What freelancer doesn’t want their freelance writing business to thrive?
That’s why you most likely decided to become a freelancer in the first place, right? To do your thing and make a sustainable income supporting yourself and possibly others.
Maybe you left a soul-crushing job, or it’s a part-time side hustle for now.
Either way, if you’re anything like me, you want to make your freelance writing career work and have plenty of freelance writing jobs in the pipeline at all times.
Understanding content marketing is crucial to making these dreams come true.
Not only do you need to understand it, but you’ve got to be able to provide content marketing solutions that yield results with your writing.
Whether I’m working on blog posts, social media posts, or newsletters with clients, here’s what I do to stand out, from formulating their content strategy to executing high-quality content. (And you can, too.)
Table of Contents:
What is a content marketing service?
Content marketing services are a mix of long-form content (blogs, articles, white papers, podcasts, newsletters) and shorter-form types (social posts, at-a-glance videos) that provide helpful and relevant information to your target audience.
Every content marketing strategy I’ve worked on has had a mix of content channels and content types (long and short form). I haven’t seen where one content type and channel entirely moves the needle on what the business is trying to accomplish. Instead, all forms play off of one another and meet the target audience where they like best to consume content.
Even with my content marketing strategy targeting content writers and freelancers, I’ve narrowed it down to 3 content channels. After all, I’m a one-woman show and can’t be everywhere online while also doing client work…raising my kids…and doing all that other “life stuff.”
Maybe some of you are doing only some content marketing services or a mix of them for clients. Regardless, there are always ways to improve and help you grow your skillset.
Understand the Business Goals
Before jumping into what topics to write about, you’ve got to know what the business is trying to accomplish.
Do they need to increase organic traffic?
Do conversions need to improve for revenue growth?
Does their subscriber list need to grow?
The business may have several goals it wants to achieve with its content marketing efforts. But to get started, my suggestion is to narrow it down to the top two.
Step 1: Fine-Tune Your Research Processes
The quality of the content you produce depends on the research quality.
This often means purposely being diverse in what you examine and taking the necessary time during this discovery period to build a firm foundation for your content strategy.
Audience research
After getting clarity around the business goals, next in my mind is wrapping your head around the target audience, you get to serve with your content.
And sometimes, there is more than 1 audience.
When this happens, you need to understand who the primary and secondary audiences are.
You want your content to be mainly directed at the primary audience. As you guessed, secondary audiences still get addressed, just not to the same degree as your primary audience.
Anyone with more than three audiences makes me wonder if they’re trying to talk to too many people and end up talking to no one specifically. (This is not good.)
Whether you’re talking to one audience or a couple, you have to have a snapshot of who you’re talking to in your head. This helps you connect more with your content.
For example, a B2C client I worked with sold a minimal diaper bag fanny pack that could also be worn as a crossbody bag. The primary audience is moms needing a smaller and more convenient diaper bag option, while a secondary audience is women (with no kids) who love carrying the smaller bag.
I could see the mom in my head with a tiny baby or toddler, trying to run errands, juggle a car seat, and needing that hands-free smaller diaper bag. I’m a mom, so the visual came pretty naturally.
Then, with the secondary audience of women needing a smaller hands-free bag, I could see her, too, going to festivals, flea markets, and out on a date night.
Understanding who I was talking to while creating content helped me tap into the emotional stories that would resonate with them most.
Content audit
After identifying the audience, the content audit will follow. You’ll be taking inventory of the client’s current content.
And this could be for anything online ranging from:
- Website pages
- Blog posts
- Videos
- Social Posts
- Newsletters
There’s more, but the above is what I look at the most.
You have to understand what content is being created today and, ultimately, how it’s performing. You need to know historically what’s been done, giving them online visibility.
Does your client have a website? If so, what’s the organic traffic like?
Do they have a blog? If so, what articles are getting all the attention?
Google Analytics (GA) and Google Search Console (GSC) are the two foundational places I go to first when working with clients who have a website presence.
When it comes to focusing more on social media, you can pay attention to impressions, reposts, comments, and conversations in the DMs. (Likes/Loves/Celebrate are some of those vanity metrics that don’t say much. Be cautious about getting too wrapped up in these!)
Competitor analysis
An important question for your client is, “Who are your top 3 competitors, or who in your industry do you think is doing content creation well?”
This gives you the focus you need to start digging.
Like with the content audit, you’re looking at similar things (websites, blogs, social posts, etc.), but this time, it’s with your competitors to evaluate where their focus is with content and what kind of responses they are getting from their audience.
Great nuggets can be found in the comments on their social media posts or in the reviews if they sell a product. Typically, reviews on their website are positive, so I recommend looking at other online retailers to get a healthier, well-rounded perspective.
The goal is to identify potential pain points your shared customers have and whether you should consider any existing content topics or gaps for your content strategy development.
SEO keyword research
Search engine optimization (SEO) research is also essential. You can create content all day, but who will find it if content optimization isn’t happening? (Not as many as if you incorporated SEO best practices – guaranteed!)
