Popular Reviews

 

Learn the profitable craft of direct response copywriting...with Michael Masterson's Accelerated program for Six-Figure Copywriting

 

Know how much to charge for every type of copywriting job...The 2005 Freelance Copywriter Fee & Compensation Survey

 

Make money writing about health and fitness...with Secrets of Writing for the Health Market

 

Travel the world and make money...with The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course

 

Make money writing resumes...with Start your own Resume Writing Business

 

Create powerful letters in just minutes with Yanik Silver's Instant Sales Letters

 


 

 

Why Should a Prospective Client Choose YOU?

by Nick Usborne

 

When you are approaching a company with the hope that they’ll give you some freelance work, chances are that you are not the only freelancer who would like to work for them.

 

So why should they choose YOU?

 

What makes you different from other freelancers?

 

Are you faster? Do you have a better track record? Are you less expensive? Are you a specialist in their industry or niche?

 

These are all questions you need to ask yourself.

 

You need to look at things from the client’s point of view. You need to think about the kinds of questions they will be asking themselves when thinking about hiring you.

 

And you could benefit from a little something else...

 

Even if you have a great portfolio. Even if you have a few awards under your belt.

 

Even if you are a well-known speaker.

 

Even with all that, there may be another way to make yourself memorable – to enhance your personal brand.

 

This is a tricky area, but can make a big difference.

 

I’ll use my own example.

 

Back in the day, I had all those things...the portfolio, awards, speaking engagements and more.

 

But there was one more way in which I was set apart in the minds of prospective clients.

 

Back then I lived on a farm. I was freelancing as a copywriter, but also raising chickens, sheep, pigs and a whole lot more.

 

For some reason it was the pigs which stuck in everyone’s mind. I became the copywriting “pig farmer”.

 

A client would have drinks with a colleague, chat about a campaign that just went particularly well, and then laugh, saying it was written by a “pig farmer”.

 

I would get calls from people I had never heard of before, asking me how my pigs were.

 

If I was away from my desk, people would leave messages, speculating that I was out feeding the pigs.

 

How can this help you?

 

It’s about branding. Having pigs, without the track record of copywriting success won’t help much. But once you have the fundamentals in place, you can leverage the “strange and unexpected” to further boost your brand as a writer.

 

What about you? What do you do in life that is a little different?

- Do you take part in crazy sports?

 

- Do you give a lot of time to charitable causes?

 

- Do you live in an unexpected place...like in a tree house in the mountains? Or do you work from the beach in the Caribbean?

 

- Do you have 22 dogs?

 

- Do you drive an antique car?

It doesn’t really matter what it is, but if there is something a little unusual in your life or in how you live it, you may have the opportunity to boost your personal brand a little.

 

This isn’t about manufacturing a difference...

 

I didn’t live on a farm just so I could boost my professional brand as a copywriter.

 

That was a lifestyle choice, with an unexpected benefit.

 

If you try to force this kind of thing, it just rings false. It feels manipulative.

 

So I’m not suggesting you get all weird and freaky in your life as part of a cunning marketing ploy.

 

I’m suggesting that if there are conversation-worthy differences in your life, there no harm in leveraging that point of difference.

 

It’s just one more way to separate yourself from all the other copywriters out there.

 

And it’s a way to keep your name in the minds of prospective clients.

 

 

Related learning materials:

 

Nick Usborne's Million Dollar Secrets to Online Copywriting

The demand for print and direct mail copywriters is static, to say the least. The real demand right now is for copywriters who have the skills to write effective copy for the web. This is a professional-grade course that will make you a specialist in online copywriting. This is where the future for copywriters lies! More about this online copywriting course...

 

 

Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting

Improve your copywriting skills and enter the very lucrative market for direct marketing copywriters. This is a comprehensive course and my #1 recommendation for anyone who wants to learn how to write copy that drives results. Read my in-depth review

 

 

Writing for the Web

Get this 35-page Guide FREE when you sign up for the Excess Voice Newsletter.

 

Get your copy of Writing For the Web #1 - 7 Challenges every Writer and Copywriter faces when writing for the Web.

 

PLEASE NOTE: This is my new newsletter, for my site at nickusborne.com, and replaces the old Freelance Writing Success Newsletter. However, the focus is still on writing for the web and freelancing. So don’t be confused when you find links to my nickusborne.com site in each issue! : )

 

Sign up NOW and I'll send you the link where you can download this 35-page guide...

 

Sign Up for my Excess Voice Newsletter...

(Your email address will be used only for the purpose of sending you this newsletter, and you'll be free to unsubscribe at any time.)

 

 

Copyright FreelanceWritingSuccess.com. All Rights Reserved.