Marketing Tools for Creative Freelancers

This week I came across a short article entitled, “10 Useful Marketing Tools for Freelancers.” I thought this had a lot of interesting and helpful ideas for those of you out there, like myself, that are freelancers trying to get their name out there. What I really enjoy about this article is that it still allows you to be completely creative while making sure you are covering the self-marketing essentials. This is great since we’re in a creative industry and need more chances to show what we can do and stand out to potential clients and/or employers.

A big part of this article focuses on social media. While a lot of people may consider this more on the casual, unprofessional side, it is a reality that this type of media is a very strong influencer on people’s lives. That being said, with the abundance of sites out there like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging sites, etc., Vuong mentions ping.fm as a free and simple way to update everything at once. It is a fantastic feature for those of you on the go.

LinkedIn is one of my personal favorites that she mentioned. It’s similar in connections to Facebook in the way you befriend people. Instead of it being a very casual scene where people post pictures to comment on and write about their everyday lives, LinkedIn is more on the professional networking side of things. Something I really like about it is the ability to join groups that professionals or even people trying to make it and share their creativity with others are in. It allows you to share messages, make plans on new projects, and build relationships with potential clients and employers. You can also link your page to your more casual networking sites, blogs, post your resume, and even have references from LinkedIn write wonderful comments about you on your page, suggesting your work to others.

On a more technical and marketing research point of view, there are sites like SEOMoz Tools and Google Analytics. SEOMoz Tools is something new to me. Vuong describes it as a site that allows you to, “stay on top of your SEO with free tools that allow you to determine the strength of a website, whether or not pages are being indexed on the big search engines, and analyzing how targeted a page may be for specific keywords.” This is a good, free way to find out if keywords you place in your site are really helpful in bringing in relative visitors. You want to have relevant words to your industry and business throughout your site to ensure that your site pops up as one of the top results when people search those keywords. Google Analytics is extremely helpful in finding out who your visitors are, where they’re coming from, and even how long they stay on your site! Knowing this information is extremely important in finding out who your demographic is, if it is reaching the right people, and maybe where your flaws are. Perhaps you want people to stay longer, or you only get repeat visitors and not as many new ones. This will help you reformat your marketing plan and see what is really working.

Best of luck on getting your names out there! Make sure to utilize the sites Vuong suggests. Each one is helpful in a different way and can only benefit your publicity. Do your research and learn throughout your experience how you can mold your tactics to get the ultimate marketing plan, or even learn from competitors. Some of these sites and tools allow you to do that, which is a huge opportunity some people overlook and a chance for you to be a step ahead.