*Exactly* how to get more clients

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Need clients?

Like, yesterday?

Here are all eight ways you can find clients as a freelancer – and exactly how to implement each one (including templates you can use right now).

Let’s dive into everything you need to know to land more clients this year…

Respond to the right shout outs for writers on LinkedIn

We’ve all seen those LinkedIn shoutouts for freelance writers with 65 billion comments already.

Yeah… don’t apply to those.

But don’t give in on those LinkedIn posts entirely!

I actually landed my most recent new client (a HR tech SaaS) from one.

Here’s why I landed the gig:

• I happened to be one of the first people to stumble across the post

• I was a really good fit for it (and had the receipts)

Here’s the pitch I sent (as a connection request note):

As you can see, my People Managing People byline is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. 

How to land the kind of bylines that are going to grab prospect’s attention is a topic for another time (we actually have an entire course dedicated to it)...

But even “I’ve been writing for [random HR tech startup] for the last few months” would’ve probably got my foot in the door. 

When I can’t say something along those lines, I personally don’t bother pitching for the gig, since there are much better uses of my biz dev time than being the 967th person to DM a content lead who’s put a call out for freelance writers on LinkedIn 🙃

Starting with…

Networking with other writers

TOFU regular Steph Trovato celebrated her six-year freelance-iversary on LinkedIn the other day (go Steph! 🥳).

And in that post, she shared where the 16 clients she worked with last year came from:

“Half were referrals, 31% came from networking, and 19% found me on LinkedIn”

It’s a similar story for me – 60% of my current clients came from referrals or networking.

And one that I’ve been working with for two years was referred to me by a TOFU member (thanks Jess 🫶).

So it might not lead to work tomorrow…

But making friends with other content writers is one of the best things you can do to future-proof your freelance biz.

Plus, it’s fun!

Couple things you can do today to grow your network of content folks:

• Post something in TOFU (other content marketing communities are available)

• Comment on another freelance writer’s LinkedIn post

• DM a writer you’ve interacted with online and ask if they fancy a virtual coffee

• Join the next TOFU Connect, our monthly virtual networking call

Hit up old clients 

I'd never followed up with old clients until I watched Lizzie Davey's MOFU workshop, where she explains it’s one of the secrets of her success.

After hearing that, I sent this email to two clients who'd gone quiet:

Both clients sent me more work. And I’m still working with one of them a year later :)

Here’s the template if you want to use it:

The two emails I sent out using this template drove five figures of client work 👀

Ask for more work

Sometimes landing more client work is as easy as… asking for more work from your clients 🤷

Not sure what that would look like?

When Lizzie Davey joined us for a MOFU workshop she actually shared the exact scripts she uses to land more work from both current and former clients:

A good rule of thumb: unless you’ve explicitly been told by the client that they can’t send more work your way (because of budget, capacity, whatever), don’t assume they have no more work for you.

Anyway, the worst they’re going to say is “we don’t have any more work for you right now but will keep that in mind if we do”, right?

Ask for referrals 

Referrals are gold dust.

But when’s the last time you asked for one?

If someone likes you, likes working with you, or both then then ask ‘em for a hook up! 

Here’s the script Lizzie Davey uses to ask her current clients for referrals. She shared in her MOFU workshop:

Want to make it as easy as possible to land referrals?

Get crystal clear on your ICP.

The more specific you are about what you do and who you do it for, the easier it is for people to refer to you – whether you ask them to or not.

(btw, if you need help getting clear on your ICP then we have a course for that in MOFU, Eye to Eye With You ICP).

Get on your clients’ radar

Inbound leads are the freelance Holy Grail.

But building a personal brand that attracts prospects on autopilot isn’t exactly gonna happen overnight…

Or something I have space to cover properly here. 

So let’s start at the very start: your first LinkedIn post.

Here’s the TL;DR of the deep dive I wrote on how to start posting on LinkedIn (even if you don’t have anything worthwhile to say):

• Ask a question – like “how is everyone measuring where and how often they’re showing up in LLMs?” or “any advice on how to navigate working from home while my kid is off for the summer?”

• Give someone their flowers by highlighting what makes a piece of content someone else wrote so great

• Share something you spotted in the wild like a new (to you) SERP feature or a wild AI Overview

• Talk about what you’ve been up to by sharing your results from an experiment you;re trying out or sharing a life update

• Show off your work (but not in a “look at me aren’t I great” way) by summarising the key points of an article you wrote in a LinkedIn post

Now, LinkedIn engagement is nice…

But clients are a lot nicer. 

So once you’re comfortable posting on the platform, it’s time to start thinking about what kind of posts are going to attract new clients.

Not sure what that looks like? Check out this playbook for getting real work through LinkedIn. 

Cold pitching

Us freelancers tend to have a love/hate relationship with cold pitching.

But no matter how icky you find ‘em, there’s no denying that you can build a successful freelance business from cold emails alone. 

And when I polled the community recently, it turns out most TOFU members actually think it’s an underrated channel…

But if you want to cold pitch and keep your sanity, you’re going to need a solid pitch template.

And that’s where Mike Strauss comes in.

He joined us in MOFU the other week to drop a 60-minute masterclass on the dos and don’t of cold pitching.

And as during that workshop, he shared this cold pitch template that landed him work from Hockey Canada:

Here’s the template so you can follow it yourself:

🔴 Engaging subject line

🔵 Comment on a piece of recent news, or shared interest, if possible,

🟢 Explain why you're contacting them

🟠 Social proof

🟣 Explain what you want

🟡 CTA

🟤 Witty sign-off line

Happy pitching!

Network with potential clients

Tried cold pitching and it isn’t for you? Don’t despair.

Tyler has built a content marketing agency to over over $1.5 million in yearly revenue without sending a single cold pitch.

How?

Over to Tyler:

Obviously, this all begs the question:

How do you get to know a potential client without being annoying? And what's the difference between relationship-building and stalking?

Well, that’s exactly what Tyler covers in Sales for Sane People – the course where he lays out the pitch-free approach to biz dev that has landed him dozens of clients over the last year or so.

Want to see what it’s all about?

Check out the first four modules of Sales for Sane People for free!

Here’s what you'll get:

• An overview of how (and why) the Sales for Sane People system works

• A walkthrough of how the Sales for Sane People pipeline works

• A breakdown of the daily workflows Tyler has used to build a sustainable, predictable pipeline of client work 

• A look at how you’ll progress prospects through your pipeline and into warm contacts who know and like you

All 100% free!

👉 Grab your free preview of Sales for Sane People here

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