Your Questions AnsweredA Candid Q&A with Katie Yeakle, Rebecca Matter, and Pam Foster

How to Choose a

Profitable Niche to Attract Copywriting Clients

Inside AWAIOffice Hours

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Edited transcript.

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Volume 2

Dear Reader,

Welcome “inside” another special Inside AWAI Webinar and Q&A

Session!

In this session, Rebecca and I answer one of the most common

questions asked by AWAI members, “Do I need to specialize in

a certain niche to find copywriting clients, and if so, which one

should I choose?”

We’re joined by Pam Foster, Niche Specialist and author of How to

Choose Your Writing Niche. Pam had incredible success when she

chose a niche for her copywriting business and landed 7 clients in

7 weeks! Since then, she has coached hundreds of AWAI members

on how to choose a good copywriting niche.

What you’re about to read is a transcript from the Webinar. I hope

you’ll feel like you are now part of the conversation. And if you

have a question that’s not answered here, please send it to me at

AskKatie@awaionline.com.

To your writing success,

Katie

Rebecca MatterPresident, AWAI

Pam FosterDirector of Copywriting

Training, AWAI

Katie YeakleExecutive Director, AWAI

Speakers

– 1 –

Rebecca Matter: Hi everyone, and welcome to Inside AWAI. Today, we are talking about the question we get asked the most, “How do I choose a niche? Do I need to choose a niche? What if I have multiple niches?”

My name is Rebecca Matter. And, today, I am joined by my awesome partner and Co-Founder of AWAI, Katie Yeakle. Hi, Katie.

Katie Yeakle: Hi, and I’m so happy to be talking to my awesome partner, and to Pam, our awesome Director of our Copywriting Training.

Rebecca: Yes, welcome to Pam Foster! I’m going to click over to her in just a second. So, for those of you who are new to AWAI or you’re joining us today for the first time, Katie Yeakle is our Executive Director and she’s also one of the original Co-Founders of AWAI. So, if you need to know something about this industry, she is the person who has the answers.

And I’m Rebecca Matter, the President of AWAI and head of a lot of the marketing. You’ll hear me talking about getting clients and basically motivation and productivity concepts. And then, finally, Pam Foster. Hi, Pam.

Pam Foster: Hi.

Rebecca: Pam Foster is the one who’s leading us today. She is our Director of Copywriting Training. The reason I wanted to introduce her is that Pam actually, a little over a decade ago, was sitting in the seat that you are in now. She’d found AWAI, taken our Six-Figure Program, became a huge success especially when she chose a niche for the first time, and she’s going to share that with you today and how she really went from somebody who just took a program to really working her skills and learning her craft. And putting herself out there and picking a niche and building her business.

Your Questions Answered

– 2 –

And then, eventually, she became one of the leading experts on picking a niche, wrote a program for us, and it was wildly successful. She became a speaker on the topic at our Bootcamps, and because she was so great, people were actually making these decisions, picking good niches that they’re so excited about which made everything easier for them.

So she’s actually done all of this. She’s attended Bootcamp, and then started speaking at Bootcamp. And now, she is one of our Circle of Success teachers. So, she really has come all the way through from, again, brand-new to AWAI all the way to becoming one of our top presenters and now our Director, actually overseeing all of our copywriting training.

You’ll hear a lot from Pam as you move down your path to the writer’s life, but I couldn’t think of a better person to do this session. I get asked the question — every webinar that Katie and I do. We are asked this question again and again, whether the topic is about picking a niche or not. It could be a webinar on building your website. It could be a webinar on the B2B opportunity. And the number one question is always, “Should I pick a niche? Does that limit my options? What if I had multiple niches?” It’s the same.

Pam won AWAI’s $10K Challenge in 2009.

Pam Foster’s first Bootcamp was in 2005. She’s attended 10 more since then (and counting)!

Why does she keep coming back?

“I learn something new, which keeps me fresh and helps me expand my skills and knowledge. I can’t imagine NOT going. I’d miss out on some major new insights for my career growth!

“But more important, it’s the one place where I can connect with an amazing community of copywriters you won’t find anywhere else.”

– 3 –

So, I’m so excited to have Pam here today. And with that, Pam, I’m going to just let you drive. And then, Katie and I will actually be in the Q&A. So if you have questions along the way about picking a niche, about anything really, feel free to post them to us. Katie and I will run through and answer as many as we can and then we will actually open it up at the end so you can post a few more questions if they’re for Pam or for one of us. We are here.

Katie: We love to do this Inside AWAI every month. It’s such an honor and privilege to be able to talk to you in this way. And I have to tell you — there isn’t anybody who is more passionate and positive and supportive and encouraging than Pam Foster. Her life is the writer’s life and her career has been — there’s so many lessons along the way.

And one of the many wonderful things about Pam, she’s so happy to share those lessons with you. So, I’m excited. I’m sitting back and let’s go.

Pam: Okay. Wow! Thank you for that very nice intro and I love working with you guys too. Yay!

So, I have found — it’s so much fun to go to the live events for AWAI because I bump into people every day who are asking about the niche choice. It’s a big choice, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming, and it doesn’t have to be a barrier to your progress because some people get paralyzed by that decision.

And so, hopefully today, I can help remove that barrier for you by answering the top questions we often get online and in person.

What is a Niche?

Pam: Okay, so what exactly is a niche? We get that question a lot because we talk about specialties of writing, types of writing, categories of writing, and then we talk about niches.

Q

– 4 –

So, what a niche is … it’s a specific industry. So, basically, it’s a specific market such as the fitness market or the mom’s market or green construction. Financial newsletters is a niche; medical devices, software or IT, travel, wine, alternative health. These are all what we’re talking about as niches.

So, I just want to be really, really clear, it’s an industry or a market that you would focus on versus a type of writing or a writing specialty. And those writing specialties or types would be B2B copywriting, blogging, websites, case studies, white papers, long-form direct response, sales copy, emails, and so on.

So, there’s a big difference there, right? And you can combine them so you choose a niche such as fitness and you can be a website expert in the fitness industry.

So, hopefully that makes everybody more clear on that difference.

Why Do I Need a Niche?

Pam: So, why do I need a niche? Boy, I get that question a lot. The big thing is people automatically assume that if you’re more of a generalist, then you have more options to work with clients. You might have more opportunities to work clients.

But, here’s the thing, clients are usually looking for someone who understands their industry and if you’re a generalist, you’re going to have a tough time being found among the sea of other generalists.

Q

DefinitionsNiche = Specific Industry or Field(Examples: Financial, alternative health, software, travel, pet, fitness)

Specialty = Type of Copywriting Service(Examples: Web, long-form sales letters, white papers, blogging, case studies)

– 5 –

So, if you’re the only one or one of a handful of copywriters in a certain niche, you’re going to stand out and you’re going to be found more often. You’re going to be seen as someone who is an expert in that industry.

For example, I have worked in the pet and veterinary industry for a long time and I really understand a lot of the things that veterinary practices worry about, for example, or some of the jargon in that industry.

For example, they don’t call their customers customers, they call them clients. Just that subtle thing alone helps me be a better copywriter and staying on top of the industry is a full-time thing. So, you really want to dive right in and be an expert in that market because clients will appreciate that. You can align more with them as a true partner and not just someone who writes copy. There’s less of a learning curve and they’re thrilled about that. It’s like, “Oh, I don’t have to teach this person all about my business or my industry. I can just start talking to them about my needs and my product and my services and my copy needs.”

And as an expert or a knowledgeable ally, you can charge more for your services. You’re not just someone on one of those bidding sites that will write anything for $5 an hour. No, you’re someone who has invested in this industry, you know about it, you can help clients there because you have that level playing field there. So, it’s huge. It makes a huge difference.

