5 Expert Freelance Marketing Tips for Web Content Writers

As a beginning web content writer, have you said the following words to yourself?

“I’m just a new writer, so I only need a few business cards, a yahoo email address, and a brochure that I printed at home to market my services.”

My response to your freelance marketing declaration, (if you are looking to charge at least 50 to 75 dollars an hour for your writing ) is…

Wrong Thinking.

Wrong Strategy.

Will Yield…

The. Wrong. Results.

Yes, you’re a newbie entrepreneur, but when it comes to marketing, you must think big.

Before you make your first cold call or print that sales brochure, you must determine what image you want to project, now and in the future.

Most freelancers neglect marketing because they lack clients or experience. Use these suggestions to charge your clients more and create a solid marketing presence offline and online.

Learn what marketing bells and whistles tickle the fancies of your ideal customers and how to speak their marketing language loud and clear.

1. Don’t have any clients, yet? Use your prior work experience and business samples to build your portfolio and show your value as a freelancer. Include snippets of past work references, volunteer experience, and your mission statement as a professional courtesy to clients.
2. Need champagne marketing materials on a beer budget? Have a young art student or young graphic designer create your website. A young designer is usually looking for work experience and new clients to boost their empty portfolio and will have up-to-date design skills for a reduced price.
3. Show your clients that you’re here to stay. Provide a telephone number and business address to ensure clients that you plan to stay in business for longer than 3 months.
4. Research the leading companies’ marketing strategies in your industry and mimic their behavior. Yes, you’re a freelancer. But your clothes, business cards, sales letters, even the restaurants you frequent, must mirror your brand message. You’re not too small to market like the big boys and girls, just on a smaller scale.
5. Dress the part. Yes, you’re brilliant and qualified. But no high paying client will spend $1,500 on a consultant who dresses like a bum. Can’t afford Armani? Shop consignment boutiques and find a good tailor. A freelancer’s professional appearance matters, particularly if you want to charge your clients more money.
6. Invest in your business first, before you ask someone to pay for your services. What clients to show you the money? Mimic the marketing style of the highest-paid freelancer in your field. If they use brochures, case studies, client testimonials, and article marketing, follow their lead to more money.

NEWSFLASH: If your marketing is bigger, bolder, and unexpectedly sophisticated you can charge more money as a freelance writer.

If your marketing strategy involves: an amateurish website designed by a three-year-old, 50% off value coupons for services and 20-pound stock red paper fliers printed off your home computer, you are saying to your potential customers, “I’m cheap, low-quality and ordinary.”

Who wants to brand themselves as the low-price freelance writing leader?

No disrespect to Wal-Mart, but most successful freelancers, who want to live above the poverty level, have a minimum hourly rate of $50 or more.

If you have poorly executed marketing, you’ll attract the haggling customers who are shopping for the best price and not interested in your value.

In the world of Googling and search engine research, people are going to research your name and company. And they should.

Don’t disappoint them with poor marketing tactics. If you want to attract big clients, a freelancer’s marketing needs to look big to win your client’s trust.