Using LinkedIn to Find High-Paying Freelance Copywriting Clients

There are tons of articles online listing every possible way to find freelance clients. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in business, it’s to see what works and double down on it. For me, that was LinkedIn. 

LinkedIn is your best friend when it comes to landing B2B clients. It's the fourth most popular social network in the world, with over 450 million members.

As a freelance copywriter, cold outreach is the best way to land more meetings and convert those into quality, long-term clients. Many copywriters will tell you to use email for cold pitching, but I never did and I don’t think you need to either. 

You’re not alone if you feel overwhelmed at the prospect of messaging strangers. Cold outreach can be intimidating. When I sent my first cold message, I was so self-conscious. But...

Succeeding in cold outreach requires you to reframe your thinking. Remember, you’re a copywriter, not a telemarketer! You provide a tangible service that most marketers are in need of. Why should you feel guilty reaching out to let them know? 

Make your LinkedIn profile sell for you

If done correctly, your LinkedIn profile can do most of the selling on your behalf.

Over 50% of a buyer's decision is made before they connect with the person who will provide them with the goods or services they need. This makes LinkedIn one of your most valuable marketing tools.

Your LinkedIn profile is one of the easiest ways for clients to find YOU.

While it will take a lot of cold outreach on your part in the beginning, clients will eventually start coming if your profile is optimized with the right keywords. 

In my free guide, A Step by Step Roadmap for Getting Started as a Freelance Copywriter, I explain how to create your LinkedIn profile and increase your chances of being found.

Soon, you’ll start receiving messages like these:

The advantages of social selling

Since many aspiring copywriters have no sales experience, LinkedIn for social selling can a breath of fresh air. It doesn't feel as “spammy” as cold emailing.

LinkedIn lets you engage clients in more authentic ways. For example, instead of sending follow-up messages, you can "like" or comment on activities to remain on their radars. Who doesn’t like receiving engagement on their posts?

In contrast to a wall of text in an email, your prospect will immediately see your complete LinkedIn profile, increasing your visibility. Plus, LinkedIn is more personal than getting an email.

Start with a connection invitation

If the person you’re targeting is not already part of your network, you should send them a connection invitation. LinkedIn gives you the option of leaving the invitation blank or using their generic message. Always add a note!

Remember: YOU MUST PERSONALIZE YOUR INVITATION!

Your connection invitation will be their first impression of you.

LinkedIn messaging best practices

• Always address them by their first name and spell it correctly.
• Start by explaining why you’re sending them an invitation.
• Explain why you’d be a good fit (ie: you’re a copywriter that focuses on their niche.)
• Some info about them or their company to personalizes your message and proves you aren’t sending templated messages.

It’s better to write a concise and informative message than to sound overly formal. So long as there are no typos, a concise and friendly message is fine.

Just make sure you're direct about why you're contacting them in the first place.

Your message will cut through the noise of all the robotic-sounding messages they get daily!

Sending messages on LinkedIn

Once you’ve sent an invite with the initial message enclosed, you can begin regular messaging. 

The main difference between your invitation message and the next one you send is that the second message should include a call to action (CTA).

A CTA is one or two sentences that ask the prospect to take action. In other words, your “ask” is to move the conversation further through email and schedule a call.

CTAs are not aggressive, they don’t ask for the business outright, and they're usually low commitment.

*Note: LinkedIn offers paid versions of their service that gives you access to a feature called InMail. InMail allows you to by-pass the invitation stage and message people right away. If you’re just starting out on LinkedIn and still need to grow your network, sign up for the free trial of Sales Navigator.

Organic interactions on LinkedIn

LinkedIn isn’t just about cold messaging. It offers other ways to interact with clients.

Make a habit of browsing your LinkedIn feed once a day for less than 15 minutes to spot opportunities.

Mix it up and look for opportunities to interact with clients organically (ie: liking and commenting) instead of directly messaging them.

I gained one of my best long-term clients by reacting to their post about expanding their marketing team. And the post didn’t say anything about needing a copywriter!

In my guide to cold outreach I share a screenshot of the exact message I sent.

Example of the types of posts you’ll begin to see on your feed as you grow your network: 

Last but not least, sign up for job alerts. 

You can have freelance copywriting jobs sent straight to your inbox by signing up for LinkedIn job alerts.

While there are other job sites like Indeed that have this email alert feature, LinkedIn has several advantages: 

• Your resume will already be uploaded onto LinkedIn so you can apply with one click.
• Your profile is sent directly to recruiters helping you to stand out.
• You can see how many people applied. Sometimes it’s not worth it to apply to a job that has over 300 applicants.

Final words on LinkedIn 

If you’re not on LinkedIn, get on there ASAP!

I know how intimidating it can be when you’re starting from scratch, but every single person on there started from 0 at some point. 

You’re more than capable. You got this!