The Three Ways to Promote Yourself as a Freelancer

If you work for yourself, there’s a good chance that you work as a freelancer. This is a bit different to running your own business. You work for yourself, but you are the only member of your business. Freelancers tend to work in more creative industries like the arts and as such need to market themselves well.

If you’re a freelancer and you’ve not long started out then promoting yourself is vital. You need to build up a client base otherwise you won’t earn any income. There are a lot of ways that you can promote and market yourself as a freelancer. Here are three of the best and most successful.

Get a Website
One of the first things you might want to think about doing is getting yourself a website. Websites are easy to create these days. There are many websites that help you to do this for a small cost. They have templates already laid out for the type of site you want to create. Then it’s just down to you to input your information. It is easy enough that even the most rudimentary computer user should have limited problems.

A website is one of the most important things that any freelancer can have. It gives you the chance to promote and showcase yourself for the whole world to see. It is especially significant if you freelance in a specialised area. For instance, if you are a writer or photographer then a website provides you with a digital portfolio. When you’re applying for jobs, you submit a CV and a cover letter. But it’s impossible to show somebody your physical portfolio unless you get in a room with them. But if you have a website you can add a link within your CV and covering letter, and they can find your portfolio at the click of a button.

You will, of course, need to pay to have a website. But the cost is minimal and the advantages of having one make it well worth the price. If you don’t have one then you need to get one today. And once you’ve set one up and filled it with content you need to promote and plug it as much as you can.

Get Business Cards and Fliers
Another fantastic way to promote yourself as a freelancer is to get business cards. These are so useful as they’re pocket sized and fit into a wallet or purse. These are a transportable way of marketing yourself. Handing them out to people at networking events is a quick and easy way of gaining a contact.

Fliers are also great. You may want a flier about yourself that you can hand out or leave in coffee shops, etc. Or you might think about promotional fliers offering a discount or special offer for new customers. The idea is to attract as many new clients as possible. It’s likely that you’ll need to print a lot of these fliers if you’re going to market yourself well. In which case you need to visit Printerland for the latest offers on their printers and ink cartridges. You might think about regularly ordering  depending on how successful your fliers prove.

Network
As a freelancer, the most important thing you can do is network. You need to meet as many people as you can. Every contact you make is a potential client. And if you leave a good impression they may even recommend you to other colleagues.

Say yes to every opportunity and make sure you show up to as many networking events as you can. It’s important to take opportunities because you never know when and where you might meet someone.

Photo by Inga Marchuk | Shutterstock