Seven Reasons Not to Meet with Prospective Clients
Posted March 1, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing
Should you meet a prospective client face-to-face?
There’s an ongoing debate about whether or not having a face-to-face meeting with a client is beneficial. Many freelancers believe that a face-to-face meeting is crucial to landing new clients. Other freelancers choose to work virtually, never meeting their clients in person.
Which is better?
From my perspective, the answer is: it depends. While there are definitely some instances when a meeting may be what clinches the deal with a prospect, there are other times when a face-to-face meeting is not wise.
Here are some instances when a personal meeting with the client just isn’t worth it.
MarketMeTweet: Will It Help You Find Clients on Twitter?
Posted February 26, 2010 in Marketing, Social Media
Lately, I’ve been playing around with MarketMeTweet, a new Twitter application for marketing and branding.
MarketMeTweet allows you to manage multiple Twitter accounts to promote your business. You can send tweets, as well as get your replies and direct messages, retweet, and send messages to others. It works with PC, Mac, and Linux.
Will MarketMeTweet help you find clients on Twitter? The short answer is, “Yes, but….”
How to Be Competitive Without Alienating Your Peers
Posted February 19, 2010 in Business, Marketing
In the current economic climate, freelancers can very easily discover they are a not-so-distant relative to the starving artist. Scrambling for the next project, lowering rates and doing whatever else it takes to secure the necessary income can begin to raise the competitive mindset to new heights in even the most community-minded of individuals.
While competition can be a healthy motivation, it can also be the knife in the back of other freelancers in your field if handled carelessly. This post will look at ways to keep competition in its rightful place, driving your business forward without alienating fellow freelancers or damaging your standing in your respective community.
5 Sneaky Ways to Get Free Traffic to Your Freelancing Blog
Posted February 16, 2010 in Marketing
Having a blog is an extremely important way for freelancers to market our services. After you’ve built a blog and started publishing posts, the biggest challenge is getting people to your blog.
What’s the use of a blog if nobody’s reading it?
Unfortunately, blogging isn’t like building a Field of Dreams, where “If you build it, they will come.” Posting high-quality articles on your blog isn’t enough to get people to discover the gem in your blog.
There are tons of ways to get traffic to your blog. You could pay for advertising, for example. However, as freelancers, we’re usually more interested in strategies that are free and easy.
Below are five sneaky ways to get free traffic to your blog. They’re easy to do. Most won’t take more than a few minutes of your time every day. And most of them are even fun.
[Click Here to Read More...]
Get Your Clients to Stop Comparing Rates
Posted February 15, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing
You are the best at what you do. No other freelancer can do what you do as well as you do it.
The problem, however, lies in getting clients to understand this. This is particularly hard if you’re still in the start-up stage, where you’re having to find the clients, instead of them coming to you.
In certain industries, like design, it’s easier to get the client to understand the difference in quality and rates (although designers still get rate-comparing clients), but if you’re a developer or writer, it’s tougher to get the client to understand the difference.
So how do you convince the client that your $100 an hour services are better than the other guy’s $30 an hour services?
Should You Meet With Prospective Clients?
Posted February 11, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing
“Can you come by this week? We’d like to meet you.”
If you’ve been a freelancer for some time, you’ve probably heard this request more than once from a prospective client.
To some freelancers, meeting requests are a clear sign of legitimate interest. They are a critical step in their selling process.
But other freelancers cringe when they get such requests. For the most part, they view in-person meetings as a waste of time and would rather discuss the project or opportunity over the phone.
Free Consultation: Pros and Cons
Posted February 1, 2010 in Managing Clients, Marketing
In my search for effective marketing strategies for freelancers, I keep running into this idea. Get prospects on the phone for a free consultation with you.
You may have seen it yourself on some freelancers’ websites: an offer of a free 20- or 30-minute consultation to anybody who is interested in hiring them.
Should every freelancer offer free consultation to get more clients? The answer isn’t simple, and there is no one right answer for everyone. To see what the answer is for you, let’s go over the pros and cons of providing free consultation to prospects.
What Every Freelancer Ought To Know About Blogging
Posted January 24, 2010 in Getting Started, Marketing
“Freelancer, you absolutely must have a blog if you ever expect to become successful…”
Have you ever heard this claim?
If you’ve been working online for any length of time, then this claim is probably not new to you. Nearly every small business advisor will tell you that blogging is a great way to build up your online presence.
However, many freelancers begin blogging with unrealistic expectations. They view blogging as a sort of magic bullet that can somehow instantly propel them to freelancer rockstardom.
This post takes a realist look at some of those expectations. It also discusses what a freelancer can realistically expect from blogging.
Embracing Social Media as Freelance Job Search Tool
Posted January 20, 2010 in Marketing, Social Media
The challenges of freelancing don’t lie in the daily commute or finding the right outfit to wear to work. Instead we have to continually think of ways to market ourselves and drum up business. This isn’t always easy. Not only do we have to stay on top of our own game, but we have to consider all of the other freelancers who are vying for the same opportunities. The good news is that in 2010, there are plenty of options. Finding them is easy thanks to social media.
We all know social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are fun networking and socializing platforms, but they, along with other social media tools, can also be used to enhance your job search and help you to land more clients. While younger freelancers are eager to embrace social media, many “old schoolers” confess to “not getting it” or its importance.
Don’t underestimate the usefulness of social media, you never know what you might find beyond the regular job boards.
Try searching "Getting Clients" or "Productivity"
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