I am frequently asked by people (amazed that anyone can make a living as a freelance writer) how I find my clients. Whether a struggling writer themselves or another one-person business owner looking to expand, they are usually surprised when I tell them there is no one good way to market your services, but dozens of them. Trust me: I have gotten work using all of the methods discussed in this article.
As a single-person operation, you have a number of advantages. Unlike corporations, there will not be any miscommunication to potential clients about what you can deliver because the engineering and marketing departments weren’t talking. Since you are also the one- man (or one-woman) creative department or widget department or service department, you can answer potential clients’ questions knowledgeably and promptly.
Also, because the you spend is probably your own, you are less likely to fall prey to overly options that do not offer a decent return.
But what is a decent return? And what realistic options do sole operators have when it comes to marketing?
Postcards are one relatively cheap source for advertising. If you can design a postcard yourself (saving design costs), sending out 200 postcards to potential clients will cost you just under $100. The advantage to postcards is two-fold: You do not send out an expensive media kit to uninterested people, and busy people who are interested do not have to plow through tons of literature to make a decision to contact you. (Nor do you need to address lists: Go to www.yellowpages.com or the web site of your local chamber of commerce, picking out businesses that are your most likely customers.)
Postcard forms are usually available at most office supply stores, and they will feed through your printer just like regular paper. For the software, you can use any of a number of packages. Most word processors have templates. For more control over the design, however, you might want to good basic layout software, such as Microsoft Publisher(TM). (You can also use this software for things like laying out your web site.)
As for web sites as marketing tools: You should probably have one, but count on it to bring lots of customers to you. Think about the web sites you frequent. How many took out television ads, billboards, banner ads on other sites, or other fairly pricey kinds of advertising to get your attention? Most of them. Do put up your web site, but think of it more as your electronic business card/brochure, not a way to reel in clients directly.
Web sites are important, though, states Marc Korody, who runs a consulting firm just for small businesses. “The web site is a credibility issue. You need to have it as part of your ‘look’,” Korody explains, along with the other visual flags that show you are professionally in business, including letterhead and business cards.
Ken Loyd, a one-man, one-stop graphic design and printing operation called Keness Designs, concurs about web sites. When I ask him what tools he does use for marketing his business, he replies, “Up to now, it has been one hundred per cent word of mouth. I would advise anyone starting or marketing their small business to tell everyone they know. Their friends, acquaintances, relatives – everybody – should know they are now in business for themselves and should know what they do.” Loyd, who operates out of San Francisco, added that he is going to be doing a postcard mailing later this year.
Gerry Takano, an architect who specializes in historic preservation of buildings, agrees with Loyd’s assessment of networking. “With so much competition out there, a person is more apt to go with you if they have met you personally. That personal knowledge of you and your services gives you the extra edge.” He adds, however, that he also does mailings on a regular basis. “You have to do both,” he explains.
Telling everybody you know is a wonderful form of networking. The word “networking” though, can seem too vague to a business owner who wants customers, and wants them quickly. If you are just starting your business, be sure all of your co-workers know why you are leaving your day job. (Doing just that turned into a long-term writing assignment for me.)
Look for groups to join where networking is a key component. I have joined a number of groups and renew those memberships based on the fruition of their networking opportunities. Whether you join a group or not, see if it needs speakers for its meetings. Get together a basic “here is my business ” presentation which can be revised (if needed) to suit the particular audiences. Think of it – free of charge, you will have the rapt attention of all meeting attendees. (To see which groups usually have a meeting with a speaker, check in your local paper.)
The element of surprise will be evident in at least some of your marketing opportunities, so be prepared. Your business card should always be with you, ready to hand out – you never know when the person sitting next to you on the subway or waiting with you at your dentist’s office will be the source of a new customer.
Another creative way to market is to barter with people you know. Bartering helps to keep costs down, and can help you market yourself. I have traded articles for design work, web site hosting, and other services to help publicize my business. If your business is fairly new, bartering gives you a client reference, and the beginnings of your portfolio.
For those of you wondering where freelancing web sites are in this piece – here they are. Do freelancing web sites work? Yes, to some extent. What are the ideal ones? That depends on what services you offer and your own personal likes and dislikes. Using your favorite search engine, do a search for your type of business (e.g. “freelance writing”, or “writing jobs”). Visit web sites regularly, remembering the standard caveats: You should never have to pay up front to get work (that means it’s a scam); and whenever possible, talk to other people who have used a particular web site or worked for a particular client.
