The trick to effective self marketing is...

Marketing and how to generate leads is something a lot of people have opinions on. Not all of those opinions are useful. Working out how to market your freelance business is a deeply personal thing. It has to be because in essence, you’re the product you sell.

I don’t however mean that in the current trend of putting yourself at the centre of your brand and making the awe your intended audience feel for you determine your sales and enterprises. I don’t believe in making yourself the centre of your business’ attention. That honour should go to your customer.

Today’s work is designed to get you pondering the kind of freelancer you are and how you want to market yourself now and in the future.

Only when you have your freelance identity down-pat will you be able to effectively market yourself. So that’s where we begin. Grab your journal.

Step 1: Make a commitment to getting the baseline right

We all have areas in our freelance business we know we should be working on, but we end up putting off. You know the deal- it’s those little things that knock at the back of your skull, gnawing at you when your energy is low.

It might be your finances or your project management. Maybe you haven’t got your social media setup properly. You may have stopped promoting your website because you aren’t that proud of it. Your workspace could be terrible, your hard drive could be a mess, or your marketing could suck- whatever the case, now you need to make a commitment to get that together.

Journal exercise:

• Pick something that is driving you a bit batty that you always put off

• Write out a TO DO list of items you need to do in order to fix the situation

• Give each item a priority of Must, Should, Could or Would so you know what is vital for success and you have a working plan

• Set aside two hours a week (can be in one sitting, can be split in small chunks over the week when you have time) to start moving towards getting it under control

• Do it!

Step 2: Look for the marketing of least resistance

Some people love networking, others get nothing out of it. Blogging can be a wonderful stress relief to one freelancer, it can leave another cold. Social media may be a place you can’t get enough of, or the whole idea could completely baffle you.
Whatever the case, you need to identify the types of marketing you want to employ with your business. And you’re only going to find this out through knowing what does and doesn’t work for you.

Journal exercise:

• Write down 5 forms of marketing you really cannot bear the thought of doing (for me, these are things like cold calling a business, printing a bunch of leaflets and doing a mailbox drop- that sort of thing)- and the reasons why they aren’t your type of marketing

• Write down 10 marketing ideas that you have thought of that you would like to try but have not yet – they can be big or small.

• Now choose 3 marketing ideas to try based on-

1. Most interesting to you on a creative level

2. Lowest hanging fruit (so easiest to execute)

3. The assumption of what would be most effective, customer wise

• Write out a mini TO DO list for each marketing activity using the MoSCoW priority system above

• Choose one of your marketing campaigns, set yourself a deadline- and hop to it!

Step 3: Identify the way you hustle

All freelancers need to hustle. We need to work some kind of room somewhere in order to keep work happening. You don’t get anywhere without making friends with people. Hustling however, makes us often feel awkward and weird. Selling yourself is a difficult process, so you need to work out a way to keep it real.

The first step is working out the way that you hustle best. And you can only do that if you know what you want.

Journal exercise:

• Write down the jobs you have done (or the clients you have looked after) since you began freelancing

• Next to each, write down how they found you (or you found them) in the first place. For example, through referral, via your website, by a previous work relationship, SEO and so on

• Now go through your emails (and memory) and write down all the jobs that have fallen through for one reason or another

• Write down where they came from

• Write down why those jobs fell through (cost, you weren’t available, they had no idea of the project, someone else beat you to it etc)

Can you see a pattern with each list? If you can, you need to work out how to do more of the positive work and weed out most of the tyre kickers.

Knowledge like this is power. It may even change your whole approach to marketing. It certainly gets you thinking about where your leads come from and where to get more of the same. For example, if you notice that most of your work comes from other freelancers, you’ll need to change your focus to making them feel more special to gain more of the same. You’ll also need to identify what you can do to make buddies with more freelancers, online and off.

Be prepared to also spot vulnerabilities. For example, if all your leads come from one source, you need to seriously think about diversifying and creating a new channel for work to flow through. A reliance on one referrer or one client can see you lose control of your business if they lose their business, or they decide to exploit your vulnerability. Some of the hardest decisions a freelancer can make is to ditch a massive portion of income if a relationship with a client is no longer productive. It’s very taxing on your stress levels and not something you want to experience if you can avoid it.
Knowing where your leads come from will help you identify your hustling strategy.

Hustling is the next ticket on the agenda. So wear comfortable shoes and bring your attitude!