“Include social proof in your pitch.”
Sounds great except there’s one small problem. To include social proof, you need social proof.
And when you’re new to freelance writing? You probably don’t have any.
You don’t have impressive client logos or case studies or probably no testimonials either.
So how is a new freelance writer suppose to get hired when they are putting out “brand new” vibes?
They see experienced writers talking about client results, conversion rates, traffic increases and big-name brands and assume that is what makes a pitch credible.
So if you don’t have those things yet, you feel like you have nothing worth saying, right?
But after freelancing for over a decade, I don’t think social proof in a pitch is nearly as black-and-white as we make it sound.
So what are you supposed to do?
I was thinking about this recently when I was watching a podcast and the conversation turned to client results and how we use them to attract new work.
And you know what I learned?
Most freelance writers don’t have nearly as much data as people (i.e. prospects) assume.
Sure, we might know a client’s blog post ranks well in Google but many of us don’t know exactly how much traffic it gets.
For me, I only show results for SEO freelance writer roles, otherwise the other types of roles don’t really need to see that (unless it’s expressed in the pitch they want a writer who can rank content).
We also don’t know how many leads it generated and we don’t know how much revenue it influenced.
In many cases, the client doesn’t even know so they can’t tell you off the bat.
You’re Article Isn’t Really Your Article
Think about it. As a freelance writer, you’re usually responsible for one piece of a much bigger marketing machine when creating your article.
You write the article. But maybe someone else handles SEO. Someone else distributes it. Someone else manages email. Someone else tracks conversions. And six months later, you may not even have access to the analytics.
I’ve written plenty of content over the years where I know the client was happy with my work and continued hiring me, but I couldn’t tell you, “This exact article generated $42,000 in revenue.”
That doesn’t mean the work wasn’t valuable. It just means I wasn’t given that data.
Which means a lot of freelancers—new and experienced—don’t have mountains of hard data to include in their pitches.
And I think that’s important because it changes the way we think about social proof.
Instead of asking, “What impressive number can I put in this pitch?” maybe the better question is:
“What can I show this client that makes hiring me feel like less of a risk?”
So what should you focus on instead?
Show That You’re Easy to Work With
When I first started freelance writing, I included a simple sentence in almost every pitch:
“I’ve never missed a deadline.”
At the time, it felt a little boring. I wasn’t talking about traffic or promising massive results. But looking back, I think that statement helped me land work.
And now that I’ve spent years working with content teams, I understand why.
Reliable freelance writers are incredibly valuable. You’d be surprised how many talented writers struggle with deadlines, communication, or follow-through.
Because this was what I did for my clients, when I hired some freelance writers for my niche website, I was shocked how many didn’t give me the completed article at the deadline we set.
Instead I got a lot of excuses from them,
“Oh, I thought it meant midnight when you said “June 12 at the end of the day.”
“I just need the weekend to finish it and I’ll hand it in Monday morning.”
What’s the latest I can turn this in?
I found that I was battling semantics with these writeres and it made the whole thing very frustrating.
I mean for me, if the client said it’s due in 10 days, I will turn it in first thing in the morning 7 days later. I ALWAYS exceed the deadlines and that should the expectation.
So, when showing that you’re dependable in your pitches, it can be more powerful than you think.
Focus on the Things Clients Actually Care About
Many freelance writers assume clients are only interested in results.
But that’s only part of the story. Most content managers aren’t hiring freelancers because they want their lives to become more complicated.
They’re hiring because they need help or they have too much work and not enough time.
The freelance writer who makes their life easier often wins.
So, what does this look like?
For me exceeding deadlines is a plus, but having content that is error-free, making communication easy and fluid, and not nit-picking the content brief.
Clients LOVE writers that are easy going and aren’t complicated. When I first started, I was new and ended up asking a ton of question to the client.
This turned them off BIG TIME and they walked away.
I had to learn to be more confident in my business and figure things out on the go.
Of course when you’re new, you will have some questions, but see if you can find out the answers yourself and not have to rely on several emails with the content editor.
So this might mean:
Looking over their content. If you are a blog writer, then look over the blog and each writer and see the quality of writing they publish.
Check out the business LinkedIn page and if they have a Youtube channel. Consume the content to understand the brand better.
If you’re writing for a SaaS tool, then sign up for a free trial of the tool and watch Youtube videos of how the tool works.
This will free up time to focus on the content you are writing and wowing your client when you turn in your work.
Think About Their Real Problems
When a content team hires a freelance writer, they’re often trying to:
Free up their own time
Work through a backlog of content ideas
Publish content consistently
Get publish-ready drafts with minimal edits
Find someone they can trust without constant hand-holding
Bring a larger content strategy to life
Notice how none of those things require you to have a viral case study. They require you to be helpful, reliable, and easy to work with.
So when you write your pitch, think about the exact reasons a company might hire a writer and write from that angle.
Get my Pitch archive and the pitches that land clients + strategies for LinkedIn and cold pitching in my Write Your Way to Your First $1k program.
You Don’t Need Fancy Results to Be Valuable
Some of the best freelance writers I know aren’t constantly talking about how they doubled traffic or generated six figures in revenue.
They’re simply excellent partners who communicate well. These writers meet deadlines and solve problems.
And that’s often exactly what clients are looking for. That’s where your pitch should focus.
So make sure what you write expresses this. I often guesstimate what their problem is (content bottleneck, no updated on blog, etc..) and go from there.
Then I share that the solution is to hire me and explain how I can help them with thier content needs. I make my pitch short and readable and end with scheduling a Zoom call.
As a freelance writer do you find that clients want to see the results of your content?
Read Next:
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The hardest part of freelance writing isn’t finding clients. It’s believing you’re good enough.
About the Author:
Hey! I’m Elna, the midlife mom of TEEN twins and a decade old freelance writer. I’m the woman behind The Next Chapter. This is the place were I give real strategies, real tactics to grow your online business.
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This is such a helpful reframe. I think new freelancers can get stuck believing social proof has to mean big numbers, case studies, or impressive logos.
I like the question, ‘What can I show this client that makes hiring me feel like less of a risk?’
Reliability, clear communication, meeting deadlines, understanding the brand, and making the client’s life easier are all proof too.
Elna, the pitch itself can become a writer’s first piece of social proof. A concise message that shows you studied the company, understood the likely bottleneck, and can communicate cleanly gives the prospect a small sample of the working relationship before a contract exists. Credibility begins forming through that experience, especially when the writer demonstrates the preparation and judgment the client will later depend on. I’m grateful for how practically you connected deadlines, research, communication, and reduced client friction to what credibility can actually look like when the impressive logos and performance numbers have not arrived yet.