Troll various boards and blogs about the business of business writing and one of the most frequent tips you’ll encounter is to “specialize.” The idea is that once you are familiar with a particular industry or market, that experience will help you win jobs with other clients in the same niche. Your existing clients can more easily provide referrals, while your familiarity with the people in that field help you find places to submit articles, join online discussions, and otherwise promote yourself to prospects similar to the clients you already know.

This is good advice. But don’t be afraid to take a shot at clients in other niches — especially if you’re willing to educate them a little along the way.

Remember, you probably got into this business because of what you can do — you are good at writing — rather than because of what you know. Even if you were originally an expert on some body of content, you made the move to writing when you realized you had a skill that many other people lack. While others break into a cold sweat at the thought of writing a few hundred words, you can pick up someone else’s knowledge and turn it into a message that makes a difference, that influences people’s decisions and actions.

And that’s where the opportunities lie. Many organizations have internal experts who design products, do research, or develop new methods and procedures. Unfortunately, many of these experts are fairly ineffective at communicating the essential attributes, and more importantly, the significant benefits of what they have created to people who aren’t already in the know. They have the knowledge, but they don’t have the skill to impart that knowledge to someone else who doesn’t already know what these experts know. Providing the skill to complete the connection to the employee or prospect is the writer’s job.

You may find, when you approach a prospect, that they want to focus on whether you have expert knowledge of their field, rather than on your communication skills. When faced with that situation:

• Ask them about the experts they have in house who will provide the details needed to produce accurate, complete content. Help them become more aware of the volume of knowledge they already have, and the expert oversight and review they can apply to the project.
• Ask them if these experts are good at explaining their work to the people who need to sell it or buy it, or otherwise apply it. Ask them what made them think they needed outside writing help in the first place.
• Point out that they probably would not hire additional experts with the same knowledge they already have for this project. That is, they would be unlikely to pay again for knowledge they already have on staff.
• Admit that the perfect combination of deep, detailed, up-to-date knowledge of a field and highly engaging and effective writing is rare. Suggest that they develop that perfect combination by combining abilities from different people. You will bring the skill component, and their internal experts will bring the necessary knowledge and oversight.
• Play up the benefits of what you do not know. You can ask the questions that a new user, a fresh prospect, or even a frustrated customer might ask, and that perspective definitely offers value to the client. (See for my article on “talking to an ignoramus” for more on this.)

You are already a specialist, in the sense that you have special skills. Combined with specialized knowledge, you can do well in a niche. But combined with the specialized knowledge already residing inside client organizations, you can do well in a wide range of markets.

© 2007 Best Training Practices — Will Kenny

With more than 20 years’ experience as a freelance content developer, Will Kenny has enjoyed long-term client relationships with national and international corporations, and local small businesses, in a wide range of industries. Will operates Best Training Practices (http://www.besttrainingpractices.com/) to help clients communicate more effectively internally and externally — and has helped both colleagues and clients deliver their messages to their audiences with greater impact.

Will has seen the client-freelancer relationship from every angle, having played the roles of corporate client, project manager with multiple subcontractors, subcontractor to other independents, and partner with other freelancers.

Visit http://www.besttrainingpractices.com/ for free articles and case studies that touch on many of the issues encountered in decades of providing business clients with powerful internal and external communications.

Tags: commercial writing, communication, copywriting, freelance, marketing, writing

Related Posts

• 5 Exciting Steps To Make Money Through Article Writing
• Time Management Skills Build Your Kash Box For Sustainable Change
• What You Should Know Before You Become A Freelance Writer
• Medical Writing - How Much Should I Charge For My Freelance Projects?
• How to Bid on Freelance Writing Jobs Through Online Marketplaces