28 Quick and Easy Ways to Get Your Marketing Message Across
Posted June 2, 2010 in Marketing 45 Comments »
Marketing–it brings us new clients and helps to keep our freelancing business afloat. Yet, many freelancers are uncomfortable about marketing their business.
There are actually many easy and painless steps that you can take to get your marketing message across. The best marketing tactics are often those that you don’t have to remember to apply.
In this post, we’ll summarize some of these easy marketing tactics. You should be able to use this post as a checklist to compare with the way that you market your own freelance business.
Here are 28 simple, yet creative, tactics in four separate categories that will help to get your marketing message across to existing and potential clients:
Using a Slogan
Learn to use a slogan effectively–create a simple, but memorable, one sentence slogan that describes the most unique thing about your freelance business. Here seven places where you can use that slogan:
- In the automatic signature line of your emails
- On the tag line of your blog
- On your profile on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, YouTube (or any social media site where you maintain a profile)
- On your business card
- On your stationery
- In your advertisements
- On branded products such as coffee mugs and tee shirts (see CafePress) that you give as gifts to clients
To see some great examples of slogans, look at the comments on this open thread.
Encourage Referrals
Build your business by encouraging referrals. Use one, or more, of the following suggestions to maximize the number of potential clients referred to you:
- Do your utmost to make doing business with you a pleasant experience so that your clients will feel good about recommending you to someone else.
- Get in the habit of saying “do you know anyone else who could use my services?” at the close of each project.
- Offer a one-time referral incentive discount to existing clients. For example, you might offer an existing client a 5% discount on a future project for each referral they send your way that becomes a new client.
- Offer a one-time nominal finder’s fee to friends and family who refer new clients to you. (It could be $50 for each referral that generates at least $1000 of new business.)
- Offer a free gift to new clients, but let your current clients know about it so that they can share it with their colleagues.
- Be generous with your business cards. Never give out just one–always include an extra to be passed along to someone else who could use your services.
- Say thank-you to clients who refer business to you. Make it a personal thank-you note–not a form letter.
You can learn more about asking for referrals.
Get Organized
Find more business by keeping track of your current clients.
- Create a master client list of every client that you’ve ever done work for. Make it a point to check in with each client several times a year.
- For your best clients, offer a complimentary copy of information products that might be of interest such as newsletters, special reports, or eBooks.
- Stay in touch with old colleagues (LinkedIn is great for this). You never know which old colleague might have moved to a company that can use your services.
- Set aside some marketing time each day just the same way that you would schedule a project.
- Do track where your client leads come from. If you got a client from a particular source (such as a trade show) in the past, it’s possible that you may get future clients from the same source.
- Get a portfolio–a site or a page on a site that features your best work. Often new clients are drawn to a strong portfolio.
- Manage your online reputation. Periodically check to see what others are saying about you.
Here is a post that can help you to get more organized.
Be Social
Believe it or not, you can generate business by getting out and meeting people. Consider doing one, or more, of the following to help bolster your business:
- Take a class in your field, which will help you meet others in your specialty who may need your services.
- Join a professional society. Not only does this provide networking opportunities, but many professional societies have job banks for members.
- Go to a trade show in your field. Even if you are not an exhibitor, you are likely to meet possible clients at a trade show who could use your services.
- Don’t be shy–explain that you own a business when you meet someone new and they ask about your job.
- Don’t forget to talk to professionals that you employ. You never know, the plumber you just hired may need a web designer for his business site.
- Join in on social media. It’s not enough to simply have a profile–participate and get your name out there.
- Leave relevant comments on blogs and on forums. You never know who might be following a thread and click through to see your portfolio or blog.
This post on overcoming loneliness has many ideas that will help you network with potential clients.
What About You?
We’ve shared 28 relatively simple, yet creative, tactics to help you get your marketing message across. Many of these methods can be applied as a regular part of carrying out your business.
What simple marketing tactics would you add to the list?
Image by scfiasco
About the author: Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 19 years of professional business writing experience. If you liked this post, then you may also enjoy Laura’s blog about her freelance writing experiences, WritingThoughts
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45 Comments
Adarsh
June 2nd, 2010 at 9:45 amSlogans are always a great way. I make sure that if it is a referral one of my clients introduce me to them. If not I make sure there are some testimonials in my message and link to the actual person so that they can verify my credential
Michael D Hart
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:28 amI agree that following up every once in a while on previous clients is a must. I’ve read elsewhere (probably another FF article!) that 60-70% of freelancers’ business comes from repeat clients.
Also, along with your slogan, social presence, etc. your look, feel, and professional interactions need to be consistent with the ‘brand’ (yourself) you are establishing.
Thanks for the article Laura!
