Effective Ways to Market Your Freelance Business
Introduction
You know how much work goes into marketing your business if you're a freelancer. You don't have the luxury of taking out ads or relying on word-of-mouth. Instead, you must tell potential clients about your services and convince them that hiring you is worth their time (and money).
And if you're new to freelancing, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to marketing yourself. But don't worry! We've got some tips for how best to market your freelance business—whether that means starting from scratch or refining what you've already got going on:
Establish your goals.
Repeat this process until you have a solid list of at least 10.
These goals need to be specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant. They should also be time-specific so that you know how long it will take you to achieve them. If a goal is not time-bound, likely, you won't achieve it because there's no way of knowing when or even if the plan has been completed.
Decide where your customers are.
As a freelancer, you are in the business of selling your knowledge, skills, and expertise. And as such, it's crucial to know your customers.
To that end, the first step in marketing yourself is understanding who your customers are—and where they hang out.
Refine your niche.
{After you've narrowed down what your company is about, it's essential to refine your niche.
Do you want to focus on one or two skills?
Are you going to specialize in a particular industry?
Do you want to work with a specific type of client?
What kinds of projects are within your wheelhouse?
How much technical knowledge do you have or plan on developing?
What kinds of media do you like working with and understand well enough that it would be worth hiring an expert for these tasks instead of taking care of them yourself?
Create a business plan.
Creating a business plan for your freelance business is an excellent way to get organized and keep yourself focused on your goals. A business plan can help you set priorities, create milestones, and measure progress in reaching those milestones. A well-thought-out plan will also allow you to think about the future of your freelancing business.
The first step in creating an effective business plan is choosing the correct format for it—choose whichever design makes sense for you, but make sure it allows you to update it as needed or when changes occur quickly. You can choose from many different types of businesses plans, such as:
Corporate Business Plan - This kind of plan is meant for larger companies looking at expansion into new markets; it includes financial projections and other information about how much money will be needed over time for these expansions to succeed financially (e.g., costs involved with building facilities overseas).
Marketing Plan - This document focuses more on marketing strategy than anything else; its purpose is to give readers insight into what promotional tactics they should use when promoting products or services within their respective industries.
Create a website.
Your website is your business's home base and should be easy to navigate, read, find and update. In addition to being your most important marketing tool, it's also an opportunity for you to share information about yourself and your freelance services with potential clients. A clean and simple design that makes sense is best—don't try to overthink things!
Write a blog.
Writing a blog is one of the best ways to market your freelance business. But, if you're not sure why to consider these reasons:
Blogs allow you to create content that will keep your readers coming back for more. If they like what they read, they might even share it with others looking for help in the same area.
Your blog can be used as an opt-in lead magnet, which would help attract new clients and generate leads from your website traffic (if done correctly).
You can use your blog to share expertise in areas where people need specialized knowledge and expertise—something that isn't always possible with social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
Build social media accounts.
Social media is a great way to connect with potential clients. It's also free to use, and it provides you the opportunity to build your brand.
Here are some other benefits of using social media for business:
Social media is a great way to find new projects. You can post about anything that interests you—from posts about your blog posts and articles to photos of your work—and use hashtags like #freelance or #freelancers so that people looking for work in those areas see what you have available.
And since many freelancers need more time (or experience) to market their services, they may not even realize how much potential there might be in reaching out via this channel!
Have a client outreach strategy.
Have a client outreach strategy.
It's important to know who you are talking to and what you are talking about when reaching out to potential clients. The more prepared you are, the better off you'll be in securing new business. You will also need to clearly understand what you want out of the conversation, which comes down to understanding what your client wants.
Do they want a new website or help build their social media presence? Are they looking for someone who can edit content or write copy?
Knowing these things will make it easier for you to offer them something they need while ensuring that whatever service they receive from you matches their needs from the beginning (and continues matching those needs). This way, there won't be any surprises along the way!
Next is knowing how best to communicate with this type of person. For example, if someone has come across one of your blog posts before contacting me about web design services, then I would probably use email rather than LinkedIn message because we had already established some relationship online, so keeping things more casual makes sense here versus trying too hard when talking over Facebook Messenger (a platform most people don't want strangers messaging them).
Get your work out there.
The best way to market your freelance business is by getting your work out there. Of course, it would help if you got in front of as many people as possible, so use every tool to ensure all of them work for you.
One great way to do this is through social media. Post about your projects on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But don't stop there! Use all social media platforms (Pinterest, Reddit, and Google+) to spread the word about what you do. And don't forget about LinkedIn: while it's not a social network per se, it's still a place where people can find out more about what you offer or hire you for future projects.
Get involved in the community.
You can use these groups to learn from other freelancers and connect with potential clients.
If you're new to freelancing, it can be hard to know where to start when trying to grow your business. One of your best options is to join online communities that share information about the industry and connect professionals. Here are some of the best places for finding like-minded people:
Facebook Groups—Facebook offers several groups for freelancers, including one called "Freelance Writers & Editors Network," with over 40,000 members.
You can also find freelance writers in more specialized groups like "Freelance Writers Only!" (1,000+ members) or "Freelance Writing Jobs – Freelance Writing Opportunities Only! Please, No Agents/Agencies/etc..400+ members).
Reddit has many subreddits dedicated specifically to freelance jobs, such as /r/freelanceswap (/r/swap) and /r/forhire (/r/ffh).
These subreddits contain job listings and discussion threads where users ask questions or give advice about their work experience or how they found work through various channels such as Craigslist or LinkedIn recommendations lists (here's an example).
Stay active on social media.
If you haven't already, take the time to create a Facebook page for your business. Use this to network with other freelancers in your field and share helpful strategies. Suppose you can get yourself out there on social media. In that case, you're sure to find great leads for clients looking for someone like you—and if nothing else, it can be an effective marketing method without spending too much money.
Try getting involved with relevant groups on LinkedIn as well; these are great places where people share information about their careers or businesses (or both), so they may have some advice or tips that might help yours run more smoothly!
Suppose there's one thing I've learned over my years as a writer myself. In that case, feedback is crucial when trying new things out: even if no one reads what I've written yet (which isn't likely), it helps me know where things need improvement before others see them too!
Network in person.
The best way to network is to get out there, meet people in person and build mutually beneficial relationships. For example, connect with the following groups of people:
Potential clients (perhaps when they come into your store)
Potential employees (at a job fair or through a referral)
Potential partners (when you work together on a project)
These are just some connections that can strengthen your business and help it grow.
By following these tips, you can attract more clients than ever before.
You can market your freelance business in multiple ways, and there are many advantages to doing so. The more you sell your business, the better chance you have of getting more clients, which is why using multiple marketing channels and techniques is essential.
Here are some of the ways I have marketed my freelancing business:
Having a clear message
Being consistent with this message
Being authentic in everything that I do and say
Being flexible (changing up strategies when needed)
Having a good reputation amongst my peers and potential clients
Conclusion
Marketing is essential during any venture and especially when marketing your freelance business. There are many ways to market your business, along with the difficulty of tracking which methods work and which don't. However, there are ways to market your freelance business without causing more work for yourself. The most cost-effective approach is SEO search engine optimization.
The best keyword research software will allow you to target the correct type of clients while giving you easy access to a large amount of data and trends in the industry as well.
