Free press releases (also known as press releases, public relations pieces) are a great way to promote a freelance writing business. As a freelance writer since 1993, here’s how and why I use them.

How I Use Free PR To Grow My Freelance Writing Business

Obviously, a press release is designed to capture the attention of the media. But, that’s not the main reason freelance writers should use them. I’ve been a freelance writer since 1993 and I think there are three best reasons to use this form of marketing to land writing jobs.

(i) They are content optimized for search engines that generate traffic: Press releases are just content. And, any type of content written with SEO in mind and published on the web can generate traffic.

You see, when search engines crawl a site, they don’t care if it’s a free PR distribution site, a blog, a news site, etc. They index the content – period. So when you write them, write with SEO in mind, which will help increase traffic to your freelance writing website.

For your information, these are known as “SEO press releases.”

(ii) Use press releases as sample writing to attract high paying clients: The PR pieces you write can double as writing samples. With these little friends in your writing portfolio, you can get more paying clients, especially if you know how to write and distribute them.

For example, my fee for this type of writing is $195. If you know what you’re doing, you can write one in a couple of hours or less. Imagine doing just two of these a day?

It’s not a miserable life as a freelance writer, is it?

(iii) Bring prestige to your copywriting business: Being quoted in a press release gives your business prestige. To get the most out of what you write, post it on a “Media” page on your site.

When prospects arrive, they’ll be impressed by the fact that you even have a “Media” page.

Subconsciously, this increases your value in their eyes because it identifies you as a “professional writer/writing company” (if everything else on the site supports this impression).

Potential clients also expect to pay “name professionals” more because the value you bring to them is apparently greater (and should be).

The #1 Press Release Tip to Consider When Marketing Your Freelance Writing Business

The first thing to keep in mind when marketing your business through releases is that it’s not about you. The media doesn’t care about you or your writing business.

They care about serving their viewers, their readers, their customers. They want to solve problems for them, and if your business just does that, then they’ll be interested. If not, no matter how well written your press release is, they won’t be interested.

Keep this in mind as you write, and you’ll have a chance to make it newsworthy (always the goal!) and gain media attention for your freelance writing business. Good luck!