Content Marketing Interviews: Series 3

Bani Kaur: Content Writer

Bani Kaur

1. Tell me more about yourself.

I graduated and worked full time as an architect and I was also contributing to an architectural journal. That’s when a B2B marketing agency picked up a piece I’d written and asked me if I’d write for them. That was my first client. Within 2 months, I was writing for all 4 of their B2B clients and I realized I had a knack for this.

Since I’d wanted to be a writer since I was 5 years old, I took this as a sign and started looking for clients of my own.

6 months later, I had quit my full-time job and had 4 clients of my own!

2. How can you get new clients?

Build relationships and not just launch pads for sales pitches. Every single time I’ve needed to in the past year I’ve been connected to clients through other freelancers, content managers and heads of content that I built relationships with.

And be as invested in other people’s success as you are in your own. Reach out with opportunities, resources, and referrals or even a note of appreciation.

Nia Gyant

1. Tell me more about yourself and how you got started with your career.

I started freelance writing in 2015 with no work experience, professional writing experience, or higher education. Thanks to oversimplified "easy ways to make $1K a month from home" articles online, I had no realistic expectations for where this path would lead or the effort it would take.

For years, I made pennies (if I recall, I didn't even make $500 in my first year due to working for awful content mills with criminally low rates and inconsistent work available). Not to mention I had zero idea of how to market my services and no understanding that I'd signed up to run an entire business as a freelancer.

I was fortunate to have the time again, many years to work out the kinks. That involved a lot of experimenting with different types of writing, different industries, service offerings other than writing, and different ways of marketing my business. Eventually, I gained traction with things really taking off in 2019 when I started doing consistent networking and building up my online presence.

2. What advice do you have for freelancers to land clients? What are some of the best ways they can build their business?

Stop promoting the wrong things. Here are some examples of what I mean by that:

Does your marketing and sales messaging revolve around offering "well-written, plagiarism-free blog posts that include SEO keywords"? Not only will this doom you to blending in with most other freelancers who do what you do, but these things are pretty universally expected by clients. They're not particularly eye-catching or persuasive. Instead, showcase approaches, perspectives, and offerings that are uncommon, unique, or show that you go above and beyond.

Are you competing mainly on price and emphasizing the low cost of your services? While they probably have a budget, desirable clients are typically not overly price-conscious. They're primarily seeking effective services that they can justify investing in.

Does your messaging revolve around you (e.g., "I have this passion, that experience, this education, etc.")? The first thing clients want to know is whether or not you can solve their problems or help them accomplish their goals. So, your communications should center more on them and the specific outcomes they want to achieve. This doesn't mean you can't talk about yourself at all but, as a rule of thumb, use "you" more than you use "I".

As for the best ways to build your business, establish connections. It's easy to view other freelancers only as competitors because they are in a short-term sense. However, long-term, genuine connections are a huge advantage.

In my case, I made a habit of referring to freelancers whose work I trusted when I was fully booked or a lead wasn't a great fit for me. Many returned the favor, helping me start discussions and get my foot in the door with some cool clients like Zapier.

Besides the potential for referrals and learning from how your peers do things, remember that good freelancers whose work is effective create more work for others. (E.g., if their content gets a great ROI, their clients will likely invest more in content and they'll need more writers.) Engage with and contribute to the freelance community.

Christoph Trappe

1. Tell me more about yourself.

My career began in Germany, where I developed a passion for storytelling while playing football. One of my weightlifting mentors, a master storyteller, inspired me to pursue a career in journalism. I enrolled at the University of Iowa to earn a degree in journalism and play football, envisioning a career as a sportswriter.

However, my career took a different turn when I ended up on the police beat at The Gazette. After seven years covering crime and police activity, I moved to a video production job in the financial sector. I then created my own news site, Eastern Iowa News and then made the full-time move into content marketing and strategy.

I have since become a globally recognized content marketing expert. I have led successful content marketing campaigns for numerous high-growth businesses, including Stamats, MedTouch, and Voxpopme. I have also authored three books, with my latest book titled "Is marketing a good career?" released in 2023.

Currently, I am the Director of Content Strategy at Growgetter, where I am responsible for leading the company's content strategy and execution. I leverage my expertise in content marketing, podcasting, and growth marketing to create compelling and impactful content that drives traffic, conversions, and, ultimately, ROI. I also run a blog where I share my insights and expertise in content marketing and strategy.

I am also a top global podcaster and a speaker, sharing my knowledge and experience in content marketing and strategy at various events and conferences.

2. What advice do you have for those who wish to follow in your footsteps? What are some of the best ways they can build their business?

Here is my advice for those looking to follow in my footsteps:

The most important thing is to create content that your audience truly cares about. Do your research and get to know your target audience intimately. What information are they seeking? What questions do they need to be answered? What are their pain points? Create helpful, engaging content that speaks directly to their needs and interests.

