Freelancefolder

Getting The Word Out - Making Word Of Mouth Happen

Posted August 7, 2007 in Marketing 2 Rockin' Comments »

When a client of yours recommends your services to someone, you know it is because that client enjoyed working with you. Word of mouth and networking will always work great, especially for freelancers, who most often then not, won’t spend thousands of dollars on advertisement.

[...] Because its purpose is to create a customer, the business has two basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results, all the rest are costs [...] - Peter Drucker

Three Keys to Success

1. Networking through satisfied customers will give you the best return on your marketing and advertising investment.
2. People are more likely to do business with you if someone they know tells them about you.
3. Give your satisfied customers a good reason to tell others about you and your services, and make it easy for them to do so.

[Click here to read more →]

Freelance Because You Love It

Posted August 6, 2007 in Inspiration, Lifestyle Add Comment »

Why freelance? Do you have enough time to hear all of the answers? Do you even care to remember all of those answers? Likely not. None of us needs to know all of those answers; we only need to understand what works for us.

As an experiment, keep a log for a few days (and stop groaning; it’s not just another log — it’s interesting). Every hour or so, write a reason, or a variation, or something appealing about how you envision the freelance way of life.

The listing process will become addictive and energizing, I promise. Each single reason makes a synapse connection to another. They play and mix and give birth to newer and fresher ideas and start to forge their own peculiar paths. [Click here to read more →]

Uh, Oh: Who’s Defining Your Brand?

Posted August 6, 2007 in Marketing 6 Rockin' Comments »

When it comes to positioning your business, are you doing the equivalent of walking up to a car salesman and asking “How much do you think I should spend?” If you aren’t taking smart steps to ensure that you keep 100% control over your customer’s perceptions of you, you might as well be handing your wallet over to a car dealer and saying, “Why don’t you decide how much money I have left at the end of the month.”

Let me be clear on this - this isn’t just an analogy. Positioning (a.k.a. ‘branding‘) absolutely determines how much money you have at the end of every single month. Here’s why … [Click here to read more →]

Give Your Clients Good Enough Reasons To Do Business With You Again

Posted August 4, 2007 in Business, Marketing 3 Rockin' Comments »

We all want repeated business, but sometimes it happens you deliver a project, and you never hear from that person ever again, although you know you worked hard, and your work is quality. Repeated business is critical to your success as a freelancer.

If you’re serious about making a living from your freelancing activities maybe you should try to get your customers to think of you when they want to get things done. As it’s a lot more work trying to find new clients, than keeping the ones your already have.

How can you do this?

• Be a great conversationalist
• Make yourself available to your clients
• Meet or beat your deadline
• Provide your clients with more than just the basics
• Work with people in other fields
• Expand your contact list

[Click here to read more →]

The Next Generation of Job Descriptions

Posted August 3, 2007 in Business 4 Rockin' Comments »

I’m a firm believer that the web is setting some serious standards for the way business operates and the way it is going to progress in the coming years.

As I’m experiencing the management and ownership of my own business (Aspiring Indie), I can’t help but wonder about what the next generation’s work environment is going to be like.

For one thing, I don’t believe we’re going to have many high ranking employees staffing many more businesses in the coming generation. We’re going to be seeing fewer and fewer “Directors of Marketing” and “Sales Managers” and “Head of Accountings“. We won’t see as many convoluted job titles and caveats within their descriptions. We will have a team where each job description is the same:

Problem solver. [Click here to read more →]

How To Use Controversial Marketing For Higher Profits

Posted August 2, 2007 in Marketing 5 Rockin' Comments »

Creating a marketing campaign is one thing, getting it to be successful is a whole other thing that lots of people never think about. Most marketers design some marketing materials and leave it at that. They don’t get into developing their campaign further, refining it or even creating additional pieces. That’s why the lazy marketer or business owner will always fail.

In this article I’m going to show you how you can take a typical marketing campaign and redesign it to create superior results. Not only in terms of winning customers, but also in gaining free publicity, winning awards and gaining trust amongst your entire market. This marketing trick is so powerful it can do all it, with just a few minor enhancements. [Click here to read more →]