Hello,

I am going to try working in public today and share with you a one-page marketing plan that I am currently drafting.

At the beginning of September I began an eight-week group coaching program, led by Austin Church, the person behind Freelance Cake. The goal, essentially, is to learn how to get out of my own way as a freelancer. At this stage of my career, I find most of the challenges I face are business related. I believe that I can continue to improve my indexing craft, but what makes the biggest difference right now is learning how to freelance better. Scaling up is difficult when I am responsible for everything, as one is in a one-person business. I need help learning and implementing how to run my business differently.

This current week is focused on marketing, or lead-gen (as in generating leads). For some reason, as Austin notes, the term lead-gen does not carry the same emotional baggage as marketing.

I have to admit that I am terrible at lead-gen. My marketing efforts have been passive for several years, relying on repeat clients and referrals. As I’ve written recently, I believe in the value of having an effective client flywheel, in which work consistently finds me through repeat clients and referrals. So on that front I am doing well and my schedule is usually full a couple of months in advance.

On the downside, I think there have been some publishers which have not returned because I lost touch with them. There are also certain subjects and types of books which I would like more of, and the most effective way to do that is to proactively seek them out.

So, in putting together a marketing plan, my goal is to build upon the client base that I already have. It is about making adjustments for the business that I want to have, rather than starting from scratch.

A One-Page Marketing Plan

The idea behind a one-page marketing plan is that it is simple and achievable. Austin recommends choosing three strategies. The goal is to consistently follow through without too much effort.

These are the three strategies that I am currently noodling.

Strategy #1: 3 R’s (Repeat business, Referrals, New Relationships)

This is the starting point that Austin recommends. It also aligns with my own experience.

As I’ve said, anecdotally most of my projects come from repeat clients and referrals. Putting that theory to the test, I tried Austin’s 20 Stories Exercise, looking at where my last twenty invoiced projects came from. About 60% of those projects came from repeat clients and 30% from referrals. The last 10% I am not sure how the client found me, which tells me that I should be proactive in asking clients. I’m guessing that last 10% found me either through referrals or my ISC/SCI and ASI profiles, though I don’t know for sure.

So, repeat work and referrals are crucial for keeping my schedule full without too much effort. My lead-gen efforts should focus on keeping repeat clients engaged, keeping referrals flowing, and converting new clients into repeat clients. To that effect:

• Write a short request for referrals, which I can drop in when I send authors my invoice.
• Create a spreadsheet of publisher clients, in which I track my last project from that client and when I last had contact. Aim to check in quarterly with the publisher if I haven’t heard from them. The goal is to remain top of mind and encourage repeat work.

Strategy #2: Cold Emails

The second part of my marketing plan is to find new clients. While I expect and want to continue working with existing clients, there are certain types of books I would like to index more of, and I need to market to publishers within those fields.

To find new clients, I need to first define the types of projects I am looking for. I then need to research likely publishers, confirm whether their books do indeed contain indexes, and find contact information. I then need to actually write and send those emails.

I like the 10-10-10 Prospecting Process that Austin recommends, though I don’t know if I need that many new prospects. Maybe I’ll start with a scaled down version. I think I’d be happy if I can pick up 2-5 new publisher clients.

Strategy #3: Continue Writing this Newsletter

My last strategy is to continue writing this newsletter. This may seem counter-intuitive, as this newsletter does not help me land new clients and projects, at least not directly. I suspect most of my author and publisher clients don’t read this (though if you do, feel free to reply and tell me I’m wrong!).

What this newsletter does do, however, is to help establish my authority as someone who knows how to index. Writing also provides me an opportunity to reflect, which helps me to improve my own craft. Better indexes, in turn, can help retain clients. The newsletter is also a way to give back to the indexing community.

So while Indexing Matters does not directly fill my schedule, I enjoy writing it and it is an important contribution to my business.

What is Not in this Plan

There are many strategies which are not in this plan. Some are simply not relevant to the type of work I do. Others I have no interest in. (TikTok, anyone? Is #IndexTok a thing?) The two which strike me as relevant, but I am choosing not to do, are social media and in-person events.

I’ve been off social media for at least a year, maybe two. I don’t miss it and am happy to stay off. Is social media a viable way to find indexing projects? Maybe. If I was to experiment, I would focus on connecting with publishers and editors on LinkedIn. But if email proves sufficient, I don’t see the need to duplicate efforts.

The second strategy I am not pursuing are in-person events and meetings. This is mainly because, with the exception of the wonderful University of Alberta Press, most of my clients are outside of Edmonton. Meeting editors in person can be a valuable way to form connections. When I lived in Vancouver, early in my freelance career, I attended a few networking events and open houses, and I continue to work would a couple of editors I met back then. If I lived in Toronto or Vancouver, I would definitely make more of an effort to attend events. Since I don’t, this strategy is not a priority.

That is my rough marketing plan. It needs some fine-tuning, to settle on frequencies and schedules and define metrics for what success looks like. I think the plan is achievable, supports what I am already doing, and is something I am likely to actually implement, which is the most important piece.

What do you think? Any holes you want to poke? What strategies work for you? Feel free to reply and let me know.

To your freelancing success,

Stephen