Is Your Niche Hurting Your Business?

Lori Widmer had a fascinating post the other day about discrimination--more specifically, discrimination against a certain kind of niche market: working moms. There's a big Work-At-Home-Mom (WAHM) niche out there, and some freelancers market themselves largely or exclusively under this title. Lori's position is that doing this can invite discrimination against a). those who work from home and b). parents, particularly moms (there doesn't seem to be a correspondingly big niche group of WAHD freelancers out there).

I have nothing but respect for working moms. Being a parent is a full-time job in itself, and I can only imagine that trying to be a full-time freelancer and a full-time parent at the same time is brutal. I could imagine that if I managed to be reasonably successful at doing both, I'd want to broadcast it to everyone. Hell, I'd want to put it on my business cards. But I can also see Lori's point--that presenting yourself as a work-at-home-mom invites employers to see you as something other than a businessperson, and that's not a good thing. If I were a client, I could understand hesitation about hiring a freelancer who seems to be so wrapped up in her off-work life that she identifies herself with it in business.

So this got me thinking about other ways we try to niche-market ourselves that may invite discrimination. Here's what I've come up with:

The Gen-Y expert. I write occasionally for Brazen Careerist, a website that caters to what's sometimes called "Gen-Y Thought Leaders." I've had people categorize me under this label several times. It's true, I am a young business owner in my 20's (for a couple more years, at any rate) and it's flattering to be called a "thought leader" of any kind. I have a great deal of respect for my peers in this age range and all they've accomplished. BUT, I'm not always comfortable being labeled a "Gen-Y" businessowner. The phrase "Gen-Y" comes with its own baggage, probably the most prominent of which is "young"--and by association, "inexperienced." You've also got other doozies like "entitled" and "demanding"--none of which are things I want clients thinking about when they think of me.

The Creative. I'm a creative person. I write poetry, short fiction, and novels. I love slam poetry and have a serious crush on Taylor Mali. I also act and sing and do all kinds of artsy things. Do I bring it up to clients? No, unless it's relevant to the job. Creativity often doesn't go hand-in-hand with business savvy in popular conception, although in real life this is definitely not always the case. As a freelance writer, I feel it's crucial to present myself first as a businessperson, second as a writer--because "writer" falls under "creative," and it feels to me like my work could be valued less if my creativity were promoted over my business sense.

The Work-at-Homer. There's an automatic association out there that if you work from home, you don't have a real job. If you're a freelancer, I'm sure you've experienced this. Everyone out there who's had a friend, family member or spouse ask you to watch the kids, pick up so-and-so from the airport, or do a little more housework because "you know, you're home anyway" raise your hand. See? I rest my case. Anyway, I don't make a big deal of my work-from-home status either because I'm aware that it seems more professional to work from a big spiffy office that's, you know, in a place other than your house.

I don't like to promote these sides of myself to clients, and i'm not sure it's smart to. But I have great respect for all of these types of people--they're all me. What do you avoid putting on your marketing materials?

In The Recession, What Do You Put Up With?

I have a client who is semi-regular, and who's never been great at communicating what they want. I usually get a ton of revisions back on even the simplest project. I do the revisions asked for, and get emails back saying I didn't do what was asked. They have a very difficult time communicating what they want, and change their minds frequently. In earlier times, I might have drawn the line at some point--cut ties and decided this client and I were not a good match. But lately I've been going out of my way to keep them happy instead.

Why? Maybe it's all the scary economic stories in the news. Maybe it's the stories from other freelancers I know that clients are hiring less and paying less. But I've been thinking lately--alhthough I haven't been having trouble getting work myself--that it's prudent to hang on to what I have, even when it isn't ideal.

So does the recession make us put up with more than we would when times are good? And how much does the news have an impact on our attitudes--rather than our own experiences? Personally, I've found myself becoming more conservative and unwilling to walk away from less-than-ideal business relationships than I might have been in the past.

This may not be a good thing--in nearly every case, when I've walked away from a less-than-perfect client relationship (and it hasn't been very often at all), it's only freed up time to find a better client and project. It seems to make sense to me that a depressed economy would make us all less risk-averse--and less likely to improve our circumstances as well.

So what do you put up with because of economic fears? And are those fears based on your own experiences, or what you've been hearing?

Collecting Strong Testimonials

Testimonials are a crucial part of selling anything in writing, because the bottom line is that no matter how great you say you are, you're still a biased party--you have a vested interest in selling people on your own service or product. In the process of getting my new website up, I realized that I didn't have testimonials--but I needed them. And sometimes I collect them for clients.

