Making Every Ounce of Self-Promotion Count
You’re a talented freelancer, proficient in high-demand skills, and committed. Your portfolio features your best projects, selected from a prodigious body of quality output. You actively market yourself at every opportunity, attending the right events and networking with the right people. And you’ve even established a pattern of consistency. Yet no one seems to be knocking on your door. What could be wrong?
Winning new contracts seems like an effortless endeavor for successful freelancers and contract workers. But all they do is focus their energies towards proving how they can fulfill potential clients’ needs. It makes sense, but you’ll be surprised at how many freelancers present skills just as they are. How many times have you seen a freelancer declare “I’m a web designer”, and nothing more?
Granted, for a client looking to hire, a freelancer’s skill set matters. But if you spell out how your abilities will fulfill the client’s objectives, then it will be easier for them to get you. All because you’ve saved them the trouble of thinking as much as they usually do. It’s the oldest trick in the book: make it easy for your customers to avail of your services and they’ll be more willing to do so. Here are two great ways to do this:
Explain what your skills do. It’s obvious that a “web designer” designs websites, but it’s not so apparent how he fulfills a client’s objectives. Explore all potential avenues for your skills, and try to use creative applications to get your point across.
Focus less on aesthetics, and more on results. Clients aren’t looking for the best looking layout or most literarily sound prose. All they need is a freelancer who can help them out. Instead of focusing on your proficiency, showcase your usefulness. A copywriter whose words helped a company increase sales by 25% is worth his weight in gold.
Use case studies. Take a previous project and walk a potential client through its accomplishment. Narrate exactly how your skills contributed greatly to the project’s success.
A client is understandably hesitant to hire just anyone. After all, he wants maximum return for his expenditure. By showing how you can help clients fulfill their objectives, they’ll will be more willing to risk their money on you. It’s all about answering the question: what value do you provide as a freelancer?
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