Get Paid to Do Your Own Marketing, Part III: Writing For Pay

Build your business with freelance writing and get paid to promote yourself.

(Shel Horowitz's Frugal Marketing Tip, June, 2001)

For my entire working life, I've made at least part of my living writing freelance magazine and newspaper articles. The wonderful thing is at least some of the time, I not only get paid for the work I do, but also get to promote my own business.

Here's an example: for the past seven years, I have covered all of the UMass Family Business Center's 8-times-a-year conferences. For this, I get a decent if not huge check, a free meal, some very nice professional education and, typically, a nice juicy blurb. Here's one from a recent issue:

"Shel Horowitz is a marketing consultant and copywriter with an international client list. The author of Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, he specializes in low-cost-high-return marketing strategies and materials development. His Down to Business magazine at http://www.frugalfun.com offers over 100 money-saving and/or business-building articles. Reach Shel at , or by phone at (413) 586-2388."

This has led to new clients over the years, and to members of the center passing my name around when they hear of someone who needs a writer. Just this week I got another call from an FBC member.

While a steady gig is very nice, there are many opportunities to publish paying articles that promote a business. Among the possibilities:

* Op-ed articles in the local newspaper
* A column in a trade journal
* Self-syndication to websites in your niche

Other than the first, which is a one-shot, some of these require a commitment to churn out your column as often as you've agreed to. But it's really not that hard. I've been doing these columns for over four years now, and am beginning to think about syndicating them to paying markets. Just run up a list of ideas, sit down, and write a few paragraphs. Read it over to make sure it's coherent, and, of course, throw your bio and contact info in at the end.

Thank you reading this back issue of Shel Horowitz's Monthly Frugal Marketing Tips, published every month since May, 1997; please click here to view the complete archives, grouped by subject. Shel is an internationally known copywriter and marketing consultant, author of Grassroots Marketing Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First and several other books, and creator of the Frugal Marketing web site. Please click here to contact Shel.


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