know the struggle. I spent months trying to figure out how this whole ‘getting clients’ thing worked.
I tried everything from approaching small business owners in person to cold-emailing prospects. And for a long time nothing seemed to work…
It took a while before things finally clicked for me. But when they did, everything changed.
Instead of wasting my time on methods that didn’t work I actually started getting results. And once I figured out what worked for me, I realized how simple finding clients can be.
If I knew how to find good clients earlier in my copywriting career I could have saved lots of time and money.
But you won’t have to deal with any of that. Because today I’m opening up and sharing my experiences with you. I want you to learn from my mistakes and start reaching good clients faster than I ever did.
We’ll talk about four ways to find good copywriting clients:
Before I share any of this I want you to know something…
There is no one-size fits all cookie cutter approach to this. I’m sharing my experiences with you so you can take them and create an approach that fits you.
So, don’t get discouraged if any of these methods don’t work for you right away. Learn from what doesn’t work and make little adjustments until it does.
Fair enough?
Let’s get started.
Before we dive into how to reach good copywriting clients we have to answer one question.
What is a good copywriting client anyway?
I mean sure there are plenty of wanna-be clients out there. The kind of clients who would jump at the chance to pay you $25 for a 2,000 word article (I’ve actually seen a job post like this).
But you aren’t searching for clients like that. You want copywriting clients who:
Those are the kind of clients worth searching for. But man are they hard to find.
The truth is these clients are already looking for writers like you. They have more copy needs than their regular writers can handle. But they don’t want to work with just any copywriter.
They want someone who knows how to craft persuasive copy. They don’t have time to teach you basic copywriting skills. The reason they’re looking for a freelancer is because they are short on time.
And they definitely don’t want to hire someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.
So, if you’re starting your copywriting journey the first thing to do is learn the basics.
Here’s a list of basic questions you should be able to answer before you start reaching out to clients:
What makes a strong headline?
What is a lead?
What is a USP?
What is an offer?
What is a control?
What is a response rate?
What is a lead magnet?
What is a sales funnel?
What is a prospect conversion?
If you need to hit up google to answer any of these questions you aren’t ready to work with clients yet. Don’t get discouraged.
When I first started reaching out to clients I couldn’t answer all these questions. That’s a big part of the reason it took me so long to build traction.
Clients would take one look at me and make a hard pass. So, don’t waste your time or ruin potential future connections. Get the basics down and then start reaching out to clients.
Want a good resource for learning the basics? Check out American Writers and Artists Institute. They have several basic copywriting courses to help get you started.
Early in my copywriting career I inhaled copywriter success stories. I needed motivation to get started and reading what worked for other people got me excited.
Many copywriters found success approaching small business owners in their area.
So I thought, hey if it worked for them it should work for me. WRONG. I went from business to business in my area and offered my copywriting services.
Most of the time I’d speak to a receptionist who took my card and sent me on my way. On the off-chance I got to speak with a business owner they had no idea what a copywriter was.
And when I finally found someone who was willing to meet with me they would blow me off at the last minute. It stinged.
It didn’t take long for me to learn this method was not for me.
Now, I’m not hating on this approach. Clearly, it works for some people but it depends on where you live.
I live in a small town with lots of very small businesses. Business owners don’t advertise much and those that do write basic ads out themselves.
It works for them because the competition is doing the same thing. They don’t work with copywriters and most of them don’t know what a copywriter is.
If you live in a city this method could work well for you. But if you live in an area like me it’s a waste of your time and money. Try another method.
If you’ve ever reached out to a client before I bet it was via cold-email. This is the go-to method for most copywriters and I can’t blame them. It’s pretty simple to do and most people are comfortable writing email messages.
This is by far my least favorite method of reaching clients and it does not work for me. I still read stories from other copywriters who swear by cold emails. Different strokes.
When I first got into copywriting I tried cold emailing businesses I wanted to work with. I wrote out a generic email pitching my services. It looked like this:
Subject line: “Do you work with freelance copywriters?”
Body copy: “Hello Andrew,
My name is Brandon Davis and I’m a freelance copywriter. I was wondering if you use outside writers in any of your marketing efforts?
If you do, I’d love to chat with you about copywriting services I offer.
Thank you”
Every. Single. One. Bombed.
I figured my emails weren’t interesting enough to get anyone’s attention.
So, I decided to use my copywriting skills to craft a compelling email. I spent weeks (yes, weeks) working on a persuasive email showing my copywriting skills. I even sent the email to a professional copywriter for review.
