Finding & Landing B2B Clients

Thank you for downloading this guide!

You’re about to read my tried-and-true advice for finding and landing B2B clients. But remember -- the larger your portfolio and the better your clips, the more success you’ll have with these tactics.

So, as you pitch clients, make sure you devote time to writing more examples and learning how to do your best work, too. It will pay off!

What follows is an excerpt from The Sweet Spot , “Finding & Landing High-Paying Clients” adapted for B2B clients.

But don’t worry -- partial does not mean shrimpy! This in-depth lesson will show you the email template I use to land most of my clients, and it will cover tons of ideas for finding and contacting clients.

Let’s get started! And don’t forget you can always email me at sarah@greesonbachcreative.com if you have any questions!

- Sarah Greesonbach

www.FiveFigureWriter.com

Finding & Landing B2B Clients Since you’re already running your business, you have a regular client or two. However, you should always be cleaning up your client base to swap low-paying and high-stress clients for high-paying and low-stress ones. Here’s a look at how to identify the clients you want, fill out your portfolio, and build a pricing system that accommodates your sweet spot:

Identifying the Kind of Clients You Want The first question I get from fellow writers and even strangers who hear I freelance is, “Where do you find people to pay you for writing?”. I’ll admit it’s a fair question, and one I often asked before I started freelancing. But the answer is simple: everyone needs a writer. All you have to do is figure out what you love to do, what you’re good at, and where those people hang out, and you can find yourself a paying gig. For me, I work in the digital marketing and inbound marketing industry, so I can find clients wherever digital marketers gather. I knew early on that I wanted to work from home and virtually, so all of my business started with the query letter. That means I often advertise on LinkedIn and Twitter, because website developers are very tech-savvy people who use social media freely.

(Note: I get a lot of clicks from these campaigns, but I haven’t been able to track any leads from it yet. I get most of my business from companies advertising for writers and copywriters and word of mouth referrals).

Finding High-Paying Clients Everyone’s crooning about finding clients with bigger budgets and dropping the low-paying, “I’m not sure what I want, maybe you should work on it hourly until I figure it out” kind of clients on newbie writers. But how do you actually find these mythical check-writing unicorns? Based on my experience working for myself since 2013, I want to help shed some light on where these people with big budgets hang out and how to find them. This post is 50 percent “How to brainstorm real people who pay for writing,” and 50 percent “How to identify if a project is worth a high rate.” Spoiler alert: Stop scrambling for money and start looking for real people with real problems.

Step One: Scrap Inbound for Outbound When inbound marketing became a hot pepper a few years ago, everyone and their mother started a blog and began pushing content.

For tons of businesses, this is a fantastic idea. Their customers are using search to find their products, and excellent content is an important way to meet those needs and start a relationship. Or they need to establish themselves as a thought leader and their content does that one step at a time (possibly even laying the foundation for a book deal). Or they need to sell their clients on what it is that they do and why it’s valuable (such as the case of a content strategist or marketer). But for 100% writers? Not at all a good idea! (Don’t throw rocks at me, please, I’m sure there are exceptions to this statement… but I want to rescue the hours you’re spending writing content for your blog instead of writing content for high-paying clients!). In our minds, it goes something like this:

[Lucrative client reads your (free) thought leadership post about how great freelance writers are], and says, “Wow, I wonder if this smart writer will write this for me?”

In reality, it goes something like this:

[Lucrative client reads headline only], and says, “This is a great topic — I need to get my writer to write about it… ” or doesn’t read your blog at all.

When I closely evaluate where my most profitable clients and most enjoyable relationships came from, the trail goes straight to two specific marketing strategies:

● I reached out to brands and companies I loved or respected ● Clients I helped referred me to their business connections

The common thread here is not blog posts or web hits or resumes. It’s people. It’s relationships. So the best thing you can do to connect with good clients is to stop putting time and energy into writing blog posts and start investing it into emails that build real relationships with real people. High-paying clients have powerful networks and they use them. They pass recommendations and referrals back and forth day in and day out. They are paying back favors, asking favors, and meeting with people who are also successful. They want to be valuable to their network by having a good recommendation (possibly: you!) and they want to work with writers that other people have successfully worked with (again, possibly: you!).

