With more and more marketing information going digital, you need to have a downloadable information kit available from your blog or website. This information kit should include a cover letter, benefits-laden article, brochure, fee schedule, and clips. The final form should be PDFs but you might generate those using different applications.

#1 – Cover letter. The letter is a concise, 1-page document that introduces your writing services in terms of benefits to the customer. (Actually you should frame everything in terms of benefits to the customer.) Use white space and bullet points to help spread the word, and the good old P.S. as a call to action.

#2 – Benefits-laden article. This article serves to hook the prospect’s interest. When you give your download link on your website, feature it prominently. Write the article on some aspect of the prospect’s business that will help him or her, such as “7 Ways to Hook the New Technology Client” or “5 Ways to Clean Up with a White Paper.”

#3 – Brochure. This can range from a 2-4 page Word document to a classic tri-fold brochure done in Quark or Publisher. Make it visually snappy and always remember to write the text in terms of benefits to the prospect. Do point out your subject matter expertise but don’t lead with it.

#4 – Fee schedule. Speak in terms of ranges. For example, you might price a white paper from $400 to $600 a page depending on length (the longer it is the less per page) and subject matter (the more technical it is the more expensive it gets). This way you are not sucked into a specific price for all comers, but they know what to expect.

#5 – Clips. Include types of clips and samples. This is really a digitized portfolio. It’s most attractive to send PDFs of published/uploaded documents as they will look more attractive, but you can’t always get hold of these. In this case your text will still prove that you know what you are doing. Be careful not to send sensitive documents to a client’s competitor!

When you do business copywriting, you need to attract PR department and agency attention. One is within the company and one without, but they are often looking to build their corps of trusted freelancers. You want to have a solid core of blogs and published articles available when you contact them. Better yet, if your information is good then they may well contact you.

1. Publish a series of blogs on your industry specialty. This is one of the simplest ways to establish yourself in a business segment and one of the most ignored. Most writers write about writing on their blogs and websites. There is nothing wrong with this and you should have your share of postings about this very thing. However, when people hire you to write they want to know that you can a) write AND b) know their subject matter. By writing well and consistently about their subject matter you kill two birds with a single stone… which is a bloodthirsty analogy but you take my point. If you know healthcare, then write about healthcare and make sure that readers know you write professionally about the area. If you know pharma, write about pharma. If you know IT, write about IT. You get the picture.
2. Publish articles on your industry specialty. Trade journals are hungry for good articles. Most of them do not pay but placing articles in trade journals is a marketing expense and not an income. Believe me, these articles will pay for themselves many times over. Many of these trade publications have email lists into the hundreds of thousands, and a single well written article can get you tremendous exposure. Your only expenditure is your time. The publication carrying your article should allow you to include a tagline with your name, profession (“freelance writer”) and contact information.

Many writers, especially ones who have interrupted their careers to build families, are uncertain how to break into copywriting. Start with what you know – always a good plan.

It is helpful to break in if you share the background you are writing for. This principle goes for both horizontal markets and vertical markets. (Horizontal market means a job type that ranges across industries, such as IT or Human Resources. Vertical market means the same industry, such as healthcare of finance.) If you have a background in healthcare then this is a natural for writing for and about healthcare, a very well paying niche. If you have a background in IT (Information Technology) then this is an excellent way to break into technology writing, another prime source of business writing dollars. The same goes for other job types and industries such as pharmaceutical, finance, or utilities. You don’t have to have a deep background either; just something you can point to so your prospective customers understand that you know their readership and concerns.

Once you are a more established writer it is easier to cross specialty boundaries. For example, if you are good at writing direct sales letters – an excellent way to command very high fees – the industry does not particularly matter. The more technical you get, such as writing an annual report for a pharmaceutical or writing white papers for a technology client, the better your background and knowledge should be in the discipline.

You can parlay even some knowledge into a good writing career. Let’s say that you were a low-level computer support person just out of college. 10 years later you are looking to make some extra money as a freelance writer. You may sell a few articles at a paltry $5 an article (or less) and despair of getting into business copywriting. Don’t! Construct a website around your IT experience and your ability to write about it. Sure it was 10 years ago but that is not your prospects’ business. You talk about your background as an IT person and how that gives you a unique perspective and skill set when writing about technology for corporate clients.

Now start blogging about technology in your area of interest and place a few well-written articles in technology magazines. These publications may not pay (many of them do not) but that’s not the point; getting your name out there is the idea. Once you are published – and a well-written article will be – then contact PR agencies with your information.

One other step you might take is to do a pro bono piece for a technology company. When you are done and they are happy, then you’ve got your start.

“Not what you think” refers to the common practice of writing online articles in order to improve your offering’s natural search results. There is nothing at all wrong with this. But when I talk about using articles to market your writing services, I mean publishing articles on your area of expertise in industry journals.

These articles may or may not be paid. This seems to run counter to my insistence on “dumping the cheapskates” but here is why: trade journals are enormously influential in their areas. Think of writing articles for them not as a cheap (or non-paying) gig but as a marketing expense. The expense is not in money – this is not self-publishing – but in your time. Ideally the trade journal will allow you to place your contact information in the tagline. Any trade journal that accepts contributed articles will do this, while paying markets may not. In any case you should add your published articles to your sample portfolio and host it on your blog. There may be a question of copyright so read your rights carefully when contributing to trade journals. You can always link to the site with your article, but it’s always best to have a copy of the article that you can host yourself.

Use your published article in several ways:

• Include it in your print and online portfolio.
• Attach it to emails to prospects.
• Do a press release if it is an in-depth article in a good publication.
• Notify your email list that you have published the article and include the link.

You might squirm at the thought of “working for free,” but again consider this marketing, not sales. You might contribute the article without compensation but you will also gain paying clients from it. Remember that we are not talking about pitiful $5-per-article online clients but $1-a-word business clients.

An information kit on your services is a great addition to your marketing arsenal. But you must still get the information kit into the hands of prospective customers. Here is an example of a simple sales letter that works:

Use this free Information Kit to find the best copywriter for your B2B projects

Dear [personalized salutation],

This has probably happened to you:

Approval for an important B2B project never came and you gave up on it. All of a sudden the project is greenlighted and due yesterday – just in time for a major product launch. Your corporate communications folks and agency writers are snowed under with all of the other projects around the launch. How do you find a copywriter who understands the field and can nail a good white paper fast?

You pick up my information kit and send me an email or make a call. And relax.

In this kit you’ll find:

• Testimonials from clients in fields close to your own.
• Work clips and samples.
• An FAQ that immediately answers questions like “Can you meet deadlines?” “Do you understand what I need?” “What are you like to work with?”
• A fee schedule so you know you’re getting great value for your money.
• And a free copy of my special report “When White Papers Go Viral.”

Please email me today at xxx.com or give me a call at xxx-xxx-xxxx and ask for your free information kit. I’ll get it to you immediately.

Warmly,

[Signature]

[Your name]

P.S. Don’t wait until the last minute to scramble for a copywriter. Get my information kit today and be ready to make that call the second you need me.