how to market yourself as a freelance professional

Whether you've joined the land of freelancing as a side gig, as a way to have more freedom in your career, or you're just looking for a way to revitalize your online presence, it's important to take a strategic approach to marketing yourself as a freelance professional.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us have transitioned to working remotely or have even lost our jobs. Family commitments may have increased, and you may be looking for a source of income that is flexible. Advantages of freelance work include independence, the ability to control your workload and your exposure. Freelance work can open up posiibilities not possible when you are working for someone else. 

On the other hand, you don't have a dedicated marketing department or social media coordinator to market your work and abilities. The burden is on you to find clients and convince them you are the person to hire. Just as freelance work is attractive to you, its attractive to mnany others, making freelance bids competative.

​ Your freelance marketing approach should focus on 2 things: publicity and visibility. Let's dive in.

Photo by Retha Ferguson from Pexels

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publicity

Publicity may come in several ways depending on your niche industry. You can estalibsh yourself as an expert in a certain arena by writing regularly on the topic, citing reputable sources, or by creating easy to udnerstand explaining videos. You may be contacted by jouranlists ormedia outlets looking for an expert to coach. You don't have to wait for them to reach out either - you can contact them and ofer your services. The next time they need an expert angle in your area of edpertise, hopefully you'll be the first on their call list. 

You can also use public speaking to increase your public presence. In the era of remote meetings, you may consider making Youtube videos  a la TEDTalk, having live and recorded webinars, or more. For example, if you're a trained lawyer but branching out into freelance expertise writing, you may want to hire a public relations firm that can handle the publicity for you. Elite Lawyer Management represent both individual attorneys and law firms, and can get you set up on the road in the public eye. Do a quck online search for PR firms that specailixe in your expertise area, like medical doctors, scientists and academics, and more.

visibility

If you're quoted in a prominent news piece as an expert, but when the reader goes to search for you online they find nothing then what is the point? If you depend on local business, you want your online presence to be connected to your community. 

First step is to create a LinkedIn profile. You can list your profession as a freelance [occupation] and set your location to your local area. Then, the ad optimization LinkedIn does will do all the work for you next time someone searches for you, or for your occupation in the area. You can also use LinkedIn posts to provide a sense of personality to your page.

Create a Facebook page for your business where you can receive ratings and host your work, particularly if your customers are typically members of the general public rather than other occupations. You can also optimize your SEO content with video. Finally, list yourself in local online business directories and freelance lists, and create a profile for Google My Business.