With the rise of remote employment and work-from-home opportunities, more and more people have become interested in working for themselves as a freelancer.
A freelancer is an independent worker who earns their money by working on a project-by-project basis with clients rather than for a company.
One type of freelance career that is becoming more popular is freelance marketing. Freelance marketing covers a wide range of tasks and allows people to explore the benefits of freelancing while expanding their digital marketing skills.
In this article, we’ll explore why freelancing is attractive to people and the types of freelancing that can be done.
We’ll then dive into freelance marketing and give you essential tips that can help you jump-start your freelance marketing career.
Why Do People Want to Freelance?
Freelancing is becoming a more popular career choice for a significant number of individuals. Rather than a traditional career where you work for a single company on a full-time basis, freelancing allows people to have more freedom and control over their careers.
Let’s talk about a few of the major benefits of freelancing that make it so appealing to workers.
You Are Your Own Boss
Bad bosses and ineffective managers can leave a bad taste in your mouth. When you are a freelancer, you aren’t accountable to a manager or supervisor and, instead, are your own boss.
That also means that you don’t have to conform to office culture with things like dress codes and strict rules. Having control over your career is a major benefit of freelancing.
You Get to Set Your Schedule
Working from 8 – 5 can be a drain. Not only is it a long workday, but it gets in the way of other activities you might want to accomplish with family and friends.
Not only that, but everyone’s productive hours are different. If you aren’t a morning person, working a standard office hour job might mean you aren’t working as effectively as you could be.
As a freelancer, you get to set your hours and plan out your schedule according to your needs.
You Set Your Own Rates
When you work for a company, you have a set salary with the potential for raises, promotions, or bonuses in the future. Other than those planned increases, however, there aren’t many ways in which you can raise your base pay.
As a freelancer, however, you have control over what you charge your clients and can set your own salary expectations with no limits.
You Pick the Projects You Work On
Have you ever worked in an office job and were handed an assignment you really didn’t enjoy? While doing things you aren’t the biggest fan of is a part of life, as a freelancer you get to have more control over the types of jobs you pick and the projects you choose to work on.
That means you can avoid the things you dislike the most and focus your energy on the projects you enjoy.
You Control Your Work-Life Balance
One of the biggest benefits of freelancing is the control you have over your work-life balance. Want to take the afternoon to go watch your child’s game?
Not a problem. Want to take a three-week vacation? You can do it without needing company approval. Need to take time off for your mental health?
As a freelancer, you don’t need to check in with a manager before doing a relaxing activity.
” As a freelancer you get to have more control over the types of jobs you pick and the projects you choose to work on. “
Types of Freelancing
As far as what you can do as a freelancer, there are an almost unlimited number of options. As more and more people consider freelancing as a career, there are more opportunities for different types of freelancing.
We’ve broken down some of the more popular types of freelancing into categories for you.
- Freelance Writing: This includes jobs like freelance copywriting, content writing, translating, proofreading, editing, social media, or technical writing.
- Freelance Administrative Work: Jobs in this category include freelance virtual assistants, administrative assistance, and bookkeepers.
- App Development: This growing freelance category includes jobs like native app developers, web app developers, chatbot designers, and mobile game developers.
- Freelance Consulting: This could include jobs like freelance IT consulting, HR consulting, operations consulting, business planning consulting, life coaching, career coaching, and business management or strategy consulting.
- Web Design and Development: This includes jobs like user experience and interface design, front-end or back-end development, mobile web development, and full-stack development.
- Photography and Videography: One of the most traditional freelancing industries, this includes jobs like wedding photography, real estate photography, photojournalist, producer, video editor, or product photographer.
- Freelance Graphic Design: This category includes things like brand designers, logo designers, packaging designers, and digital illustrators.
Freelance Marketing
You might have noticed that freelance marketing, the subject of this blog, didn’t appear in any of the categories listed above. That’s because freelance marketing is an umbrella career that can cover a wide range of those categories.
Freelance marketing allows people with digital marketing skills or a desire to work in the industry to find clients and work as marketing professionals without being tied to a single company.
The types of services a freelance marketer could provide include:
- SEO
- Social Media
- Content Writing
- Email Marketing
- Product Management
- Publicist
- Website Management
How to Begin Your Freelance Marketing Career
The first step of any freelance marketing career is to decide if it’s really something you want to do. While freelancing can be extremely gratifying, there are also challenges that come from being your own boss.
Freelancing is essentially running your own business, so being able to manage your time and resources is important.
You’ll also want to make sure you have some of the skills needed for success before you begin. If you don’t, you can spend some time building those skills on the side as you work at another job.
One of the good things about freelancing is that it allows you to start as a side hustle before becoming a full-time career.
Common skills that you’ll need to develop as a freelance marketer include:
- Designing marketing strategies
- Working with a wide variety of teams
- Tracking hours and billing clients
- Creating reports
- Communicating with clients
- Managing a wide range of tasks and activities
- Conducting market research
- Implementing strategies and plans
- A well-rounded understanding of digital marketing tactics
6 Tips for Starting a Freelance Marketing Career
Let’s take a look at some of the best tips you can use as you get started on a freelance marketing career.
1. Define Your Niche
Even though “freelance marketing” is an umbrella term, you’ll still want to have a specialization within the possibilities that you focus on.
That allows you to create a niche that narrows your competition and allows you to hone your skills in a certain area.
2. Examine Your Finances
Without a guaranteed salary in place, freelancing can seem a little scary at first. Take some time to examine your finances and plan out a strategy.
Ask yourself what you want to earn and what you need to earn, then plan out how to grow to meet your financial goals.
3. Build Your Network
Creating a network is essential to being a successful freelancer of any type. As a freelancer, you need to make your own connections and build your own networks of clients.
Becoming active online in different communities can be a big help in raising awareness of your name and brand.
4. Create Your Brand
Speaking of brands, you’ll need to create one of your own. Having a brand is more than just picking a name.
You’ll want to create a clear, cohesive brand identity that allows you to stand out from the competition and create a unique selling point for your freelance marketing identity.
5. Set Your Rates
Setting your rates is an important part of freelancing. You want to set rates that fit into the budgets of your ideal customers but still allow you to earn a living.
Set your rates too high and it will be hard to find customers. Set them too low and you’ll have to take on a large number of projects to survive.
6. Never Stop Improving
There is always room for improvement in what you do. Continually learning and improving your skill sets not only makes you more valuable to clients but also helps support your own professional development and lets you learn even more skills and ideas that can help you grow and meet your goals.
Wrap Up
Working as a freelance marketer allows you to explore a wide range of skill sets related to digital marketing while still getting the benefits that come with freelancing.
A career in freelance marketing is becoming more and more popular among individuals and can be incredibly lucrative and fulfilling.
Freelance marketing is just one type of freelance career. There are dozens of other types of freelancing that can be done, with one of the more popular options being freelance graphic design.
If you are a great designer and want to explore a career in graphic design, check out our blog on the top graphic design trends.
These will help you establish yourself as a great graphic designer and get started on the right path in a freelance graphic design career.
