3 Ways of Getting Freelance Writing Work that Few Others are Trying

Most writers who are looking to take on extra freelance work flock to online job boards.

This makes sense, after all these platforms are used by people who are actively looking for writers.

You should always look to have multiple sources of work, to both increase your scope for growth and to minimize risk.

To develop another source of consistent writing work it can be worth taking a more proactive approach in making sales by looking for people who indicate that they would benefit from working with a writer, but who are not openly soliciting such work.

To help get you started with this, here are three types of business that are often in need of freelance writing work (whether they openly say this or not), how to find them, and how to approach them for such jobs.

1. PR agencies

PR agencies are almost always responsible for producing copy and content on behalf of their clients.

However, given the rate of client churn in this industry and that each client will have a different need in terms of quantity of content, most PR agencies use a combination of in-house and freelance writers to produce their clients’ copy.

Often PR companies will openly be advertising for remote, freelance writer roles on their website or Linkedin page, but even the ones who do not may well be open to taking on more freelance writers if you can show them that you can provide good quality and reliable work.

Approaching these companies is a three-step process. These steps are:

1. Finding the agencies themselves
2. Sourcing the person in charge of recruitment and finding their email address
3. Sending them an email pitching your services.

Here is a breakdown of how to do these three steps.

1. Finding the PR agencies

This is very simple.

All you have to do is make a Google search for agencies in your local area. I would recommend starting with your local area, as most people tend to want to “buy local” (its always a nice hook in your outreach to say you live locally), and this also guarantees that you are a native speaker of the language that your target agency operates in.

Once you have exhausted all the agencies in your local area, you can expand outwards to your country and then internationally.

So, simply Google “PR agency in [my local area]” to find your local agencies.

Once you have put together a list of local PR agencies, it’s now time to find the person responsible for hiring writers, and their contact details.

2. Sourcing the person in charge of recruitment and finding their email address

The best place to find the person in charge of recruiting writers at a PR agency is the company’s Linkedin page.

When on the company’s Linkedin profile page, go to the “people” tab and you will be presented with a list of profiles and a search bar at the top of the listing.

At larger agencies (approximately 20 or more in house staff) there will likely be a dedicated Human Resources manager who is responsible for recruiting. You can find them by searching for the following keywords:

1. “Human resources”
2. “People”
3. “Staffing”
4. “Recruitment”
5. “We’re hiring”

If there is no clear dedicated HR person, or the agency is on the smaller side, then just look for the Managing Director (or equivalent) at the company.

Once you have identified the best person to contact, it’s now time to find their email address.

Email addresses can also be quickly searched for using a Google search along with some advanced search operators.

Here is the search string to use: [“@domain”] email [target person’s name] (do not use the square brackets.

So if you wanted to find the email of Bob Jones who works at Freelance Writing Jobs, you would Google:

“@freelancewritinggigs.com” email Bob Jones

This search forces Google to reveal any page that contains the words Bob Jones, email (or a synonym of this) and @freelancewritinggigs.com. Any page which contains all of these terms should have the relevant person’s email, or at least a good email to find them on.

If you cannot find the target person’s email, then just use a generic company email or contact form, but make it to the attention of the target person.

3. Sending an email pitching your services

PR agencies want to know that you can produce a wide range of content, with consistent quality and on a reliable basis.

Your email to them should focus more on past examples of work than who you are. So long as your email is clear about who you are and what you want, that is all that is necessary.

Here is an example email template to get this type of work:

Hi {{first}}

{{Brief introduction of yourself.}}

I’m emailing you to see if you are looking to take on any writers on a freelance basis?

I know that your content demands from clients fluctuate, so I’m happy to help you with the workload during busier periods.

I have extensive experience in the following industries: {{list industries that you have the most experience}} but am happy to try my hand at anything.

Here is my portfolio {{attach a link to your website or portfolio in Dropbox}} and links to a couple of the articles that I am most proud of.

{{links to articles}}

Do let me know if this is of interest. Happy to take a call to discuss further: {{leave phone number}}

Thanks,

As with any cold email, always follow up with your prospects.

2) Online Businesses and Blogs

Businesses that operate purely online generally have a greater need for content than brick and mortar businesses because their brand is built entirely from their digital copy.

