8 Strategies as a Freelancer for Winning Better Clients
The freelance economy has become a significant entity in the business world. Each year, the number of individuals transitioning to freelance from their day jobs increases. If you want to become a freelancer, you’re about to become a self-employed individual. And when it comes to being self-employed, you need to find clients on your own. In freelancing, you’re your boss, and you make the decisions. Therefore, finding trusted clients is essential in being a freelancer so that you can earn money as much as you want. We will show you eight strategies to help you get the attention of great clients.
8 Strategies as a Freelancer for Winning Better Clients
Act Like an Expert
Let’s face it. Not all people trust the credibility of freelancers. To some, freelancers are just mere amateurs or wannabes. Well, they’re not wrong. Some freelancers are indeed amateurs, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have professional-level skills. So, when you submit a proposal to several prospective clients, show them that you’re an expert; or better yet, act as an expert, regardless if you have professional training credentials or not. Be firm in your stand as a credible and competent freelancer in your chosen niche. In doing so, prospective clients will most likely place their trust in you. Thus, they will consider hiring you for their projects.
Market Yourself the Right Way
Marketing is an essential operation for every business that sells products and services. Most companies spend thousands of dollars from their budget on marketing alone. That’s evidence of how marketing can genuinely help businesses obtain consumers.
In the freelance economy, marketing is also essential, but it’s more grounded and not as grand as how big companies do it. As a freelance, you have to let people know about your services. Publish your freelancer profile and portfolio on social media and other freelance platforms. There are many social media strategies you can utilize to establish your freelancing reputation. Showcasing your freelancing credentials is a prime example of marketing yourself the right way. And if you market yourself right, you can attract the kind of clients you want. Moreover, unlike big companies, you don’t need to plan an extravagant budget for your marketing campaign.
Post Blogs
According to an analysis report stated in 99firms.com, 55% of sellers consider blogging as their primary inbound marketing approach. Inbound marketing refers to the process of drawing people into your business offers by sharing relevant information and topics that help them with their needs. Because of the internet’s presence, blogging is the primary strategy by most sellers. Most people go to the internet to find general information, and they mostly find them in published blogs. As a freelancer, you should consider blogging.
If you have the money to establish your website, go for it, and post your blogs there. Write blogs that are related to your niche with contents that’ll connect with the needs of your target audience. After they read your blogs, they could deem you as an excellent freelancer and may contact you for a job proposal; therefore, converting them to clients. As an alternative, you may also post blogs on social media if you don’t have the resources to build a website.
Determine Your Market Value
As a freelancer, you should know your market value to set your service fees. Once you’ve identified your market value, you should consider undercutting it by 25%, especially if you’re a newbie freelancer. By doing so, you’re chances of winning the interests of your target clients will improve. After such, you have to deliver the value that your clients asked for and add more to it. In other words, try to go the extra mile in doing their projects. Your good reputation as a freelancer will build, and that could win you more trusted clients in the future.
Find Gigs at Excellent Freelance Websites
One of the benefits of freelancer jobs is that you can find them quite easily online. That said, you can find many clients quickly. However, there’s no assurance if they’re the kind of clients you want to be work with. In that case, you should find gigs at reputable freelance websites such as Upwork. In such sites, many good clients search for freelancers. Who knows? You could be the type of freelancer that they’re looking for specifically. Some of these clients are from well-known companies, and they can pay you a handsome amount of money.
Suggest Meetings
Once you’ve obtained the kind of clients you want, do your best to keep them to get more work from them. To do that, try suggesting to have regular meetings with them. That’ll imply that you care for your clients and that you’re dedicated to delivering the services they need. You can schedule the meeting weekly, biweekly, or monthly, whichever you prefer, or whichever the clients prefer. Meeting in person with your clients can help in establishing trust and nurturing a lasting business relationship with them.
Approach Your Fellow Freelancers
Your fellow freelancers are your competition, but they can also be your ally. By ally, we mean that they can help you get in contact with good clients. They might be able to recommend you to clients with projects that are within your capabilities; and, these clients could pay well possibly. In freelancing, sometimes, you need to have connections from other freelancers to expand your grasp in the market.
Use the Remora Method
The Remora Method is a term coined by James Clear. It’s a strategy wherein a producer partners with a seller, and that seller will sell the items to the buyers. All the producer needs to do is produce items to earn profit without having to promote extensively. The Remora Method can be applied in freelancing. You can hook up with businesses that look for freelancers, and those businesses will be the ones to sell them to clients. Your only job is to produce output regularly. It may not be a means to meet clients directly, but it’s a sure way to earn a steady income.
To be successful in your freelance career, you have to invest and exhaust resources in finding the right people. It’s a matter of establishing good and strong connections, generally speaking. Put what you’ve learned here in your personal checklist and apply them once you embark on your freelancing journey.