After weeks of researching, writing, editing and re-editing it was done. And I could not wait to send it out. I bought a marketing list of top executives I wanted to work with. I personalized the emails with their names and sent out over 200 messages.
I remember thinking about all the good copywriting clients I was about to get. I mean, if this email didn’t work, what would?
I got 1 response.
It read: “Hi Brandon,
I will forward your email to our content team.
Thanks for reaching out.”
And then… nothing. I followed up a few days later but it was more of the same.
I couldn’t believe my email didn’t work. And I wasn’t willing to spend several more weeks writing out a new one and wasting more time.
So, that’s when I gave up on cold-emailing. It wasn’t for me but it could work for you. Soon after that I learned about another method to avoid cold-emailing.
By this point I was pretty much at my wits end. I didn’t think I’d ever find good copywriting clients to work with.
So, I made a pretty hefty investment in a copywriting coaching service so I could find out what worked.
And voila I met a copywriter who hated cold emailing as much as I did. He had a different take on reaching out to clients.
He let me in on a good way to warm prospects up before going in for the pitch. He suggested I connect with people I want to work with on LinkedIN and get to know them first.
That way when I finally made it to the pitch they would be more likely to say yes. This method worked better than cold-emailing. But it took a lot of time.
I would spend weeks building a relationship from scratch with someone. And after I felt like they knew me well enough I’d pitch to them.
The thing is I don’t have several weeks to build up to a pitch. Since I work full-time as a surgical nurse my copywriting time is limited. And because I want to get enough clients to quit my day job soon this method wasn’t the best for me.
If you read my content I’m going to assume you have a full-time gig too. So, even though this method works it takes too long for side hustle copywriters.
The other problem with this method is I never felt like the person actually knew me. I mean sure, they’d see my comments on their posts but lots of people commented on their posts.
There wasn’t anything to separate me from the sea of other copywriters on LinkedIN.
So, while I did have some success with this method and still use it for some prospects. It isn’t my favorite and it’s not time-efficient.
The next method I tried has quickly become my favorite way to reach clients.
How many emails did you get today? What about text messages? The average person who works in an office receives 121 business emails everyday. [1] that’s the average person though.
Think about busy marketing executives and business owners. They’re bombarded with messages all day long. Emails about projects, deadlines and other people who want to work with them.
I deal with this at my day job too. Since I work in a supervisory position I get A LOT of emails. And when I see an email from someone I don’t know that isn’t necessary for me to read it gets deleted.
It’s no wonder cold-emailing didn’t work for me… How can a stranger compete with all that white noise?
The truth is 33% of people under age 50 are more comfortable sending a message than talking on the phone. [2] So, that’s what they do. And with every message your prospect gets, yours are buried deeper in their inbox.
But you can use this to your advantage. Because while other copywriters keep sending cold emails and praying for a response. You can talk directly to clients you want to work with.
I’m talking about cold-calling potential clients. This has been the most effective method for me to reach good clients. In my first two weeks of cold-calling I spoke with more clients than I had in months. And all I had to do was pick up the phone and call them.
Here’s why I think it happened: there’s a new wave of young copywriters on the scene who have never had a house phone. I’m not joking. Ask any 22 year old what a house phone is.
You see, most of these writers didn’t grow up calling people. By the time they had cell phones texting was the norm. So, they’re comfortable sending messages. Even when it comes to reaching out to a business. [2]
But many business owners and marketing executives are 50+ and they still talk on the phone. They’re used to it. Many of them didn’t grow up with cellphones.
There was one phone in the house and everyone shared it. So, when a professional copywriter calls them up they take them more seriously.
Cold-calling will help you cut through your copywriting competition and reach more clients.
If you haven’t done it before I recommend it. In my experience this is the fastest way to connect with good copywriting clients.
Well, here we are copywriter. You’ve made it to the end of this blog post. Now you stand at a crossroad.
Will you continue using methods that don’t work and pray for good copywriting clients? Or will you overcome your fears and go after what you want?
It takes courage to call a busy executive out of the blue… But so does starting a copywriting business to quit your day job.
You can try any of these methods and find what works best for you. And if you have different experiences than I do tell me about it in the comments below. I’d love to hear what’s working for you.
That’s all I have for you this week.
Yours for better copywriting clients,
Brandon Davis
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References
[1] Campaign Monitor. (2022). How many emails does the average person receive per day? Retrieved from campaignmonitor.com
[2] Blagojevic, I. (2022) Texting Statistics to know in 2022. Retrieved from 99firms.com