Clients are usually looking for a writer who understands their industry.

Becoming an expert in a niche helps you stand out in a sea of generalists.

– 6 –

This is just one example of what people will look for. They might look for a sports or fitness copywriter or a health and fitness copywriter or any one of those types of phrases.

And, only a few people, as I speak, are in certain niches. So, there’s a better chance that you’ll end up on page one of Google. There’s a much better chance that clients will find you online and instead of chasing clients, they actually find you and come to you. It’s huge. So, I really think — I can’t stress enough how important it is to find yourself a niche industry.

Which Niches Hire Copywriters?

Pam: So, this is another common question, which niches hire copywriters? Well, there are some clues to that. And the first sign of a good niche will be the big, thriving, and growing industries. So, there are a whole bunch of them and once I show you a short list, which is actually a big list but it’s a short list because there are many more, you will find that, “Oh, wow, okay, so now I get it.” There are all these really interesting, growing, thriving industries that have a lot of opportunity versus a different kind of market that I’ll show you in a second.

5 Benefits of Choosing a Niche1. Helps you market yourself

(Get found more often!)

2. Stand apart as an expert (Specialists get paid more than generalists)

3. Helps you work more efficiently (Less of a learning curve on projects)

4. Align with clients as a true partner (Familiarity with the industry)

5. Helps you have a better perceived value to your clients (Charge more for your services!)

Q

– 7 –

In a good niche, you have a variety of companies. So, you might have direct Business-to-Consumer (B2C) companies and you might have Business-to-Business (B2B) companies.

So, again, in the pet industry for me or let’s just take the veterinary industry, more specifically. You have veterinarians who are marketing to pet owners. And you have pet product companies marketing to pet owners, but you also have this massive B2B market where all the people who supply veterinary equipment or retail store equipment or software to run the practice, all of those things are B2B and it’s huge on both fronts.

So, there’s plenty of room in that kind of an industry to find clients. Pretty exciting actually.

You also want to look at industries that have active trade associations. And an easy way to do that is to just Google whatever your niche interest is. So, let’s just say your interest is medical devices and see if there’s a trade association, medical device association or medical manufacturing association, and Google those kinds of things and see what shows up. And if it’s a good niche, there’ll be two or three or even more associations or organizations that have annual conferences or online training or a magazine that they put out or discussion forums or any of the above. And those are really vibrant, healthy, big niches that you should be looking at.

Also, do they spend a lot of money on marketing? So, if they’re having those big trade shows, in the veterinary industry, they have several big trade shows each year and one of them has basically two football fields of exhibitors and all those exhibitors are spending at least, just to have a booth, just to be there, $30,000 — and then it goes up from there.

So, what does the booth signage say? What are the brochures and the posters, and the giveaways, and the ads, and all of that? It adds up to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

So, this is a great market — there are many markets like that where there’s an active big trade association and people are spending a lot of money on advertising.

– 8 –

Then, you want to see what’s being posted on the job sites such as LinkedIn, or Indeed, or Simply Hired. Those are all job sites where you can put in key words. An example is if your LinkedIn profile has the word copywriter in it everywhere (and it should) and you picked a particular niche, you can sign up for LinkedIn jobs and they will email you. They might not email you specific niche industry jobs but you can just watch what jobs are being posted and you’ll see trends.

So, for example, I tried this recently and I saw that a lot of colleges are hiring copywriters because they need to attract new students, and they are very aggressive marketers in that way, and they need writers constantly for all of today’s different content marketing platforms. So, that’s just one example, the education market.

But, you’ll see retailers — huge, always looking for writers, always. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen PetSmart looking for copywriters, for example. I don’t know why they have so many. I don’t know, but they’re always looking for more and more writers.

So, it’s really interesting to look at all of those aspects of an industry you’re interested in versus the other kind, the less promising. I get people who ask me, “Oh my goodness, I really love the whole world of Reiki healing and people who do Reiki healing and I just really want to work with them.”

Well, that’s a wonderful thing but most of those people are teeny tiny microbusinesses, one person trying to be a healer in a market and they’re often sole proprietors. They don’t have a lot of money.

So, it’s kind of a painful way to try to make a living. You can certainly help them on the side if that’s your passion, but I would pick an industry that has money, above all else.

Criteria of a Good Niche• Big, thriving, and

growing industry

• Variety of companies: B2C and B2B

• Active trade association(s)

• Lots of money spent on marketing

• Post jobs on sites like LinkedIn, Indeed

– 9 –

There are stagnant industries too and I can’t name any in particular at the moment, but if you look at the film industry, film as in for taking pictures. I mean, everything has gone digital so the film industry is shrinking as far as I know. And that might not be one that you go after, of course.

But, photography might be one that you do go after because of all the suppliers that are selling cameras and digital equipment and all that stuff. But, if you wanted to be very zoomed in on something like film, you’re going to be struggling there. And that’s just an example. I don’t have any scientific data on that but I’m trying to give you an idea of things to stay away from.

You also don’t want to work with penny-pinchers. These tend to be, in general, people who call me, “Hey, we’re a start-up. We don’t have a lot of money now but if you want to help us and grow with us, we’ll pay you as we grow.” That’s kind of a nightmare because start-ups are well-intentioned but a lot of them fail, and you just don’t want to be like the start-up copywriter because you’d be struggling.

And also people who call you who just don’t get the value of copywriters. You almost have to teach them why you are worth something and that’s, again, a painful road, and that’s not really, for specific niches, there are those kinds of people in all niches, believe me. And if you run into people like that, just move on. Don’t try to educate them. Don’t try to squeeze them into this box where they get it all of a sudden and they’re going to pay you. Go where people are already spending money and they already want you. They already need you.

So, good niches. Here is just a short list and this is based on me always looking at industry trends and those job boards and all kinds of different trade associations. These are huge.

So, the whole real estate world has bounced back significantly in the last few years after that dark period a while ago. Construction is up, home improvement is up, DIY is huge — you know, all those shows on HGTV about transforming your backyard into a paradise. Well, all of that. Think about the products that go into that.

– 10 –

Healthcare and dental marketing, and sports and fitness marketing, and food and beverage; retail, boy oh boy, if I could have a dollar for every retail ad I’ve seen looking for a copywriter, I’d kind of be wealthy on that.

Education, the education market all the way from pre-schools, very private, expensive pre-schools all the way up to college and post-grad; and then babies is a huge market. People are still having babies, right? And more and more people are spending a lot of money on those babies.

And then, natural products, which spans many different types of industries, but you wouldn’t even have to necessarily limit yourself to natural shampoos or natural food. You wouldn’t necessarily have to do that starting out. Just being the natural product copywriter or something like that would do well for you because there isn’t a lot of competition there yet, and then eventually you might want to focus on a sub-area of that.

Like in the pet industry, I have never focused on one part of that pet industry but there is a whole natural eco-friendly section of the pet industry that somebody could put a stake in the ground and say, “That’s my niche.” Because it’s that big.

So, those are great examples of niches that are hiring copywriters, and that spend a ton of money on marketing.

Today’s Hot Niches• Real Estate

• Construction

• Home Improvement, DIY

• Healthcare and Dental

• Sports and Fitness

• Specialty Food and Beverage

• Retail/e-commerce

• Education

• Baby Goods

• Pet

• Natural Foods, Natural Products

– 11 –

How Do I Choose a Niche Among All the Opportunities?

Pam: Now, that you’ve seen this world of opportunity and you get all excited. Like, “Okay, how do I choose a niche among all of those? There’s so much opportunity out there.” It’s almost like standing in a store and having to pick one color out of 87 colors of paint or a dress or something. It’s almost overwhelming.

