The Difference Between Selling Projects as a Freelance Writer vs. Strategist

When scoping writing projects, the prospect often tells you what they need. 

Here’s a common example I hear:

“We want to establish ourselves as industry experts with a research-backed whitepaper on [insert topic]. Let’s keep it at 2,000 words.”

If the prospect doesn’t have that level of clarity, they’ll often say something like: 

“We need to tell more customer stories. What’s your rate and approach to creating case studies, and can you do it for us?”

In both cases, the prospect is telling you their desired outcome (industry expertise, customer stories) and way to get there (ebook, case studies). 

It’s not so clear with content strategy. 

With content strategy, the prospect doesn’t know what the solution is. They only know the challenge they’re facing. 

We’re creating a ton of content but none of it is gaining traction. What’s the right content to create?

We want to be thought leaders. How do we do that? 

Companies have never heard of us, and so they don’t trust our sales team. What kind of content could help?

That’s why they want a content strategist! They need help finding their solution.

This requires a different selling process — admittedly a big change. And lots of people are navigating it. I hear often from writers starting to sell strategy:

• “I’m struggling with shifting to articulating the transformation.”

• “I’ve always been primarily a writer and more of an order taker.”

• “How do I feel confident in my approach that I sell?”

It all starts with a mindshift. 

Rather than… “I will deliver them the proposal they’ve asked for.”

Ask yourself… “How can I learn enough about their challenge to sketch out how I’d go about solving it?”

It’s a simple question.

But it’s enough to spark a radical change in how you sell your services.