I was ecstatic!
There I was, analyzing a LinkedIn post I’d published, and I could see the messages popping up in my LinkedIn inbox.
In response to my post, not one, but two marketers on LinkedIn had approached me about my services.
For me, it was a huge victory. After endless trial and error on LinkedIn and on my website, I finally had proof that something was working in my self-marketing.
It’s taken me about two years, but I’ve now learned several key lessons about how to market a freelance B2B business.
Today, I’m sharing these tips with you, so you can build your business even more quickly and successfully.
Step 1: Get Your Mindset Right
The first step, in my view, is to understand the goal of marketing and work to develop a mindset of strength and persistence.
The goal of marketing, as I’ve learned from my mentor Ilise Benun, is to take control of your business. And often, this means getting better clients with bigger budgets.
In other words, to “trade up,” as we talked about in Part 2 of this series, How to Trade Up to Bigger and Better B2B Writing Clients.
With a strong marketing system for your business, you’ll have plenty of prospects and clients.
You’ll have true freedom in your business, without having to take whatever comes along.
But to have this level of success, it’s going to take time and consistency.
There’s every chance your first few attempts aren’t going to go exactly how you think they will.
In the early days:
- A few LinkedIn posts probably won’t get you a client…
- Your lead magnet probably won’t get as many leads as you’d like…
- A few emails probably won’t get you the responses you expect…
But that’s okay!
After marketing your business consistently, day after day, even when you get busy with projects, you will see your efforts starting to work.
As you get better at marketing your freelance business, it will take less effort to get new prospects and clients.
Step 2: Start with Tried-and-True Methods
“Inbound marketing,” where prospects come to you for your services, is the dream of many freelancers. But there’s a much easier way to get started.
A huge portion of my income has come from one tried-and-true method.
That method is to keep in touch with people I already know — especially those who’ve expressed interest in my services.
When I need to get new clients quickly, here are my three favorite methods:
- Reaching out to past clients: These people have already paid me. Getting them to pay me again is much faster than getting a brand-new client.
- Reaching out to warm and “not-yet-ready” leads: I now have dozens of leads who’ve expressed interest in my services but haven’t yet bought from me. These leads are all good candidates for follow-up.
- Reaching out to my personal network: Personal outreach is key to getting those first few clients and building initial B2B experience. And even now, I try to remember to keep an eye out for client opportunities that are right under my nose.
Depending on your goals, these three tactics might be all you need to make your B2B business a success.
Step 3: Build the Foundation
If you’re approaching your personal network, you won’t need many different marketing materials to land your first few clients.
But over time, you’ll want to build out the foundation of your marketing so you can take it to the next step.
As you’re developing your marketing plan, focus on the following foundational marketing materials:
- A clear Ideal Client Profile (ICP), with defined goals and needs (see Part 3 of this series, How and Why to Clarify Your Ideal Client Profile, for more details).
- A LinkedIn profile, including your elevator pitch, that you’ve tailored to your ICP.
- A portfolio: A document that showcases samples of your best work, tailored to your ICP and the type of work you want.
- Website: A simple professional website, tailored to your ICP. A few pages is usually enough.
Don’t let yourself get stuck in this step — these materials will never be “complete.” You’ll keep improving them as time goes on.
Step 4: Develop a Marketing System
Aside from personal outreach to your network, you’ve got so many options for marketing your business.
You can post on LinkedIn, do warm email outreach, attend industry and networking events, and try many other tactics.
My advice is that whatever you try, follow a few guidelines:
- Be strategic: Make a conscious decision about which activities you want to pursue, and plan how often you’ll do them.
- Track your activities: Track your outreach and marketing activities in a spreadsheet and make a note of your results.
- Be consistent: Work your plan as closely as you can for at least three months (or 100 times). Don’t scrap your plan until you’ve really tried an activity. A good rule of thumb is to pursue an activity 100 times or do it consistently for a period of three months.
- Re-evaluate after consistent action: After a period of consistent effort, re-evaluate your plan. What worked? What didn’t? What worked but not in the way you thought? I do this every three months, and then change or tweak my plan depending on my results.
- Double down on what’s working: Any time you get a positive result, this is a sign that this method works. If it makes sense for your goals, double down on the tactic.
Step 5: Keep Learning
To get better marketing results and build a highly profitable business, keep learning and improving your skills.
Aside from the wealth of info you have available on B2B Writers International, you have many other resources at your fingertips:
- AWAI courses and events: for learning and leveling up in your skills.
- Following marketers on LinkedIn: to see how other business owners and marketers are marketing their businesses.
- Reading books and consuming free content: to learn from industry experts. A few of my favorites are Seth Godin, Donald Miller, and Alex Hormozi.
When you follow these tips, and the others in this series, I know you’ll be able to do so much more than simply “break into” B2B.
You’ll start to see how huge the opportunity is for B2B copywriters…
You’ll be able to “trade up” to better paying clients you love working with…
You’ll clarify the ideal clients you want to work with…
And you’ll get fantastic results from your marketing — results that will help you create a long-lasting, healthy, and lucrative business as a writer.
Now, it’s your turn.
Go out there and build that B2B business you’ve been dreaming of!