Stay active and consistent with your content creation and distribution. You need to stay top of mind so that when your audience is ready to make a purchase or hire a service, you are the first person they think of. Post on your blog regularly, share content on social media, send out email newsletters - whatever allows you to connect with your audience consistently.

Focus on building relationships, not just creating content. Respond to comments and questions, participate in discussions, and provide value beyond just your content. Building real connections leads to loyalty and trust.

Optimize your content for search engines. Use keywords, meta descriptions, tags, etc., to help your content be discovered by your ideal audience. SEO is not just for driving traffic but elevating your authority and expertise.

Promote your content through multiple channels. Don't just post it on your website and hope people find it. Share it on social media, submit it to relevant online communities and forums, and pitch it to publications for guest posting opportunities. Get your content in front of your audience wherever they are.

Analyze your results and refine them based on what works. Pay attention to engagement and conversion metrics. Double down on content that resonates and reconsider content that doesn't drive results. Optimization is key for continual growth.

By creating content your audience truly values and staying top of mind through consistent, multi-channel distribution and relationship building, you can build a recognizable personal brand and successful business.

Do this for your company but also build your own personal brand - it's truly a superpower to grow your career!

John Doherty

1. Tell me more about yourself and how you got started. What was your journey like?

I originally come from a web development and blogging background; it's a weird combination, I know. Basically, I started blogging in 1999, then started building websites, and had a concentration in online publications (front-end web development) alongside my technical writing degree from James Madison University in Virginia. From there, I had some web development internships and helped run a book publishing company in Switzerland for a year. From there, I got into SEO full-time through two agency jobs, then went in-house with Zillow for 2 years before getting laid off and starting my company, Credo. I operated Credo full-time for about 6 years before bringing in a partner to run it, but I started EditorNinja in January of 2022 and have been essentially full-time focused on it since January 2023. We're editing hundreds of thousands of words per month and growing quickly at the moment.

So it's been a long road through a lot of different specialties and focuses, but at this point, I am a growth-focused entrepreneur running productized agency businesses and leveraging freelance talent. I am not an editor myself, so I focus on growing and operating EditorNinja well while we hire vetted freelance editors to deliver top-quality editing services to our customers.

2. What advice do you have for freelancers to land clients? What are some of the best ways they can build their business?

As someone who has hired 20+ freelancers in the last 3-4 years, I see a few proven ways for freelancers to land clients.

First, pick a niche. I'm not talking about a niche like "B2B SaaS content marketing," but rather "conversion-focused blog content for software companies in healthcare." This will make it VERY easy for those companies to say yes to you, and you'll still get inquiries from companies that don't fit that exactly. Based on your availability at that time, you can then decide if you can take them on.

Second, learn how to do sales! So many freelancers complain about not having enough work, but then they take forever to get back to people who do contact them! Respond quickly, have a call, discuss their problems, present your solution, ask for the sale. Then, overdeliver.

Third, learn to ask for referrals! Freelancers frequently experience feast-or-famine cycles of work, but this can often be alleviated by simply asking past clients or other freelancers if they know anyone who may need your services. You'll be amazed by how many people are willing to refer others to you!

Corrie Oberdin

1. Tell me more about yourself and how you got started as a freelance writer. What was your journey like?

My name is Corrie Oberdin, and I live in Omaha, Nebraska. I provide a mix of services for my clients, including writing and digital strategy services, content creation & a hefty bit of education (i.e., teaching clients how to execute social & email campaigns with internal resources). I work with nonprofits (primarily in the mental health, healthcare & community impact arenas) and for-profits that align in the subject areas.

My journey has been kind of like a squiggly line drawing - my background is in film & entertainment (at one point, before going on my own, I'd worked in all of the big four sectors of entertainment - TV, movies, video games & music) - and my first freelance client was an industry adjacent e-commerce company. However, being in the marketing industry since 2000 and on my own since 2009, I've had the opportunity to work with many different industries. I've gone from entertainment to financial services, public utilities, travel & tourism, political campaigns, and nonprofits. Sometimes? I've done all of them at once.

I don't so much niche with industries as I niche with types of clients - nearly all of my clients over the past 15 years have been small to mid-sized organizations that have a marketing team of one (or less) and are looking to expand their digital marketing & communications efforts - and eventually, expand or enhance their marketing team.

2. What advice do you have for freelancers to land clients? What are some of the best ways they can build?

I can't emphasize networking enough. Even though I specialize in digital marketing, I do not necessarily use it for my marketing efforts. I've found much more success maintaining relationships with clients long past when we've stopped working together and engaging with the local marketing community. For a few years - before I started working for myself - I was heavily involved in the American Marketing Association and spent a 3-year cycle being involved as President. Connecting with other marketers gave me relationships that I could then leverage when I went off on my own. Those initial client relationships, in turn, recommended other clients, and so on.

