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Digital marketing for freelancers can be challenging at times, but in this article, I will share what I’ve learned in 4 years as a full-time freelancer.

In the future, I will prepare a guide for beginners, but today are my three main pieces of advice for you who want to start or have some years in this journey.

Eat the frog until you have something to offer

Digital marketing for freelancers is easier if you have something in mind at the beginning of your journey: Eat the frog until you have something to offer.

“Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy is a great book in which he says that you need to do the challenging task first at the beginning of your day, AKA Eat That Frog. 

Digital marketing demands knowledge

If at the beginner in your journey, you don’t have a portfolio, don’t have results to show, and don’t have experience in what service you want to deliver to people, you need to face the reality of:

• Accept lower pay. 
• Do your services for free.
• Deal with bad clients.

At the beginning of my journal when I was just a kid who enjoyed writing stuff, I once paid US$0,003 per word, which is horrible. I deal with impolite customers, and I sometimes do my services for free. 

In the ideal world, I would love for every person to be paid fair for the results that they bring, but we are not in the ideal world. However, all of this will pass by the time you have:

• Testimonials about your work
• Results and case studies
• Good sell letter
• Content

So my piece of advice to you about digital marketing is to offer free services in exchange for testimonials, request case studies once you have gained practical knowledge, and develop your portfolio with your first three customers.

By the time you have these three important elements, create a compelling sales letter and start generating content about your work.

The best clients pay more

To understand the best client, we need to understand the bad clients first. The bad customer for a freelancer is disrespectful, doesn’t have clear goals, and has the urge to change the process of your work. 

Digital marketing demands a different relationship between the client and the freelancer

You need to understand that you are not an employer because you are paid by project or have a fee. So your relationship with the client has to be a partnership, when your client gains you gain too. So in my perspective, the best clients are:

• Respectful and polite at all times
• Have clear goals and expectations that are explained to you early on in the project
• Explain to you what they want to be delivered to them, and when they want to be delivered. And, if they see a necessity to change something, they tell you, but the crafting is entirely yours.

However, the most important aspect of an excellent client is their willingness to pay more. They recognize the value of your work through testimonials, case studies, and results, so they do not request a lower price.

Of course, you can negotiate if you are getting something in return for the project. From my perspective, there are three situations when it is a good idea to lower your price if a good client asks for it:

• Flexible deadline, so it’s not an emergency project
• Less guarantees compare to the correct price
• Ongoing project, so it’s worth it in some way

So my piece of advice for you about digital marketing is don’t worry if a bad client says that somebody can do it cheaper, you will have the best clients who pay more. However, you need to have testimonials, case studies, and results. Did you enjoy the content so far? Follow me on Threads for more.

Find a balance between creativity and optimization

Last but not least, you need to find a balance between creativity and optimization. This is a problem that recently occurred at my work.

Sometimes, I find myself spending a lot of time polishing an article on a subject I’m passionate about or have extensive knowledge of, even though it already meets the customer’s expectations.

Besides, even if I want to do this in all my projects, I need to be more productive at the end of the day. However, the reserve is the same.

If you approach your work like a machine, solely focused on productivity and neglecting the details, you will produce poorly crafted work, which can be detrimental to your career.

So my piece of advice for you about digital marketing is finding a balance between creativity and optimization is crucial.

I could talk about this topic for ages, but if I had to give you one piece of advice, it would be to read the book “Building a Second Brain” by Tiago Forte. It’s fantastic; there’s a life before and after that book.

Click here to see my other content to see more about what is SEO for a website with my guide for beginners in 3 steps!