So, start with who you are. Start with your knowledge and your experience, and your interest. Everyone on this call has a background. You have a career path that you’ve been in. If you just graduated from college, you still have a background because maybe you had high school jobs, maybe you focused on a specific area in college. It doesn’t matter, your age, your experience, there is something about you that makes you unique and it’s worth taking some time to think about that because the niche, I believe, will reveal itself to you when you do this.

So, what I have provided is a very simple Personal Inventory Worksheet that we’ve put up on the AWAI website so you can have it and I’m going to just show you very quickly here.

So, this is a worksheet you can use to go through your personal inventory. Hopefully, you can all see that. And now, I’ll go back to the slides. Because what you want to write down is all of your assets — who you are, what you bring to the table to an industry. And as you think about all these things, one or two niches will go bling, bling, bling and shine a star to you and you’ll go, “Oh yeah, I didn’t think of that.” It happens all the time.

Q

Choosing a Niche for Your Copywriting Business: Start with a Personal Inventory By Pam Foster • College Degree(s) • Other Education and Training • Work History (Starting with High School) • Certification(s), Specialized Skills • Hobbies, Talents • Affiliations (Business Groups, Sports Teams, Church, Clubs) • Charities You Support • Other Interests (Weather, Film, Politics, Social) • Location (Big city, small town) • “I Always Wanted To…” (Bucket List)

– 12 –

So, look at your education, your college degrees if you have them, and your certifications or any kind of specialized training you have, and then your work history. It’s a lot easier to start in a niche industry where you have some background because you’ve already got contacts.

You can start connecting with people in LinkedIn. You can reach out to your friends and colleagues in that industry and say, “Hey, this is what I’m doing now. Do you know anyone who needs a copywriter?” And chances are, someone will.

I have a great story about that. I used to work for a veterinary equipment manufacturer and one of my buddies who I worked for there left and I had left and we found each other again about six years later on LinkedIn and he was now heading up a whole new company in the veterinary market and they were launching a brand-new website.

So, who do you think he asked to work on that brand-new website? That would be me. Well, that’s because we connected on LinkedIn because of our past work history and it was just a no-brainer. We already knew each other. It was just an automatic win for both of us.

So, I highly recommend that you look deep into yourself. If you’ve worked in an industry and you just hate it and you never want to look at it again, that’s fine. But, if that’s not you and you’re okay and you’re like, “Hey, you know what, I’ve been a software engineer for 20 years. I could be an excellent software copywriter.” Well, there you go. So, look at that work history and the connections in that.

Also look at your outside activities. So, what kind of things do you do for hobbies? What kind of areas are you belonging to like clubs or church or schools or anything else that’s interesting to you? And then,

It’s easier to start in a niche industry where you have some background because you’ve already got contacts, firsthand experience, and knowledge.

– 13 –

what about interests that aren’t necessarily activities but you’ve always been interested in them ... Like someone who has always been interested in, say, craft beer making.

So, that’s an industry, believe it or not, it’s a really big one. And if you have always — you’ve been a beer fan and you want, you could be the beer writer. Why not? It’s an active industry with both B2C and B2B companies. And then, what about your beliefs? Political, social, other kinds of beliefs. Are you passionate about a cause?

For example, for me, it’s pet welfare, pet well-being. I’m very passionate about that. I’m a member of the ASPCA and whenever I can, I help shelters and all of that.

Do you have something like that? Because there is a great market for fundraising writers. It may not be as lucrative — and Rebecca and Katie can let me know if that’s true or not — but in my experience, I did work for the American Cancer Society at one point. And if it’s not typically as lucrative for you as other profit-focused businesses versus nonprofits, but it could be, depending on where you land or the types of organizations you help.

Rebecca: I think you pretty much showed an example that you worked for a major nonprofit. It all comes down to budget. How much money are they bringing in, which is going to drive how much money they can spend on marketing. The more money they bring in, the more money they’re going to be able to spend.

So, if you want to go to nonprofit, the key is to work for the ones with the bigger budget.

But that being said, if you’re passionate about it and you really want to help these smaller organizations, then it might be something you just do on the side to pay it back, to build samples, and build testimonials. But, really as far as really making a good living, you’re probably going to want to go into an industry where there’s more money or into a nonprofit who has a budget.

– 14 –

Pam: Definitely. Yes, because I forgot, I recently worked for a veterinary nonprofit that was very well-funded by the world’s product manufacturers so they actually paid well versus others. So, pick your spot.

And then, after you’ve gone through this, you want to really narrow it down to just one or two because you could get into analysis paralysis otherwise.

I love what Rebecca always says, “Just pick one and get going.” You don’t have to be married to it forever. Just start somewhere so you can get some traction and momentum and get going for yourself and get some income and clients.

And then, somewhere down the road, you may say, “Well, okay, I’ve worked in fitness for a while, but I’d really, really, my heart is more in kayak — I mean, just specifically kayaking.” You can evolve. It’s okay to evolve, but start somewhere now to take action so you can get some momentum going for yourself.

How Do I Investigate a Niche?

So, when you have narrowed down one or two niches, you want to make a plan to investigate and that’s the next question that we often get, “How do I investigate a niche?”

So, here are five top ways to investigate a niche you might be interested in. And some of them I’ve already talked about. But, go into Google, Google is our best friend on this, and look at industry trends and news.

You could go into Google and type in the eco-friendly baby industry or news on the eco-friendly baby industry. And just keep trying phrases

Q

Just pick a niche and get going.

– 15 –

like that and you’ll see Google now shows you “All” or “Images” or “News.” Click on “News” and just see what kinds of news stories are about trends or major new things that are coming out in the market.

So, that will give you some clues, and if you pick something that’s big and thriving, there should be a lot of results for that.

You can also go into websites like Business Week, Forbes, Inc. Magazine, go directly to their websites and type in those phrases in the search box — so, eco-friendly baby products. And click on that and see what shows up for articles and there might be the top industries of the year, one of them is eco-friendly baby products. So, that’s pretty promising, right?

Then, again, you want to look at trade associations, like I mentioned before. Google is our friend there, again.

So, type in variations of what you think might be like medical devices, medical manufacturing, medical products. Type all of those in and see what kind of trade associations might show up.

Then, see if there are sub-niches. You may have food; you have natural eco-friendly; you have training; you have modern technology; all of these different sub-niches that are big in themselves.

If you’re investigating a niche and you see that, that’s really cool because then that’s more opportunity for you.

Again, go into the job sites and just see what trends are. Every so often, you can set yourself up to receive, if you download like the Indeed or Simply Hired app on your phone, every day they will feed you the newest jobs. And they’re not going to necessarily feed you niche-focused jobs, but you can see trends as you look through them. You may even find a job as a copywriter.

So, the last thing is social groups, so LinkedIn, Facebook, look for social groups for either an association or other types of marketing groups in those niches and see what’s happening.

– 16 –

Can I Combine Niches?

Pam: Now, a question I get all the time. I know Rebecca and Katie get it too. “I love ballet and I love construction. Can I combine those?” or, “Can I do both of those niches?”

My analogy is this, if you’re trying to do two niches at once, it’s like having a foot in a boat and having a foot on the dock and the boat is starting to drift away from the dock, what are you going to do? Are you going to jump in the boat or are you going to jump on the dock? You cannot do both at the same time or you’ll have a very awkward split situation going on and you don’t want that for your career.

So, my answer is, you can combine or do both only if there is a viable synergy between the two niches. So, if you’re a passionate person about green eco-friendly sustainable practices and you also have background in construction, that’s an obvious synergy that would work because there is a field for that.