Not all testimonials do a great job of adding credibility, however. Here are a few tips for collecting testimonials that will do an effective job of selling you.

First: ask. Ask every client you work with if they'd be willing to write you a testimonial. Make it a habit. Make it part of the close-out process, like sending out that final invoice. It's just as important; that testimonial you collect could get you the next job. If you're not sure whether the project went fabulously, simply send out a questionnaire and let them know you'd like feedback on your services in the interest of improving them. Don't forget to ask if they'd mind if you use what they say in your marketing material. If they mind, you'll still get valuable feedback.

Get results. If you're going to buy a service, you want proof that it works. Vague testimonials like "Stan did a great job on my website copy" are all well and good, but what you really want are those quantifiable results: "Stan's website copy increased our hits by 12,000 per month and boosted revenue 30% in the first two months!" This is the kind of testimonial that will get you new clients. So in your questionnaire, be sure to ask what results your clients have seen from your work.

Leave room at the end. There are intangible benefits to working with you as well--maybe you're really easy to work with or helped the client find out something new about a key demographic. Always ask an additional question at the end that says something like "any other thoughts on your experience working with this company?" You might get a really useful quote that you wouldn't have gotten otherwise, because you didn't ask the right question.

Testimonials are important in both your client projects and your own marketing. Collect them early, collect them often, and you'll likely see an increase in business.

When Your Business Grows

I recently entered into discussions for major content for a very specialized client. The workload and commitment is large--but luckily I have a secret weapon: another writer who also happens to be licensed in their industry, and who's been offering to take on extra work for me for months.

The opportunity dropped in my lap this week, and hopefully this will be a great opportunity for both of us to profit. Outsourcing writing can be a profitable way to grow your business--you take a percentage off the top and leave the bulk of the work to your outsourcee. Potentially, you could see income for a great deal of work you ordinarily wouldn't have time to handle. But I'm assuming it won't just be a walk in the park. Here are some things I'm considering in anticipation of starting a project with a new partner.

Contracts are everything. I'm contracting between my business and the client, but I'm also writing up a contract between myself and the writer detailing what's expected, pricing and delivery. Even if you're working with a friend--and I am--it's crucial to make sure all project parameters are in writing and agreed to.

It won't be work-free for you. Especially in the beginning, I'm expecting to take an active role in training, proofreading, fact-checking, and overall ensuring everything is up to standards--even though I trust this writer's work and quality standards. I'm also communicating with the client and project-managing. So yes, I do take a percentage--but I work for it.

There will be a certain amount of letting-go involved. I'm not sure how I'll deal with not being in complete control of all facets of the project. I've never done it before. Hopefully I won't be an annoying, micro-managing boss. I'm pretty sure I won't be. But I won't know until I do it.

Can you handle it if your writer flakes out? Always have a contingency plan. At this point, if my partner suddenly couldn't work on the project, I'd have to handle it myself--and I was careful to schedule it so that I could do it, although I'd be stretched for a few months. Until we've got a strong working relationship I'm not sure it's a good idea to stretch myself beyond what I could handle alone, if I had to.

I'll follow up with a new post on my advice for outsourcing once I've had a few months' worth of experience. Stay tuned!

Watching Your Back in the Recession

Maybe your business is booming, despite the recession. I've heard from several freelancers who are in this happy situation, and I think it is true that in times of trouble, many companies can't afford to scale back their marketing initiatives. But some companies also can't afford to pay for their marketing initiatives. In this economy, are you seeing an increase in late payments, haggling and deadbeat clients?

I'm starting to see it. One large client I've worked with regularly is starting to get later and later on payments each month, while I completed a project with another regular client weeks ago--a client who usually paid same-day--and haven't heard a peep about payment. The bottom line? Your business might be doing well--but don't assume the same for your clients. This raises your risk of doing business with them.

In these economic times, it's more important than ever to watch your back and make sure you get paid. Here are a few precautions to take.

Ironclad contracts. Contracts are important no matter what economic conditions you're working in. But now may be a good time to have a lawyer look over the contract you're using to make sure it will stand up in court. Consider your contract delivery system as well; I recently had a lawyer tell me it's better to have an original signature on a contract than to rely on a faxed or pdf-emailed version. This can have an impact on businesses that operate primarily online.

Contact information. Make sure you have valid mailing addresses and phone numbers of all your clients. If someone goes deadbeat on you, you have more likelihood of putting pressure on them to pay if you know where they live.