Step Two: Reach Real People With Real Values (That You Agree With) The post that tipped me off to writing this manifesto is Jake Jorgovan’s “How I Won Fortune 500 Clients Through Simple Outbound Marketing.” In this post, Jorgovan sings the praises of outbound marketing, where you straight up chase after the work you want like a talented yet rabid poodle as opposed to today’s very popular inbound marketing. He points writers toward pursuing trade associations, trade publications, industry awards, and conferences and conventions. I want to second that and add another layer: pursue trade associations, trade publications, industry awards, conferences, conferences… and brands, companies, and products you love. When I’m feeling the burn on my empty calendar, I’ll start prospecting with companies I looooooove. I’ve emailed Alter Eco because I love their chocolate and Coconut Bay because their coconut water tastes like vanilla cake to me. I’ve emailed Liz Ryan’s Human Workplace because their posts are amazing, and Buffer and MailChimp because I use their products. I start with a genuine connection and a compliment because I know that my love for their product makes me an excellent resource to shine a light on what makes me love them in the copy I write. Then I ask if they need help keeping up with today’s demand for high-quality content. The brands I’ve listed here didn’t take me up on this offer — but they did appreciate the compliment. Writing those emails also made me feel good about the work I do and the products I like. So even though I didn’t land the business, it was a win-win for my time spent. And, of course, some of the other emails I wrote worked out! (To get started here, check out Ed Gandia’s course on Warm Email Prospecting . The free

email series shares some great insight!)

When you connect with people based on these interests, you meet out-of-the-way, hard-to-find people who powerful enough that they have good jobs (Chief Marketing Officer, Demand Director, etc) but not famous enough that a genuine, complimentary email will bore them. And that’s where the magic happens.

Step Three: Look For Painful & Costly Problems That You Can Solve Jonathan Stark has an excellent, free resource called Expensive Problem that walks you through this concept better than I ever could (if you sign up for his newsletter, you’ll also get a fantastic proposal template). For writers, though, there’s a tl;dr version: how expensive is the problem you’re going to solve for your client? If you’re writing for someone who runs a hobby food blog, you’ll never make more than $10 a post because the blog owner isn’t making money on it either (and, after all, “they could just do it themselves”). Oprah herself could write the post and it will simply never be worth more than $10. But what if the person you are writing for sells three $750 products for every new blog post that goes live? Suddenly that post is worth $2250, and they’ll gladly pay a fraction of that cost (say, $200) to get it off their to-do list and have it be done by a professional. This is the relationship you’re looking for: a project where you add value and make people money. If you don’t do that, you may land the job or the client, but it won’t be for long because the money will run out. There are approximately three people in the world who will to spend more money on a writer just for the luxurious experience of spending more money on a writer. The rest of the world expects to get more when they pay more. And if it isn’t obvious that they’re getting more, they simply won’t pay for it.

Step Four: Accept Responsibility for Getting Paid More Look, accountability sucks sometimes. But the reality is that if your clients aren’t paying high prices…. it’s because you let them.

Pricing is all about positioning and boundaries. Position yourself for higher rates (Leah Kalamakis wrote an article that will help you see this process in action ), then say “No!” when people want you to work for less (Ross Simmonds helps you see why that’s valuable ).

Build up a huge savings so that you don’t blink when you have to say “No!” and you have the time wealth to pursue better opportunities. Replace low-paying clients with clients you have a passion for and clients who have expensive

problems. Anything in between is what’s known as a rut and you’re choosing to stay in it.

To this end, we’ll discuss how to price yourself (and raise your prices) later in the guide.

Connecting With High-Paying Clients Here are my hands-down favorite ways to connect with high-paying B2B clients.

Content Poaching Here’s your first lucky break: most B2B companies are already doing some form of content marketing. They have company blogs, they publish white papers, or they publish articles from CEOs on LinkedIn. This is like waving a huge, red sign that says, “We hire writers!” Any company doing content marketing will be interested in talking with writers who love their industry, products, or topics. That could be you! So the very first thing you need to is set a timer for 30 minutes and start Googling, Twittering, and LinkedInning to discover new companies, new contacts, and new topics that you can write about For example, I like to do a LinkedIn search for “marketing manager” and then click “HR” as a topic, or just search for “marketing manager + HR technology. Even if this does not immediately pull up someone I can contact today, it always leads me down a rabbit hole of people I’d like to connect with and company names I can start to track.

From profiles, click through to company pages. Find out who is publishing content, then find their marketing person on LinkedIn and ask to connect so you can keep in touch. Just connect at first. Don’t ask for work right away.

