How to Promote Your Writing Business on a Frugal Budget 

by Carol Celeste

Freelance business writers may conjure up images of national sweepstakes, glossy magazine ads and TV extravaganzas affordable only to corporations with million-dollar budgets when they hear the word "promotion." If this describes your reaction, delete that faulty thought. Promotion involves anything that communicates what your business offers to potential customers. It's the ingredient in the business plan that moves your writing efforts from pastime to profit, no matter how frugal your budget. Book and article writers find potential buyers for their works in market directories and on bookstore shelves. Business writers must resort to "promotion." 

Many freelance business-writers grapple with expenses, lack marketing skills and consider self-promotion a four-letter word. In fact, several economical methods for promoting your writing business require more writing skills than money or stage presence. Two methods have been publicized so widely you've probably read more about them than you care to know. 

The first is networking, that well-hyped practice of telling everyone you meet, everywhere you go, what you do. The people you meet today may have no immediate need for your service and will forget you by the time they do. Successful networking requires continual effort and patience. 

The other is the news release, which costs only the price of a stamp and paper, but relies on the kindness of editors for publication. There is never a guarantee that what you send out will reach your intended public. Both are valid, low-cost ways to tell the world about your business -- but they aren't the only ones. Consider the following methods of promoting your writing business that prove effective without straining a frugal budget.

BY-LINED ARTICLES
Write your way to fame and fortune, or at least to recognition among your target customer base. Providing by-lined articles to publications read by potential buyers of your work exposes your name to the right people, demonstrates your talent and receives more attention from readers than a news release. Why more attention? Because articles are longer, appear more factual and don't sound like ads. At the end of each article, include your contact information in the tag line that mentions your credentials.

Sometimes a news release will spark enough interest for an editor to request a longer article on the topic. More often you will have to submit an unsolicited idea. Select topics of interest or benefit to the readership and stress the expertise that makes you an authority. Submit articles to publications whose readers are likely to be potential customers for your work. Include industry-specific trade publications and consumer books that your target audience is known to read. If you want to reach sales professionals, many of whom play golf, write for golf magazines as well as for sales trade journals. The more ways you put your name in front of the same prospect in a positive manner, the better your chances of being recognized when it counts. The practice of writing by-lined articles leads to another promotion method.

EXPERT SOURCE
"A quote can be an elegant way to open a story," writes L. Peat O'Neil in Travel Writing. Quotes from experts are the mainstay of the feature article. Editors love them and writers look for good ones in interviews and research. Your by-lined articles may cause other writers to contact you for quotable information to use in their works, giving you further exposure, perhaps in new markets. Editors may ask you to write a follow-up article based on the "expert" reputation you gained from a by-lined article published in the editor's own, or another, publication. But you don't have to wait for one of these chance events to promote yourself as an expert.

Search publications that your target customers read for articles on topics you know something about. Write letters to the editors of those publications offering your services as an expert source. Tell the editors you've noted their coverage of pertinent topics and offer to provide quotes and information for staff-written articles, or your own by-lined articles on request. Highlight your education and experience in the field and list appropriate credits to establish credibility. The more you are quoted, the more believable you appear, and the more likely that others will contact you as an expert source. 

Payment may come with a by-line, but don't expect it as a quoted source in someone else's work. Your compensation is the name-exposure and reputation enhancement that come from being quoted. Expert status opens added opportunities for low-cost promotion.

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Stage presence is required to promote your writing business through speaking engagements, so this may not be for everyone. If you don't freeze at the sight of a crowd staring at you then you've passed the first hurdle to this high-profile promotion method. You already know how to organize material for coherent presentation -- you are a writer, after all. One or two handouts and a willing audience are the only other requirements. Some groups allow speakers to sell their works at the event. Most permit distribution of business materials.

Speaking engagements provide streamlined networking. You work the room all at once, not one-by-one, and you don't miss anybody present. Some groups pay an honorarium, or more, but many don't and you shouldn't insist on it. The exposure you get is worth your investment of time, providing you address only groups whose members are potential customers for your business.

