How to Become a Freelance Digital Marketer
Effective marketing strategies are essential to the success of any business, be they traditional or digital. The ever-popular internet that offers limitless opportunities for businesses to leverage has certainly pushed digital marketing up on many levels. The digital world has extensive connectivity that facilitates freelancing. As such, many can work from anywhere with no geo-restrictions.
5 Tips to Become a Successful Freelance Digital Marketer?
You are on board and ready to get down to business. However, before you do so, take a step back and ponder what you need to prepare to ensure long-term success in your freelance digital marketing career.
1. Set and Manage Your Expectations
Most of you may think that freelance digital marketing is easy and stress-free; you need to reset such thoughts. You are the boss, the manager, and the worker. As such, you are answerable to your clients. You have to be responsible and accountable for all committed tasks.
Also, clients will be clients; they can change at the spur of the moment and ask for something else. You have to learn to cope with unexpected situations, even ad-hoc ones. While it is good to be confident and optimistic, remember that you also need to be realistic; it takes time to see anything solid. So, be patient. Once you are over the first hurdle, the rest usually comes naturally.
2. Know Your Skill Sets
It makes sense to capitalize on any of your strengths if you want to be a successful digital marketer. So, make a list of questions. Ask yourself if you have experience in certain areas and if you’re good at it. Are you good at social media management, running email campaigns, or do you relish content writing? Do you excel in creating slide presentations?
If you are undecided, look towards the nearest area where you believe you can do well. Then build up your skills by scouring the internet for more information or attending online digital marketing courses.
3. Find Your Niche
Digital marketing is varied and broad. There are many areas in which you can dabble and then specialize. However, if you wish to increase your chances of success, you have to narrow down your focus. If you don’t, you may become a jack of all trades but master of none. You may also find it hard to convince potential customers of your competence level.
Sticking to a niche does not necessarily mean that you are trapped within a small cone for the rest of your life. Each marketing area is broad enough for you to experience various new things. That said, somewhere down the road, when you feel like branching off to try something new, do not be afraid to do so.
For example, RankoVerse is a boutique link-building agency that focuses on delivering quality links to customers. They only focus on offpage SEO as this is their niche.
4. Build Your Portfolio
Once you have set your niche and know what you want to do, you have to put yourself out there. Nobody would know you unless you make yourself known. As such, invest some time into creating your online portfolio:
Website
Having a website is essential, especially when you mean business. It is a testimony of your skill sets that you are tech-savvy and competent in the digital realm. You can also use this as your launching platform to showcase your design, SEO, copywriting, content writing skill sets, and others. Also, it is the focal point of showing your achievements and allowing people to get to know more about you and what you have to offer.
Do not be intimidated by the process of building a website. Many easy-to-use website builders make the task so easy you can get your website up within hours. You won’t need any prior coding knowledge.
A web hosting solution is a must to publish your website. Choose a trusted web hosting solution that is affordable, and you’re good to go. It is the content part that will take more time.
Create Your Brand
Some of you may neglect to do this. After all, it is not a piece of cake to create and build a personal brand. It is doable and will do much good for you as it is your unique identity.
Start from how you want your client to describe you and tie you to. Incorporate your personality but remember to maintain professionalism with your Unique Selling Propositions (USP). Once you have formulated an idea, surround everything you do with this idea.
Soon, this idea will be your brand. Later, you can consider even creating a logo for your business once it gains speed.
Write a Blog
You may be surprised at how powerful an article you wrote in a blog can do for you. People have attested that many have come knocking on their doors simply because they liked what they read in a blog they wrote.
So, focus on areas that relate closely to your niche and write surrounding topics that ‘speak’ to the hearts of your potential clients. They will connect to you better and trust you more readily.
5. Strengthen Your Own Brand
Use a Relevant Tool
Caption: Indy Invoicing Tool (Source: Weareindy)
Being a freelancer means you will have to handle everything yourself. Things may seem fine, but as time progresses and your work picks up momentum, you will need tools to help you work efficiently.
For example, having an effective invoicing tool is handy; you get to keep track of all your clients’ payments and take the necessary action when needed.
Additionally, you need tools to help you track and analyze key metrics to provide accurate marketing insights to your clients.
There are many tools out there that are there for various reasons. You have to understand these different tools and pick out those that can help you stand out. The good news is that some are free and may suffice for you. Take some time to do your due diligence to identify the best ones for you.
Leverage Social Media
The total number of social media users is expected to increase to 4.41 billion in 2025. It would be silly not to tap into this large and ready market. Create your accounts across social media accounts such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. Publish relevant posts and start reaching out to other like-minded marketers.
Keep Networking
Caption: Participate actively in freelance digital marketing communities on Facebook to help get jobs.
Never think that you can survive as a hermit in this freelancing world; you can’t. Networking with other marketers is crucial to ensure you are successful and stay relevant. Although you are competing with them, you’d be surprised that almost half of the freelancers get their jobs from word-of-mouth referrals. So, do not ignore the need to network with others, especially freelancers who share the same interests.
Be active in social media, contribute and participate actively in freelancing communities. Doing so will help build a name for yourself in the freelancing community.
Freelance Digital Marketing
Caption: Global digital advertising expenditure from 2018 to 2023 (Source: Statista)
Digital marketing ad spending will grow in the coming years; this is not surprising as the number of internet users keeps increasing and is expected to reach more than 30 million by 2025. There is a huge market to tap into in the digital world. As such, digital marketing is here to stay.
Studies have concluded that around 31% of the global workforce consists of freelancers, and this number is growing. In recent years, digital marketers have been one of the most sought after among freelancers. And, businesses are adopting a more open mind to sourcing for freelancers to assist in their marketing effort.
What is a Freelance Digital Marketer?
Self-employed, a freelance digital marketer is an individual who helps businesses promote their products and services online. Your goal is to extend your client’s outreach and drive more traffic to your client’s business to increase conversion rates. As a freelancer, you are your boss. You set the rules and hours.
There are several common digital marketing areas that you can specialize in as a freelancer:
- Content marketing – covers everything about content. You will be responsible for the content strategy, content creation, and copywriting. Your ultimate goal is to promote your client via written content.
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – employing various SEO tactics to help push your client’s website higher in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
- Social media – managing your client’s accounts, improving engagement, and tracking growth across all platforms.
- Video marketing – covers everything regarding video production. You typically conceptualize the video and script and oversee video production to completion.
Conclusion
There are many perks to being a freelance digital marketer. Aside from enjoying the flexibility, you also get to have more control without having a boss breathing down your neck. However, you need to always set the right expectations from the beginning, remain positive, and have high self-confidence, but remember to be realistic.
Also, it is tough at the beginning, but as you start picking up on how being a freelance digital marketer works and have a few tasks in hand, the rest will fall into place as you go on your journey. Keep enriching yourself and never give up. You will soon find that digital marketing is an exciting adventure that you will not regret.
Author Profile
Beh loves to explore the latest SEO, digital marketing and technology news. She is also the digital marketer of WebRevenue. Reach out to her via LinkedIn and discuss her favourite topics together.
Bogdan Sandu, a seasoned designer with 15 years of diverse experience, has been designing websites since 2008.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
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