Freelance Marketing: Tips To Set You Up for Success

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With the evolution of the digital marketing space, freelance marketing has become a good way for creators to showcase their creativity. In addition, it enables them to make connections and ultimately grow their network. As a result, most companies are always in need of freelance marketers to help them leverage their social media platforms for marketing purposes.

So what is freelance marketing? Freelance marketers help companies and businesses to advertise their brands. If you are a beginner freelance marketer, ensure that you possess tangible marketing skills that will help grow brands and make more sales for various companies.

In addition, make efforts to improve your skills and ace your game. Here are tips to help you become better at freelance marketing as a beginner.

Discover Your Freelance Marketing Niche

Depending on your skills, talents and interests, there are different roles you can opt for as a freelance marketer. Some of these options are outlined herein:

Social Media Marketer

If you are highly interested in social media, you should take up freelance marketing. Here, you will post and promote the company's brand on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. First, companies will give you briefs on what content they want you to promote then;, you will use your skills to ensure the message reaches the targeted audience.

SEO Pro

Companies will want to have an increased number of visitors to their websites. SEO helps businesses have a higher ranking in the search result pages of various search engines like Google. If you are a pro at providing SEO services, assist a company in driving its traffic to its website. Do this by devising strategies or techniques.

For instance, a writing company wants their blog on how to become an online tutor to rank higher on the search result page on Google. As an SEO pro, you will develop strategies to ensure you meet the company's requirements.

Content Writing

If content writing is your strength, then consider trying your hands at freelance marketing as a content writer. You can write meaningful content needed by companies to market products or services, such as email campaigns, landing pages, and sales pages.

Discovering and deciding on your niche in freelance marketing will come a long way in ensuring you offer specific skills to businesses. This way, you earn income while helping the company promote their brand, get more customers and boost their sales.

Get More Clients

It can be intimidating to get clients as a beginner. When starting freelance marketing, opt for small businesses or clients willing to work with a beginner. Also, create a profile with your personal information, details about the services you offer and your rates. Then, post it on websites like Upwork, Freelancer.com, etc.

Such sites have a variety of clientele from all over the world. Through them, you might get clients interested in freelance marketing services. Also, you can apply for jobs such as content marketing, SEO services, graphic design, editing, and social media marketing.

In addition, there are more ways to get more clients interested in your services. Check out these tips:

• Use word of mouth. Talk to your friends about your start-up and ask them to tell more people about it.
• Have a clear up and up-to-date portfolio. Well, as a beginner, you probably have less work to show on your portfolio. But ensure you document each and every task you have done for your clients before-paid or not.
• Create content about freelance marketing and promote the content
• Keep your LinkedIn profile up to date
• Keep other freelance related social media accounts up to date
• Network in person- Consider attending events and conferences that are relevant to your freelance marketing interests. Here, you will make connections and probably get a few serious clients.
• Network online by attending virtual conferences. There are various platforms that offer these services.

Avoid Being Rigid With Your Rates

When starting as a beginner, ensure your rates are flexible. Of course, there are no rules on how much you should charge a client but avoid being rigid about your rates.

More often than not, you might feel anxious when it comes to this. However, whichever the case, do not sell yourself short or overcharge a client. Instead, modify your rates to fit the need and the brief and maybe charge the client a pricing strategy that works for you.

You can use several pricing models to set your rates, including hourly rates, project rates, retainer rates, and commission/bonus. However, try to charge hourly as a beginner since your clients might be sceptical about whether you will do a good job. Do your due diligence on these models and pick one that suits your situation. Then, don't sweat it much- as a beginner.

Do not be afraid to work for free for a while. Doing so is fine when you are doing it strategically. There are a few scenarios where working for free, for a bit, is acceptable. For example:

• When building a freelance portfolio, you can show your clients in future.
• When building a network with businesses you admire
• In a case where you hope to get connected to other people because whoever you are working with is well-connected.
• You have a full-time paying job and are solely doing 'free work' for the experience.

Avoid Breaching Your Deadlines

Ensure you meet your deadlines to maintain a strong work ethic with your clients. Also, you will be ahead of most freelancers out there. Companies always prefer working with people who deliver excellent, quality work on time.

Being a freelancer that does this shows your clientele that you value professionalism and are good to work with. Also, they will appreciate the fact that you are not after wasting their time with shoddy work.

To meet your deadlines on time, create a proper time management strategy. This way, you manage your time well, create a working schedule and meet all your clients' deadlines on time. Know that delivering work on time also builds on your portfolio and, in most cases, guarantees you good reviews and referrals- our next point.

Get Referrals

Getting a good review is a driving force for any freelancer out there. You are no exception. However, note that you will only get good reviews when you meet deadlines and deliver quality work.

In addition, you can raise your fees when you get good referrals. Escalating your rates through referrals exposes you to high- quality clients who can meet your standards. Work towards getting as many referrals as possible to help grow your clientele and build on your freelance portfolio. A good referral automatically adds value to your work.

Treat Yourself Like a Business

In freelance marketing, always remember that you are your own business. Therefore, it works towards shifting your mindset from being a typical freelancer to a business owner. This way, you experience radical sustainable growth.

Thinking like a business owner will push you to build and retain clients. You will not be stuck in the whims of just being creative.

Get Familiar With Leveraging data

Having access to 'big data" is the buzz of most millennials. However, note that it is not about the data but how you use it. Leveraging data involves gathering, analyzing and presenting information effectively. Doing this will enable you to turn raw data into more actionable insights.

To be successful in this:

• Ensure that you are familiar with how different social networks function.
• Be keen on the type of network to focus on, the goals that apply to each of them and the tactics you will use to help you achieve those goals.
• In addition, learn more about the social network in which your audience spends the most time and develop the best content to steer the engagement.

Leveraging big data for your freelance marketing business requires you to develop an overall architecture and strategy for it. Here are a few tips for you to follow when leveraging data;

• Learn prospect pain points of your users- This way; you improve your product and offering as a freelance business. Also, leveraging this data will help enhance your clients' operations
• Focus on Quality over Quantity, remembering that you benefit from the correct data, not more data.
• Analyse Your Client's Behaviour- Studying your clients' behavioural patterns in terms of the type of services they need, the amount they pay, and when they make their payments will help you gather the necessary information to best deliver your services to them.

Several websites talk about leveraging data for your business success. Do enough research on this to get the necessary information for the growth of your freelance marketing business.

Conclusion

Starting as a digital freelance marketer requires effort and strategy. First, you need to formulate a plan for achieving your goals. You can start by picking a freelance marketing niche. After, come up with strategies to get more clients. Then, set flexible rates, avoid breaching your deadlines and work towards getting good referrals and reviews.

Once you have done all these, shift your mindset from a typical freelance marketer to a business and treat yourself alike. Finally, work on strategies to leverage your data as a freelance marketing business.

Being a beginner in the freelance marketing industry can be challenging. However, you are set for growth if you follow the above steps. Also, do not shy away from doing enough research and getting your facts right.