10 personal marketing tips for freelancers
Today we are going to present 10 personal marketing tips for freelancers that can change the way you are conducting your work in this area.
We live in an extremely competitive market, and as such, freelancers need to always be alert to opportunities to promote their work. Since freelancers are their own companies, personal marketing is essential.
To help you meet the challenge of showcasing your work and reaching the target audience that interests you, we have created a list of the 10 personal marketing tips for freelancers that we consider most important.
Personal Marketing Tips for Freelancers
To start changing this perception, we need to make some adjustments in terms of “personal marketing”.
That’s why we’ve put together the tips below so you can fully embrace your role as a freelance professional and, with it, conquer the market share that will help you achieve your personal and career dreams.
There are just 10, very simple ones, to start today. We guarantee that all of them come with the “life-changing” seal…
1 – Take your personal marketing seriously
The first of our personal marketing tips for freelancers is to take this issue very seriously, as you will be working and valuing your personal brand, that is, your business as a freelancer.
Working as a freelancer needs to be seen as a business, as a small company called You. That’s why your personal marketing needs to be taken very seriously.
One of the great secrets of successful freelancers is to allocate part of their available time to promote themselves. Therefore, we recommend that you create a routine to work on your brand and stick to it.
2 – Clean up your social media
Social media is an important element of a personal marketing strategy for freelancers , so if you want to be seen as a respected professional, one of our tips is to start there.
There is no point in following all the personal marketing tips for freelancers that we will present here if in your social media profiles you present yourself as an intolerant person, unnecessarily controversial or prone to low-level disagreements.
It goes without saying that racist, sexist or homophobic posts can ruin your freelance career, among other problems. So, forget about the idea that your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are a repository for everything that goes through your head, because some of them can really hurt you.
Another of our personal marketing tips for freelancers on social media is to always keep your LinkedIn profile updated and make posts that are not professional, as the focus of this network is precisely professional relationships.
3 – Be active in specialized discussion groups
Another good tip for personal marketing on the Internet is to use social networks for their countless possibilities to boost the creation of a good personal image, and not just to show trivial things. Discussion groups on topics related to your area on Facebook and LinkedIn are good places to participate in discussions and establish your name in the market.
The tip in this case is when discussing professional matters, remember to always be very cordial and faithful to your arguments. If you disagree with someone else, attack their point of view, not the one arguing.
If you notice, for a moment, that the discussion is going to turn into personal insults, resist the urge to feed your own ego and leave the conversation without giving it any further thought.
As long as you are learning new things in these forums, online or offline, and are making good contributions to the formation of ideas, be active. People are more likely to remember your name if you share good ideas.
4 – Have a business card
Yes. That’s right. In the midst of the digital age and the whirlwind of social media, one of our personal marketing tips for freelancers is to have a good old business card to present.
Many clients still want to see a company behind a professional, even if it’s a one-person company. Having a name, a brand, and a business card is a great way to start marketing yourself as a freelancer.
This doesn’t mean, however, that you have to spend time and money thinking about a name for a company that is yours alone. Remember that as a freelancer, you are your own brand, as long as you present yourself clearly and objectively to your clients.
The good old business card is still one of the best ways to make a good impression, especially in face-to-face meetings.
5 – Always seek training
This shouldn’t even be one of the personal marketing tips for freelancers, but rather one of the survival tips for freelancers in such a competitive market as we live in today. High-performing freelancers are always retraining themselves.
Whenever you find a course within your area of expertise, invest in it and make the most of the opportunity to learn new techniques and make more connections. After all, everyone taking a course in your area has the same goals and may share contact information for potential clients.
Referrals are very common in the freelance market, and taking courses can make you even more qualified to be remembered by clients and colleagues through word of mouth. Networking for freelancers is essential to boost your personal marketing.
6 – Promote courses in your area of knowledge
If you are a mid-level or senior professional in the field in which you work, think about promoting courses and making your personal marketing go even further, this time, as a person who is so good at what they do that they even teach other people to follow the same path.
When we share knowledge, in addition to establishing ourselves as professionals who know what they are doing, we also have the possibility of improving our colleagues’ view on certain subjects and making the market even more specialized within a given area.
7 – Participate in events
And it’s not just in face-to-face meetings that you can hand out these cards: freelancers’ participation in events in their field helps a lot in building their career.
This is because, as our grandmother used to say, “out of sight, out of mind.” The simple fact of being around other professionals in your field will put your name in the minds of people who, upon seeing you at events, may remember your services and recommend you.
Let’s not even talk about the possibility of making good contacts at events, precisely through the exchange of cards, because that is the essence of why events exist. Being there can bring you new work partners, new clients and, why not, new friendships.
8 – Maintain a cordial relationship with your customers
Every freelancer knows that there are times when we want to kill a client who is getting on our nerves, but this is a good example of a thought that should not be expressed either with words or actions.
Even if the client doesn’t understand or doesn’t want to understand your arguments, remember to defend them politely and cordially. Resist the urge to say “are you stupid, man?!” and instead try to say something more like “I understand your position, but I still think we should do it the way I suggested for this, this and this reason.”
The reasons, of course, must be fair. And if the client still doesn’t want it, do it the way they ask. Even if you don’t like or approve of the result, if you make that clear, they will end up realizing that you are not an enemy or someone with “ill will.”
On the other hand, if you are unbalanced, rude, rude, arrogant or overbearing, the chances of the client continuing the work, or recommending you to someone, will be close to non-existent.
9 – Be punctual in your contracts
Delivering your work within the agreed deadlines is very important, as many people end up recommending freelancers precisely because of their punctuality. What should be everyone’s obligation has become a bargaining chip and an opportunity to attract new potential clients. Therefore, the most correct and ethical thing to do is to emphasize that punctuality is not optional.
Be a professional freelancer and respect the scheduled times for meetings or any other meeting or request that has been agreed upon and the deadlines that you have set for delivering a service. This way, while other professionals in the field are still struggling to wake up to reality, you will be making a name for yourself.
10 – Make sure you deliver results
The last of our personal marketing tips for freelancers concerns delivering results, because nothing says more about a freelancer’s personal marketing than delivering good results, the kind that leave the client satisfied and fulfill the strategic objective for which they were hired.
Whenever you have a good result, you will have a great opportunity to further promote your work. Share it on social media, showing how that result was achieved and the work involved.
By showing what you have done previously and what worked, you will be providing the market with an endorsement that you are the most qualified person for a certain type of work.
