Freelancing is one of the most popular trends in today’s professional world. It has become immensely popular among professionals thanks to its flexible features. Freelancing is a job option that is offered to professionals as a project or an assignment for a certain agreed-upon payment.

Freelancers work from their own comfortable space and according to their own flexible schedules. In addition, freelancing does not come with long term limitations. As a result, this career option has been gaining great popularity among professionals. People can freelance both part and full time across various job fields, thereby making it flexible and attainable to all.

People who want to work independently and at their own comfortable space take up freelancing as a full-time career option. On the other hand, a person who wants to earn some extra money can dedicate few hours each day to freelance work. Part-time freelancing is particularly popular among housewives and students. Yet freelancers must be able to handle numerous challenges in order to be successful. Unlike regular employees, freelancers do not have work at regular intervals. They constantly need to brand themselves and showcase their skills to employers to find projects. Thus, in addition to being skilled in their own fields, freelancers should be aware of basic marketing tips to enhance their freelancing success. Yes, you read that right! As a freelancer, you need to be able to market yourself. Thousands of freelancers are working in various sectors around the globe. In order to make your presence known in the field, you need to speak up for yourself. This means you need to advertise your skills effectively, telling employers why you should be selected and why you are the best. You need to market yourself as a perfect fit for each project. This article discusses marketing and advertising for freelancers to attract projects and succeed in freelancing.

Before discussing how to advertise effectively, let’s note first the importance of advertising. Both advertising and branding are important. Let’s analyze both factors to understand why.

Branding is critical for freelancers as it their name and fame help them find good freelancing projects. No one becomes a brand name overnight. One needs to earn that brand over time through quality production and by building up a reputation. Branding is the most important part of every business. For any business to succeed it has to be popular among people and the world; those who do so become a brand. People remember brands and follow them; as a result, business grows. The goal for every startup is to build a brand name and for every brand is to maintain that name. Thus, branding is a major aim of every business. Similarly, freelancing requires branding and advertising. In order to find projects, you need to market yourself and convince potential employers of your skills. Given the many freelancers available in the professional world, employers need to have good reasons to assign a project to you. The initial steps in branding involve smaller objectives, such as writing blogs, managing websites, and building up networks. Such objectives make you popular and earn you good and challenging projects. A good brand will always bring success; therefore, it is is essential for self-employed freelancers to keep earning projects and working toward attaining success in their freelancing career.

Having recognized the importance of branding, now let’s look at how to advertise and market yourself to achieve success in freelancing. The following suggestions highlight 10 ways a freelancer can advertise his or her skills and climb up in the freelancing ladder:

• Create a Website:

  Today, one of the best ways to showcase one’s skills is through a website. As a freelancer, creating a website to sell your freelancing skills and advertise yourself as a skilled professional will be the first big initial step. You website will work as the face of you and your skills. You will be judged and acknowledged through your quality of work and the profile on your website. Therefore, you need to maintain a clean and decent website with a good look and feel. Employers visiting your site should have a pleasant user experience. Keep your website updated with all the new projects that you have undertaken and highlight all the important facts that would interest potential clients. Make sure that you have given the deserving importance to all your aspects and actions on your site. Include a section on your recent works and projects, the service you provide, and the goals you achieved. These things will help employers recognize your skills, knowledge, and experience, which will help them determine if you fit their requirements.

  Freelancers work in various fields of expertise, and everyone has different approaches and aspects of knowledge to highlight on their sites. For example, suppose you are a freelance writer. You can share your recent blogs and articles as well as link to your recently published articles to display your quality and flow of writing. If you are a web designer, you can mention your recent projects and include links to some of your best designs to share your work with visitors. If you are a developer, you can reflect release codes, web applications, and related items on your website. You can also mention links to additional sites that fall within your field. Thus, everyone can display their own interests and skills through their website, thereby introducing themselves to the world and letting visitors know about their work. Thus, managing a website is one of the major ways a freelancer should advertise.

• Write Articles:

  Another essential way to advertise your freelancing skills is by writing articles and publishing them on popular article sites. Article writing is one of the best ways to showcase your knowledge. Although not every freelancer is a skilled writer, everyone has their own skills and interests. Writing an article does not always mean using literary or flowery words. You can share any experience in simple words related to a specific project, thus producing a good article. You can share your knowledge to guide other aspirants in your fields. Such articles not only help users recognize your skills and knowledge, but also invite potential employers to glance at your prospects.

  Moreover you can always showcase these articles when dealing with any professional as a part of your experience. Instead of simply listing your skills, potential employers can see what you produce or the processes and project growth you use, creating a stronger impact. Thus, even if you are not a writer, you can enhance your marketing by writing different types of articles. For actual writers, articles become the most powerful weapon for winning over an employer’s confidence. What can be better than showcasing your past articles and proficiency to employers?

• Manage Blogs:

  Blogging is another popular trend today that can help you advertise your skills. You can start blogging through your own blog or by creating a blog on a popular blogging site such as blogger.com, tumbler.com, or wordpress.com. You can experiment with tutorial blogs, offering a helping hand to other members in your field while showcasing your proficiency in the field to employers.