The same thing with senior travel. If you want to write about seniors but you also love travel, that’s a market. Medical software, same deal. Eco-baby, I’ve talked about several times.

You just need to make sure. I would never advocate trying to start two separate and very disparate niches at the same time. You’ll go crazy.

So, focus on one, or combine two that really work together where there is an industry, a trade association, all of that — it fits that criteria.

Q

You can combine two niches only if there’s a viable synergy between them.Examples:

• Green construction

• Senior travel

• Medical software

• Eco-friendly baby products

– 17 –

How Do I Know If My Niche Idea is Profitable?

Katie: I have some key questions for you and I’m seeing some trends. One of them is really boiled down to this, “This is my idea for my niche, is it profitable? How do I know that it’s going to be a good niche?”

So, can you just go into a little bit more detail as far as having to find actual businesses as opposed to a niche that may or may not have actual business?

For me, it’s always the money exchanging hands. Can you go through that a little bit?

Pam: Sure. Well, a couple of things. So, associations have conferences every year and quite often they will have a conference website. You can go to that conference website.

Let’s just take the eco-friendly baby thing, maybe they’re having a big conference. You go and they usually have a list of exhibitors right on the website. That’s a gold mine right there, because the more exhibitors, the more thriving and healthy that industry is. And right there is a list of companies that could potentially be clients. And they’re spending money to be at that trade show. So you know they believe in marketing and you know they’re spending money.

So, that’s a really good clue right there. For example, in my vet world, that one trade show alone has 650 different exhibitors. Actually, it’s closer to 700 this year. What kind of prospecting list is that? It’s like whoo-hoo!

And some of them are massive, like huge company names you’d recognize ... And they’re going to have in-house teams or big ad agencies that do the writing, so they’re probably not going to be someone that’s for you, but there’s that mid-sized sweet spot of companies that are not behemoths.

Q

To find a profitable niche, look for where money is changing hands.

– 18 –

They’re really good, solid mid-sized companies, but they don’t have a copywriter in-house or they don’t have like a web copywriting or SEO expert in-house.

So, that’s one of the ways. It’s just looking for companies on those trade association or conference websites that are spending money — they’re the big sponsors. They might be sponsors. They might have ads on the website, their ads. Those are clues as to who’s spending money.

In the B2B world, I know Joshua Boswell talks about this. Make a list of prospects and simply call them and say, “Do you hire outside copywriters?” And if they don’t, say, “Thank you for your time,” and hang up. If they do, ask them if you can send them your information or email a link to your website. As simple as that.

How Do I Market Myself at Trade Shows?

Rebecca: I’ve got a couple of questions on marketing at trade shows. I actually did a webinar over on Wealthy Web Writer, one of AWAI’s membership sites for web writers, that focused specifically on this. I gave a full marketing strategy for marketing yourself at trade shows.

I’m going to post that for all of you for free. That way, for those of you who are interested in what Pam was talking about and actually marketing at trade shows, you have a step-by-step guide on how to make that possible.

So, my webinar: Finding Great Clients at Trade Shows is now free to you if you click here: http://www.awaionline.com/inside-awai/how-to-choose-niche-for-copywriting-clients/.

Q

– 19 –

Do You Need a Certain Education or Experience?

Rebecca: I’m going to jump in now and I see quite a few questions from people wondering about experience versus education. How does that weigh? Do you have to have a certain degree? What if this is just a subject you’re passionate about or if you don’t have any official training, will that hold you back?

Pam: Well, I think it’s funny because sometimes people sell themselves short and they don’t realize how much background they actually do have that’s relevant and it may not be formal, but it’s worthwhile. For example, I had a wonderful person, Marianne, who some of us know, who’s fantastic. She came to me and said, “I really am struggling to find a niche. I’m kind of leaning toward the Christian market, but I’m not sure I have any background.” And I said, “Well, tell me about things you’ve done before related to writing.”

And then she went on to say, “Well, I write the church newsletter every week.” I’m like, “What? Stop right there. Hello, that would be considered appropriate background.” And she’s like, “Oh, yeah.”

And so, write down everything you’ve ever done, even if you’re a customer. Even if you’ve just been a passionate gardener and you want to work in the gardening industry. You totally will understand that niche. You’ll have to learn maybe the business side of it a little more. That’s why I keep saying start with who you are, because if you understand the market as a customer, you will understand the client’s customer and that has a lot of value.

So, you don’t have to have necessarily a formal degree in gardening marketing. I don’t even know if there is one anyway. And you may not have worked for a gardening company before. But, again, if that’s

Q

If you understand the market as a customer, you will understand the client’s customer — and that has a lot of value.

– 20 –

been a passion or a hobby, you’ve been part of the local garden club, you have cultivated roses in your backyard. That’s just an example. But, you probably have something relevant to offer if it’s a good match.

Katie: I just interviewed David Tomen for The Professional Writers’ Alliance and this was his exact experience. He was having some horrific health problems and has become his own advocate and doing his own research.

So, the way he approached it was he saw what was missing, what he needed, and then he went and found a company that he felt would be receptive to him. He explained the situation and they’re like, “Oh, you’re right. We don’t talk about this and this is a problem for people,” and he became their go-to guy.

So, it’s not black and white. There’s no one way to do any of this and definitely look at your life experiences through all kinds of different prisms and how can you turn those into opportunities.

Pam: I also wanted to echo what Katie said about not having the experience. We know so many people who have launched their businesses straight off of passion. They’ve worked in nursing for 30 years and they don’t want to be in nursing anymore. They want to do something else. They’ve had a passion for gardening or natural health.

I know one lady who had zero experience in natural health or alternative health but she lived an alternative health lifestyle for 20 years. She was very well-read on the topic. She had lots of personal stories.

So, her website it never said, “I worked in all these companies for 20 years,” but she said, I have lived an alternative health lifestyle for over 20 years and here’s my favorite books and blah, blah, and here’s the supplements I take.

Examine your work or life

experience and ask yourself:

“How can I add to the conversation companies are

having with their customers?”

– 21 –

So, right away, she was able to position herself as an expert just because of being well-read on the topic. So, you can definitely break in to a niche where you don’t have any work experience and just have a strong passion for.

Rebecca: Pam, one thing I like to tell people on this topic is really look at the conversations that the companies are having with their customers and then think about where you can add to that conversation. What is your viewpoint, your life experience, whatever it is? How can that add to what’s already being discussed?

And just one other little thing I want to say to put people’s mind at ease, you don’t necessarily go out of the gate with a huge 24-page sales letter or a big, big package. There’s lots of smaller, easier entry points for you to start with. You can offer to write a blog post. You can offer to write emails. You can offer to write little ads.

Anything — special reports — things like that are just a great way to get your foot in the door. You get to know them, they get to know you. And then, you’ll see an ascension. You’ll see the projects grow in quantity as well as difficulty …

Pam: That’s such a great point. Lately, in the pet industry, a lot of the requests to me have been either web content updates, articles, or blog posts. And those are easy, simple, not huge, like ponderous projects that you’re going to be like freaking out about.

Blog posts are very simple. Articles are very simple, and it’s so nice to get in the door that way.

Another thought too is if you’re passionate about a niche, let’s say like gardening again, and you have a nursery down the street that you’ve been buying your plants from. Offer, maybe, to do their website or do some marketing for them for free in exchange for them to give you writing samples and a great testimonial. It’s an awesome way to start to build your portfolio in that niche if you don’t have that background formally or you don’t have portfolio pieces already.

