Running a freelance business is tough and fulfilling in equal measure, but if you want your business to really thrive, you need to be on top of your marketing strategy. Marketing is the difference between a healthy bank account and your dream clients lining up to work with you, and struggling day to day. Whether you’re just launching your freelance venture or you need some help with promotion, here are a few freelance marketing tips to help you get going.
Why is marketing so important?
No matter what stage of your career you’re in, to grow a business, you need to get the word out about your products and services. Marketing sits at the heart of any successful company but for a freelancer, it’s particularly important. Freelancing contributes over $1.35 trillion to the U.S. economy in annual earnings, and that figure is growing but the biggest barriers to a thriving business is finding clients and, ultimately, developing stability in your income.
Marketing is an area that so many freelancers feel they don’t need to think about, but it’s the best way to position yourself as a leader in your industry and ensure you have a healthy supply of work at all times. With that in mind, how can you ensure that you’re showing up in front of the right people?
Be the go-to expert in your niche
An effective way to market yourself is to set yourself up as the expert in your chosen industry and your own blog is a great place to start. Increasingly, Google values authorship. As Technical Director of Artemis Marketing, Justin Aldridge, explains “Search engines are more likely to reward content with higher rankings if they can trust the source. It’s part of Google’s E-E-A-T philosophy. Experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness. You have to build your own personal profile as an expert in your field and make sure search engines can associate your content to you”.
Make sure you’re creating blog content that’s relevant to your industry and you’re developing a portfolio of evidence that shows Google, and your audience, that you understand your niche inside out. But you can also create guest posts for other sites to get your name in front of a wider audience and encourage Google to see you as an expert.
Build your email list
Email marketing is a great way to connect with your audience, provide them with valuable insights and create a growing community of engaged, loyal customers. Think about how you can make your customers’ lives easier and add value, whether it’s industry insights, answers to common questions or even just inspiring stories that brighten their day.
Your email newsletters should serve as a direct conversation with your clients, so it’s important to maintain consistency in your style, tone and voice. Keep your emails concise, regular (but not too frequent that you become an irritation to your audience) and above all, helpful.
If you’re unsure what sort of content your customers would like to receive from you, ask them for direct feedback and create the types of emails they’d be happy to have land in their inbox.
Grow your network
When it comes to freelance marketing tips, we automatically think digital. But there’s real value in marketing your business in person too. Growing your network is a really effective way of marketing your business, whether that’s attending conferences, giving talks at events or contributing to forums online to answer questions people may have about your specialism.
Networking is a really great way to see people flock to your platform to find out more about the services you offer, you never know when a friend, former colleague or someone you met at an event might put your name forward to someone they know who’s in need of your expertise. When networking, remember to keep an open mind, stay professional and make a great first impression.
But it’s also important to make sure that you’re part of a mutually supportive community — don’t only think of what you can get out of an event, but how you can support others too. As Hannah Fleishman for HubSpot states, “Active listening is a key skill for networking and will build the foundation for strong and productive relationships”.
Improve your social media presence
Social media is one of the best marketing tools you have at your disposal, and when used correctly, it can be a brilliant source of traffic to your website. From LinkedIn and Facebook to Instagram and TikTok, each platform has its own advantages for attracting a certain type of client, so it’s worth doing your research and finding the right format for your content that works with your business and the audience you’re trying to attract.
For example, if you are targeting a younger audience and are skilled at crafting attention-grabbing video content, TikTok is a great choice. If your business targets B2B, LinkedIn and Twitter might be better suited.
Keep to a select few platforms and make sure you’re staying consistent with your posting schedule. It’s better to put out high-quality content consistently on one or two key platforms than try to be present on all of them and fail to hit the mark. It’s also important to remember to engage with your followers. This will help you build a stronger reputation and find clients, but also grows your following across your socials.
When it comes to marketing your freelance services, make sure you’re building a strong reputation, positioning yourself as an authority in your niche and creating content on your site and social media platforms that encourages your target clients to get in touch. You should also make sure you’re optimising your website, LinkedIn profile and any other online pages with the right keywords and search terms so audiences looking for those services will find you more easily.
For more freelance marketing tips:
Listen to the replay of our live webinar on how to make purposeful connections and collaborations when you work from home.
For top tips on how to grow your business and make an impact through forging the right relationships and connections: Watch here