  Like articles, blogs can be managed by all, irrespective of their writing ability. Currently, everyone—from actors to politicians and from business tycoons to college graduates—indulges in blogging. A freelance photographer can create a blog that includes just two or three sentences of introduction while displaying your best shots. Anyone who is looking for a freelance photographer and comes to your blog can instantly see the magic of your shots and approach you for freelancing projects. Thus, managing blogs is another major way to showcase your skills and develop good marketing for your freelancing.

• Network in Real Life:

  Another way to advertise yourself as a freelancer is by networking in real life. As a freelancer, you need to manage various tasks that regular employees need not manage. Unlike office employees, freelancers are not offered a continual stream of assignments. You need to step ahead and find your own projects in freelancing, which requires having an extensive network of people with whom you can interact for knowledge sharing and meeting new potential employers.

  Improving your professional network is important for all professionals, but for freelancers it is critical for finding new projects and assignments. To improve your networking skills, you’re your communication skills, self-confidence, presence while maintaining a frank and gentle nature.

  • Self-confidence: To improve your networking circle, you have to possess self-confidence in order to stay active in the presence of other professionals. You should be confident about yourself and about your work and be able to speak out your viewpoints in front of others. The confidence to present your ideas and share your opinions in public will really help in your networking. Only a self-confident attitude will help you rise up as a strong figure within a group.
  • Communication skills: You should have good communication skills, including proper control over your language, knowledge of your profession, and a presentable attitude to build good relationships with people. You need to maintain professional etiquette and manners when dealing with other professionals.
  • Quick mind: Presence of mind is necessary to be active and smart when networking. You should know how to handle controversial and complex matters and should not hesitate to give your opinion on any subject when the time arises. You should be smart enough to present your view while staying out of disputes.
  • Friendly attitude: Another quality that you need to adopt in order to improve your networking is maintaining a friendly nature in addition to professional etiquette.

  These essential qualities will help you improve your real-life networking. In addition, the following steps can help you improve your networking:

  1. Attend social events where you can meet new people in your field and thus increase your knowledge about the current standard of your field.
  2. Attend online events where you can meet diverse audiences from across the globe.
  3. Participate in forums and debates to help you discuss different ideas ion your field.

• Social Networking:

  One of the most important ways of advertising in today’s world is social networking sites. Social networking sites are the most popular sites for everyone—from beginners to established professionals—to participate in business marketing. Not only will participating in social networking sites improve your market reach, but also not being part of one might hamper your career growth. The most popular social networking sites through which you can advertise yourself as a freelancer are discussed in the following points:

  1. Facebook: Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites today, serving as a medium of networking among different people for different reasons. Facebook is used by a wide range of users, including college students and company CEOs. Over time, Facebook has emerged as a platform beyond just sharing personal messages. Today Facebook is known as one of the most popular advertising sites. Most professionals maintain a professional Facebook profile for use with potential employers. Through Facebook, you can update potential clients on new projects and add skills that you have gained. You can also attend online Facebook events, where you can meet new employers and people from you field, sharing knowledge and insights. You can add other prominent professionals from your field and thus keep yourself updated about their progress and current activities as well. Facebook also has various options to advertise, such as creating and announcing events, sharing useful links, and publishing images to showcase your interests and be visible to others. Thus, Facebook advertising is an important way through which you can improve your market reach.
  2. Twitter: Twitter is another important networking site today, ranking second only to Facebook in the number of users. Unlike Facebook, Twitter is predominantly used by professionals. Therefore, Twitter is also known as one of the popular professional networking sites. As a freelancer you can follow popular professionals of your field on Twitter and be connected with new people. You can share links to interesting posts that you have published. You can also upload photographs for better sharing. Thus, Twitter has become one of the most popular ways for reaching more people and increasing your network.
  3. LinkedIn: LinkedIn is another professional site that serves as a connection among various skilled professionals from various fields. You can be connected with another freelancing expert in your field from across the globe and thus share valuable ideas and thoughts with others. LinkedIn allows you to create a professional profile displaying all your skills, showcasing important projects and, highlighting your qualifications. Thus, employers can get a good idea of your expertise from your LinkedIn profile. Maintaining a professional profile on LinkedIn helps you to improve your market reach among potential employers, maximizing your marketing as a freelancer.

These are the most useful ways for marketing yourself as a freelancer and finding work in your field.

When advertising and marketing, you should also understand the limitations. Whenever you are advertising yourself, try to be slow and genuine; avoid exaggeration. Praise should come from others, not yourself. You should understand the need to share your ideas and highlight your proficiency to global employers to make yourself recognized and attract new and challenging projects, not just praise. Aggressive promotion might sound egoistic and work against you. A thin line exists between promoting yourself and praising yourself; you have to strongly present the former to create a good brand for yourself. In these ways, freelancers can advertise their skills and ultimately succeed in freelancing.

Image Credits – Earn Money via BigStock