It’s very common to start that way and your local company will be so appreciative. I do my best marketing in trade so my dogs’ issues are taken care of because I do their marketing each month with the blog

– 22 –

and email campaign. So, it’s awesome and it’s also a good sample for me.

Can I Focus on a Specific Project Type?

Pam: That also leads to something I’m answering in a chat but I just want to make sure we talk about it as well. I’m getting some questions like, “Can I focus on brochure ads in the real estate industry?”

Rebecca: Yes, you can do that. You can be very project specific, but it’s going to be in your best interest to learn other project types as well. It is much easier to work with four clients on lots of projects than have to keep trying to get another client to do another specific type of project. It makes your business much easier if, let’s say you are in the real estate industry, like the construction space, and they market using the brochures but they also do websites and emails. You’re going to want to learn websites and emails, because you wouldn’t want to leave that money on the table with a potential client for another copywriter to do those projects. You’ve already made a relationship with the client. You already know their staff. You’ve already worked with them. You know their lingo, so why not go ahead and learn how to do the other project types as well? So, that’s just that one thing.

Pam: Rebecca, can I quickly pick up on one thing you said that’s so important? If you want to focus on one type of writing, that’s fine, like web writing for example, but you definitely want to be the “person” for your client.

Like Rebecca said, not only do you not want them to go to somebody else because the other person will say, “Oh, well, I do web writing too,” and then you’re out of the picture ...

But, the client doesn’t want to have to train someone else. So, if you’ve already got a relationship going with them, you can just say, “Absolutely, I can do those PPC ads,” and then go to AWAI to find

Q

– 23 –

out how really quickly. I do that all the time. Like, “Oh, case studies, absolutely,” and then I go find a case study program and become an expert really quickly.

Can You Still Be a Copywriter?

Katie: I get this question on every webinar, “Can you still be a copywriter?” and it’s just mindboggling to me because there’s over 8 million companies in the U.S. and Canada alone, plus all of these different project types.

Like 10 years ago — I forgot what Bob said at Bootcamp — but it was like half a dozen projects. There was a direct-response sales letter and maybe it was this piece or brochure.

And now with social media and content marketing and cause marketing, advertorials, and all the stuff … Now, you’re talking about like 50 project types for every company.

And so, the demand is increasing at such an incredible rate and it would be impossible to keep up with all of that. I just think that actually demonstrates the size of the opportunity.

Pam: Yeah, that’s a piece of the story. The other piece of that too is how many clients can you handle at one time? I mean, you might do a really great job with half a dozen clients and four of them become long-term clients that you’re working for every month and you’re bringing a nice income in and that’s awesome.

So, let’s say 10 at the most. So, if you’re in a really good industry like fitness or some of the others I mentioned, you can only handle 10 companies, right? And that’s really pushing it.

So, when you think that there are, in any certain hot industry, hundreds and hundreds and thousands of companies of all types, there is like an infinite limitless opportunity for anyone.

Q

– 24 –

Rebecca: Great. And the root of that question, I think, what David was asking was, are there budgets there? Can you make a living? And that goes back to it depends on the organization and depends on the budget they have.

Are Some Niches Easier or Quicker to Get Started in Than Others?

Rebecca: Pam, Tom wants to know in your opinion, are there some niches that are easier or quicker to get started than others? He’s particularly torn between travel, fitness, and info-marketing.

Pam: I don’t know very specifically about those niches because I haven’t worked in them, but what I would say as a blanket answer that I’ve experienced, Business-to-Business (B2B) companies generally have budgets. They allocate every year for marketing communications and copywriting is going to be part of that. And they tend to have really healthy budgets for the most part. These are manufacturers and software providers, and any type of company that’s supplying materials or equipment, those kinds of things to an industry.

They are, from my experience, more formal about all this and they’ve got budgets every year. They have to keep thumping stuff out because their competition sure is and they need to keep their website up-to-date. They need to keep putting case studies together so they can compete.

So, if I was going to focus on something, I might think B2B is going to be stronger as a quick known entity who has budgets for this, but Katie and Rebecca, you might have a totally different answer on that.

Katie: You know, I don’t. I think they all have the same level of quick and easy opportunity. It’s just finding the right company. I don’t think it really matters what industry it’s in. It’s just finding the company

Q

– 25 –

that you connect with, that you can help out, that needs writers at this time.

And like, Rebecca and Pam are saying, there’s so many different ways to get your foot in the door so really just pick the one you’re most passionate about or that you have some kind of inside track or inside ideas about and just go for it.

And the other thing is that you’re not signing a contract. You’re not being married to whatever niche you start out with. Oftentimes, one will lead to another, to another, to another, but it’s much easier to get started when you’re just walking in one direction than trying to walk in three directions at the same time.

Pam: So, one thing that will be the quickest way to get clients to find you instead of you having to spin your wheels finding clients is to make sure you have a website that has your niche represented on it.

So, if you’re a wine copywriter, your website better say wine copywriter and wine marketing, and wine web content or whatever all over it, because if people are searching for that and you don’t have that on your website, they’re not going to find you.

So, if you’re the chiropractor copywriter, make sure that’s on your website. If you’re the gardening copywriter, make sure it’s on your website. Don’t have a general website that happens to mention that you’re interested in working in a niche industry. Make it so obvious for not only people looking at you, but Google.

– 26 –

Do You Have Any Information about Putting Up a Niche Website?

Rebecca: Okay, I’m getting a couple of questions about putting up websites. Celeste wants to know, do we have anything on putting up websites, do we assist in building personal websites?

I actually do a four-part webinar series called Build Your Freelance Website in Four Days and I walk you through all of this. Ideally, you come to that with a niche because writing your website will be way easier if you know who you’re targeting, but we walk you all the way through what’s a good website, what’s a bad website, and show you examples of why it’s bad and why it’s good.

We help you plan all of your content. We provide a Content Essentials Guide that spells out what content you should have on your site for your specific niche. We give examples of good websites. It’s really comprehensive. And I say we, because I do have a couple of other experts join me on the series. We actually show you how to do-it-yourself, step-by-step.

So, it’s like 85 slides in the fourth day and we put the video together where you can literally just click, click, click through and we show you push this button, drag this here, and we go all the way to where you take your own website live. It’s called Build Your Freelance Website in Four Days.

Part of that also comes with a critique, which is great. So, once your website is up, we go through it and we review your whole website and then tell you

Q

No matter what niche you’re in, if you’re a freelancer, you must have a website that showcases what you do. You can launch your own professional website in just 4 days. Experts join Rebecca to show you every step.

– 27 –

how to make it even stronger to make sure that it’s representing you as a professional who provides great value.

When Do You Know If a Niche is Too Broad or Too Narrow?

Rebecca: So, one question I’m seeing, when you have a niche, when do you know if you need to have a niche within a niche? So, for example, IT. How do you know when you need to go smaller or if you’ve gotten too small, how do you know that you’ve gone too small and you need to go bigger?

Pam: Well, I would just start bigger and go smaller as you go along because like I said, if you Google any kind of niche with the word copywriter, so baby copywriter, senior copywriter, you’re going to find probably only a handful of other copywriters in that niche. So, you don’t have to be so narrow. You can just start broader and see which direction you go in or unless you’re really trying to combine two niches that you are determined to combine, that make sense.

But, otherwise, you don’t have to be that narrow. I have never gone narrow in the pet and veterinary industry because there’s only like one page of other people that do that so I’m not worried about it. There’s enough for all of us and then some.

But, any industry is not glutted yet with writers. The only example I might take, maybe, is the financial and health publishing direct-response companies. They may have a glut of writers but other than that, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Rebecca: And I wouldn’t say they have a glut. I think that it’s just harder to break into that because that’s a little bit more technical and sophisticated type of writing.

