How to Create a Freelance Marketing Plan to Get More Clients – 6 Steps
The demand for freelancers had shown significant growth in recent years and is still doing so up until now. Based on a report on WebsitePlanet.com, 30% of some companies’ workforces will be comprised of remote workers or freelancers in the near future. That fact supports numerous claims that freelancers are just as reliable as traditional workers, and that the freelance economy is expanding continuously. So if you have plans to start a freelance business, now is the perfect time to do it.
How to Create a Freelance Marketing Plan to Get More Clients – 6 Steps
As a beginner freelancer, your focus right now is to obtain clients with a marketing plan. In this blog, we’ll talk about the necessary steps in creating a marketing plan for potential freelancers such as yourself.
Why Does a Freelancer Need a Marketing Plan?
First, let’s discuss for a bit why you need a marketing plan.
A marketing plan is your written guide on how you’re going to boost the promotion of your freelance services to your target clients. Without it, you could struggle to have this sense of direction, and making decisions will become even more challenging than it already is.
Don’t let a marketing plan intimidate you. The kind of marketing plan you’ll be creating isn’t a 50-page document. Those types of bulky marketing plans are for business people launching a multi-million dollar company. Your marketing plan will be more of like a to-do checklist with just a few paragraphs of information here and there.
Begin By Setting Your Goals
You can’t start a journey without a desired destination, right?
In terms of establishing a marketing plan, you have to start by enumerating the things you want to achieve as a freelancer. Try to imagine the situation where you want to be after a few months or a year of freelancing. The goals you’ll set for yourself will serve as a reminder of why you want to market your freelance services, and why you started being a freelancer in the first place. Simply put, your goals will be your primary motivation to strive.
When you enumerate your goals, list them down in a hierarchical manner, beginning from the most crucial goal. Explain why you want to achieve each of your goals so that you’ll have a better view of your marketing plan.
Determine Your Target Clients
Among the main reasons why you need to make a marketing plan is to obtain trusted clients. With that in mind, determining your target clients is a necessary step.
Once you’ve identified your target clients, you’ll gain some ideas on how you’re going to get their attention. Research and study their general needs and demands, their hiring patterns, and their usual work proposal offers. In other words, you have to conduct a market analysis. Do your best to gather information about client trends in your chosen freelance niche. Know their traits as well so that you can adapt with them and avoid having to deal with unsatisfied clients in your work.
Also, you must ensure that your target clients are the people who you really want to do business with. People that can give you referrals for more work and more money. Always keep in mind that you need good clients to increase your income. And, you need a steady clientele to have consistent work and to make freelancing a full-time career. To achieve those feats, one of the baby steps you must follow is analyzing the attributes of your target clients.
Identify Your Unique Selling Position
Some people who are new to the freelancing field feel confident that clients will pick them over many others. Well, it’s good to have that kind of confidence, but being realistic is also a must. Many reputable long-time freelancers are offering the same services, and they have established trust among their clients.
Despite the serious competition in the freelance market, you can still emerge on the top by identifying your unique selling position (USP). Your USP is a set of attributes and traits that distinguishes you from other freelancers in your chosen niche. Questions such as why clients should decide to hire you must be answered by your USP. So, list every USP you think you have at your disposal and use them as one of your trump cards to get clients soon. Showcasing your USP is among the best strategies for clients onboarding.
Enumerate Your Marketing Methods
In a basketball game, both teams have multiple options on how to outsmart and outplay their opponents. If one approach doesn’t work, they’ll try other options.
In marketing your freelance services, the principle is the same. You need to have several methods to sell yourself if ever a particular one doesn’t work for you. But, it’s best to execute multiple marketing methods instead of just one. Because of digital technology that most people use today, marketing your services online should be your first option, especially on social media. There’s a long list of social media strategies you can use to build your online reputation.
Enumerate all of your methods on your marketing plan and write a brief explanation of how you might execute them.
Make a Simple Budget Plan
One of the benefits of freelancer careers is that an extravagant budget for marketing isn’t necessary for newbies. However, you’ll still spend a certain amount of money. For practical reasons, it’s advisable to come up with a budget estimate for your simple marketing campaign. List down the possible resources you need to purchase and canvass their prices. It’s just like calculating a quotation. All you need for this matter are your basic math skills.
Create a Timeline
Plotting a schedule is one of the best tips for freelance workers to improve productivity. That principle also applies to create a marketing plan. You need to create a timeline of your marketing activities to achieve your goals as soon as possible. It will serve as your guide on when you must accomplish a particular objective in your marketing plan. As you may have realized, it can be likened to an elaborate schedule that covers longer terms.
Success as a freelancer can be one good marketing plan away with the right tools and attitude. So, make smart decisions in creating your marketing plan and take note of your learnings here with us. A bright freelancing future is waiting for you.
More in Freelancer
