Have you ever gone the extra mile for one of your clients only to feel resentful when they didn’t appreciate the extra effort? What about when you over deliver for clients where you turned a tiny bit of scope creep into a bonus? Did they start to expect you’d do everything extra they asked for without charging more?
It’s a tricky balance. You want to over deliver on your value to keep your best B2B customers in your pocket. You also want to turn a profit and ensure your valuable time is compensated. Knowing where to draw the line and tailoring over delivering to one of these five strategies will keep your niche or preferred B2B clients delighted and prevent you from experiencing burnout.
Always Have the Next Step Ready for Content
If you’re creating content for a B2B client, always have your next idea at your fingertips. That means you’ve already figured out how the next blog post can help your client’s readers. Casually mentioning your concept in a general way without giving them the specific headline is like baiting a hook. If they’re interested, they’ll want to talk specifics.
And if they aren’t? You’ve just created an idea that might be perfect for one of your other B2B clients. Keeping the discussion in the realm of a general topic means you don’t need to feel guilty for offering a slightly different angle to another B2B client. Suppose you’re working in a highly specific niche. In that case, many B2B clients will want to jump on any ideas you present (provided they are already happy with what you’ve delivered). They won’t want you pitching your idea to their competition.
Express Genuine Interest Post-Launch
If you’ve helped a B2B client by creating copy in preparation for launching a new product or service, make sure you get the tentative launch date before you close out your portion of the project. Then when you’ve confirmed they’ve brought the new offering to market, reach out to your client to see how it’s going and be genuinely curious.
Caring about your B2B niche clients and being vested in their success shines through and makes you stand out by making you part of the team instead of a contract writer.
If, after taking the launch’s temperature, it seems like it’s on fire, now is a great time to remind them you’d be happy to create a few impactful case studies once they collect some customer success stories.
Keep Tabs on the Environmental Pulse
No, we’re not talking about the current level of greenhouse emissions. When significant issues start impacting your niche clients, like when the pandemic hit or the recession began, they may panic. That panic will be more or less the same across the niche (e.g., worrying about customers cutting their software budgets or bringing previously outsourced functions in-house).
Your motivation here is to brainstorm how your B2B clients can shift their marketing strategy to capitalize on whatever the worry of the moment is.
Look at the most recent projects you’ve completed for your top B2B clients and contact them to offer suggestions. Perhaps now is the perfect time to create a lead magnet special report about ways to save money, where your client’s product or service is the obvious solution. Or maybe it’s the right time to address how your client’s product or service can enhance productivity even when their customers aren’t working with an entire crew.
If your clients are in panic mode and you offer a solution, you’re cementing their impression of you as a valued consultant. If you took the initiative to pitch something specific to them and the issues they’re facing, they’ll remember that in the future.
Over Deliver and Make Yourself the Total Package
Spend time networking with some B2B graphic designers who have experience in your niche so you can offer a holistic marketing strategy solution. This can be invaluable if your client decides they want to revamp their branding and need both heavy-hitting copy and enticing visuals to bring their vision to life.
Or, if you don’t have much experience in a particular project, network with a copywriter who does and book some consulting time if your client throws you a job you aren’t sure how to approach. Again, this shows you care about the client’s success. Developing a relationship with a complementary partner in the marketing process can help you deliver a dynamite draft for your client.
Keep Up with Niche Current Events
Attending webinars in your niche and reading relevant blog posts and articles can help you formulate ideas for upcoming client projects. Touching base after learning something new by passing it on banks good creative karma.
Your client is likely being pulled in a million directions at once, and they might need help to actively stay on top of industry news every single day. Send links to articles that pertain to something you’ve discussed previously or that line up with the latest project you completed together.
The more you immerse yourself in your niche, the more you can connect with your B2B clients’ needs. Doing this also keeps your knowledge current so you can jump on an idea that one of your clients can capitalize on.
One of these five strategies may appeal to you the most, or one that works for one client might fall short when you try it out on another. You don’t need to offer all five strategies to every client. By taking control of how you want to over deliver, you are setting healthy boundaries that benefit your clients and you. The goal is to keep the practice of over delivering comfortable and convenient.