You're making public presentations to gain potential standing orders, not standing ovations. Choose the groups you address by the make-up of their membership. If you specialize in educational video scripts, an association of plumbers probably won't yield much business, but one of documentary filmmakers might.

Groups who use speakers are found among Chambers of Commerce, service clubs, professional associations and speaker bureaus. The material you use at these events can be expanded into another promotion forum.

SEMINARS
Continuing education is a popular pastime that you can use as a promotion tool. One way is to offer a free seminar to potential customers as a preview of your service. A more attractive approach is charging a fee for a seminar structured as an educational forum. People willing to spend money for a program show strong interest in the subject and are likely to show up. A motivated audience often turns into a buying audience.

Whether free or fee, present a professional program complete with materials that the audience can take away. In addition to instructional information, these materials should include clear identification of your business, the benefits it offers and how to reach you. Again, you want to structure a program that will attract potential customers. If grant-writing is your specialty, conduct a do-it-yourself grant-writing program for small non-profit groups. After learning the complexities of designing successful grant proposals, many in your audience may realize they can't handle the job without your help. 

Fee seminars may require expenditures on your part -- room rental, handout production, advertising -- but you can charge attendees enough to recoup your investment and provide a small profit. Keep the fee as low as possible. An affordable price will improve attendance and expose your business to more potential customers.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Every broadcast medium devotes some of its air time to announcements of public benefit. These are unpaid advertisements for events or services available to the general public. You cannot solicit business directly through this medium -- you have to pay for that -- but you can gain exposure for your business if you qualify for a public service announcement (PSA). Sponsor a "Learn to Read and Write Fair," for example, and you may qualify for free publicity. Often these spots air in the wee hours when most of us are asleep, but they are also used as fillers when a paying advertiser cancels at the last minute, or are included in a calendar of public- interest events at times when the audience is awake. The idea is to promote your name and reputation long-term, not to solicit immediate orders.

Newspapers and magazines provide an equivalent service by listing, at no cost, meetings, classes and special events -- even those charging a fee. Make certain the groups where you speak are listed, as well as any seminars you conduct or other newsworthy events you sponsor. If promotional spot-writing is not your specialty, many media will write the copy from your information at no charge.

PREMIUMS
Useful items with your business ID make inexpensive reminders of the services you offer. They should tie in to your specialty and be something that recipients will use often, keeping your name in front of potential customers. Pens and pencils are appropriate for writers. If ad-writing is your specialty, try a small calendar with reminders to contact your business written in on starting dates for known projects.  Distribute premiums at trade shows and speaking engagements, send to editors you know or would like to work with, and give to customers.

DIRECTORIES
Trade associations, business groups and social organizations publish membership directories. Many charge a small fee or no fee at all for listings of businesses that will benefit their members. Choose groups comprised of likely buyers of the writing service you offer. Your business gains an implied endorsement by appearing in a membership directory. As an advertiser, you may receive a copy and the added bonus of a mailing list.

WEB PAGES
Many websites offer free addresses, including basic set-up. Some require a paid subscription, others involve no cost at all. If you offer more than one service, consider multiple sites, each specializing in a different category. The trick to making a website work is to attract enough potential customers to warrant site maintenance. Arrange free links to other pages that draw the same type of viewer. Include your web address on other promotional material. Use your site to highlight your work and to promote your successes, and update it often with news your customers can use. Be sure to illustrate how you can help solve customer problems.

REFERRALS
Remember the obvious. When you thank a satisfied customer, speak to a group of potential clients, network with someone who may not need your services at the moment, or conduct a seminar, ask for names of acquaintances who would benefit from your writing service. A recommendation takes the chill out of cold- calling and increases your chance of gaining an appointment. Referrals are the most economical promotion of all.

Test two or three promotions at a time. The nature of your writing business and your personality determine which methods will work best for you. Track the progress of each one you try and replace any that don't produce the desired results with another promotion. Even on a frugal budget, an investment of thought and effort will promote your writing business from pastime to profit. 

References
L. Peat O'Neil, Travel Writing

 -- CC
 © 1998 Carol Celeste