The Magical Foot in the Door for Freelance Writers

Proverbial foot in the door

Estimates say that it costs 2 to 40 times more to find and secure a new client than it does to simply retain your old ones. Most of the time, these figures have more to do with actual customers (as in retail) and clients (as in law firms), since these types of businesses have to rely on advertising as their primary means of new client acquisition.

Freelancers get a bit of an “out” because so many people post jobs looking for certain types of work. Although many of us rely on social media networking, traditional marketing, and word-of-mouth – all in addition to the good old-fashioned query letter – to get new clients, we also have the option of freelance bidding sites or postings on Craig’s List or job boards. In truth, it is a combination of all these types marketing that really make a freelancer successful.

That being said, I am fully aware that most new freelancers rely primarily on the bidding sites and job boards to find work. There’s nothing wrong with that – in fact, it’s how we’ve been able to grow to our current level of success. At the same time, though, many of these job boards look for a single project to be completed. A freelancer finds the job, makes a bid, communicates with the client, makes a contract/project agreement, communicates some more, and may or may not finally land the gig. This is a time-consuming process that isn’t always fun, so if you can keep this client for future work, you’re in a much better position to make money and be successful.

Here’s where I’ve discovered something a little different: of all the project types that I have worked on as a freelancer, press releases are the ones most likely to end in repeat business.

The first few times it happened, I thought maybe it was just a fluke. I would bid on a single job for a press release, land the gig, and do the work. However, as I did this more and more often, I realized that there was something rather magical about the whole thing.

Right now, about 90 percent of my press release clients turn around and immediately ask for additional quotes. And I’m not talking about just doing more press releases – I’ve been asked to work on everything from rewriting the web content on three of a client’s websites to taking on a rather large SEO contract. To this day, these are some of my best – and most recurring – clients.

So what is it about the press release that gets me these incredible results? I have some theories:

• Clients are comfortable hiring new blood for press releases. They are quick, one-time projects with pretty set rules. If a freelancer doesn’t pan out, it’s typically not a catastrophe.

• Clients may not realize how much benefit comes from a good freelancer until they see it first-hand. Some of them are looking for help with press releases because they know that they need to be written professionally. Then, when you turn in quality work with no drama, it boosts their overall image of freelancers. They think, “that was easy, and the writing is great. I wonder what else I should be outsourcing?”

• You are building relationships from ground up. When I write a press release, I always communicate directly with the powers that be in order to find a good angle and get some great quotes for the text. This kind of activity imprints you on the brain of the company, since you are showing an actual interest in what they do.

• Press releases are a great place to shine. As I’ve mentioned before, most press releases are written according to a prescribed format. But if you go the extra mile to incorporate a little research or make it into a story that others will actually want to read (not just another website launch), you end up making yourself look pretty good. Clients respond to that extra effort.

While this is hardly a scientific study, I can’t help but feel that these patterns of repeat business aren’t just a fluke. Considering that press releases are always in need of being written and that you can make some pretty good money on them anyway (in addition to their magical repeat-business properties), they might just be the foot in the door to a successful freelancing career.