With so many marketing possibilities, it helps to keep track of who you meet, where, and when. If your budget is tight and your computer skills are up to it, you can set up a small database in your favorite spreadsheet program. Or, you can invest in contact management software, such as ACT!, which will also provide you with reports and graphs showing closed and potential business, both past and future.
Not only does this software give you a way to recognize people when they call (usually out of the blue six months later), but it also will give you information about who your customers are, how you found them, and how much business you generated. After all, with so many possible marketing opportunities, you want to be sure that you only continue to use the ones that work for you.
Competition for competent staff in countries like India is intense. The environment is similar to what U.S. experienced during the Internet boom, when it was very difficult to attract and retain good talent.
Many companies are finding that high turnover in their offshore team is creating disappointing results. You’ve invested valuable U.S. staff time to train your offshore team and put in a lot of hard work to do trial runs. When several months have passed, you conclude that your offshore team understands your issues, so you reassign and/or remove staff at your U.S. location. After all, you cannot afford to duplicate staff forever! But not long after you make this move, you learn that the key staff members and/or team leads dedicated to your offshore effort have left the offshore team! Although the offshore organization says that they are addressing the situation and there’s no need for you to be concerned, you realize that there is no way that they can meet your needs without investing additional resources from head-quarters. And you doubt that such resources are available.
In Part 1 of this article, I discussed how to understand the real nature of the issue and not totally rely on the numbers your offshore vendor provides. In this (Part 2) article, I will provide best practices on how to address the issue.
Whose responsibility is it anyway?
While the offshore vendor is obviously responsible, you the outsourcer also have a role to play. You cannot leave it entirely to the offshore vendor.
Best Practices to address attrition
The conventional response by offshore vendors to this issue is to offer increased compensation and address other HR related issues. While this is necessary, it is not sufficient for assuring satisfactory performance on a long term basis. In fact, in some of the industry surveys compensation came in as number 3 factor in overall job satisfaction. Job content and how they were treated were higher. That said, if your salary scales are not competitive, you will experience turnover.
• Examine the type of work offshored: It makes a critical difference whether you offshore only routine tasks or give your offshore team challenging assignments. One of the motivators for the offshore staff is the type of assignments and opportunity to learn and progress. On the other hand, you do have routine tasks that some one has to do and most likely you have offshored these tasks to begin with; in such a case, establish a planned progression for key performers so that they can see that by staying with you, they will continue to have the opportunity to learn.
• Examine the offshoring model: this is not intuitively obvious. Some companies have gone offshore and established a subsidiary of their own, without considering minimum size that is necessary for effectiveness. In the current environment where demand for skills is high, if you do not have local branding and your size is “small”, it will be hard to retain key personnel; they can see better career opportunities at a larger organization.
• Establish rotation plans: Provide opportunities for offshore staff to travel to the U.S. either for short term or long term depending on your need and what the staff members can do. Use the opportunity to do team building and establish personal rapport between your U.S. and offshore staff.
• Have U.S. personnel visit offshore facilities on a regular basis; this should include technical and managerial and executive staff; it promotes team building.
• Recognize and reward contributions: Treat offshore staff the same way you would your U.S. staff; when some one has made a major contribution, make sure they are recognized publicly and rewarded; some times small gestures like a thank you e-mail can go a long way to keep offshore staff motivated. Your offshore vendor may have their own reward system; make sure that you inform their management about members who are excelling in their performance. Other simple things that can go a long way – company T-shirts, coffee mugs etc. You should also consider setting up financial rewards based on their length of service to your company.
• Promote your company, its vision and the experience they can gain by being part of your team. Since, most offshore staff members are desirous of broadening their expertise, they will value highly the opportunity to be part of your team. Executive visits should include sharing the company’s vision on an ongoing basis.
• Recognize reality: Majority of staff in offshore organizations tends to be younger – in the early 20s to early 30s. Many of them are keen on building up their resumes and salaries as quickly as possible. So there is an inherent impetus for attrition. Account for this in assessing feasibility/economics of offshore outsourcing and plan your operations to address it on an ongoing basis.
• Stay involved: Offshore outsourcing does not mean you can sign a contract, sit back and count your savings; you must still actively manage the offshore organization as if it is an extension of your own organization, though it is legally a separate entity.
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