Dearest reader,
As a freelancer, time is a valuable asset to you. This is why checking your watch and seeing that another hour has passed is frustrating, especially when the time wasn’t spent improving your skills or making money. Instead, you just spent four hours looking for prospective clients.
Are you interested in finding out how to channel your resources- time, skill and money- into actual work for clients with a certified return on investment? Then this post is for you.
Practical Steps to Attract Potential Clients
Know your target audience.
The first thing to consider in your bid to attract potential clients is knowing the type of client you want. You can do this by building a customer avatar.
Identify your ideal client’s pain points and determine how you can relieve those pain points. Once you’ve identified your target audience and determined the messaging and language that your target audience responds to, it will inform your portfolio, brand voice, brand tone and personality.
With this, your target audience will be able to relate to and be attracted to your brand.
Do excellent work
Whether in our day-to-day life or freelancing, the principle of attraction operates similarly.
Imagine you’re hungry and craving a big bowl of rice and chicken to satisfy that hunger, so you choose a restaurant. Before choosing the restaurant, you’ve put in the work. Researched the restaurant, saw pictures of their food, and was satisfied with what you saw. The pictures were so enticing they helped to further whet your appetite.
Satisfied with your choice, you head to the restaurant and wait patiently for the satisfaction you would derive from devouring that meal. Out comes the appetizing plate of food, and with so much eagerness, you take the first spoon. Disappointment. The food is tasteless, dry, and quite frankly inedible.
You’re dissatisfied, hungry and now angry. As a result, you write a horrible review on the restaurant’s website.
Such is the similitude of a freelancer who has built an excellent portfolio but grossly underdelivers. You leave your client dissatisfied and angry, and the worst part is that the client would never recommend you to anyone. And may even tell of how bad a freelancer you are.
After putting in all the work to build your resume or portfolio as a freelancer, don’t throw it away by doing subpar work. Always put in your all and let your work speak for itself. And just like singing after having a good meal on a Sunday afternoon, your client will sing your praises to others. This is a classical example of letting your work speak for you.
Build your brand
Social media has created the perfect avenue for individuals to grow their brands online. It is also a good place to become attract potential clients. Many freelancers have built a steady source of income in their freelancing journey by harnessing their social media skills.
Social media platforms such as Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even youtube are great places to start. It is advisable to pick one or two and strategically grow an audience on whichever platform you have chosen. To effectively choose a platform, you should determine where your target audience hangs out. This is why the first step to attracting your potential clients is identifying your target audience.
For instance, As a graphic designer, Instagram is a great platform to show your designs to prospective clients. As a virtual assistant, you might want to invest much of your time building a brand on LinkedIn. While as a social media manager, you could have a pick of any of these platforms to build your brand but preferably, pick one you would enjoy working on. This would benefit your career as you learn all the strategies to run a social media page for prospective clients on that platform.
However, each social media platform has its strategy for growth and gaining visibility, so it might be unwise to spread yourself thin by showing up on every platform (unless you have a big brand and people working for you).
If you are a lone freelancer, for now, it would do you good to capitalize on one or two platforms and make the best of it.
Build a blog
Blogs are one of the best means to gain leads and attract potential clients for your services as a freelancer. Many people searching for services or help in specific industries first type in the search bar.
Sometimes, it may not even be a direct search for your service. It would most likely be for information about something particular to your industry, but how awesome would it be if your site appeared in the search? The potential client goes through your blog and sees that you have excellent knowledge of what they are looking for, and the best part, you offer the service they need. Not only do you get to generate leads and ultimately convert those leads into sales, but you also get the opportunity to establish yourself as an authority in your industry.
Doesn’t this sound like an awesome deal? Yes, yes, it does.
Although, like anything great, it takes time to build because creating a blog requires technical aspects such as being able to write. Having a good knowledge of SEO and the actual part of creating a website.
If you want to create a business out of freelancing and a steady source of income, it is something to consider because if done well, it is an excellent return on your investment. As a freelance writer, this is your best option. What better way to show off your writing skills than to get to writing?
Recommendations
Clients looking for a service tend to respond to what other people who have used your service have to say about you. Get those recommendations out there. Write case studies and post them on your social media. Put up testimonials on your blog.
It is easy to feel like you need to be ‘modest’ and may be doing too much by getting your reviews when you’re destroying one of the best opportunities for clients to reach out to you. Don’t be shy to put yourself out there and request reviews from clients you’ve worked with.
This is why it is great to maintain great communication and working relationship with former employees, as they would be more willing to sing your praises and write stellar reviews for you and your services.
Don’t forget to make yourself reachable. Be sure to include where your prospective clients can find you. This could be through your number, email, or even social media. Include a call to action so your clients know your services. A good advice would be to create a landing page and include this on your social media page.
If you adopt these methods in your freelancing journey, you’ll become a freelance magnet in the freelance world.
However, it is essential to remember that growth takes time, but eventually, your hours will be worth a lot of money. So, hang in there, do the work, and watch your ROI grow.
Which strategies will you be taking on to attract your potential client? Tell me in the comments section.
Bye for now,
Alexis.
