“I’m a contract beginner, and I can’t land purchasers regardless of the various proposals I ship to prospects,” Andrew grieves.
Lucy sighs:
“I’m a savvy freelance author with superior abilities within the area of interest, however prospects appear to overlook this level within the proposals I ship to them. Most by no means get again.”
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I nod with sympathy:
No matter expertise and background, most freelancers search for a failproof methodology to ship proposals that win purchasers. Guess what? There isn’t any. Whether or not you write customized faculty essays, craft advertising texts, or freelance on books as a ghostwriter, you’ll be able to’t persist with a single template for sending your bids.
However you’ll be able to manage it correctly to spice up your possibilities of touchdown a gig. On this article, I’ll reveal the anatomy of a successful freelance writing proposal that helps stand out within the fierce competitors of the freelance workforce.
After 10 years in artistic content material creation, I do have some insights to share on the topic.
Able to stand out as a freelancer? Right here we go!
What (Precisely!) Is a Proposal, and Why Do You Want a Killer One?
A proposal is an in depth pitch or doc a freelancer sends to prospects (corporations or particular person purchasers). It’s an instrument to introduce your self, point out your abilities, and description how they may tackle the consumer’s wants.
Confession:
Earlier than 2020, I didn’t give a rattling about proposals. I wrote texts, gathered them in a portfolio, and shared the hyperlink with potential purchasers when pitching them. Let’s face it, it was sufficient again then: I landed gigs, grew and polished my abilities, and constructed my popularity as knowledgeable content material author.
Increase!
The post-COVID period has modified the foundations of this recreation. Freelancing broke new floor and went from a facet hustle to a profession path for a lot of. Outcome? The market will get an enormous pool of expertise — freelancer inhabitants has reached over 1.5 billion individuals globally in 2024 — and turns right into a bloodthirsty hunt for purchasers.
ChatGPT and its fellow AI writers stoke the fireplace, threatening to steal a freelancer’s job, thus encouraging specialists to search for other ways to face out.
An efficient freelance proposal is your trump card to win this battle. Your human creativity, personalization abilities, and added worth are your secret weapons to make your proposal authentic and excellent.
Write a Proposal: The Construction
I’ve watched tons of video tutorials and skim myriads of articles on freelance proposal writing. Most of them point out the record of, as they are saying, “essential” (man, I hate this phrase now, because of AI and AI detectors) parts to incorporate in your proposal to make it shine.
Right here’s the record:
- Introduction: Present a concise overview of your self and your work. Right here, you’ll be able to embody your touchdown web page (when you have one) or a quick about your providers.
- Understanding the undertaking you might be making use of to: Show your understanding of their necessities and that your imaginative and prescient aligns with theirs.
- Scope of labor: Give them particulars of what you’ll ship, with all of the milestones and limitations. Present an in depth timeline of when the consumer can count on the end result.
- Strategy: Clarify the how behind your work (what methodologies and instruments you’ll use to finish the undertaking/process).
- Credentials: Spotlight that your expertise and experience are related to what your prospect is on the lookout for. Showcase your portfolio, testimonials, case research, and so on.
- Pricing: State your charges within the proposal and be clear about fee phrases.
- Contacts: Make it straightforward for the consumer to succeed in you.
I don’t see any downside with the weather themselves. All of them are important to supply to potential purchasers in order that they know in case you match their expectations and wishes. The issue is totally different:
In case you take this construction as a template and persist with it when writing your proposal, the end result will disappoint your prospects. Your pitch will look mechanical, non-genuine, and impassive.
What to do?
Take all these parts, combine them up, taste them along with your authenticity, add personalization, and put a pinch of storytelling to evoke the specified feelings in readers. People, not bots, will learn your proposals; not like bots, people are emotional; encourage the suitable feelings in a prospect — and your possibilities of successful their favor will skyrocket.
Under, I’ll share some recommendations on this.
Write a Proposal: Ideas
- Give you a catchy topic line.
- Give them worth from the beginning.
- Thoughts your tone of voice.
- Make your proposal visually interesting.
- Provide a freebie.
Give you a catchy topic line
You already know the weather of a proposal. It’s time to mix them into compelling textual content and ship it to prospects. Given the competitors, the toughest half is to make them discover your e mail within the inbox and open it.
Take a while to craft an enticing but related topic line in your proposal.
My methods:
- I begin it with an emoji, if relevant. (It relies on the consumer, the enterprise specifics, and the tone of voice they use in communication with the viewers.) A tiny emoji serves as an eye-catcher whereas scanning incoming emails.
- I construction a topic line as a query, thus evoking curiosity to open my e mail and study extra.
- I point out one thing of worth for the consumer. (Extra on that under.) Who doesn’t wish to examine what others have for his or her enterprise?
As an illustration, once I pitched publishing homes with my e book, my topic line was, “🎁 What a e book a brand new e book manuscript?” It’s catchy, intriguing, and related to what they have been on the lookout for: With the 70% open charge, it did the job!
Give them worth from the beginning
Your proposal shouldn’t be about you however what you can provide to the consumer.
What’s your USP (distinctive promoting proposition)? What units you aside from different freelancers? Is it your strategy to work, the matters you cowl, your distinctive methodology, and so on.?
Give attention to emphasizing the worth and options your experience can present to their enterprise. Present your real curiosity within the undertaking: Your proposal ought to talk your understanding of their wants and your willingness to meet them.
When showcasing your worth, again up your claims with related abilities and expertise. Boasting is tremendous (if finished proper), however they want proof of your skill to do what you promise.
My case:
Visitor running a blog helps me construct my portfolio and reveal my experience, so I typically pitch web sites to supply a complete visitor put up that can complement their content material technique. For them to see I can try this, I add a number of samples of my printed works to that proposal.
(Certain factor, these samples are on the matters related to their area of interest.)
Thoughts your tone of voice
Preserve it conversational but skilled; sound assured but heat. Steadiness is essential: Write such as you’re in a pleasant chat however showcase your experience.
My tip: Smile whereas writing. It helps keep a optimistic tone all through the message and communicates these optimistic vibes to the reader.
Don’t copy-paste one proposal template for all prospects you plan to succeed in—personalize every.
- Deal with the person wants of each consumer.
- Add private touches all through your proposal: Name the consumer by identify, reference particular factors from their communication, point out one thing about their firm, and so on.
- Finish with a name to motion to specific your eagerness to listen to suggestions.
Make your proposal visually interesting
Nobody desires or has time to learn lengthy partitions of textual content, so do your greatest to make your proposal reader-friendly at first look.
When utilizing a structure, select neat and arranged ones with clear construction and aesthetically pleasing design. When writing an e mail, persist with the foundations of internet writing:
- Brief sentences and paragraphs
- White area between paragraphs for extra comfy scan and studying
- Energetic verbs, descriptive adjectives, and up-to-point data
- In-text hyperlinks to your portfolio or different references (Some want to not open hooked up recordsdata from unknowns for safety.)
- 5-7 paragraphs most: salutation, introduction, supply, credentials, and name to motion
Provide a freebie
Consider some extras you may supply along with your proposal. For instance, a reduction in your providers or in-kind provides that may make you a extra engaging candidate.
As a content material author, I typically embody one thing of those in my proposals: designing customized photographs for the article I’ll write, importing and formatting it in WordPress, repurposing it for different channels (social media posts, SlideShare, optimizing it for search engines like google, and so forth.
Now, It’s Time to Craft Yours!
A contract proposal is your highly effective weapon for specialists prepared to face out from the competitors, construct their model, and win extra purchasers. Now that you understand how to put in writing it and have recommendations on crafting it, it’s time to follow!
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