Johnny
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:36 amI think we tend to get lazy (or at least I do) setting aside some time each day for your own marketing but it is probably the most important on the list. Even just a half hour a day can net you several new clients in the long run.
Men's Online Magazine
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:54 amI think being social in this day and age is huge because everyone communicates via the social networks
Freelance FactFile
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:16 amHere’s my marketing tip: Find out where your potential clients hang out (either online or in the real world) and make sure you hang out in the same places. So whether it’s a LinkedIn group, a Facebook page, an industry conference, a regular networking event etc etc.
Chris Mower
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:20 amIMO, references are the bomb-diggity to getting new clients. References give you that added measure of trust that you would otherwise have to spend time cultivating from scratch.
Freelance Web Designer Evan Skuthorpe
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:21 amsome good tips thanks.
Kris Karafotas
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:52 amReferences speak volumes!
behzad
June 2nd, 2010 at 12:11 pmAnother great article. Really enjoyed reading it. Feel free to open up a new thread at the forum for any future brain storming and feedback.
Laura Spencer
June 2nd, 2010 at 12:20 pmGreat comments! Thanks everyone for sharing your input and additional marketing tips.
I’m not sure of the statistics, but I also believe (like many of you) that most business comes from referrals and repeat clients.
However, so many of these tips can be integrated into your normal routine without too much trouble.
Laura Spencer
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:29 pmGreat idea Behzad!
There’s now a thread on the Freelance Folder Forums for this topic.
Amber Weinberg
June 2nd, 2010 at 1:58 pmI’ve been lazy about marketing lately because I’ve been so busy, but I try to keep track of job boards and job twitter feeds everyday at least ;)
Queens PI Lawyer
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:02 pmExcellent article. All of these tips are great and extremely helpful for marketing new companies.
Jordan Walker
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:16 pmI have not done any marketing. Word of mouth has been working well for me.
Mike
June 2nd, 2010 at 3:39 pmGreat tips – I need to work on my slogan now…
Jason
June 2nd, 2010 at 5:17 pmstationery, not stationary. Sorry, just a big nitpick of mine.
Laura Spencer
June 2nd, 2010 at 5:22 pmGot it– Thanks Jason!
Wordpress SEO
June 2nd, 2010 at 9:29 pmthanks for compiling all the creative one’s at one place. Will be promoting my new blog will look forward for more tips.
George Passwater
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:18 pmGreat ideas in this post.
There are a few I will start looking at and many that I do use now. I would have to say the biggest ones I always go back to are: making time to do marketing and keeping in touch with clients. No matter how busy you are, it’s never a bad time to market yourself.
Thanks again for another great post Laura.
Maranda Gibson
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:25 pmReferrals are so important… I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve spoken with who have said to me “Oh, this person said your service was great and I would like to try it out.” The thank you note is something I do every day… even if the customer doesn’t refer anyone else, they’ll know me, and that might make them stick with me. :)
behzad
June 2nd, 2010 at 10:43 pmFollow us at the forum to discuss more about this topic, invite your friends to join.
http://freelancefolder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=18104#p18104
Laura Spencer
June 2nd, 2010 at 11:01 pmThanks to everyone who shared their marketing tips…
Niubi
June 3rd, 2010 at 5:45 amFabulous post, and the comments are really informative, too. DubLi, anyone?
Michele | aka Raw Juice Girl
June 3rd, 2010 at 11:30 amThese are awesome ideas, Laura!
I also love striking up a conversation while in line at a store or anywhere, really. You never know where you might come across a potential client – or fellow freelancer! And I carry business cards with me, always. ;-)
Solomon
June 4th, 2010 at 7:46 amHi Everyone,
Great tips, thank you so much. Mine: never feel shy talk about your work to everyone you know and meet. Stack up a bundle of cards with you always!
thanks
latteperday
June 4th, 2010 at 9:02 amGreat advise and @johnny has it bang on there too… little and often is so important. Get in the habitat and take little steps each day and it will become second nature and also start to compound if active in the same area regularly (e.g social media or same local networking event etc)
AlchemyCode
June 7th, 2010 at 1:24 amGreat job! A real essence of freelance marketing – vary useful, thanks :)
Axelrod
June 9th, 2010 at 1:33 pmThanks a lot for the advice. The post was very organized and well written. Excellent marketing points as well.
Grace
June 9th, 2010 at 8:08 pmI think the “being social” section is probably the most effective way to find new clients. I never thought about freelancing, but I have been taking more classes to develop myself as a professional, and I’ve had people ask me to consult or work on small projects. Giving business cards to friends help too, since they can pass your info around. And professional networking events are helpful – but probably not as helpful as having friends refer you :)
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