About a month ago, I posted on LinkedIn about how I find my clients, and the response was great.
People clearly want to know from other writers how to get clients – and rightly so. Let’s keep building each other up! For context, I am an experienced medical and health writer (and freelance writing mentor), with clients ranging from PR and communications agencies, to pharma and medical device companies, to charities and membership bodies, to small businesses and start-ups.
Uninterrupted time on a two-hour flight had given me the perfect opportunity to clean up my 2024 client tracker. And, to delve into where my best existing clients and pipeline leads have come from. I find it incredibly useful to see these data, so I know where to focus my future marketing efforts (More on what lives in my client tracker in a later blog!).
I hope this information might also help you know how to become a medical writer.
My clients and leads
Current clients
I am actively working with six clients or have done in 2024. Three of these are personal connections, two came from LinkedIn (inbound leads) and one came from a Facebook group for female freelancers (I pitched), called No 1 Freelance Media Women.
Warm leads
I have three more warm leads that I have pitched to or who have recently reached out to me regarding availability. One is a personal connection, one from LinkedIn (inbound lead) and one from the same Facebook group as above (I pitched).
Other clients
There are 15 more clients that I have either worked for in the past 2 years (since I started my business), or I’ve spoken to but haven’t worked for. These leads have come from personal connections, LinkedIn inbound leads, Facebook groups, my business website, and recommendations / referrals.
NB: This does not include any connections with recruiters (while I happily take these calls, they rarely lead to jobs for me. I tend to work with several clients at once on a project-by-project basis or on a retainer agreement, and often jobs via recruiters want a commitment to one single contract, which doesn’t work for me.)
Where my clients have come from, in order:
1. Personal connections – direct and indirect, including people I worked with in agency land, friends of friends, and recommendations
2. LinkedIn – so far, always inbound
3. Facebook groups – I have replied to advertisements for freelance roles and pitched my skills.
What does this mean for you on how to get clients as a freelance writer?
A few things to note:
- Personal connections are key! Even if you don’t think you have any, you can still utilise the personal approach by asking existing clients, ex colleagues, friends or even people you’ve connected with on social media to recommend you. I have found this works wonders.
- So far I had only ever had two leads from my website contact form. In fact, it was mostly a HUGE spam-magnet (I can’t be the only one?). It’s often hard to sift through the rubbish to find ‘real’ emails from actual people. Still, I find my website to be invaluable, as a static CV / portfolio, and as a home for my blog. I’ve since then received additional leads since I have invested in optimising my website for SEO with the help of other freelancers.
- Facebook might seem old school, but I’ve had several leads from groups that have turned into great partnerships. These Facebook groups also serve as a community (important for a home-working freelancer), with plenty of learning opportunities to boot.
- I’ve never had a single writing lead from Instagram (my clients don’t hang out on IG), so now I focus my Instagram usage on mentoring other freelance writers and promoting my mentoring offers.
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Thank you for reading this far. Was it helpful? What’s working for your business? Drop me a line!
- Did you know I also offer limited one-to-one mentoring? If you’re interested in talking through more top tips from a health writer with a decade of experience, get in touch!
- Take a look at my previous blog on how to start building a successful freelance writing portfolio.
