“I tried XYZ course, and it was great! I learned a lot. But I can’t just see myself doing those things”.

This is probably one of the most common sentiments I come across during a coaching session or conversation about freelance education. Freelancers who are keen to crack the freelance marketing matrix, make it easy to find clients, and make finding leads easier often do courses that give them information on how to do the functional side of client acquisition.

Let me save you some mystery and help you peer behind the curtain:

There is a formula for freelance marketing success

It is very visible, extroverted, confident, and applied. It changes with the cycles of what is popular, the newness of the social media platforms, and where people are turning their attention. But it is simple, really.

  1. Know the problem your audience has
  2. Find the place where that audience wants to talk about that problem
  3. Create solutions you can sell that solve the problem (beyond the pick me answer)
  4. Say repeatable things that resonate to that audience offering relief from their problem via the solution you sell

Oh, and proactivity wins

If you can:

  • Turn up to networking events
  • Do email outreach
  • Pick up the phone and make calls
  • Hone your SEO
  • Get stuck into marketing
  • Be loud enough for long enough on social media

Things will eventually happen.

Not many people (do any people?) talk about:

  1. What happens before you can do these things
  2. What happens if you do them and they are not right for you

To me, that’s where the real problem lies.

Some marketers are freelancers, but not all freelancers are marketers

Freelance marketing is an acquired taste. It is a skill. And it isn’t for everybody.

Most teachers of freelance marketing are marketing adjacent. It is much easier to learn how to drive an automatic if you started off on a manual.

Meanwhile, other freelancers face a steeper learning curve. To many, it is an entirely new job. One where the tasks suck. You’d rather tweeze a cat’s eyebrows than sit down to write an Instagram post.

Learning to market or sell like someone from a marketing and sales background will only get you so far if you haven’t faced the real problem:

You have no confidence in marketing. Or at least, in how it relates to you.

The real reason why you didn’t finish that course, the checklist didn’t work, or you read the blog and took the notes and then did nothing with it is:

  1. You haven’t unpacked of you and your style to draw on information from other people.
  2. No matter how many techniques you learn, if you don’t understand them or you don’t believe in them, you simply won’t do them

Your approach to freelance marketing is a deeply personal thing. If you’re going to stand naked in the cyber halls asking people to enjoy looking at you, you better believe you should like what you’re bringing!

Freelance marketing isn’t a technique driven thing  

Before you get stuck into the marketing part, we freelancers need to face:

  • Our relationship with money and wealth, and sales and pricing
  • Our feelings about asking for help, attracting attention, and visibility
  • The experiences that have shaped our perception of self, our self-worth, and how we value ourselves and our skills
  • The emotional triggers within common activities that haunt us as we sell, market, and self-advocate
  • Our mindset around achievement and self-advocacy and self-promotion
  • The shitty habits we’ve picked up from work, education, relationships, clients, peers and society that we need to replace
  • The real reasons why marketing and new ideas scare the crap out of us ad why we’re so tempted to do what is safe even though we don’t believe in it

Ask yourself the following questions

  1. Imagine I called you a marketer. What happens in your head, body, and heart?
  2. How do these feelings influence my behaviours when it comes time to drum up new business?
  3. What do you think marketing is supposed to look like?
  4. Do you worry about bothering your audience or interrupting them? If so, ask yourself why five times and see where you get to
  5. Are you doing marketing because that’s what you have to do to find clients rather than doing your best marketing? Do you think that’s a fair first conversation with a potential client?

Want to look at freelance marketing a different way? Make a change now.

 


The Freelance Jungle has a Facebook community, virtual catch-ups for stress reduction and networking, and a commitment to education via podcasts, blogs, and online learning.


 

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