LinkedIn Networking I highly recommend you spend time (or hire a writer!) to reinvent your LinkedIn profile to attract your target client. This will help you show up in search results, but also intrigue people when they see you’ve looked at their profile or when you connect with them. Include as many images, links, and samples as possible. Really put your portfolio on display so that anyone who visits your LinkedIn profile can say, “I want that person to make [that item] for me!”

Email Job Boards If you do a web search for “freelance writing jobs,” you will get hundreds of returns. Some of the returns might even be blog posts outlining tons of freelance writing job lists. Job boards aren’t the best place to find the highest paying clients, but if you have a very small portfolio there is no shame in getting your clips the easy way! Here are my favorites:

● BloggingPro ● ProBlogger Job Board ● Freelance Writing Jobs ● Journalism Jobs ● Mediabistro ● Morning Coffee Newsletter ● Craigslist ● We Work Remotely (Paid Subscription)

Like I said, seasoned writers will tell you to steer clear of job boards and lists. Companies only go to job boards and lists when they don’t have a network of writers of their own. Connecting with thousands of writers via job boards and lists will allow them to drive prices down and pick from the cream of the crop. The more you can work your personal and professional network for job leads, the better.

Breakdown of a Compelling Query Letter Here’s the query letter template I use to get all of my jobs:

Hello, I caught your listing for a freelance writer and would love to hear more about your company's recent growth!

This sentence gets to the point in a positive and friendly way. It also establishes that you are not just interested in what they can do for you, but what YOU can do for THEM!

I am a full-time freelance writer based out of Richmond, VA, USA, with extensive experience brainstorming, researching, and writing about a variety of B2B marketing topics in clear, compelling language. The result? Authoritative white papers, strategic blog posts, and engaging website copy on schedule!

Clarify what you want: a freelance relationship. Indicate that you are full-time so that they know you take work hours seriously.

My bylined work has been published to YAHOO! Small Business, The Huffington Post, and Social Media Today, and my ghostwritten work has appeared on Inc, Fast Company, and TechCrunch... it sounds like just the kind of writing quality that could help you get rave reviews from your clients!

It's very important to share clips of where your writing is published. If possible, customize this list to the query you are answering (AKA tech posting = tech clips, etc).

To review my portfolio and specialized B2B content services, please visit http://www.B2BContentStudio.com/. Please feel free to follow up with any questions -- I look forward to hearing from you! Warmly, Sarah Greesonbach website + 8048149932 + twitter

You must have a website and you must list clips on that website.

Original Post: www.craigslist.com/writing-job

Makes it easy for you to see which job is responding to you.

I’ve also used this template to cold-email specific individuals and sell them on my services as a writer. To me, this reads as cold and a little forced, but it has gotten really great response:

Dear Ms X, I hope this message finds you enjoying a beautiful [Location + Season]! My name is [Name], and I am an elite ghostwriter and copywriter based out of [Location]. I’m reaching out because I offer copywriting and marketing support to businesses like yours with subcontracted ghostwritten articles, white papers, and more. From your website and branding, it’s clear you have a brilliant content strategy in place, but I know that situations can sometimes arise where you need the support of a seasoned, reliable writer and you need to turn to someone you can trust. A number of successful brands rely on me as an ad-hoc writer, so I thought it would be valuable to inquire about your current situation and see if there might be a connection. If you have no need for a writer at this time, I completely understand. But if you do, please feel free to write me back and we can discuss the high-quality, no-fuss content support I can provide. Thank you so much for your time! Warmly, Sarah Greesonbach

PS I'd love to share my portfolio with you, where you can review samples of my ghostwritten and bylined technology and marketing work published to websites such as [Examples] and more. The link is right below this PS, and don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions!

Get High-Quality Clips Depending on your industry, there are a number of ways to get great writing clips that you can feature in the email templates above to land the work. Start by submitting your writing to popular aggregate sites like the following:

● http://www.Business2Community.com ● http://www.SocialMediaToday.com ● www.bestpracticeinsalesandmarketing.com

You can also visit Peter Sandeen’s list of websites that accept guest posts and pick a few strategic ones to get your name out there. This will help you associate your name with a high quality writing brand and give prospective clients a taste of your style.

You have what you need to pitch. Now, go do it! The only thing that brings in high-paying clients is active pitching. Put some time into your spec work and portfolio, and then make it a habit to hunt down marketing managers and communications teams that need writers!