I Just Landed a New Copy Client

I just landed a new copywriting client.

But I didn’t even want one.

What do you mean you didn’t want a client, Brandon?

I have enough copywriting clients on retainers that I’m happy with.

And I’ve got my copywriting students which is a bigger focus for me now.

I don’t need more clients. I make six figures per year and having free time and flexibility to be with my wife and kids matters more to me.

But…

I closed a client anyway.

Here’s what happened (keep reading if you’re struggling to land clients)...

So a few weeks ago I was at a friend’s Christmas dinner party.

It was me, my wife, my 3-year-old daughter and 1.5-year-old daughter.

My two friends.

And about 20 other people there I didn’t know.

So I grab a spot to sit down.

And a lady sits across from me.

I recognize her.

I’ve seen her before…?

That’s right.

I’ve seen her online. 

She’s a journalist and has a daily broadcast - her own show on YouTube and other platforms.

We get to talking. It turns out she had a partnership with a legit broadcasting company on TV but she just walked away for various reasons.

So I asked, “So you’re probably trying to figure out how to distribute your show then, right?”

‘Yeah, exactly. I don’t know what I’m going to do.’

“Where do you stream it? How many viewers? How many followers and YouTube subscribers?”

She has an audience of about 300,000 followers.

And then I found it.

My next question helped me figure out her problem instantly

“How many email subscribers do you have?”

‘About 7,000.’

“Well, that’s a problem.”

‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

“Your email subscriber to follower ratio is way too low.”

I opened up my iPhone calculator for some quick math.

“Only 2.3% of your followers are subscribed to your emails. That should be at least 5-10%. With an audience of your size, you should have at least 15,000-30,000 email subscribers.”

“This is a problem because you could be kicked off these social platforms any time. If your YouTube gets shut down, there goes ⅓ of your audience overnight. You need to mitigate that risk by getting your show viewers onto your email list. It’s the only true way to own your audience.”

So… she asked what I recommend she do

So I gave her a ton of advice from switching platforms (she was on Mailchimp) to how to promote her email list, and some other tips.

Remember…

I’m NOT trying to land copywriting clients (I’ve got enough and getting more is not my goal right now).

I’m at a Christmas dinner with my wife and kids and we’re there to have fun and relax.

But… my brain is wired to copywriting and marketing. I just can’t help myself if I see someone in need.

Next thing I know, she’s pitching me

Asking me to meet again.

Saying she’ll pay me for my time.

I want to help her, so I agreed to a meeting to give her some more advice on her copy and marketing. But told her she’s not paying me a thing.

So, I wrote up an audit. All the things I could see wrong with her copy and marketing. Threw it into a Google Doc. And showed her what I found during our meeting and some recommendations on how she can improve things.

After our meeting, she was demanding to pay me… again.

I still said no, and she sent me $300 for my time.

She liked what I had to say at the meeting so she pitched me for ongoing copy and marketing help.

So, I created a couple packages, and she picked one

Cilent landed.

So, what’s the lesson here?

There’s a ton here I could dive into (I’ll share some more lessons from this particular acquisition in the future).

But for now…

Let’s break down 10 steps I took to land her:

1. I found a business owner (mind you, random circumstances).

2. I found out their goal (distribute their show, reach, growth).

3. I found a main problem that I can help with (small email list size).

4. I explained why it’s a problem and is in the way of her goals (social media is an owned audience while email isn’t).

5. I gave her a bunch of free tips on what she should do.

6. I audited her business with more tips.

7. We met again in a “proper” setting where I presented my findings and recommendations.

8. She liked what I had to say so she asked me to work with her.

9. I created some packages to work together.

10.  She picked one.

Why did this work?

Because…

This is the “Sniper Bomb” strategy

I just did it in real life rather than the online world.

#1 Sniper: I first was picky in who I was targeting (I qualified her during our Christmas dinner talk to get a feel for the size of her company, estimated revenue, and also just felt out what she’d be like to work with).

#2 Bomb: I then dropped a value bomb on her. A ton of free, helpful advice. I actually dropped two value bombs. One at the Christmas dinner and a bigger one during our meeting.

Sniper Bomb.

Apart from getting referrals sent my way…

This was one of the easiest clients I’ve ever landed.

She was practically begging ME to work with her.

And she wasn’t just talking the talk.

She found a way to pay me for my time even when I refused.

The funny part?

While most people are scrounging around trying to figure out their “portfolio” or “website” to present to prospects…

I didn’t show her a single portfolio piece, case study, website, or ANYTHING

She doesn’t even know any of my results for clients. I could be brand new for all she knows.

You don’t need any of that to land high ticket clients.

If you’re struggling to land copywriting clients, the issue isn’t that copywriting doesn’t work or it’s saturated.

You’re simply just not outreaching with the right strategy.

Mass cold emails and mass cold DMs don’t work anymore.

Freelance marketplaces can’t be relied on as a primary means of landing clients.

Focusing on inbound clients via social media is a good way to waste your time thinking you’re “building your personal brand” when you’re really just writing tweets and Threads for $0.

If your outreach system is broken, it doesn’t matter how good you are at writing copy…

You need to rely on a system that works.

And the most effective system is the Sniper Bomb.

You’re probably thinking…

But you’ve been doing this for years, Brandon. That’s why you landed this new client.

It doesn’t matter. You can get good enough in a few weeks at copy to use this same strategy (you’ll see some of my students below who did it in one month).

Okay, but you did this OFFLINE. I want to land clients online.

Also, it doesn’t matter. My Sniper Bomb system applies offline and online. I teach specific ways to build trust quickly online to warm people up to you.

Only 5 tickets left to my Sniper Bomb Workshop

I’ve got a workshop coming up in 4 days.

A live training to teach you this exact system.

The same one that helped me quit my job in 3 months, hit $5,000/month in 7 months, hit $9,000/month in 12 months…

And the same system my copywriting students are using (that’s getting ~70% of them their first client in one month as brand new copywriters):

• Like Maiia who got hers on day 5 (and two more by day 30).

• Like Chase who got his first two within 30 days.

• Like Davide who got his first on day 16.

• Like Jite who got his first on day 18.

• Like Dane who got his on day 31.

Or like Jonas who, within 30 days, got a $2,000 monthly email copy retainer as his first client – and then landed a second client 15 days later.

The workshop is January 18, 2025 at 1 pm EST.

It’ll be 90 mins: 60 mins of teaching you this system, 30 mins of open Q&A to get all your questions answered.

The goal?

Get your first (or next) copywriting client in 30 days

And you’ll get two bonuses after the workshop:

1. You’ll get a recording of the workshop.

2. Google Doc of the Sniper Bomb blueprint so you have a step-by-step you can follow as you land your first client.

Get your ticket now (only 5 left). Doors close in 3 days.

-Brandon “new year, new client” Storey

P.S. My coaching students pay me $1,000s for this exact system that you’ll learn on Saturday. I’ve never offered anything for this low of a price before. 

If you’ve been struggling to get your first client (or just don’t even know where to start)…

And you’re on the fence, thinking about investing in your copy education, but aren’t ready to fork out thousands for coaching…

This is a steal of a deal that you won’t want to miss.

Grab a ticket here before they’re gone.

P.P.S. Wondering why I took on the client when I didn’t want new copy clients?

I like her content, believe in her mission, and working with her on this project looks fun. Plus, I only offered packages that work around my schedule. This is where you can take your business as a copywriter - to have that freedom of choice to only work on the things you want to, when you want to. The Sniper Bomb strategy will take you there.