Are you a bright and hopeful new freelancer? You’re not alone. About 59 million people freelance in America!
Freelancing might look like a fun and easy way to earn money. After all, when you run a freelancing business, you don’t have to work for anyone but yourself.
That said, creating a marketing plan for a freelance business is tough. You’re now responsible for marketing your own services! We’re here to help you get started.
Read on for a few marketing tips for freelancers.
1. Encourage Word-of-Mouth
One of the best ways to market your freelance business is to encourage people that you know (and previous happy customers and clients) to spread the word about how good your business is.
This is going to vary depending on what type of freelancer you are.
Start with people in your personal network. Friends, family members, classmates, and even previous coworkers are great for this purpose. You can even offer them your services if you want a more organic result.
Encourage these people to talk to friends who may need your services. For example, if you’re a freelance accountant (look here for CPA jobs: https://www.taxfyle.com/freelance-cpa-jobs), ask your network to look for friends who are small business owners. If you’re a tutor, look for people who have children who are in school.
If you only work online, use reviews as your word-of-mouth marketing. Never be afraid to ask happy customers to leave a review for you.
2. Build a Personal Brand
Your brand is everything when you’re running your own freelancing business. Many people don’t consider that they’re their own business and image, but it’s true. It’s no different than any other brand.
Consider successful people within the niche that you’re trying to break into. Do they have professional personas that they use on all of their platforms? Do they have logos and color schemes associated with their work?
This is because they’ve built a brand for themselves. You can do it too.
3. Take Advantage of Social Media
Social media marketing is one of the best ways that you can advertise your freelancing business. It should be a key part of your overall marketing strategy.
If you’re just starting out, you can use social media for free. While you can pay for a social media professional to help you out, or pay for boosted ads, there’s no need to do that as a beginner.
Make sure that you’re using professional accounts for this. Keep your personal account on “private” if there’s anything on it that doesn’t suit your brand. You can still build a friendly persona on your business page.
Choose platforms that make sense for your business. While artists and tutors can use platforms like TikTok, that wouldn’t make as much sense for accountants.
4. Never Stop Networking
You have to build a network if you want to be a successful freelancer. While many people consider freelancing to be a solitary thing, in reality, you’re going to rely on other people to boost you up (at least at first).
As we mentioned before, you can start with your small personal network. If you want your business to grow, however, you’re going to need to expand your resources.
Talk to local small business owners and offer them your services. This helps you establish a business relationship. They can then spread the word about your business to other business owners in your community.
It’s helpful to build a mutual marketing relationship as well. Talk to other freelancers who aren’t competitors and advertise each other’s work. For example, someone who writes may exchange services and advertisements with someone who does design work.
5. Use a Professional Headshot
If you use LinkedIn (and you should be using LinkedIn), make sure to use a professional headshot. You can also use this headshot on your social media platforms.
Professional headshots make you look more trustworthy. They also put a face to a name. Getting professional photos from a freelance photographer is also a great way to build your network!
If you can’t afford a professional photographer yet (and they don’t want to exchange services), you can use a high-quality camera to take your own photos. Make sure that they look clean and polished.
6. Show Off Your Work
All freelancers should have some form of portfolio or “success story” page that they can show off to potential clients and customers. Why would people hire you if you don’t have any work to show?
For artists, photographers, and writers, this usually comes in the form of a portfolio. You can put your portfolio on a personal website or even use your social media page as a portfolio of sorts.
For other niches, have a page of success stories.
7. Consider Blogging
Blogging isn’t just for lifestyle content, fashion, and food anymore. Now, many businesses use blogs to boost their SEO and gain the trust of their customers.
Blog posts make you look like an authority in your niche. If you create informative posts that answer questions and provide value to viewers, those viewers are more likely to become customers.
If writing “isn’t your thing,” you can hire other freelancers to write blogs for you. Again, this is a great opportunity to build connections!
Market Your Freelance Business the Right Way
Business advertising isn’t as easy as large corporations make it look. When you’re running a freelance business, you’re a small fish in a large sea. You have to compete with every other hopeful freelancer in your niche!
Use some of these marketing tips for freelancers to start gaining customers and clients today.
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