SitePlanting Seeds
In October 2008, I had the brilliant idea to market my writing services to universities because I had heard that education was one of the few industries that was not suffering in the down economy. I created a list of every university in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, and many of them in Massachusetts as well, and sent them a letter of introduction. Several of them asked for clips. I kept in touch over the last year, sending occasional updates and also offering my contacts a white paper on how universities can market via social media.
While I did garner one client almost immediately (and I’m still writing for her), the rest of the year it was crickets. Then, last month, I got a $1,250 assignment to edit an alumni magazine’s class notes section. And last week, more than a year after I sent my letter of intro, another university contacted me about writing articles for their website.
Getting assignments a year or more after I market to a potential client isn’t rare. A couple of months ago I got an assignment from a $1+/word custom publisher after more than a year of occasional follow-ups. The same thing happened with another custom pub, which came to me needing a rush article after a year of silence.
Many writers will send out a few queries or letters of introduction, sit by the phone waiting for a response — and get discouraged when they don’t hear anything after two days. It’s enough to demotivate any writer! That’s why I consider all my marketing efforts planting seeds. You plant seeds, water them when needed, and are happily surprised when you start seeing little plants coming up. The more seeds you plant, the more results you’ll get. But you can’t force them to sprout…they’ll take their own sweet time, so you shouldn’t drive yourself crazy staring at the ground waiting for the seeds to put out shoots.
The same thing applies to marketing: You should market widely (after all, who plants just one seed?), follow up occasionally, and consider it a happy surprise when something eventually comes of it. You’ll be a lot happier and more productive — and you’ll probably get more work as well. After all, if you let yourself become discouraged by lack of an immediate response, you’re likely to procrastinate on doing more marketing. But if you consider marketing an investment in your future (maybe even your distant future), you’ll be more motivated to do it.
So…get out there and plant some seeds today! And don’t be surprised if they sprout a year from now, when you least expect it. [lf]
10 Responses to “Planting Seeds”
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Susannah Fisher
Said this on November 9th, 2009 at 8:46am:Oh, Linda, what a timely post! Thank you – I’m actually printing this one out and hanging it up on the bulletin board that sits right above my desk as a reminder that good gigs sometimes do come to diligent, yet patient freelancers.
Dwayne Phillips
Said this on November 9th, 2009 at 8:51am:Ahhhhhhh, p a t i e n c e. I won’t label anything as “necessary” to be a writer. Patience, however, comes really close to being a necessity.
Gwynneth
Said this on November 9th, 2009 at 1:32pm:Thanks for posting this article! Very timely.
Rita Colorito
Said this on November 9th, 2009 at 1:53pm:Absolutely, Linda. Well said. And while I hate to use the term “especially in this economy” it really does apply to marketing more than ever and to the business of freelancing writing more than ever. Lots of editors and publishers are in flux, so it might take even longer for these seeds (our LOIs, queries, etc) to sprout and bear fruit. Patience is definitely a crucial component, as you said, but so is following up, which you also do so well, but not every writer does. In the seeds we are planting, we should all consider our follow ups as the fertilizer.
LindaFormichelli
Said this on November 9th, 2009 at 2:28pm:Thanks for your comments!
Rita, follow-ups as fertilizer…great point.
Rachel
Said this on November 10th, 2009 at 11:34am:This is just what I needed to hear – excellent post, thank you!
Janine
Said this on November 10th, 2009 at 7:27pm:Thanks for this post! It gave me a lot of inspiration. I feel renewed motivation in my marketing efforts. Good things come to those that wait. I love the idea of looking at it like “planting seeds” without expecting that immediate response or pay-off. That’s an approach to marketing that I can definitely find enjoyment in.
Sharon Ideas
Said this on November 18th, 2009 at 8:58pm:Thanks for this blog! Patience is a virtue, and in time it does pay off. While I put a lot of focus into my target audience, I also don’t neglect the long tail–those potential interests who may not have time or interest right now may in a few months, or reaching out to an unlikely person and introducing myself might end up giving me the gig I’ve dreamed of!
Thanks for the encouraging post
Kirsten
Said this on December 15th, 2009 at 1:18pm:Great post! I too need to remember not to get discouraged when I don’t get instant responses from my marketing efforts. Just curious: When you send letters of intro like this to universities, custom publishers, and the like, do you think it’s better to go snail mail or email?
LindaFormichelli
Said this on December 15th, 2009 at 8:30pm:Thanks for the comments!
Kirsten, I usually send via e-mail. A couple of years ago I send out clips packets to two dozen custom publishers and got about the same response I have via e-mail…so why go to the extra effort?