Marketing Yourself as a Freelance Worker (back to articles menu)

Professionals who become independent contractors or freelancers generally do so because they love their work and excel at it. Yet to succeed, freelance workers also need to excel at marketing themselves to potential clients - this is often seen as the most difficult part of their job.  Here are four alternative marketing tips that would help your business flourish:

1. Conduct Assessments  - personal assessments involve looking at your intangibles, like:

• Knowing and believing in yourself
• Developing confidence and the necessary skills to reach goals
• Seeking support

In contrast, a marketing assessment involves the tangible aspects of the job, such as:

• Conducting market research
• Knowing your audience and your product or service
• Creating a mission statement with sound bites to attract customers
• Identifying and calling upon your network
• Reaching out to others
• Continuing your education to study changes and trends in your field

2. Evaluate Strategies - Once you've conducted a thorough assessment, evaluate and choose the best marketing strategies to reach your goals, what comes naturally to you? Some people love to network, but if you hate networking, you can send thank-you notes to clients – this is a marketing strategy. Other ways to network include:

• Public speaking
• Volunteering
• Serving on committees
• Writing newsletters or articles
• Giving presentations or workshops

Whatever your thing, identify it, do it and then hire out or delegate the rest to others - you don’t need to do everything yourself.

3. Make a Commitment  - Once you know which marketing strategies fit your personality make a commitment to implement them by pursuing at least five strategies a week. Making a commitment means not only taking action, but also regularly assessing your efforts - weekly, monthly, annually. Take time to periodically review your strategies, which ones work and which don’t. Get feedback from clients or send out surveys.

4. Listen to the Pros

• Make a point to leave your office at least once a day to visit another business, peer or colleague
• Talk with as many people as possible wherever you go
• Listen carefully to any information from customers, suppliers and vendors
• Ask yourself every week, "what information do I need to make better business decisions and how can I find this information?"
• Read industry publications, newsletters, etc
• Educate yourself by attending conferences, seminars and workshops

Some Other Marketing Ideas

If you're like many freelance workers, you've found that word of mouth is the most effective and cheapest way to draw new prospects to your business. But maybe passing out business cards and talking up your services isn't producing enough results – here are some suggestions using Viral Marketing –communicating a marketing message passively simply by using a service: 

Email Newsletters - Email is also a good way to accelerate the growth of your customer base. Prepare a newsletter and send it out by email - subscribers can effortlessly forward to interested friends, associates and clients.

T-Shirts - If you give away a T-shirt that's branded, someone is promoting you by just wearing it. 

Real Postcards and Virtual Greeting Cards - Another example of viral marketing is free postcards. Similarly, websites have used the lure of free electronic greeting cards to lure millions of visitors onto pages carrying paid ads.

Bylines and Bios - take full advantage of the viral spread of your name to pass along readers by including your email address or URL in the byline or author's bio. When you email a report to a client, don’t forget to add a "signature" to the body of the message that includes your tagline and contact information.

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