Q

– 28 –

Also, I want to answer this one question because it’s related to how you know if your niche is too broad or too narrow. He had a very specific focus and experience with ADHD and so I was explaining to him — he was saying is that too narrow or should I go broader? So I was explaining and I think this explanation is useful for all.

To know if you’re too narrow, go ahead and start. Start the research. Let’s say your topic is ADHD, who is selling in that space? There’s going to be two kinds of companies selling. One is going to be to parents — so to consumers — either parents with children who have ADHD or adults who are dealing with it themselves. So, that’s consumer.

The other side is going to be B2B so drug manufacturers, treatment providers, published content, training, and coping, that will be selling to businesses like doctors, teachers, people who are having to service and help people who are suffering with ADHD.

So, there’s a B2B side which is the one who targets businesses so teachers, doctors, things like that and then there’s the B2C side. Just start there. You’ll see how many companies you come up with. If you get a list of 100 companies, then you probably have enough, but that’s how you’ll start. If you only got 10, well then, you might need to expand, but you need to think about the market within the industry so the consumer and the B2B side, and then just start researching.

If you’re researching the consumer side, pretend you’re a parent of a child who has ADHD. Go to Google and start researching information on how to treat it. You will find all the companies who are trying to target you. You will find all of the pharmaceutical companies; you will find all of the content providers; you will find everyone who has ever published a book on it. It will all show up right away. So, it’s a great way of just doing the research.

Also, I want to mention though, when he said he had a personal experience with all of these ... That might also create an opportunity to make something that’s called a Money-Making Website, something else that we talk about in AWAI and that’s where you write a website

– 29 –

on a topic that you’re very passionate about.

We show you how to basically write your own content, your own website, where you become the expert. Like you could actually write this website speaking, let’s say, to adults who are maybe going to the same journey that you have already been through — sharing your story, sharing your advice. You would then reach out to all of these companies that are trying to sell to consumers and have them advertise on your site.

You might have special reports you sell. By doing that, and this is a totally different conversation and different strategy, but for those of you who have these very specific things based on experience. You might be able to create another revenue stream for yourself without having any client where you have a business on that specific topic.

Benefits of Using a Money-Making Website to Attract Clients

When you create a website in a niche you’re passionate about, you become an expert. Plus, you immediately establish more of a peer relationship with clients in your niche. You also:

• Gain relevant, hands-on experience

• Get your foot in the door with prospective clients

• Create relevant samples you can use to impress prospects

• Show value and what you can bring to the relationship

• Best of all, clients will come to you

A niche-based Money-Making Website is a successful marketing strategy — and an additional revenue stream, too!

– 30 –

What that also does though is create — it sets you up as an expert in that niche. When you go to approach a company about their ADHD product or service, you can reference your site. You’re saying to prospective customers, ‘I happen to be in this space as well.’ Now, you’re more of a colleague as opposed to someone just providing a service in that space.

But that’s called a Money-Making Website. I wrote an article about this also: Use a Money-Making Website to Market Yourself and Land Your Dream Clients.

What Should I Put on My LinkedIn Profile?

Rebecca: So, there’s some questions about LinkedIn. Do you recommend updating their profile? Do they change their profile? What do you do?

Pam: So, I went through that exact same thing. I used to have a website — I still have a website called Content Clear Marketing, but it wasn’t very niche-focused to anyone and therefore I was limping along in getting clients because it was just too broad.

So, I still have that on my LinkedIn profile but then I added, I also work for PetCopywriter.com and I added that and I wrote about that on my profile.

Now, since I work full-time for AWAI now, it isn’t as prominent as it used to be for the pet thing, but it’s still there — when I launched as a pet company, I just added it as another job I have, and I added it to my summary and I explained what I do there. And I added the clients or some links to things I’ve done and endorsements. You can add too. That’s what I do.

Q

– 31 –

How Do I Know What to Charge?

Rebecca: I’m seeing a few questions on pricing — we’ll actually have a whole other session on pricing specifically. However, in the meantime, we will be posting a Pricing Guide.

Every year, we put out a Pricing Guide on what you can expect on the top 50-75 projects. And we give that to marketers to educate them on the value of copywriters and what they should expect to pay for professional copywriters as well as for you to give you ranges and show you kind of what you should expect when you get up and going.

What Types of Projects Will Create Regular Clients?

Pam: I just want to answer this related question really quickly. We talked about this one actually in other Inside AWAI webinars, Kathy wants to know what types of projects will keep regular clients for her. Because we have a lot of new people on this call, I just want to talk

Q

Q

AWAI’s Copywriting Pricing Guide

Download your free State of the Industry Report and Pricing Guide here. Discover success tips for copywriters and the fee ranges for the top 75 copywriting projects.

– 32 –

about what a retainer is. A retainer project is where a client expects something from you every month and you in turn expect regular payment every month.

Retainers are great for those of you looking to make the leap from a full-time job to a freelance life because they give you a little bit of stability. It’s predictable income.

The types of jobs that are going to be on retainer are things that companies need every single month, so content, newsletters, emails, social media. Social media, for example though, you may work for a client to manage their Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn pages. They then, in turn, might pay you $2,000 or $3,000 a month to oversee those, to tie in their marketing efforts, to engage with their leaders, to bring back ideas to the marketing team about things that you’re seeing. That’s what a social media manager might do.

They expect you every month to do that same job, to be there, they want to rely on you, so in turn, they’re just going to pay you every single month, they’ll pay you $3,000.

Now, you can have multiple of those clients. You could focus just on being a social media manager. You could focus on being a social media manager in the health space. So, that’s an example of niching a project specialty type within an industry and that is a retainer type of job.

So, as far as those — Kathy, to answer your question, what types of projects keep regular clients, if anything that they need month after month? So, things like social media, emails, content for their website, newsletters.

Retainer DealsA retainer project is where a client commissions a regular project from you every month and you in turn expect regular payment every month.

Learn more in our Inside AWAI Webinar and Q&A: The Best Retainer Deals for Writers Today (And How to Land These Steady Paid Freelance Writing Jobs!)

– 33 –

Once a company sends out a newsletter, they can’t stop. If I send an email you every week, I have to write copy every single week and for most businesses, that’s not what their business is. They’re in the business of developing widgets or selling their service. They’re not in the business of writing a newsletter every single month.

Veterinarians, how are they supposed to write a newsletter every month? They’re not writers, they’re doctors, so that’s just thinking about those types of projects and that can definitely give you some regularity and predictable income.

What If I’m New with No Samples? How Important is Copywriting Experience or a Resume?

Katie: There’s quite a few questions about being a newbie, and how important is my experience going to be? I’ve never asked a writer, “How long have you been a copywriter?” What I have asked is I’d like to see — show me some writing. Your writing really does all the talking.

And if you don’t have experience, if you don’t have samples yet, first of all, I would recommend that you put some together even if they’re not for paying clients. Put some writing samples together and again, you can go on our website to get ideas about how to do that. And in Rebecca’s Build Your Freelance Website in Four Days program, she shows you how to go about doing that.

But, honestly, the thing that’s so important is all of your communication with these potential clients is proof of your copywriting ability. The email you write, the conversations you have, all of that, you should be thinking in terms of, I’m trying to get this person to take a specific action and what are the persuasive techniques I know that I need to employ to make that happen.

Q

– 34 –

Be very strategic in how you present yourself and all the communications you do. And honestly, I’ve hired people off a good email they sent me. If it’s well-written and hits all of the persuasive techniques I know are important, I’ll say, “You know what, this person knows how to talk to me. They know how to communicate,” and that’s enough to get my interest started.

