Three Ways to Get the Word Out About Your Freelance Writing Business

There are three different ways to get the word out about your freelance writing service. If you are not utilizing all three of these methods properly, you might as well go take a few hundred dollars and flush them down the toilet.

You see, there are 2 basic approaches to getting the word out. They are:

- Active

- Passive

One of the following methods is active, one is passive, and one is a combination of the two. Without this blend, you are doing yourself a huge disservice.

How to Get the Word Out

Applying for gigs: In case you didn't guess, this is the passive way to advertise your service. When you apply for a gig, you are reacting to someone else's action. You see that the advertiser needs someone and you seek to fill that need. Now, some people confuse applying for gigs as networking and marketing. No. This is not the case. Remember, applying for a gig is reactive-not proactive. marketing and networking take strategy and planning without guidelines set in front of you. That is proactive.

Networking: Networking is your blended method for advertising your services. Networking is something you do on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, forums, etc. When networking, you clearly show that you are a writer of XYZ. You make sure everyone knows that. Now, your goal isn't to get jobs from the people you network with-it's to get your name synonymous with the kind of writing you do. You can network with other writers, professionals in all fields, and professionals in your target market.

People love to be valuable, and when you network properly you increase someone else's value because you give them a connection to a writer. I network with a lot of writers, and I am about the only financial writer among them. This means that writers often refer financial writing to me or send me job leads. Generalists will find that networking with other writers is probably useless (in this respect). When networking with someone other than a writer, I am doubly valuable because not only am I the only financial writer that person knows, I may be the only writer period. So any time they hear that someone needs a writer, they suggest me. I get a personal referral from someone I haven't even worked with.

Marketing: Marketing is the active approach. Marketing includes sending queries to magazines, website owners, business owners, etc. Queries come in many forms-traditional written queries, cold calls, cold emails, banners, advertisements, yellow pages ads, portfolio site SEO, etc. Whatever form of query you choose, it must be carefully thought out, planned and your target must be studied enough so that you know what will work.