Communication. It's easier for someone to decide to stiff a person they've never met or spoken with in person--they humanize you less. In these economic conditions, make sure your clients know there's a real person behind those emails. Conduct more phone calls. Visit offices in person when you can.

Up-front payments. I've started implementing a policy of 100% up front payments for new clients on smaller projects. This lessens my time spent chasing after little checks delivered months late. When I already have the money, the project is less stressful and as far as I'm concerned, clients can take as long as they like with revisions.

Be wary of everyone. Even your regulars may be suffering financially, putting your paycheck at risk. Watch your regular clients for signs of impending trouble. If your checks are starting to be delivered late on a regular basis, you may want to discuss an upfront payment policy or more rigid payment schedule.

What signs are you seeing that the recession is affecting your clients?

Announcing Catalyst Website Overhaul!

Well, we're really overdue for this: I've officially overhauled my website. Check out the new design!

The site's now much more professional looking than my old website--which I designed myself. It's a much better reflection of my business as it is now--the old website concentrated mainly on content creation. There's an expanded portfoliio section, which I got to organize by both industry and project type. I uploaded some testimonials and have more on the way. And--I'm really excited about this--I now have an article library of online copywriting tips and a monthly newsletter to send to subscribers. Overall, this site will do a MUCH better job selling me than the old one did.

The best part about this website is the ease with which I can set all this stuff up myself. The site was designed by LucidCrew, an extremely talented group of people--seriously, check out their portfolio; it's awesome. They have a content management system called MediaStove that lets you set up your own blogs, e-blasts, forums, and all kinds of other online marketing tools with pretty much zero effort and no programming knowledge. It's a great way for non-tech-savvy website owners (that's me) to use all these great online marketing techniques we always push--without going through a webmaster all the time or teaching ourselves code and Dreamweaver.

Next item on the agenda is an overhaul of THIS site. I've been wanting to do this for a year, and hopefully soon I'll get that done.

Do You Take Ownership of Your Writing Projects?

I was cruising the blogroll the other day and came across this post on Peter Bowerman's blog about what clients want--and how to go above and beyond with your services. One of the things he mentioned was taking "ownership" of a project--if the client isn't giving you what you need to get it done, go out and find it yourself.

It occurred to me that I do this all the time--and it wasn't something I saw as a big benefit to working with me until now. Here are a few ways I take ownership of every project I do--and how you can add value to your services.

Do the research on your own--even if the client's supposed to do it for you. I call myself a writer, but at least half the time I spend on a project is spent on research. And some of the time, a client will tell me he's going to send me all the source material and either a). it doesn't have the specific information I need or b). he sends it a day before deadline. Good thing we have the Internet. I use web research to supplement client-delivered information on a regular basis. For commercial writing, I use it to check out how competitors are positioning themselves. Sometimes this research takes minutes, other times it takes hours--but it always adds to the quality of what I do.

Get your own sources. Got a feature article to write for a client? Sometimes they'll give you the names and numbers of people to interview, and sometimes they won't. Don't let that stop your article from being the best it can be. I gather my own sources when I need to. I use Craigslist, industry forums and websites, industry bloggers and authors--the last two are often delighted for an opportunity to get word out about their book or site, and can be very willing to do interviews. I also use Peter Shankman's excellent Help a Reporter Out site. You can query for the type of source you need, and an email is sent out to its network of professionals. I've used it many times in the past and got dozens of responses from industry experts--easily more than I needed.

Deliver above and beyond. If I find little things I notice a client needs, I'll usually help them with it--even if it's not in the scope of the project. For instance, I was writing copy for a large website project--almost a hundred pages--and I noticed the company didn't have a consistent tagline. I sent off some concept ideas for new ones, even though it wasn't part of the scope of the project. I realize a full tagline project would be a big endeavor, probably more than I could offer for free, but some initial ideas weren't too hard for me to come up with--and it added to the value of my service.

Help clients figure out where to go from here. With some clients, I spot opportunities where they could be promoting themselves better or more efficiently. After completion of an initial project, I'll draw up a "Next Steps" document outlining different ways they could take business to the next level--including things such as writing different brochures targeted to several niche markets, developing a report or e-book for giveaways, or starting an e-blast campaign to keep constantly in touch with customers. It's usually not included in the scope, but it does help clients out--and it's pretty effective in turning single-project clients into regulars.

So how do you take ownership--of projects and client relationships?