How do I land the first B2B client?

SamWriterr,

Who's your ideal customer? Well, let me use a case example for this post ...

>> Let's say you're planning to serve US east coast cyber network security development firms that want more leads from the following customer groups across the USA:

* Small to medium providers and aggregators of online credit card payment processing platforms for US-based telesales centers; and

* Start-up providers of bitcoin escrow SAAS platforms for US-based online bitcoin retailers and trade networks ...

With that example target clientele base -- I'll say your ideal prospects are the following:

>> Marketing VPs, Web property managers, sales executives and other decision makers in the relevant departments of those cyber network security development firms ...

Regarding the emails that you send out -- What's in it for your target prospects?

>> I suspect they get a lot of marketing emails for lead generation-related products and services; and

I also doubt many of those emails manage to go through their spam filters --

>> After all, in this case example, they're cyber network security development firms (well, the prospects that you're currently targeting might also be using security products and services from similar firms) ...

I don't think so. My tests point out that cold emails (LinkedIn InMails in my case) work well for service offers that B2B prospects already know for sure and have already tested to generate leads for them ...

>> These include inbound call generation and telesales, whitehat SEO, multimedia marketing and advertising services ...

Also, I think many of your prospects in this case example are people who are more familiar with phone appointments, video conferences and face to face presentations when deciding to acquire products and services that are relatively new to them ...

Hmmm... I think you can try developing and promoting some white papers for the target customers of your ideal prospects ...

>> In my case example, that'd be white papers about the following things:

* The latest variants, stats and news-worthy info about cyber fraud in the USA;
* How and why this especially affects small to medium US-based Web gateway and virtual terminal providers as well as their US-based merchants;
* Specific cyber fraud cases where these groups suffered the most in recent months / years; and
* Verifiable results of tests done by certain groups where the most advanced technologies, systems and processes today were implemented to fight the latest variants and iterations of cyber fraud targeted against these groups ...

>> And, for promoting these, I'd make sure to do the following things:

* Create separate landing pages to download these white papers via an opt-in;

* Make sure that viewrs of these landing pages (as well as recipients of my opt-in welcome emails and follow-up emails) know the benefits they can get from the B2B white paper writing and promotional services that I'm currently offering;

* Share and advertise content with links to these landing pages across all relevant online services (Google for example) and social media channels where my target audience hangs out;

* Make sure to include in these white papers citations to relevant influencers, significant media outlets and to some of my prospects;

* Reach out to these influencers, media outlets and target prospects to inform them about their inclusion in my white papers - I'm inclined to do this via LinkedIn InMails, insightful comments in relevant posts on their blogs / sites / social media pages / Tweets / Youtube videos / etc.;

* Write and promote posts in my own blog and social media pages to include certain facts and relevant findings from my white papers, in which these posts have effective CTA links that point to my landing pages for my white paper downloads; and

* Create, distribute and promote news / PR materials that announce the publication of my white papers across relevant news media outlets where my target audience goes to know the latest news about significant industries and markets ...

I don't think doing all this can give you a quick and easy means to pay your bills ...

>> BUT ...

I believe this'll keep you busy and could most likely help build a sustainable business for you ...

Hope this helps!

Hi,

Your main motivation seems to be to get enough work to be paid as soon as possible. I think this might be a sticking point.

If you're heading out and contacting people by email only you are limiting yourself somewhat.

I would be contacting colleagues, past clients, people you may know that can be referred who might need your service.. in short, use any and every possible contact you may have before you start cold calling... you will probably get a better return this way and having someone you know will be a great starting point.

Are you networking? I would start attending networking events and sharing your services offering to people within circles who need your service. Standing in front of people and offering this is a great way to showcase your product.

Have you approached previous companies you have worked for to see if they need any white papers written, using your existing contact base is way easier than going out cold without a lead and if you are going to make contact email a few examples of your work and follow up with a phone call or meeting.

At the end of the day, if you are desperate to earn cash to pay the bills your prospective clients are going to smell the desperation and you should probably find alternative ways to bring in cash in the meantime like freelancing.

While there are demands for white papers online, you may need to offer a range of skills and services, not specifically just the one to fill the gap while you are building up your database of clients.

Just because you have built your website, doesn't necessarily mean they will come. You do need to get out there and mix up your marketing strategies a little.

Instead of cold mailing thru the linkedIn email invest in getting noticed in LinkedIn publishing. Publish a quality post then tweet the link to your post with “tip @LinkedInPulse” with a short description of your article. If the LinkedIn team likes the quality of your work they can help your post get featured in one of the popular channels and their regular 'pulse' emails---giving you more exposure to decision-makers.

Sam the easiest way to land a client is to snail mail a letter to companies that use white papers. If the company writes a lot of white papers you could bet that they have a staff of writers. Don't let this sway you from not sending a letter to the company because sometimes companies will use a freelance writer for special assignments.

You could call a certain company and ask if they use freelance writers, get contact info, to the person that makes the decisions. I wouldn't email simply because it may get filtered into spam or considered spam.
Need more help let me know.

Marx and AussieCoz gave you some excellent advice.

My thought is that, if you want to sell a white paper service, you might do well to borrow a common piece of advice I got in MLM days. "Be a product of the product". In other words, while pursuing networking and other options, make you cold emails a softer offer - write a white paper about marketing with white papers, and offer it for free. When they get to the landing page, they get the 'executive summary' and an excerpt right on the page, no strings attached. For the price of an email, they get the whole white paper and the option to get more valuable info dripped to them.

You might also consider something I heard Perry Marshall talk about in one of his books. When he started his marketing business, he paired up with a business in his industry (happened to be his old employer) to write and place articles in industry publications. The company got the leads, and Perry got paid for every article he placed, along with his name as the author. Gave him a huge amount of street cred when talking to other potential clients.

Could you partner with someone in your target industry, and write/distribute a white paper for them (while getting paid per download - cash flow)?

You may even find the DFY service to be very lucrative, and something you could scale later.