How to get clients (without a big following)

What if I told you, THIS was the secret to getting high paying clients on social media?

Would you believe me?

Well keep reading because I’m about to show you a simple 6-step fishing framework to help you get high-paying clients on social media.

Without having thousands of followers and without spamming hundreds of messages a day.

And this 6-step framework works for:

• Ghostwriters

• Copywriters

• Anyone else who offers an online service

It’s the exact framework I’ve taught creators to help them scale to:

• $10,000 months

• $50,000 months

• Even $91,000 months

This framework is 100% free.

All you need?

Time.

Here’s the 5-step framework:

Step 1) Get The Right Equipment

Now, to get clients on social media without a big following, it’s a lot like trying to catch fish….

So the first step is to have the right equipment (i.e. the right skill set).

For example:

I know a ton of social media ghostwriters who have fewer than 200 followers who offer social media growth as a service.

And it’s not a surprise these people never land clients.

It’s like being an obese person trying to be a fitness coach…

Or a 17-year-old trying to be a life coach.

(to the one 17 year old life coach reading, I’m sorry for crushing your hopes and dreams)

Whether you’re a social media ghostwriter, a copywriter, or any other profession, you need to practice doing it for yourself first.

You don’t need to be an expert…

But you need to build some experience and credibility.

So, turn yourself into your first case study.

• If you’re a fitness trainer, get fit.

• If you’re a ghostwriter, grow your own social media.

• If you’re an email copywriter, write some fake practice emails for a brand you like.

This will build your confidence and experience, all while growing your portfolio to show to potential clients.

Step 2) Find Where The Fish Are

The second step to get clients on social media without a big following is to find your fishing spot (AKA finding where your ideal clients are).

• If you want corporate office workers as clients, you probably want to look for them on LinkedIn.

• If you want fitness coaches as clients, you probably want to look for them on Instagram.

• If you want agency owners as clients, you probably want to look for them on X (Twitter).

Whichever type of client you want to land, do your research on which social media they’re most active on.

It can be as simple as going on the different social media platforms and searching keywords related to the clients you’re going after.

Once you find one ideal client, look at who they’re following and you’ll find a bunch of people in the same niche.

So, once you know what type of client you want to work with, you want to find people who fit this criteria.

Because to catch the fish you want, you have to know what you’re fishing for…

Step 3) Create Your Dream 100

So, the third step to get clients on social media without a big following is to create your Dream 100.

Your Dream 100 is a list of your 100 dream clients.

You can make your list with:

• Notion

• Browser bookmarks

• The list or bookmark feature on the native social media platforms

Creating your Dream 100 is crucial for the next step…

Step 4) Cast Your Fishing Line

So, the fourth step to get clients on social media without a big following is to cast your fishing line (aka send a DM).

Now, it’s important to know that your ideal clients are likely many other people’s ideal clients.

And they get a LOT of people pitching their services.

But 99% of them are lazy copy/paste DMs, so they’re ignored.

I mean, just look at the pitches I get in my DMs:

THIS IS YOUR COMPETITION.

But you’re not going to be like them (because you’re a high IQ giga genius and are going to follow my DM framework).

The best way to stand out from everyone else and increase the responses you get is to take 2-5 minutes to personalize your message.

For example, when I was starting out with social media ghostwriting, I sent this message to one of my dream clients:

Now, you’re obviously not going to copy this DM.

But you can copy the framework I used.

Here’s my DM framework for getting clients:

Step 1:

Send a brief genuine and personalized compliment.

I like going through the potential client’s content and finding something that resonated with me.

This shows the potential client that you actually cared enough to research them.

Step 2:

Intro yourself and how you can help in a few sentences. If you can, reference any results you recently got for yourself or a client.

Step 3:

Offer something your ideal client would find valuable, for free.

Starting the relationship off by providing value is a great way to get your foot in the door.

And if you want to really spice things up, you can use a risk reversal and tell them that you’ll pay them money if they don’t get results with your free thing.

Even if your free thing doesn’t get results, the chances of them asking for the money is really low. But if they do ask, honor it.

Step 4:

End with a call to action.

I recommend a question like, “Would you be opposed to this?”

This puts the ball in their court.

So, for example, you can offer:

• Social media content if you’re a ghostwriter

• Marketing emails if you’re an email marketer

• Website copy if you’re a copywriter

Anything your ideal client would normally pay money for.

But here’s the secret:

You don’t need to create the free offer before sending the DM.

Only make it if the potential client responds positively.

This prevents you from wasting time and energy with people who aren’t interested.

Once you send your DM, 1 of 3 scenarios will happen…

Scenario 1) No response

People are busy and inboxes can get overlooked.

So, if they don’t respond, keep following up every 2-7 days until they do.

It can be as simple as saying “Hey [Name], I know you’re busy. Just bumping this up in your inbox.”

Scenario 2) Negative response

If they tell you they’re not interested, move on.

There’s no point wasting time and energy on someone who’s not interested.

Scenario 3) Positive response

If your potential client shows interest in your free offer, start working on it ASAP.

Your free work should be damn good and deliver a tangible outcome.

Think of it like a free sample from Costco...

If the sample is good, they’ll want to buy the whole thing.

And that’s precisely the goal here:

To give them a taste of your expertise and value you can bring to their business.

Now, this should be a good amount of work.

You should be able to spend about a couple hours on this and make it super valuable.

But the process doesn’t end with delivering your free offer…

Step 5) Reel The Client In

This last step is where many potentially great relationships falter because of lack of persistence.

You have the potential client hooked, now you just gotta reel them in.

So the fifth step to get clients on social media without a big following is to set up a call.

After you send the freebie to them, just follow up with something along the lines of:

“If you need any further help with this, I’d love to hop on a quick 15-30 minute call and show you how I can help you [insert desired outcome]. Would you be opposed to that?”

The best part about this is that it’s a win/win for you.

If they say “yes” then hop on a call with them, get an understanding of their situation, and if it makes sense, run them through the details of your offer and close them.

If it doesn’t work out?

You gain experience for free and improve your skills.

So, now that you know what to do to get clients on social media without a big following…

The rest is really a game of volume.

You’re not going to have a flood of clients overnight, but if you’re consistent with this approach, you will get results.

But, if you really want to skyrocket your chances of getting clients, then click the video on the screen.

In it, I show you how to build your social media following from 0 followers and turn yourself into an authority figure people pay premium prices for.

And there you have it, boys and girls.

So, get your fishing rods and get to work.

I’m looking forward to seeing y’all crush it even further.

Have a kickass day.

Your Canadian friend,

Dakota “Flop Like a Fish” Robertson

P.S.

Are you a creator or business owner who wants to grow and monetize your personal brand?

I’ve been cooking something up for the past few months that you’d be interested in.

I can’t give away what it is just yet…

But if you want to be the first to get access and get exclusive bonuses, click the button below.

By clicking the button, you’ll automatically be assigned to the waitlist.

It’ll also take you to a YouTube video that hints at what I’m cooking up…