Mishaps in Marketing Your Writing, Part II
In Part I of this article, we discussed the first three traps that writers hunting for assignments from editors and organizations fall into: not taking the extra time to send a reply mechanism, being a generalist and not contacting the right person, which naturally inhibits that flow of jobs. Here are four other ways that your efforts at marketing your writing can misfire.
The Shyness Syndrome
"I'm too embarrassed to call Mr. Anderson, even though I know he might be able to use my services."
Many writers (myself included!) are hesitant to use personal contacts or satisfied clients to generate writing business. However, according to Jane Amata, President of the EPIC Group, a marketing firm, these people are a great source of leads. Past clients or personal contacts may help you find out about visiting tradeshows held by the particular industry that you are targeting, speaking engagements or other networking events. These contacts can be a great way of getting started. If you are too embarrassed to ask directly for work, you might try steering the conversation around to your writing business and asking your potential contact for business advice or if he or she knows anyone who might benefit from your services. You will be pleasantly surprised at how many people are more than happy to help you generate business or will refer you to others in their industry.
In the magazine industry, it is accepted that queries are written, so there's no reason to be shy. While you may be concerned about the possibility of rejection, realize that they are not only part of the business, but an opportunity to send your idea elsewhere. In my experience, rejections are done politely and are based on editorial content or direction, and not that a single idea was particularly bad.
Declining Determination
"I placed an ad and no one called, so I decided that it was a waste of time."
Persistence, persistence, persistence. Marketing, whether for business writing or magazine contracts, requires an inordinate amount of gut-wrenching persistence and determination. It is simply not enough to do one marketing activity and give up. While you are a writer, marketing needs to be at least 25% of your time and effort, otherwise it is likely that your phone won't ring. But don't overdo it either. To attract business-to-business customers, try sending out one hundred mailers as a test (rather than one thousand) to evaluate how your response rate is. If you are satisfied with the results, then send out more. If not, you have the opportunity to try a different method on another test group before putting the effort, time and money into a larger mailing. The key is to market your writing services at a constant rate, because writing contracts and assignments take time to develop into sales and profits.
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