Copywriting – How to Be Booked Solid For Months Ahead

Copywriting is a wonderful career. There’s no ceiling on your income, and whatever the economic situation, businesses will always need a copywriter. If you’re just starting out, let’s look at how you can get yourself booked solid for months ahead.

It’s vital to understand that many businesses are completely unaware that freelance copywriters exist. Therefore, your promotions need to contain an educational element: you need to show your clients what you can do.

Of course, showing is easier once you’ve worked with many clients — you can let your clients do the showing for you, when you use their testimonials.

Even without testimonials however, you can get yourself booked solid very quickly.

Here are three tips which will help you. Follow them, and within a short time — less than a week — you really will have more clients than you can handle.

1. Build a Prospects List Using Your Local Paper

Love the Internet? So do I, and once you’re experienced, it will be the source of a constant stream of new clients. However, as a beginning copywriter, you need to focus closer to home.

Grab your local newspaper. You’re looking for local businesses which advertise, using display ads. (A display ad is just what it sounds like, a larger ad, appearing anywhere in the publication, with a business logo, perhaps a graphic, and large headlines.)

Make a list of these businesses, with their phone number. Next, grab your yellow pages. Again, you’re looking for local businesses which use display advertising. Don’t stop collecting until you have 100 business names and phone numbers.

2. Call! It Only Hurts for the First Four Calls

Now grab your phone, but don’t call anyone yet.

Write a script: a short one, something like this:

“Good morning. My name is _______. I’m a freelance copywriter. Could I speak to your manager, or whoever handles your marketing activities?”

Speak slowly and clearly. You’re interrupting someone in the course of a business day, so give them time to think.

Can’t do it? Yes you can, sweaty palms and all. I promise you, you’ll only feel nervous for the first few calls. Soon it will be fun.

Make 100 calls over a couple of days.

3. Focus on Client Relationships: Befriend Your Clients

Now you’ve made 100 calls, you’ll have at least five new clients. You may even have 20 new clients. Your next step is to complete each project. Add each client’s name and other information to a client list. This list is money in the bank to you. Your aim is to help your clients with your copywriting skills, so as soon as you complete a project, ask whether the client has anything else you can do for him.

As you write, and learn more about each client, you’ll soon find ways in which you can help clients to do more business, and make more money. Your clients will love you, and you’ll have the beginnings of an amazing copywriting career.