Email dominates the digital marketing world with a much higher return on investment than social media and PPC marketing. Email marketing is an efficient tool for promoting your freelance business.
A freelancer has one primary expertise plus a variety of extra abilities that they use in different capacities. A freelancer is like a small business owner, except that he is the sole employee.
The reality is, marketing your own company isn't as complex as it appears. The best strategy to advertise your company is to identify your target market and begin communicating with them.
Email marketing for freelancers
Sending emails to sell your products or services is email marketing in a nutshell. The impact of the strategy depends on the relationship with your leads. Having an efficient efficient email marketing tool is crucial for freelancers to develop and maintain long-term customer relationships.
As a freelancer, you must build a rapport with your potential customers to establish a relevant and high-authoritative position in their eyes.
Brands do this by providing assets such as an ebook or a free tool to create an initial point of contact in the early stages. Larger firms with higher budgets would pay for billboards on highways and television commercials.
The following section will explore all the benefits of using email marketing as a freelancer.
Benefits of Email Marketing for Freelancers
The specific needs for each kind of freelancer may differ. However, all freelancers desire a growing audience to whom they may sell their services without putting in too much effort. To do that, you need to keep in mind the tips below and start leveraging email marketing as a freelancer.
Build an email list full of potential customers.
When it comes to freelancers, their first email list is usually derived from former clients. These emails can increase visitors to their website. The freelancer's content is exposed to a larger audience thanks to a combination of content marketing and list-building strategies.
Knowing your potential customer is the first step in marketing. Getting an email address is a first and most crucial step in determining your reader and, hopefully, your potential customer.
You need to expand your audience and get to know them. And to know them, you must first have their contact information. You can rely on social media platforms to help you expand, but they won't help you get to know your audience.
Customers should be a part of your audience if you want to keep them pleased.
Having an email list is also a great way to get return visitors. For example, if you own a blog, you can inform your list every time you publish a new post, which will generate repeat visits.
To build an effective email list, you can have a pop-up form on your website or give them a lead magnet in exchange for their email address.
Build awareness for your personal brand.
A simple email newsletter can help freelancers establish their reputation.
Crafting an email newsletter carries with it a certain amount of trustworthiness. If you do it correctly, you'll quickly be renowned as the publisher of that excellent newsletter, as well as a fantastic freelancer.
Your newsletter's quality will always reflect on your professional reputation.
A great email design allows you to connect directly and personally with your lead. Make the most of it and deliver high-quality content regularly.
There are a plethora of newsletters, brand emails, and other types of brand media available. People have become impervious to marketing messages due to the massive amount of information noise in the environment.
To get ahead of the competition, use personalized emails that correspond to each user's pain points. Personalization makes your emails more relatable to your customers, and a higher level of relatability leads to more email opens and click-throughs.
Build trust with your leads.
All teams are held together by the solid interpersonal glue of trust. Oxytocin, the hormone that makes individuals feel less stressed, also helps them create trust. As a result, by establishing trust, you lower their stress levels.
You must communicate to minimize tension and win people's trust. As a freelancer, you can use email marketing in various ways to do this.
You are helping them to solve their difficulties by delivering them high-quality articles regularly. As a result, it enables you to gain a unique place in their lives by indirectly reducing stress.
They will return when they recognize the value of your emails in their professional and personal life.
They will take the least resistance and stress when they want to buy a product or service that you offer. Compose an interesting personal email, and this unplanned sale will be yours. All you have to do is send emails in a stress-relieving and trust-building manner.
But keep in mind that it does not happen immediately or even within a week. Building trust takes time, and you can't expect customers to buy your services until that time comes.
Before you add somebody to your list, make sure you get their permission first. Under no circumstances should you buy an email list. They will unsubscribe right away if they can't remember when they signed up for your emails.
They even may label your email address as spam which might lower your email deliverability in the long run.
Acquire feedback from your customers.
It's no secret that social proof is essential in establishing trust. Social proof can be materialized through feedback or testimonials.
Surveys sent over email are pretty beneficial for gathering feedback. People may also express their gratitude by replying directly to your email.
You can also schedule feedback emails with some tools. The simplest technique to gather testimonials is to ask them a series of questions and then compile them into a single testimonial paragraph.
