Another writer recently told me his marketing suffered from “paralysis of analysis.” He wanted marketing strategies that didn’t require a ton of thought.

Frankly, that’s how I see marketing anyway.

Lori Widmer

Maybe it’s the word. “Marketing” sounds ominous and complicated, like one of those torturous processes that corporations labor over for months to produce a few pages of strategy. Perhaps corporations need that process. However, for freelance writers, it needn’t be so tedious.

Maybe you suffer from that same paralysis as my writer friend, or are just bored with your current methods. If so, try adding one or more of these strategies to your marketing efforts:

1. Plan it. Choose how many clients you’re going to contact. Make it a number that feels manageable to get in touch with on any given day. The next day, contact that same number. Repeat this every work day. If you find you’re able to contact more clients than you originally thought, do it. The idea is to do something every day to expand your client list.

2. Suggest new projects. If you’ve worked with certain clients for years providing a specific service or product, suggest adding another service. Blogs, newsletters, and sales letters are just a few ways writers and editors can add to what they provide to increase their earnings. Create a sales package of everything you offer and present it to a client, showing how additional services or products can help them improve their businesses or lives.

3. Follow up. All those marketing pieces you sent out a month ago are useless unless you follow up. Get in touch with those contacts. Say hello, repeat your offer, send them a relevant article, or just ask what they need and how you can help. They may not need your services, but you won’t know if you don’t ask.

4. Target potential clients that resemble your existing clients. Not every client you’ll have will fit into the same box. For that reason, brainstorm where to direct your next marketing efforts. Look for potential clients that share similarities with companies you already do work for. If you work with doctors’ offices now, check out health-care suppliers. If a group of potential clients has similar needs, your chances of securing business increase.

5. Create several points of contact. Keeping your name in front of clients even when you’re not marketing to them directly can boost your business, too. Whom will your clients remember – the person who sent them a brochure, or the person they interact with every week on social media sites? Brush off your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ accounts and use them to get in touch with clients by sharing links, stories and ideas.

Inefficient marketing comes from lack of regular application. If you’re consistent with whatever methods you choose, you will see results.

What are your obstacles to consistent marketing?

Standing up for writers – Today is the 2nd Annual Writers Worth Day. Lori Widmer, a Valley Forge, Pa., writer, dreamed up the campaign to help writers and other freelancers do a better job negotiating fees and standing up themselves. I’m down with that. As I’ve said here before, writing for free is not a business model.

Write On! Query contest – The southern California-based Write On! writers’ support group led by veteran freelancer Debra Eckerling is sponsoring a query contest with winners in screenplay, teleplay, fiction and non-fiction categories. First prize in each category is the opportunity to have a literary agent read your query, plus an iScript recording of the project and Save the Cat software.  Second and third prizes will be given in each category too. Entries are due by June 22 and winners will be announced July 7. Visit the website for more details.

Reporters go online, bloggers go to class – Membership in the Online News Association is up by a third this year as more old-school journalists retrain themselves in News 2.0, according to this Poynter Online report. Meanwhile, traditional journalism groups are changing their policies to allow bloggers and citizen journalists working in non-traditional media outlets to become members or take part in conventions and seminars.

Micropayments anyone? The Wall Street Journal will introduce a micropayment system this fall for individual articles and premium subscribes to its website, according to this Reuters piece. Good thing it’s the WSJ doing the experimenting. According to PaidContent.org, a new study on what news readers will pay for says beyond financial info, it ain’t much.

2009 Loeb Award finalists announced – UCLA Anderson School of Management’s Gerald Loeb Awards are awarded to the year’s best business news stories. Winners will be announced June 29. The bad economy, real estate industry meltdown and collapse of prestigious Wall Street firms figured heavily in this year’s competition.

Emailing in your blog posts – WordPress bloggers can now post new material to their blogs via email. The blogging software company rolled out a new feature this week that lets people post new material from an iPhone, Microsoft Outlook or anywhere else you can send email.

Twitter tools for journalists and writers:

• Tinker - This app claims to let you follow events people are talking about on Twitter or Facebook.
• 7 tips on using hash tags – From Erik Sherman’s WriterBiz blog.