As far as being honest ... Again, you never want to not be honest, but I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t think that’s something that could be a tripping point for you. And if they do say, what are you looking for, just say, “I’m starting out and it’s going to be a great opportunity,” and again, that’s another reason why you may want to start with smaller projects within the company.

Rebecca: Good question. You being a newbie doesn’t matter as long as you have the skills and you can do the work, that’s all that matters. And if you have taken our programs, we’re confident you have the education part of it, and you’ve done the exercises, you’re that much further along. And if you’ve written a sample like Katie suggested, and a sample just really is a sample of your work.

If you say, you want to write emails, write a couple of sample emails. I don’t care who you work for or where they went or anything, I just really want to see an email just so I can see a sample of your writing to see if it would be a fit for us. Great advice.

If you don’t have any writing samples yet, check out these articles for some helpful ideas on how to build your portfolio.

How Do I Get Experience and Writing Samples? by Rebecca Matter

Who Needs Samples? Creating Mini-Stories to Land as Many Clients as You Need by Cindy Cyr

How to Build a Web Copywriting Portfolio FAST by Sid Smith

Tips for Building Your Copywriting Portfolio

– 35 –

Katie: And one thing that kind of ties into this — somebody is saying that they’ve — what if you see typos and grammatical errors on a person’s website, should you contact them and offer to be a copy editor.

Pam: No.

Rebecca: Yeah, no.

Katie: Come to them with a sales idea. Come to them with an idea to make money. These things happen. None of it’s perfect, but no.

Rebecca: I get this one a lot. They’re changing careers so, she says, “For me, I’m changing from an industry of — in clinical practice for 20 years to copywriting now, how do I address that in my resume?”

You’re never going to post your resume. As you learn to become a copywriter, you’re going to be selling yourself and your services just like you would be selling a supplement. What’s the value? What’s in it for them? What do you bring to the table?

So, when you’re writing your copy about yourself and you’re selling to a client, what experience you have is relevant to me. If you have 20 years in solar technology experience but you want to write for AWAI, now you’ve to got to figure out what is relevant? Is it your project management skills? Is it your ability to oversee challenges or you did a lot of writing, you wrote a website or whatever? You have to figure out what the relevancy is, kind of the niche you’re moving into now.

And again, it could just be a passion or interest like for AWAI, all of our copywriters are AWAI students. We don’t hire people outside. One, because we want to make sure that they have our training because we know it happens to be the best. But two, because they are our customers. You are our prospects.

Who better to write to you than you? You know you inside and out and so that can even be a way in and if you are a big believer in the product and service for a company or an industry or you’re a passionate Yogi and you’re marketing yourself to yoga product manufacturers, just say that, “I am your customer. I know who you’re selling to. Who better to reach them than me? Give me a try. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to pay for it or we’ll just move on but it’s certainly very little risk on your part to let me show you what I can do.”

– 36 –

What about Writing for Competing Companies?

Rebecca: I have a question too that we promised would be answered so I want to be sure we get to it.

It’s from Sharon and she wants to know, please address rules for writing for two or more companies that would be competitors in the same niche, especially locally or at a state level.

Pam: I love that question. Thank you. I never work for competitors, ever, ever, never, ever, and here is why. When I am providing services to a client, I am theirs 110%. I want to do everything possible to help them dominate the world and I tell them that. “I’m going to help you dominate the world in SEO.” And I can’t do that and then turn around and say to their competitor, “I’m going to help you dominate the world.”

I don’t do that and in a good niche, you wouldn’t have to. You would have enough different kinds of companies that don’t compete head-to-head.

So, sometimes I’ve been approached by competitors and they say, “Well, we would love to have you write for us,” and I have to say, “I’m really sorry, but I already work for people who make veterinary exam room tables and cages and stuff, so I can’t work for you.” And then they’ll be like, “Oh, who do you work for?” “Sorry, but I can’t tell you that but I’m married to them. I’m loyal to them and we’ve done some great things together to help market their position and that’s where we’re going to stay.”

So, that’s my rule and I don’t know of any other that can make you feel good about what you’re doing to that client so I would stay away from competitors.

Q

– 37 –

Can I Work Through an Agency?

Pam: I’m getting a question about agencies — working through agencies and I’d like to answer that.

So, one of the ways you can find work is through marketing agencies, ad agencies, web development companies, those kinds of firms in your niche. Or approach a B2B ad agency, because they will have a team in-house who does probably the more traditional advertising stuff or the clever stuff but they don’t have an SEO copywriter; they don’t have an email expert; they don’t have a landing page expert. They don’t have one of these other types of writers who happens to have an expertise.

And so, quite often, they will round out their team with a virtual team member which would be a freelancer and I have found some really wonderful projects that way where I don’t have to build a relationship or set up the agreements or do anything like that.

I actually — for B2B, for example, I had an agency call me and they go, “We don’t have an SEO web writer, can you help one of our clients,” which is a huge name you’d all recognize and I can’t name it. But, I was like, “Hey, sure,” and so I became part of their team and they would give me the creative brief and the background and what the mission is and the keywords and I just started writing and running stuff by them every now and then to make sure they’re happy with it. It was a fantastic way to not have to do a whole lot of marketing of myself and suddenly have this great project.

So, look into agencies of all kinds — consulting firms, marketing agencies, web development, ad agencies, all of those are possibilities.

Q

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Should I Sub-Contract Work to Other Copywriters?

Rebecca: Do you have a client who wants you to do things that you do not do? What about sub-contracting work out to other copywriters?

So, Pam, I know you’ve been in that situation on both sides of the fence. So, maybe just quickly tell us how that might work.

Pam: I, generally, for the writing part, I try to do it all myself but people have asked do I know a designer or a web developer and I’m happy to refer them to someone because I’ve been a hero, yet again, to that client by finding them a good resource.

When I started working full time, I couldn’t take on any more new clients on the side so I set up a referral system of copywriters in the pet industry who know what they’re doing and I can refer them.

And so, sure, it’s just what do you want to do to control the relationship? How much of it do you want to give away? If you want to get involved in sub-contracting and managing that and billing for that and making sure those sub-contractors get paid and stuff, that’s a different model. I haven’t used that model, but I know others do.

So, it’s interesting to be a copywriter because you have a lot of different ways you can run your business and that’s one of them.

Is Cause Marketing a Viable Niche?

Katie: Again, I see some other people asking about the opportunities in nonprofit and cause marketing, and if those are viable niches for them and Pam, I know you touched on that, but maybe we can add just another quick sentence or two about that.

Q

Q

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Rebecca: So, a nonprofit is someone who is looking to collect money typically. It could also be a not-for-profit, a business that is operating and is not working for a profit. But I think of nonprofit as helping — it’s bringing in money to help fund research, help other people, things like that.

Cause marketing oftentimes is, let’s say AWAI wants to support Susan G. Komen Cancer Research. Cause marketing would be you’d be writing for AWAI for a campaign we’re doing in conjunction with them that supports that nonprofit organization.

So, cause marketing has become a huge thing because consumers don’t want to just do business with businesses who are out for themselves. They want businesses to be paying some of that money back into the world. And so, everybody — I’m sure everybody has seen — Susan G. Komen is a perfect example — everybody is on-board with the pink ribbons. They are supporting breast cancer awareness and that’s cause

Profit as a Writer and Make a Difference in the World

Cause marketing links a marketing effort to a good cause. It usually involves a mutually-beneficial partnership between a nonprofit organization and a for-profit corporation.

For example, Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives is a cause campaign prompting a consumer to buy Yoplait yogurt, so Yoplait will make a donation to Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure® events. Win-win.