Most online businesses are on the smaller side of things, and they usually have just a handful of people responsible for churning out all their content. If you can demonstrate that you are capable of writing articles that will drive traffic to their website, they should be more than happy to work with you.

Now, since most blogs and online businesses revolve around a narrow niche, and most of the site’s visitors are passionate about that niche, a site owner will be much more willing to work with you if you can demonstrate familiarity with that industry. 

Relevant past writing samples are key to your success here.

The first step to connecting with these businesses is therefore to brainstorm all the industries that you have experience in. It’s worth taking the time here to look for microniches related to your past experience, as this will give you a load more targets.

Once you have a list of industries, Google the following:

[industry] “affiliate disclaimer” (again, no square brackets).

So, say your chosen industry is running, you will Google the following:

Running “affiliate disclaimer”.

As we can see from the above screenshot, three of the top five results here are running websites that market running products.

The reason why this Google search gives you online businesses in a particular industry is that the most common form of monetization for these businesses is affiliate marketing.

All websites that engage in affiliate marketing need to have an affiliate disclaimer, so searching around this will reveal the affiliate marketing sites in your chosen industry.

Given that most of these businesses are small operations, just use the generic email address to get in contact with whoever runs the website. You can usually find this on the “contact us” page of the website or in the left column of their Facebook page.

It’s also checking out the website’s “about” page to find the name of the website owner so you can personalize your email.

Once you have found the relevant contact details, this is the type of email that you would want to send:

Hi,

I am a freelance writer with a particular interest in [industry] due to [say where your interest stems from – the more authentic the better].

I am looking for freelance writing work, so was wondering if you had articles that needed writing. I can help with the ideation process if needed.

I am not looking to link to any external companies (I know that wheeze). I am looking for paid work but am happy to do an article for free just to show you what I’ve got.

Here are some articles I have written in this industry before.

(link to your best articles in that industry).

Let me know if you are interested.

Two points are important to note:

1. Specifically state that you are not looking to link to an external company. Often marketers pretend to be freelance writers to build links to third party companies. Your chances of being accepted are much higher if you clearly state that this is not your agenda.
2. With all the writing samples in the world, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Offer to write an article for free and if it’s the type of content that they like they will likely want to hire you for future work.

2. Local businesses with blogs

Countless local businesses start a blog with the best intention in the world to update it regularly, but it falls to the wayside.

This presents an opportunity for you to help them pick up the slack.

Much like with online businesses, you will be seen as a much more valuable asset by business owners if you have relevant industry experience. You should therefore target businesses that are both in your local area and who are relevant to your past experience.

To find these businesses, simply Google: 

[your industry] in [your chosen area] “blog”.

Therefore if you want to work with dental practices in London, you should Google:

Dentist in London “blog”

All these results are London based dental practices that have blogs.

With these results, you should look through their blogging history. 

Businesses that regularly publish posts probably do not need a writer, so look for ones that are only occasionally updated, or that once had a regular output but have now stopped.

It’s now time to reach out to these businesses. 

Generally, with local businesses, you just want to contact the company owner. They can be found on the about us or LinkedIn page of the business.

Try to find their personal business email if you can.

For local businesses, you want to send the following email:

Hi {{first name}},

Introduce yourself and say that you are local.

I am a freelance writer with a particular interest in [industry] due to [say where your interest stems from – the more authentic the better].

I see that you have a blog on your website, but that it is not updated too regularly.

If you still want regular blog posts (and who doesn’t, given its benefit to your business) then I may be able to help you with that.

I am ultimately looking for paid work but can provide the first post for free, just to see my quality of writing.

Here are some articles I have written in this industry before.

(link to your 2 best relevant posts).

If you are interested, feel free to give me a call at (phone number).

Thanks,

Again, offering to write the first post for free will show an impressive amount of belief in the quality of your work.

Even with a detail-oriented approach to business development such as this one, sales is ultimately a numbers game.

Do not give up after sending 10 or so emails. Carry on until you get work. Once you know how many emails you need to send out to get a yes, you will start to have a predictable, and scalable, source of freelance writing work.

This article was written by Oli Graham, Marketing Manager at content agency RightlyWritten. Oli started his career as a freelance writer while he was still at college, and has worked in a number of agency-side marketing roles, including Public Relations, SEO, and social media marketing.