I've had a few cycles where I've taken time off from freelancing or kept my clients to a minimum and then took time to rebuild (once when my daughter was small, once after we did home school during the pandemic). Each time, an essential portion of "reigniting" my client list was to reach out to former clients and others in my network and let them know I was expanding my client base.

If you have a client you love or whose work you love doing, one of the best things you can do is to remind them that referrals to clients like them (or within their organization) are the best compliment!

Sarah Greesonbach

1. Tell me more about yourself and how you got started as a content marketing consultant. What was your journey like?

I was laid off from a marketing agency in 2013, and that was the kick in the pants I needed to try "selling" content myself. It was a rocky start until I realized something very important... as a B2B writer, marketers and companies need YOU. There is already a spot in their budget to hire you.. you just need to become the writer they want to hire. That's what I study and coach people on now.

2. What advice do you have for freelancers to land clients? What are some of the best ways they can build their business?

Slow down and be more methodical. Pitching is a numbers game, yes... but the numbers you need are lower than the average salesperson. 100-200 leads are not necessary if you only need 5-6 monthly clients. Go slower, work on making friends in marketing, and become the kind of person who's good to work with. That's how you create a stable, long-term career.

Kara Detwiller

1. Tell me more about your journey.

A series of circumstances in my personal life made it possible for me to pursue freelance writing — I got married and moved to a very low-cost-of-living area. My spouse supported both of us while I took 6 months off of all work to recover from the burnout I experienced working in a fast-paced marketing agency job. Once I felt ready to work again, I really wanted flexibility and freedom to work fewer than 40 hours per week, so freelancing seemed like the best option. It has been about a year and a half, and I am really enjoying my freelance work and the balance I have in my life.

2. How do you find more work?

I recommend telling anyone and everyone you know that you're looking for freelance work. My first freelance clients were people I knew from previous FT jobs, and they reached out to me after I posted on LinkedIn that I was taking on freelance projects.

Rachel Pilcher

1. Tell me more about yourself and how you got started as a freelance writer.

I’ve been a full-time nomad and freelance copywriter for 7 years now. I sold my ecommerce business and retail store in New Zealand in 2015, along with everything else I owned. I headed over to Europe with just a backpack….and no plan for what came next.

My savings started to run out fairly quickly, because it turns out I have zero control when things like the Arctic, Egypt, and Tanzania are only a short flight away. New Zealand is so isolated that all the fun stuff takes about 36 hours of flying to get to, so I hadn’t seen much of the world at that point and I was in binge mode.

Let’s just say I did not want to go back to the 9-5 grind after all the freedom. So I literally Googled “how to make money online”, saw that getting paid to write blogs was a thing, and landed my first paid gig shortly after that. It was rubbish - something like $80 for 1500 words. And that was not going to pay for my Spanish cheese habit.

Panic intensified. I kept pitching and networking like a maniac.

After a few more months of crappy blog clients, I got offered two 800-word blogs for $500 each, and was instantly sold that freelance writing was a solid career move. Around that time I also discovered CopyHackers, so I branched out into copywriting as well and positioned myself firmly in the B2B SaaS niche.

2. What advice do you have for freelancers to land clients? What are some of the best ways they can build their business?

Honestly, this year has been kinda weird with the rise of AI and the ongoing layoffs. It’s an unsettling time, even for pro freelancers who’ve been doing this for a while.

But there is definitely a lot of work out there. You just have to put a bit more effort into finding it!

My advice right now is to:

a) Optimize your social media profile - Double down on one platform rather than trying to spread yourself around. If you’re on LinkedIn, make sure your banner, headshot, and intro text are all looking good and that they’re targeted at the clients you want to attract.

b) Pick a niche if you don’t have one - You don’t have to stick with it long term, but it makes pitching and creating social content a heckuva lot easier if you get laser-focused on one thing instead of trying to pitch to anyone and everyone. And I mean, get really focused. For example, if you’re a tech writer, go even narrower and become the go-to writer for something like Pet tech, MarTech, EdTech, or Health tech. Even in these sub-niches there are hundreds of companies for you to pitch.

c) Ramp up your cold outreach - Getting clients this way is a numbers game, so the more potential clients you can talk to, the faster you’ll get work. I keep my outreach short and simple. The types of clients I work for are busy teams that don’t have time to read long-ass pitches, so I send a couple of sentences or a paragraph at most. This is the method I’ve found to be most effective at getting a response.

d) Build a small group of online freelance writer friends - This group will become both your support network and referral network. Create a Slack channel and invite people to hang out there if you can’t find a group to join.

Most of all - be consistent and persistent. If being a freelance writer is your dream career, just keep going. You WILL find a way to make it work!

For more expert interviews, go to the Searchlight Content blog.