Freelancing is an attractive alternative to the mainstream office job, and it’s becoming more and more feasible to find and maintain success in freelance work thanks to online marketing and Internet communities.
However, it can also be daunting to some when first getting started because your success is entirely dependent on your own networking capabilities. If you’re ready to start building your freelancing business but aren’t sure where to start, here are a few steps you can take to get the ball rolling.
1) Let Your Family, Friends, and Contacts Know
This is a pretty self-explanatory step, and should always be the first thing you do when starting a freelance digital marketing business.
Even if you don’t think the people you know would be interested in your services for themselves,
- A) they might surprise you and request work for a part of their lives you weren’t previously aware of, and
- B) they’ll tell their contacts as well.
Their coworkers, families, and social groups extend farther than your own personal reach might be able to, and you’ll likely discover that word of mouth can be extremely effective in pulling in your first few jobs.
2) Network by Engaging Helpfully in Niche Facebook Groups
If you’re working in any kind of marketing sector, you know how powerful social media can be.
There are countless groups of potential clients even just on Facebook where you can leave your digital footprint by engaging with the community and offering helpful input based on our own expertise.
Of course, if you are helpful in such groups, being the “expert” in a certain niche, or aspect of work, you’re going to earn a lot of respect, and when some work arises, your name will be familiar as the go-to person for that kind of work.
3) Take Small Jobs in Freelancer Marketplaces to Build Your Reputation
It’s all about making a name for yourself at first, and that very rarely happens all at once. Because freelancing is such an appealing career choice, there are numerous marketplaces like Fiverr, Upwork and Freelancer where you can take on smaller jobs for people. Doing so will gain you visible reviews, more word-of-mouth advertising, and experience from whatever work you pull in this way.
If you are already doing other work such as web design, this would be even better, because you can actually use these jobs as part of building your portfolio.
This specific step is one which you should master. If you need more details, CollectiveRay has a great refresher on finding web designer jobs on marketplaces.
4) Do Some Targeted Outreach (Email / LinkedIn / Facebook) in Familiar Niches
Chances are high that you’ve become especially familiar with or interested in a particular niche or two in digital marketing throughout your studies and career.
Whether it’s because you’ve had a series of jobs catering to a particular subset of the field or because of your own personal interests, you’ve learned a lot more about those niches than others.
This makes them the perfect way to showcase your skills to communities who either need that sort of work done or are your peers within the niche.
If you are able to leverage the power of LinkedIn and Facebook, you’re much more likely to hit the spot, because they are channels where you can go direct to a specific person, rather than a generic email address who could end up at support and get stuck there.
LinkedIn in particular is ready for relationship building, so use it, even if you have to go premium to do it. It’s worth it.
5) Network at Local Business / Niche Events
As we’ve already discussed, networking is the cornerstone of any freelancing business.
You have to be willing and able to put in the grunt work to get your name and business on other people’s minds.
One of the ways to do this is by participating in local business or niche events and socializing with people.
Take a stack of business cards and hand some out, introduce yourself, and open conversations about what you could do for people.
Having that conversation that first time can be daunting, but once you’ve had it a few times, you’ll find a natural flow and find yourself easily engaging people in conversation about your business.
6) Pay a Small Daily Fee for Highly Targeted Local Searches
This step can usually wait until you’ve already started pulling in a few jobs from the above steps.
After all, it’s wise not to use your own personal funds to invest in your business if you’re able to use your earnings instead. Or not, it’s your choice.
Just set a small budget first, until you get the hang of it.
However, once you’re able to invest a bit back into your own success, a good next step is paying a small daily fee to appear in targeted local searches.
We know that being on the first page or two of Google Searches and other search engines is invaluable when it comes to marketing yourself, so this would be a first step in ensuring that Internet searches promote you.
And it’s fairly easy to dominate local niches and local searches.
7) Pay for Inclusion in an Email Blast to a Small, Targeted List
Lastly, we recommend an additional investment in a targeted email campaign.
These can be surprisingly effective when they’re being sent out to a list of people who have already shown interest in the kind of services you provide, and are an excellent way to reach hundreds (if not thousands) of people with one email ad. If you send out one thousand emails and even a small handful of people express interest and commission you, that’s just as worthwhile as physically handing out your business cards.
Conclusion
Marketing yourself as a freelancer is a time-consuming process. Most successful freelancers will tell you that you need to spend almost as much time marketing yourself as you do fulfilling the orders you receive.
Following the above seven steps will get you off the ground and likely help your business start receiving a steady flow of commissions, but you’ll need to make these steps a regular part of your work week in order to keep them coming in!
Once you’ve made this aspect of your freelance digital marketing business a habitual part of your routine, you’ll be well on your way to a successful life of self-employed freedom!
