6 Crucial Ways to Leverage Copywriting Samples to Your Best Business Advantage

When my kids were younger, they used to bring home samples of their school work on a daily basis.

Lovely cotton ball snowmen, paper plates hinged into self portraits, cups strategically glued together, filled with beans and decorated with ribbons, and paper mache masks painted with sparkly designs.

I have five children.  It wasn’t possible to keep all of their masterpieces; so we bought them each an artist’s portfolio, at the end of each year, we would sift through the piles to decide what they wanted to keep, and the most beautiful samples were framed and displayed in our home.

The kids wanted to herald to friends and family the very best representation of their genius (my word, not theirs) – the work of which they were the most proud – the pieces that would leave the most profound impression.

As freelance writers, we need to do the same thing.

Once you have even a small portfolio of samples, you should make sure that you are using it to your best business advantage.

Samples (or ‘clips’) of your copywriting are critically important in growing your business and making the best possible impression with prospective clients.

If you aren’t using your samples strategically, you are making a significant mistake as a copywriter.  But it’s never too late – here is what you need to do!

Feature samples on your website and blog

You want an About Me page that shares your story and perhaps some personal information, but I think as a professional freelance copywriter, you also want to maintain a separate and dynamic page that features your best work.

You want to update the samples regularly, 2 or 3 times a year, to make sure that they are current and diverse.

The samples featured on your website should represent a variety of skill, interest and type of client.  Even if you work in a particular niche market, it’s important to reflect adaptability and flexibility.

Use your LinkedIn page

I haven’t figured out how to upload samples directly to my LinkedIn profile (if there is a way, please someone let me know in the comments below), but you should include a direct link to the webpage that features your samples (even if this is not necessarily your website home page).

Prospective clients want to see what you are capable of.  They want to be reassured that you can churn out powerful content.

Show them.  Reassure them.

Send samples of your work to prospects via email

When I reach out to prospects, by phone or by email, I always follow up with samples.  It’s the most tangible way to represent your skills, and it can close a deal that might be teetering on the edge.

Tweet your work

When I write a white paper, a press release, a blog post or a case study for a client, whether my name has been attributed to the project or not, I always promote the work through social media.

Traffic to the site featuring your work reflects well, even if you are not being directly credited.

Use samples as internal links

If a particular clip relates to a blog post you are writing, then link to it.   It’s yet another way to get people looking at the work that you’ve done.

Use your samples as templates for future projects

Your copywriting samples comprise a library of experience.

Refer to that library; use it to generate new work.  Essentially, it’s your own personal swipe file.

I’ve written hundreds of press releases – I find it helpful to reflect on past work to change up my format, get new ideas, remind myself of which projects were best received.

Remember to always ask your client for their permission to share your work as a sample (especially in those cases when your name isn’t being attributed to the project).  There may be proprietary considerations that you should respect.

Your turn

How have you used copywriting samples to advance your business?  Do you have questions about how best to leverage the impact of your clips?  Share your thoughts and questions in the comments below.

As always, if you found this post helpful, I would be most grateful if you would use the social buttons to Tweet/Like/Share.

Tagged as: copywriting, Freelance Writing, Writing samples