When it comes to getting clients for your copywriting business, it can honestly seem like there are a million different strategies out there – from blogging and webinars to social media and podcasts, and whilst those are all great strategies if they’re aligned for you, they’re not fast strategies – they’re long term strategies, and if you’re just starting out and need clients, then what you need to be focusing on right now are strategies that will work quickly.

So, in this post we’re going to share with you the steps you can take to implement a very effective outbound strategy for your copywriting business to get your first clients.

Determine your niche

The first step is to choose a niche. Instead of just calling yourself a copywriter, you need to know in which industry or area you’re going to be focusing in. For example, do you want to work for companies who offer things like commercial mowers because you have experience in this area? Or do you want to focus on writing only blog posts for small businesses? Whatever your niche, it’s important to know it from the start so that you can market effectively.

Make a list of companies you want to work for

Now that you know what your niche is, it’s time to identify your ideal clients in that niche. You should make a list of at least 10 (though preferably a lot more) of companies in this chosen niche who you could potentially help and who you’d like to work for.

Research them

Once you’ve chosen the companies you’d like to work for, you need to learn some things about them so that when you reach out to them that you’re actually going to be seen as someone whos genuine because you’ve taken the time to learn about their company and aren’t just looking at them as a dollar sign.

Determine the contact person

In order to prepare for reaching out to the company that you want to work for, then you need to know who exactly you’re going to be speaking to. This may be more difficult in a larger company since they will often have departments with a few people doing the same job – or they could have outside agencies working on their behalf who could be the main point of contact for freelancers, so it’s your job to find this out. A good starting place is social media, such as LinkedIn.

Send a personalized email/letter

This is where the real work begins. You start reaching out by sending a personalized email to each company contact person outlining who you are, why you feel you’d be a good fit for their company and outlining some experience you have. You can then sign off by asking them if you can send them some samples and to contact you with any questions. Yes, this can be a lot of work when you’re emailing multiple companies a day or week, but if you want clients, they’re not going to just fall in your lap – you have to put in the work.