Answers to the 4 Common Outreach Questions Aspiring Writers Have
By Ilise Benun

From our reader:

I’ve taken a lot of courses from AWAI and have learned a lot. Almost all of them touch on getting clients. You have to network, do outreach, etc. But I hit a wall when it comes to the next steps. How do you actually get that list of companies? I’ve used AI to get lists, done some searches on LinkedIn, and looked through trade associations. Once I find a company that looks like a good fit, I have so many questions:

• How do I know if they need copywriters?
• How do I decide if they’re the right size or a good fit for me?
• And when it comes time to reach out, should I use LinkedIn, email, or something else?
• Who’s the right person to contact — director, VP, or someone else?

Ilise Benun, The Marketing Mentor, answers:

I’m thrilled to hear you’ve come this far and taken all the right steps toward getting clients, especially compiling your list using AI, searching LinkedIn, and identifying the trade associations your ideal clients would belong to. Those are all excellent resources, and they complement each other perfectly.

So now you should have a list of 10 or 25 potential clients you are ready to reach out to. (I wouldn’t start with more than 25 or it could quickly get overwhelming.)

But it sounds like you may not “feel” ready because there’s still a lot you don’t know about those people and companies. And that makes sense, because you don’t know them yet, right?

I suspect there’s a bit of fear lurking in there too — fear of reaching out to strangers, fear of rejection, and maybe even fear of success. “What if I reach out and they say yes?” For many new copywriters, a “yes” can actually be even more terrifying than a “no.”

But let’s assume you do want to get clients, you’ve learned a lot, and, through AWAI, you have all the resources you need to handle any situation that comes up as you start to work with your clients.

You can make many observations and educated guesses based on information that is publicly available. So you’ll spend time researching each one to see what you can learn before you reach out.

To find out the size of a company, you can check out the “About Us” or “Team” section of their website. But these days, the easiest way is to explore their LinkedIn company page, which will give you lots of great info about a company, including their mission, how long they’ve been in business, and how many employees they have. Even better, the Linkedin company page will also give you access to the profiles of all of those employees, often including the person who will hire you! It’s a gold mine.

With that solid foundation, you are ready — whether you “feel” ready or not.

Because ultimately, the only way to get the answers to those questions is to start reaching out — and I would recommend starting with “practice” prospects first. Those are the ones you aren’t as interested in, so you have less at stake if nothing materializes.

With that in mind, here are my answers:

• How do I know if they need copywriters?

You won’t know for sure until you make contact, but there are signs. For example, if you want to write case studies, look for companies that already have case studies on their websites or are promoting them on LinkedIn. Those companies are more likely to need more written, and you won’t have to convince them of the value of case studies since they clearly already know. In fact, a content writer recently wrote to me about how she is using AI to find companies that need case study copywriters, “Per your Quick Tips, I’ve been playing around with Perplexity to find prospects that publish case studies. I explain (to the AI) who I am, what type of companies I like working with, and what type of content they should have on their websites. Then I ask for a list of 10 organizations that may be a good fit (including their urls). It works!”

• How do I decide if they’re the right size or a good fit for me?

What is the right size for you? Who is a good fit for you? You may not know yet, which is another reason “practice” prospects can be very useful. Some new copywriters feel more comfortable starting with small companies — fewer than five employees. However, if you have a history of working for large corporations, that means you understand how they work and probably feel more comfortable with them. Each company size has different needs, and as you build your business, you’ll learn the pros and cons — for you! — of each type of client. That’s how you’ll discover which is the best fit for you. Either way, think of everyone and everything as practice and learning — you are practicing on real people and learning what works best for you and for them.

• When it comes time to reach out, should I use LinkedIn, email, or something else?

The short answer is yes, yes, and yes! All of the above. There's no “right” way to contact a company, because it depends on many factors. For example, if you can see that your prospect is active on LinkedIn (posting and/or commenting recently), I would start by commenting on and sharing their posts and other content. That way, when you’re ready to invite them to connect, your name is already familiar and they will be more likely to accept your invitation. Once you’re connected, you’ll have access to their email address in the “Contact Info” section of their LinkedIn profile. Follow up right away with an email message offering your help: “Thanks so much for connecting on LinkedIn. I’ve been enjoying your content and wanted to reach out to see if you need help with case studies.”

• Who’s the right person to contact — director, VP, or someone else?

Again, it depends on the company. For instance, if you’re doing sales enablement copy, you’d want to contact someone on the sales team. For case study copywriters, the director of marketing or director of communications is usually the decision-maker. If the company doesn’t have a director of marketing, go up the chain, not down. Do they have a VP of marketing? If you can’t tell at all, go straight to the top. Reach out to the CEO or president and ask them to point you in the right direction. Then use that person as the “reference” when you reach out: “Your CEO said I should reach out to you …” That’s bound to get their attention. If they don’t hire copywriters, they’ll tell you — or dismiss any emails. And you won’t lose anything. If you contact the wrong person, they’ll tell you or forward you on. You can even ask.

Ultimately, the only way to really know if a client is a good fit is to work with them. But if you’ve gone through this vetting process step by step, it’s likely they will be.

Underlying all these tactical strategies — the how-to of it all — is one essential idea: Relationships are everything in business.

Getting clients isn’t about getting a job or getting projects — it’s about building relationships with the real people who have those projects, people who need your help. Ideally, getting clients is about working with people you genuinely want to help and with whom you genuinely enjoy working. That’s who you’re looking for, right?

Try it and let me know what happens.