When you have a strong understanding of the historical content performing well on search engines, what your competition is doing, and aligning that back to the business goals, you can begin to see how long-tail keywords can be integrated into blog content and website copy.
SEO research can be pretty extensive.
There’s a process you can follow when doing a SEO audit to help increase website traffic, or you can also get clues on how to optimize a blog post with a Google search.
I’ve also used paid keyword search tools like Semrush, Ahref, and Surfer SEO. Some of these plans also offer free 7-week trials.
My point is that SEO research is a step you don’t want to skip in the research process, especially if your content marketing services revolve around blog posts and website content.
Step 2: Deliver Crystal-Clear Content Plans
Once you have a nice picture of the research, it’s about formulating a plan.
This is when you can organize your content strategy into a content calendar that’s easy to follow.
The key components I like to show across a 1-month view per day are:
- General topic
- Intended audience (If I’m dealing with more than 1)
- CTA
Then, I typically color-code it according to the content channel (blog post, newsletter, LinkedIn post, FB post, etc.) for a quick eye-scan view.
The calendar isn’t where I go into detail about the social post, newsletter, or blog post. The full content is provided in a separate Google doc, which can be easily shared with the client to read, review, and provide suggested edits.
In my experience, this helps keep you honest about the type of content you should create to ensure you’re focusing enough on what will help you meet your client’s goals.
If driving organic traffic to your website is the most important thing, you should see at least one SEO blog post per week and multiple social posts that drive traffic back to your website around the topics you’re writing about.
If you want more leads, the content on your social media platforms should highlight the value you deliver and easily direct users to contact you to discuss further. There should also be an additional strategy for boosting engagement with comments and sending DMs.
Your calendar is your gut check if you’re staying true to the business goals and thinking through the different content channels correctly.
Step 3: Execute Content Audiences Crave
Once you have a solid content plan, you can apply your writing skills to create high-quality content your audience will love.
The goal is to keep them wanting to come back for more.
This is where your storytelling and SEO skills merge to create content that resonates and helps prompt the desired action you want your reader to take. It’s also important to consider the platform and specific best practices (they all vary a little).
Pain points should be apparent, and there should be more “showing,” not just “telling,” of what you can do to provide solutions.
And remember, you’ve already done the hard part of understanding who you’re writing for, your audience’s challenges, and what topics make the most sense to serve the audience and your client’s business goals.
Create, edit, edit again, and deliver content ahead of schedule if possible.
Step 4: Analyze and Optimize Post-Launch
Freelance writers who want to take their skills to another level also circle back with the client, pointing out what went well and what they need to do to make impactful changes for future content.
This is the transformation from the “writer” mindset to the “analyst” mindset.
I often find this to be one of the extra steps that can convert a client from a one-off project to a retainer client.
Why is that?
You demonstrate that you care about the results and can understand the next steps needed to improve them.
This process entails looking at the data. And here are just a few examples…
With blog posts, how are they doing after 3-6 months of being live on your site?
- You can start with the top ones already attracting the most attention and look at other competing articles on page 1 of Google to determine what else in terms of value you can add to boost them further up on the page.
- Then, move on to content currently on pages 2 or 3 of Google. Can you also include any other vital H2s or H3s? Can you add other videos or expert quotes to help you stand out?
With social posts for the past 1-3 months, which are getting the highest impressions and engagement?
- Check out the content type. Does one format (video for example) get more attention than another (text and image posts for example).
- Which posts get more reposts than others?
Once the content is published, the job isn’t done.
It’s all about analyzing the data and identifying patterns your audience is trying to tell you so you can create more of what resonates and less of what doesn’t.
Never Stop Learning as a Freelance Writer
Outside of life’s demands and client work, there’s also the need to read and learn constantly.
You can’t improve if you don’t take action to consume other content. But do it at a pace that’s digestible and not overwhelming.
Personally, I can get caught up in everything I think I need to consume (books, podcasts, newsletters, articles, courses), and the push to constantly learn can lead to burnout. My recommendation is to do it in small doses throughout your week.
Find experts in the field you’re naturally drawn to on social media and online, and follow them. Subscribe to their newsletter, listen to their podcast, or binge their blog posts and free resources. (Here are freelance writer resources and tools I use today.) But sneak it in small windows – 30 minutes before bed is working for me.
Attend a conference. I had some amazing takeaways at CEX(Content Entrepreneur Expo) this year in Cleveland, OH, and met great friends I initially met on LinkedIn.
To continue developing an edge that makes you different with your content marketing services, push yourself to make time to learn and connect with others.
Your Content Marketing Services Can Always Be Improved
As a freelance writer, continue strengthening your processes, from thoroughly considering the strategy to delivering high-quality content.
- Know the business goals
- Thoroughly research existing content, competitors, your audience, and SEO
- Communicate a clear plan of what content needs to be created
- Deliver on creating content the audience will love and crave
- Analyze performance after it goes live and what tweaks need to be made for the future
This, paired with exceptional customer service skills, will create a client experience impossible to forget.
