The wrong perspective on marketing?
I work with freelancers and independent business owners quite frequently, but this mistake can apply to small business owners as well.
A lot of freelancers live in a reality of feast or famine. Times when life (and business) is good and work is plentiful, followed by a period of crickets and desperation—when the project pipeline looks like a ghost town. This is a cycle that can easily force freelancers out of business and running back to a 9-to-5.
Some freelancers don’t worry about marketing until it’s too late.
Most young freelancers that I’ve visited with don’t seem to care much about marketing until it’s too late. If work is steadily coming in, and keeping them busy, then the business owner is happy to be busy and isn’t too concerned about looking for additional work at that moment. They are happily focused on the work in front of them, hoping in the back of their mind that the work continues, which it might—or might not.
When work does slow down, the business owner may start to panic because their cash flow is now in danger of drying up. In a knee-jerk response, the owner will spend time and effort making noise, posting on social media and hitting their email lists hoping they can shake loose a couple of projects to help them weather the dry spell.
“Work will arrive at the business owner’s doorstep when the customer needs the work done—not when the business owner wants work to do.”
The problem is: work will arrive at the business owner’s doorstep when the customer needs the work done—not when the business owner wants work to do.
The secret to marketing your freelance business correctly
The secret is to magically place your business in the front of the customer’s mind. So that, when the customer has a need or problem that requires the business owner’s skills or services, they know who to call.
The trick is, however, that this process doesn’t really happen magically. It happens when the business owner consistently puts their business’ name and services in front of their potential customers.
The best way to do that is for the business owner to carve out a little bit of time each day or week (or month) and reach out to their audience through their favorite marketing channel and let their audience know that they are still in business and would love to know how they can serve them.
Marketing made simple
Good marketing doesn’t have to be more than regular communication with your customers. Regular communication and marketing keeps the business owner in front of their audience’s mind on a frequent basis. So that, when a customer has a need and is looking for someone to meet that need, they know who they need to call.
And, from that point, the sale is easy…
And the pipeline stays full.