Research shows today’s consumers want more than just a quality product. They want the companies behind the products and services they buy to resonate with their values. Cause Copywriters are the connecting force linking cause marketing efforts to the consumers who act on those efforts.

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marketing, helping someone to get their message out about something important.

What If I Need More Help Choosing a Niche?

Rebecca: All right. I’m just trying to look if there’s anything we haven’t answered. There are lots of people asking about specific niches and I recommend just laying out — following the steps that Pam laid out here or even if you want to get more in-depth, her niche program which you’ll see in our catalogs. You can do it over a weekend. It has all these great worksheets and action items.

As fun as it would be for us to actually sit and analyze every niche that’s coming up here, it’s not practical. And the reality is that it’s really up to you to do the research and see where that takes you because you could just find this little pocket that’s just right for you, for who knows what reason, but it’s worth investing

Q

Attract Great Clients the “Autopilot” Way, Starting This Minute

How to Choose Your Writing Niche: Your Step-By-Step Blueprint for Choosing a Profitable Niche That’s Right for You shows you exactly HOW to specialize your business and become a “client magnet.” Pam Foster reveals the EXACT formula she followed to land 7 ideal clients in just 7 weeks. You can implement this turn-key system immediately!

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the time to investigate anything that you’re interested in as fully as possible. Where is the money changing hands? That’s where you want to join the party.

Pam: Well, plus if you’re doing the research, then you’re the one who’s becoming more knowledgeable about that industry. I mean, I could tell you stuff about the craft beer industry, or whatever, but it’s very surface and if that’s where you want to live, you want to dig in and understand it.

How Can I Find More Information About Specific Niches or Writing Specialties?

Rebecca: I’m also getting a few questions of people asking about specific niches or specific project types like what is a white paper or what about this niche.

I’m going to link you over to our catalog promo pages. The reason I’m linking is not to sell you a product. I just want everyone to know that our promo is, when you see them, they’re like 20 pages long. We put a ton of research into the industry and the project type. We find the best expert. But, we really do our due diligence before we recommend an opportunity for writers. If we recommend that there’s a really good way to make a living out of it and we found a proof to back it up, in those sales letters that you’ll see, 80% of it is about the opportunity.

So, if you’re interested in learning about something, go to our catalog or if you don’t know and you just really want to look at different niches and see what’s out there, we’ll likely have a program on it. We’ll likely have a program on the project. Read the promo, and you will learn exactly what a white paper is, how much you can get paid for it, what the job looks like, all of that.

Q

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Our catalog is a great resource and I will be posting some of those links for those of you asking those specific questions.

Pam: Just quickly, also, you can go to AWAI’s Article Archive too. And if you go in there and type in a search word like niche, you will find a ton of free articles too with tips on how to do this stuff.

Wrapping it Up. Thank You for Joining Us.

Rebecca: Pam, is there anything specific that you want to make sure people know before we wrap this up?

Pam: No, I think we’ve covered so many different things. And if they wanted to follow up and check out the free articles on choosing a niche and other materials that we have for them, that’s probably the best way to go after absorbing all of this because we’ve thrown a lot out here. And I love all the questions and the passion and I do encourage everyone to take the time to research for yourself because I couldn’t even — If I saw 12 niches in front of me, I wouldn’t know instantly if they’re great. I can only say find out for yourself because then you will be invested in it.

Rebecca: I agree and there’s no wrong answer. The full key with all of these and with being successful in this business is taking the steps forward and starting. It’s very easy to just sit on this side of the bridge and say, “Oh, I’ll just take one more course; I’ll just learn one more skill; I’ll do one more webinar; read one more book.”

I’m telling you, there will always be one more thing you can do that will stop you from moving forward. Picking a niche is the step you need to take to cross over the bridge, to start promoting yourself as a freelance writer.

So, do it. There’s no wrong answer and you might start on a path and work on that path for 30 days. And then, say, “You know what? I hate this niche. I’m going to go back to one of those other ones I was more excited about” and go on that one instead.

ThankYou

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But, here’s what happens, you now have that much more experience. You know how to research a niche. You know — you practiced putting up your website. You took action. You did things. You’re going to be able to do that same 30 days of work in a few days now.

So, you get to leverage everything you’ve done over to the new niche that you’re working on or let’s say you worked for six months in a niche and you feel good about it and you’re great and you’re like, “You know what, I could do with a little bit more of a challenge. Maybe I’m going to do it again and launch a second niche.” Then, you can have a second niche because now you know what it’s like to work and maybe you want a little more variety. That’s okay. But, now you know how to do it.

So, what took you six months the first time may only take you a month the second time. The key with this and with everything in this business to success is taking action. You have to make decisions. You have to take action. There’s no wrong answer. Just step forward and I promise you once that snowball gets going, it goes fast. You just have to get over this little tiny bump before you can really start getting out there and doing it, and living this life.

Katie, what about you? Closing thoughts?

Katie: Amen. Go get them!

Rebecca: So, thank you guys. And Pam, thank you so much for all this information and for being with us. Bye-bye.

Pam: Thank you. Goodbye everyone!

Take Action.Picking a niche is the step you need to take to cross over the bridge, to start promoting yourself as a freelance writer.

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Rebecca MatterRebecca Matter is President of American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI), the world’s leading trainer of direct-response copywriters and graphic designers. A marketer with over 15 years of experience in publishing and direct-marketing, Rebecca has spearheaded successful million-dollar campaigns for countless products, both online and off, and has spoken and written on topics ranging from getting and working with clients to successful web marketing strategies. She’s dedicated herself to keeping AWAI members ahead of the curve … and in demand … by creating cutting-edge programs on the most marketable writing skills today.

She founded Wealthy Web Writer, which gives readers the tools, tips, and techniques they need to write effective web copy, identify new revenue streams for their businesses, find and work with new clients, and make money writing for the online world. Rebecca’s latest venture, B2B Writing Success, provides readers with the resources to succeed in the vast Business-to-Business copywriting market.

Katie YeakleKatie Yeakle has spent over 30 years in the world of direct marketing and publishing in the roles of copy editor, editorial coordinator, product manager, fulfillment supervisor, marketing manager, and publisher. Recognizing the industry-wide need for talented copywriters who can deliver copy that sells, she helped establish American Writers & Artists Inc. (AWAI) with Co-Founders Paul Hollingshead and Don Mahoney in 1997. Today, as Executive Director, Katie oversees AWAI’s 60+ programs designed to help people turn their passions into careers.

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Pam FosterPam Foster is a Certified SEO Copywriter and web content consultant writing multi-page websites, online promotions (emails and landing pages), blogs, and social media content.

She’s the founder of ContentClear.com and PetCopywriter.com, and is the co-author of Wildly Profitable Marketing for the Pet Industry. She’s also the author of three AWAI programs: How to Choose Your Writing Niche, Site Audits Made Simple, and Working Effectively with Web Clients. She’s an AWAI Wall of Fame honoree and AWAI’s 2009 $10K Challenge Winner.

Pam is a champion of the “niche power” approach to copywriting success. For many years, she has focused on the pet/veterinary industry, working with many companies who sell pet- or veterinary-related products and services. In addition, her diverse 30+ years in marketing communications include work for dozens of B2C and B2B clients including L.L. Bean, Harper College, and IDEXX Laboratories. Now her side businesses also offer referral services to match up clients with skilled copywriters in the pet industry and B2B world.

Pam joined AWAI full-time in November 2015. In addition to her role as the Director of Copywriting Training, she’s an Instructor for AWAI’s Circle of Success, a recurring speaker at AWAI events, and a frequent writer of AWAI emails, articles, web/SEO content, and more.