Ask for video testimonials from current and former clients regularly. It can be used to sell your services to new customers. Add them on your landing pages or in your pitch deck for services.
Build authority and charge higher prices.
Freelancers typically work alone and can only take on a maximum of 3-5 clients at any given time. Someone might wonder why a freelancer needs email marketing to expand his business if he has so few active clients.
Email marketing combined with other tools that boost your business lend a certain amount of professionalism to your company's communications.
Many freelancers avoid working with low-paying clients or clients who are constantly bargaining. Because you "look like a brand," email marketing makes you approachable to high-paying clients.
As a result, email marketing leads to higher-quality clients.
- Clients that are willing to pay more
- More diverse work
- You have complete control over who you work with and what you work on.
The Freelancer Sales Funnel in tandem with email marketing.
After analyzing the benefits of email marketing for freelancers, it’s time to understand the different stages of the email marketing funnel. So without further ado, let’s explore the process behind your next email marketing campaign:
Stage 1: Awareness
This is the funnel's very first stage. It's the most significant stage, as you'll observe.
This step begins when a new visitor joins your email list for the first time. They had never heard of you before. They're curious because your material has piqued their interest.
As a result, content delivered via email will raise awareness about your products or services.
Emails for Stage 1 include:
- Emails that introduce your company, products, and services.
- Emails that include educational information to help users become aware of their issues.
- Emails with lead magnets (incentives to take action)
Stage 2: Consideration
People are already aware of their situation at this point. They are now looking for someone to solve their issues. They haven't decided to hire you to for their problem yet, though.
Some of your new subscribers will leave when you trim your list down. This will be a natural elimination process — some people lose interest for various reasons.
Those that aren't interested should be removed from your mailing list. Otherwise, they'll be dead weight on your list, lowering its efficiency. Those that made it through are still interested in your brand. So, in the second stage, you'll set up an email drip campaign for them.
Keep in mind that the potential customer has yet to make a choice. As a result, you shouldn't expect a sale from a subscriber at this point. It's only a bonus if you win that sale.
Use the content in this stage to help the user decide. Send content explaining why you are the greatest candidate for solving their problem.
Emails for Stage 2 include:
- Educational (problem-solving emails)
- Invitations to a Webinar
- Invitations to a special email course
Stage 3: Decision
There will be leads that have you on their shortlist of vendors to buy from at this point.
As a freelancer, you have to expect one of these three outcomes depending on the content you provide them in stage 2:
- Some leads will drop out of the funnel completely.
- Few of your leads will love your content, and they will immediately decide to hire you. These leads skip stage 3 and jump right to stage 4.
- Many of your leads may have you on their shortlist of potential vendors. They haven't concluded yet, but they're close.
This is where you'll put your sales abilities to work to entice these prospects to buy your product. The information will focus on conversions.
Emails for Stage 3 include:
- Product Pitches
- Emails with special offers
- Emails to help them find which product/service is best for them
Keep in mind that stage 3 isn't just for email. When it comes to hiring freelancers, most organizations use an interview procedure. So be prepared for a video or phone interview, as well as the occasional educational contact.
If you are in the same city as the client, you may be required to travel to the customer's location for this stage.
Stage 4: Action
The number of leads you started with decreases as each stage progresses. Only a few people are left who want to be your customers.
The lead has finally converted into a client at this point.
Emails for Stage 4 include:
- Thank you emails
You won't have to send them any regular content between the time they hire you and the completion of the project.
They'd be interested in purchasing a higher grade of services because they're already your client. You might hunt for opportunities to promote higher-end services during your daily encounters with your clients.
The Takeaway
Email marketing has a lot of advantages for freelancers. To execute it effectively, the freelancer must step outside of their comfort zone and think like a marketer.
Email marketing does need some planning and thought. You must understand your target audience and schedule your material ahead of time. This may be difficult for some freelancers if they do it for the first time.
However, you'll know you've improved your email marketing when you start charging more for the same amount of work. Following the steps above will ensure that you are on the right track to improving your email marketing campaigns and growing your business.
Until the next one, keep sending emails.
About The Author
Alex is a content writer at Moosend. He leaped faith in the digital marketing world from an architecture background and has never looked back. You will find him traveling in places around the world in his free time.
